Whatever Happened to Apprenticeship Training

This paper examines the development of apprenticeship training in three English-speaking countries where apprenticeship has fared very differently. It declined at an early date in the US in most sectors of the economy; it survived intact in Britain well into the post-Second World War period; and it has survived relatively strongly in Australia up to the present day, though it is now under some pressure. The reasons for this decline are examined and an explanation is preferred in terms of the interaction between institutional supports and the ability and need felt by employers to sustain the system. Where apprentice training survives in these English-speaking countries, there is much to commend its continued existence. However, to survive in the future or to be revived, it needs significant institutional and government support and incentives or compulsions for employers.

The Revival of Apprenticeship Training in Britain

This article examines the attempt to revive apprenticeship training in Britain in the 1990s. Traditionally apprenticeship had been the main formal method of training for manual workers and the principal means whereby intermediate skills were formed. However, from the late 1960s, apprenticeship training had declined. During the 1980s employers did little to sustain apprenticeships, and the Conservative government was suspicious of a form of training which it associated with trade unions. From the early 1980s, there was a growing discussion as to how far Britain lagged behind major competitors in terms of skill formation, especially at the intermediate level. In a significant change in policy in autumn 1993 the then Conservative government announced the Modern Apprenticeship. The first section of the article provides some definitions and a framework of analysis. The second section puts apprenticeship training into an historical and comparative context. In the next two sections the design and operation of the Modern Apprenticeship are considered. Finally conclusions are drawn and policy implications are considered.

High Performance Workplaces: the Role of Employee Involvement in a Modern Economy Evidence on the EU Directive Establishing a General Framework for Informing and Consulting Employees

This paper contains evidence submitted on the DTI green paper 'High Performance Workplaces: The Role of Employee Involvement in a Modern Economy: A Discussion Paper'. This follows on the EU Directive establishing a General Framework for Informing and Consulting Employees. The comments proceed as follows. The first section places the development of representative systems in Britain in a broad historical perspective, arguing that there have been a number of missed opportunities in the past in this area. The second section then maps the current situation - it deals with what British workers obtain by way of representation in general and information and consultation in particular. This is compared broadly in the third section with arrangements in three other major countries, the US, Germany, and France, where we suggest there are important lessons to be learnt. The fourth then deals with what British workers say they want. In the fifth section, we speculate about various scenarios and likely future developments. In the final section, answers are provided to some of the specific questions posed in the consultative document.

The Survival of National Bargaining in the Electrical Contracting Industry: A Deviant Case?

One seemingly incontestable fact about British industrial relations over the last quarter century is the decentralisation of private sector collective bargaining from multi-employer level to the level of the enterprise, division, or plant. This article explores what is often seen to be a deviant case, namely the electrical contracting industry, where multi-employer national bargaining is claimed to have remained strong. This resilience would seem to be despite the fact that, on a priori grounds, given industrial structure and work organisation, multi-employer bargaining would seem unlikely in this industry. The first part of the paper briefly outlines the wider context of collective bargaining trends in British industry. In the second section, the development of collective bargaining arrangements in electrical contracting is outlined. The third section then investigates recent developments and the degree to which arrangements in the industry have deviated from the rest of the private sector. In the final section explanations are offered and implications are explored. The industry's bargaining arrangements are seen as having some positive outcomes in terms of the regulation of self-employment, employee benefits, and training.

Comparatively Open: Statutory Information Disclosure for Consultation and Bargaining in Germany, France and the UK

Information provision is an important part of all mechanisms which give employees voice atwork. This paper considers the law on information disclosure for joint consultation andcollective bargaining in three countries, Germany, France, and the UK, chosen for theirdistinctive legal and institutional arrangements, within a common European Union context. Itis argued that there is coherence between the law and institutions in Germany; in France,despite extensive legal support for information provision, the law and institutions complementone another less; in the UK, there are contradictory approaches and new dilemmasconfronting the traditional system. Although European Directives harmonise statutoryminima, there are few signs of common disclosure practice emerging across the threecountries.Collective bargaining, information disclosure, unions, Germany, France, UK

The Provision of Training in Britain: Case Studies of Inter-Firm Coordination

This article examines how and why employers cooperate in the provision of training. Such cooperation has a long history in Britain, but it has varied over time in extent and strength. It exists in a strong form in the German speaking countries where employers' organisations and chambers of commerce are a fundamental part of the training system. In the UK, we argue that this form of training is more prevalent than is often thought and that it can have a positive effect on the quantity and quality of training. Case studies are presented of the following: an industry-wide body, namely an employers' association; a local multi- industry body, namely a chamber of commerce; a traditional group training association; a local consortium of big employers; and a network of firms in a large company's supply chain. Though such forms of organisation have much to commend them in the training field, in the UK coverage is uneven and its stability is fragile.

The right to know: disclosure of information for collective bargaining and joint consultation

The legal obligation on employers to provide information to employees has grown since the early 1970s. At that time, the emphasis was on disclosure for collective bargaining. In the 1980s and 1990s, the emphasis shifted more to disclosure for joint consultation. In the context of new legislation, the possibility of further interventions from Europe, and a greater commitment to openness in other areas of company and public life, disclosure of information for collective bargaining and joint consultation at work is again on the agenda. This article focuses on disclosure for both of these processes. Disclosure for collective bargaining is the most developed and potentially significant area of the law from an industrial relations perspective. Disclosure for joint consultation, however, has been the most dynamic area in recent years. Voluntary information provision by firms has also been a significant part of developing human resource management practice. The paper therefore provides a broad examination of the law on disclosure. The UK provisions are conceptualised as constituting an agenda-driven disclosure model; i.e. the trigger for their use lies within the bargaining agenda. By contrast, the provisions stemming from European initiatives are event-driven; i.e. they are triggered by specific employer initiated events that affect employment contracts in other ways irrespective of the representative context. In the final sections, we attempt a broader evaluation of the intent and impact of the legislation and assess the pros and cons of the different approaches