Industrial Relations Law in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Industrial Relations Law in UK - Essay Example The industrial relations law of a particular country have a strong nexus with its broad policies as far as human resource management and employee satisfaction are concerned. These laws imply the state of affairs within the operation sphere where the workers are the one's generating maximum profitability and efficiency through their positive contribution. (Collins, 2005) In this regard, the industrial laws deal with areas of integrating personal and organisational interest, apart from widespread applicability of suitable measures of motivation and training which in turn will contribute to the worker efficiency and a cost effective strategy for achieving organisational goals. This paper deals with the industrial relations law that has been prevalent in the United Kingdom or UK with a focus on comparing the same with international standards in terms of its right to strike and the freedom of association. The categories in this paper will broadly include legal and sociological implications and issues of the industrial law in UK. After several breakthroughs in defining the contextual implications of human resources and employee relationships, Sidney and Beatrice Webb created a stark picture of the quality of trade unionism in the 1894. This was a major revelation for the social historians of that time in context of their contribution to the analysis of the system followed in Great Britain in terms of industrial relations. This aspect of study even became a full fledged field of study at Oxford by 1908. (Hyman, 2003. p 37 to 56) It has also helped defined the right of association and strike as rights that are inherent in the employees workspace where he or she may demand a certain economic and social status depending on the level of contribution to overall productivity. This further led to the construction of a framework within which these employees can call themselves the workforce within a certain industry or organisation, and thereafter affiliate themselves with an organisation called trade union which wil l identify their rights and help them adopt methodologies like collective bargaining, negotiations and even strikes, if need be, to attain the same. In this regard, the trade unions call themselves the representatives of the workforce and fight for their rights. This has given rise to various theories in terms of collective bargaining as well as the formal conception of the right to associate and the freedom to strike, in industrial laws the world over. This revolution started with UK due its history of industrial development, where it has been hailed as an international pioneer of the industrial revolution. This is, therefore, the most comprehensive definition of the Right to Strike and the Freedom of Association in UK's industrial law, which provides for clauses and immunities under these rights. (Collins, 2005) In this case, it is imperative to move forward only after briefly touching upon the origin of this law. Thus, through a keen focus on trade unionism, which was major trend in the industrialisation process, by the scholars and historians of that time, Great Britain saw the birth and evolution of its industrial relations law, that helped define the context and framework within which collective bargaining and other activities like employer employee relations would be