Susan Corby

Employee Relations in the Public Services: Themes and issues

1. From the New Right to New Labour Susan Corby and Geoff White 2. The economic and financial context: The Shrinking state Jean Shaoul 3. The legal context: Public or private? Sandra Fredman 4. The remuneration of public servants: Fair pay or new pay Geoff White 5. Equal opportunities: Fair shares for all? Susan Corby 6. Employment flexibility: Push or pull? Ariane Hegewisch 7. Tendering and outsourcing: Working in the contract state Trevor Colling 8. Quality Management: A new form of control? Miguel Martinez Lucio and Robert MacKenzie 9. Personnel Managers: Managing to change Stephen Bach 10. Trade Unions: The challenge of individualism Hamish Mathieson and Susan Corby

Defining Disability in Theory and Practice: A Critique of the British Disability Discrimination Act 1995

This article presents a theoretical critique of the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995), focusing on the definition of disability. It argues that the underpinning medical assumption of the statutory definition of disability is detrimental to the achievement of disability equality in the workplace and is problematic for practitioners and Employment Tribunals. In particular there are four areas of significant confusion arising from the need for medical evidence, the lack of congruence between managerial and legal definitions, the focus on the negative aspects of disability and the fact that disability is often hidden. By exploring these four themes and drawing on comparisons with the other equality laws, the article concludes that the definition of disability contained in the DDA (1995) contradicts many of the principles of the liberal equality framework that underpins it. Finally the article considers the public policy implications and suggests a new statutory approach.

A price worth paying?: Women and work – choice, constraint or satisficing

Purpose – Are women held back or holding back? Do women choose their jobs/careers or are they structurally or normatively constrained? The purpose of this paper is to shed fresh light on these questions and contribute to an on‐going debate that has essentially focused on the extent to which part‐time work is womens choice, the role of structural and organisational constraints and the role of men in excluding women.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses data from interviews with 80 working women – both full‐time and part‐time – performing diverse work roles in a range of organisations in the south east of England.Findings – It was found that many women do not make strategic job choices, rather they often “fall into” jobs that happen to be available to them. Some would not have aspired to their present jobs without male encouragement; many report incidents of male exclusion; and virtually all either know or suspect that they are paid less than comparable men. Those working reduced hours enjoy that fa...

Industrial relations in Civil Service agencies: transition or transformation?

Change in four Civil Service agencies is examined here, from their launch in 1988 to the general election in 1997. The extent of that change, judged on five indicators, is found to vary. In three agencies there was transformation but in one agency, where industrial relations remained con-sensual, there was not.

Finding a cure? Pay in England's National Health Service

This paper explores the consequences of the introduction by National Health Service (NHS) trusts (i.e. hospitals) of their own pay systems. It is based on case studies of ten NHS trusts and involved 73 interview sessions with a variety of stakeholders and the examination of employment data and performance indicators. The research revealed the tensions and countervailing forces inherent in NHS pay: the tension between national and local pay; the tension between simplification and the need to address the different requirements of the many occupational groups in the NHS; the tension between performance pay and feelings of equity; and the tension between equal pay and the traditional pay determination arrangements. These findings are discussed in the context of the proposed new NHS pay system.

Spot the Difference Between the Public and Private Sectors: Disputes and Third-Party Intervention in Britain

This article considers whether there is a difference between the public and private sectors in respect of third-party intervention to prevent and resolve collective employment disputes. Based on statistics from Acas for the five years from 1 April 1997 and interviews with key informants, it finds only a few differences. Public sector disputes were more likely than private sector disputes to have a national dimension and they were less likely to be resolved by conciliation. Also, there was seldom third-party intervention in civil service disputes. The main difference, however, was not in third-party intervention but in fourth-party intervention, i.e. intervention by the Government, which dominates both overtly and covertly.

On Parole: Prison Service Industrial Relations

The voluntary and statutory measures to prevent prison officers from taking industrial action are examined in the context of the measures adopted to prevent industrial action by other groups of public servants. The paper concludes that the government does not have an overall strategy on strikes in essential public services, though it applies the most restrictive provisions to prison officers.

British employment tribunals: from the side-lines to centre stage

Employment tribunals, originally called industrial tribunals, were established 50 years ago in Great Britain and this article traces their gradual change. Originally constituted as administrative tribunals in 1964, they morphed to party versus party forums from the 1970s, but this change did not stop there. Over the succeeding years, employment tribunals moved from a marginal role to a central role in British employment relations, as their caseload has risen, their remit has widened, and as legal regulation has replaced collective regulation. Moreover in so doing, employment tribunals have become less accessible to workers, less speedy and more expensive. They have also become more formal, with legal norms and practices and adjudication by lawyers alone replacing industrial relations norms and adjudication by a mix of lawyers and lay people. As a result, employment tribunals have become juridified. The article concludes by critiquing the basis of employment tribunals which is the self-help/complainant after the event approach, as opposed to state enforcement of statutory employment rights.

Making Sense of Public Sector Employment Relations in a Time of Crisis

The purpose of this book has been thematically to illuminate and analyse an aspect of our society that is in the midst of a particularly turbulent phase of reform and transition: the public sector and more specifically the experiences of its many millions of workers. From Plato through Hobbes and Mill to Hayek and (Ralph) Miliband, the role, function and ideal extent of the State has been debated and contested. To some, a strong, democratic, redistributive state is the hallmark of a civilised society. To others, it is a constraining authority and the taxation it requires to operate is, an unjustifiable imposition. Nevertheless in the modern era, the world’s industrialised democracies have found themselves with a significant proportion of the workforce employed in the delivery of the State’s various activities. Yet the scope and nature of the public sector workforce have become more contested than ever over the last three decades as the influence of the ‘neoliberal turn’ has come to dominate policy discourses (Harvey, 2007). This has been driven by crisis and the shifting forces and relations of production, which have in turn impacted on the political economy of the State and the citizens’ relationship to it.

Combatting disability discrimination: A comparison of France and Great Britain:

This article examines disabled people’s employment in Great Britain and France. In both countries, they are far less likely to be employed than non-disabled people, but the gap is wider in Britain than in France. Possible explanations for the wider gap in Britain include weak enforcement mechanisms, judicial resistance and the lack of an institutional role for trade unions, resulting in an implementation gap; while the narrower gap in France may reflect the more proactive legislation, including its quota-levy scheme. We conclude that these explanations are not mutually exclusive, and we suggest that Britain might consider adopting some French provisions, thus tempering its voluntarist approach.