"The end of the anti-Europeans? British industrial relations into the 1990s."

Geyer, Robert. (1993) "The end of the anti-Europeans? British industrial relations into the 1990s.". In: UNSPECIFIED, Washington, DC. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. One of the most amazing changes that has taken place in British industrial relations is the transformation of the British labor movement1 from being strong anti-Europeans in the late 1970s and early 1980s to fervent pro-Europeans in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the Labour party and the TUC singing the praises of German style cooperative "social capitalism" and both supporting the Maastricht treaty on European integration, are we seeing the Europeanization of the British labor movement and, therefore, of the British industrial relations model? In this article, I intend to argue that the British labor movement and the British model have not been Europeanized to any significant degree.2 Despite its transformation from an anti- to a pro-EC position, the British labor movement remains predominantly nationally oriented and directed by national developments, deeply divided over the benefits and costs of European integration, and regards the EC primarily as an arena for furthering national and/or internal labor movement goals. In fact, the current pro-EC position of the movement is more of a reflection of the return of the traditional British industrial relations system than of the creation of a more European system.

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