International Labour Review, Vol. 154 (2015), No.

Introduction:
What future for industrial relations?
Susan HAYTER*
Abstract.In her introductory paper, the coordinator of this Special Issue puts
the selection of subsequent contributions into context. Traditional industrial relations institutions, born of labour laws premise of unbalanced power relations
between the worker and the employer, are being undermined by unprecedented
global changes in patterns of work and forms of employment. This trend, compounded by the emergence of alternative forms of worker representation, poses a
major challenge not only to conventional tradeunionism but also to policy and to
industrial relations scholarship. This Special Issue is intended as a contribution to
the ensuing, ongoing debate about the direction of future change.

ndustrial relations as a field of scholarship and policy is over a century old,

dating back to the classic study by Beatrice and Sydney Webb (1897) on
the regulation of employment in Britain and the writings of John R. Commons
(1905) on the causes of, and solutions to, the labor problem in the United
States. These early theories on trade unions provided valuable insights on the
device of the common rule. By bargaining collectively, trade unions could
balance the (otherwise unequal) bargaining power in employment relations
and negotiate standard wage rates and hours of work. This placed a floor under
wages and working conditions and protected workers from some of the adverse effects of competition. Industry-wide collective bargaining was seen as
accomplishing a progressive compromise with stabilizing effects for the industry concerned and for the economy (Kaufman, 2003).
Industrial relations developed into a broad field of study, encompassing work and employment relations and the actors and processes that govern
them. Particular attention has been given to those involving collective organization and action. Central themes in the industrial relations literature include
trade unions, employers organizations, collective bargaining, strikes, collective labour law and policy concertation leading to social pacts. Industrial relations research is also increasingly concerned with assessing the outcomes of
* ILO, email: hayter@ilo.org.
Responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles rests solely with their authors, and
publication does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO.
Copyright International Labour Organization 2015
Journal compilation International Labour Organization 2015

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processes on wages (and their distribution), working time arrangements, turnover and other labour outcomes, as well as on the performance of enterprises
and the economy.1 While at times criticized for its weak theoretical underpinnings (Kaufman, 2004), contemporary industrial relations scholarship continues to make theoretical contributions to this and related fields on new
social movements (Kelly, 1998), varieties of capitalism (Hall and Soskice, 2001)
and institutional change (Thelen, 2009).
Industrial relations is premised on the understanding that enterprises
and workers have different and even conflicting goals and interests. Labour
disputes, strikes, public protests and other forms of collective action are the
clearest manifestations of this conflict, but high labour turnover and absenteeism, low morale and general inefficiency can be symptomatic too. Industrial relations provides an analytical framework with which to make sense of
this domain of contestation. As a policy-oriented field of study it also engages
scholarship with debates in workplaces, in communities and at the policy
level on effective strategies for improving the conditions of working people.
Significant changes have occurred in the world of work, calling into question the effectiveness of the industrial relations toolkit of institutional fixes.
Inequality and insecurity are the most significant labour problems of our
era. According to the ILOs (2015) estimates, 201 million workers were unemployed in 2014. Rapid advances in technology have changed the way in
which work is organized. Working arrangements are more diverse than in the
past. Zero-hour contracts, one of the newer contractual forms in which the
employer decides at will on the number of hours to be worked, place workers
in positions of extreme insecurity with no minimum pay guarantees.2 Trade
unions a critical subject for industrial relations have seen their membership and influence wane in many parts of the world. Shifts towards shareholder- or market-oriented corporate governance and the emergence of global
production networks have further weakened the bargaining power of labour.
Meanwhile, in many developing countries, most work continues to be carried
out in the informal economy, outside of the purview of formal industrial relations institutions.
The challenge is to make sense of this changing landscape and what it
means for the actors and institutions aspiring to deliver decent wages and
working conditions. Firmly rooted in a tradition of critical social science and
with its rich multidisciplinary approach, industrial relations is at a distinct advantage when it comes to studying these changes and their implications for
actors, institutions and outcomes (Clarke et al., 2011). It is in this context that
we ask: What future for industrial relations? Are its institutions outmoded?
Merely a relic of a golden age to be written up in a history project? Have new
1
For an example of the richness and broad reach of current industrial relations scholarship,
see Blyton et al. (2008).
2
For examples, see http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/04/zero-hourscontracts-teaching-job-insecurity [accessed 19 February 2015].

What future for industrial relations?

modes of communication, organization and mobilization eclipsed traditional

membership-based organizations? Is there a fundamental mismatch between
industrial relations institutions and our current labour problems? Have work
and labour changed to such a degree that the institutions created to give workers a voice and representation are now obsolete?
The papers in this Special Issue emerged from a plenary debate that took
place during the ILOs Regulating for Decent Work Conference in 2013. The
contributing scholars have decades of cumulative wisdom among them and
come from different parts of the world. They share a common endeavour: the
study of work, employment relations, and the organizations and processes that
deliver labour protection and elicit the participation of workers in determining the quality of their working lives. They provide a jarring account of the
present and a considered reflection on the future of work and possibilities for
institutional renewal.
Richard Hyman makes the opening statement by setting out three alternative futures: from bad to worse, envisaging the continuing erosion of national industrial relations systems; elite reform, envisaging a shift in public
policy; and a new counter-movement, in which new solidarities between collective actors rebalance the economy and the status of work within it. Janice
Fine then provides a ray of hope, illuminating Hymans latter scenario with her
description of emerging micro-industrial relations regimes involving new solidarities between trade unions and worker centres. Eddie Webster, as well as
Ratna Sen and Chang-Hee Lee, shed additional light on this possible future.
Webster argues that the new initiatives, organizational forms and sources of
power at the periphery of traditional labour markets have planted the seeds
for the flowering of a new global labour studies. Reflecting on the development of industrial relations in South Africa, he questions the possibility of
institutionalized industrial relations in a world with such high unemployment
and wide inequality. Ratna Sen and Chang-Hee Lee also reflect upon the institutionalization of industrial relations and the emergence of alternative countermovements in large emerging economies, such as India and China.
Maarten Keune examines the battle of ideas and the paradoxes that
have driven the overall trajectory of industrial relations in Europe from bad
to worse. He does not see this as an irreversible trajectory and identifies
signs of a new counter-movement. In his concluding contribution, Gerhard
Bosch envisages a future that lies somewhere between elite reform and a
new counter-movement, driven by institutional renewal and innovation. In his
view, efforts to combat inequality will require a strengthening of protective and
participatory standards: state intervention in wage determination (i.e. a statutory minimum wage) and collective bargaining taking place in the shadow of
the law. He offers a real-life example of this transition from autonomous to
hybrid in Germanys collective bargaining system where the policy intention
is to use the minimum wage as a platform for strengthening collective bargaining. It is the combination of protective and participative rights that appears to
lead to better outcomes.

International Labour Review

Together, these papers are intended to serve as a reflection of developments in work and employment relations, providing insights that are at times
uncomfortable but nevertheless illuminate some of the possibilities for institutional renewal.

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