Exploring performance management in four UK trade unions

Purpose This article explores performance management in four UK trade unions. Specifically, the extent to which managers in the four unions accept or dismiss the unitarist, disciplinary and performative values that arguably characterise performance management practices. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research design was adopted to investigate trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management. Managers were targeted because they hold the power to shape performance management practices in their specific areas. The research employed qualitative semi-structured interviews. Findings Performance management in trade unions is linked to the structure, purpose and orientation of different types of trade union. It is also linked to the wider environmental context. The trade union managers’ interpretations of performance management are linked to disciplinary and performative values. As such they are comparable to the unitarist forms of performance management described in the literature. There are moreover, similarities and differences between the approaches to performance management between trade unions and for profit or public sector organisations. Originality/Value The article adds to the emerging literature on internal trade union management by highlighting a particular aspect of human resource management

Trade Shocks and Industrial Location: the Impact of EEC Accession on the UK

This paper combines detailed production data (from the ARD) with international trade data by port to examine the impact of accession to the EEC on the location of UK manufacturing. The paper has two main objectives. The first is to test the implications of models of economic geography for the location of economic activity in a developed economy subject to a significant trade shock. The second is to shed new light on the implications of EEC accession for the UK economy. Our results suggest that accession did eventually encourage UK manufacturing to relocate towards the South-East but that within the aggregate some industries retreated north-westwards in the face of increased import competition. Methodologically we have found that proximity to the ports through which trade occurs is a proxy for export market access and import competition and thus helps to explain industrial location. We have also found that the port-composition of UK trade is partly determined by the country-composition of trade. UK accession changed the country-composition of UK trade and via the port-composition induced an exogenous shock to the relative degrees of export market access and import competition in different UK locations. Our results show that employment responded as predicted to these shocks.UK manufacturing industry, EEC, economic geography

The UK trade landscape after Brexit

The UK will need to negotiate more than 100 new trade agreements if it leaves the EU customs union. • Negotiations with the WTO and the EU are the most pressing. If the UK does not manage to reset its place in the WTO before leaving the EU, this could lead to legal and diplomatic complexities and possible trade conflicts. • Trade partners in regional and bilateral agreements may want to change the terms of their existing agreements; and the UK may wish to include services trade – which is of increasing importance to its commercial performance – in these arrangements. • To reduce the negotiation load, the UK could opt for temporary ‘peace clauses’ to maintain existing terms of trade during negotiations. • In view of the narrow base of domestic expertise in conducting trade negotiations, the UK will need to recruit and train a large body of new specialist staff; these negotiators will have to consult with domestic vested interests as well as negotiate with the European Commission and external governments. • If the UK is to expose its markets to greater competition, it also needs to be ready to help potentially disadvantaged groups at home to adjust. • To ease negotiations with third countries, joining existing (or intended) mega-regional agreements could be advantageous; however, doing so may also result in loss of sovereignty. • The most immediate challenges the UK faces arise from its reduced negotiating power as a sole actor, the initial lack of personnel and training in trade negotiation, time pressure, and concerns that the EU will seek to play hardball in order to discourage other member states from leaving the union

UK trade unions come out against Brexit

Steve Coulter of the London School of Economics welcomes publication of a letter by major UK trade unions in favour of remaining in the EU. Otherwise, the Referendum campaign risks being dominated by Conservative politicians slinging mud at each othe

UK trade in the wake of Brexit

This paper studies the impact of Brexit on the UK's trade with the EU relative to its trade with the rest of the world. We find no evidence that uncertainty and anticipation effects led to a significant decline in relative UK trade with the EU during the period after the UK voted for Brexit in 2016 and before the change in policy was implemented under the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) in 2021. However, the UK's departure from the EU's single market and customs union at the start of 2021 caused a major shock to UK-EU trade. We estimate that the new TCA trade relationship led to a sudden and persistent 25% fall in relative UK imports from the EU. In contrast, we find a smaller and only temporary decline in relative UK exports to the EU, but nevertheless a large and sustained drop in the extensive margin of exports, driven by the exit of low-value relationships. The timing and asymmetry of Brexit effects on UK imports and exports is puzzling and provides evidence of important differences in adjustment to integration and disintegration shocks

Integrating sustainable development objectives into UK trade policy

Leaving the EU Customs Union will necessitate the UK having an independent trade policy. As part of the process of governing its external trade, the UK must consider how it will integrate its sustainable development objectives into this policy. In this briefing paper, we conceive such objectives broadly, including transparency, political participation and access and consultation, as well as obligations within FTAs to uphold labour standards and environmental protections. Here we consider potential approaches to (1) integrating sustainable development objectives into the negotiating process; and (2) reflecting these objectives through UK trade strategy

UK trade and FDI: A post-Brexit perspective

Leaving the EU will change the UK’s economic relations with the rest of the world. This paper discusses the UK’s role in the global economy and the consequences of Brexit for the UK’s trade, investment and living standards. We emphasize that international integration encompasses investment and labour services flows as well as trade in goods and services and that there are important interdependencies between the different forms of integration which should be considered when evaluating policy changes. Brexit is likely to make the UK poorer by reducing trade and investment flows, but the size of these effects will depend upon the nature of the UK’s post-Brexit economic relations with the EU and the rest of the world. We conclude by considering options for UK-EU relations after Brexit and how the UK should approach future trade negotiations

8 May update: waiting for that special relationship

What are the prospects for the US-UK trade talks – and are they just a distraction, anyway? Ros Taylor and Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz (LSE) round up the week’s Brexit news

Brexit: The road ahead for EU-UK trade

The countdown to Brexit has started. Given the short timeframe to Brexit and the large trading volumes, the authors investigate which certainties and uncertainties exist regarding the future trade relationship between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). Certain is that the UK is leaving the EU on 29 March 2019. On the basis of the recently presented draft withdrawal agreement, however, the chances are apparent that the UK will not leave the EU Customs Union and the internal market during a transition period ending in December 2020. Taking into account a possible transition period, the authors discuss the most likely scenarios and their impact on trade between the EU and the UK, in particular from a customs perspective

Estimating union wage effects in Great Britain during 1991-2003

Using a dynamic model of unionism and wage determination we find that the unobserved factors that influence union membership also affect wages. The estimates suggest that UK trade unions still play a non-negligible, albeit diminishing, role in wage formation. It appears that the greater impact of un observables in determining individual union propensity concerning the second period under analysis, versus past unionisation experience, implies that those remaining in unions during (1997-2002) gain most from their sorting decision. The significant contribution of unobserved heterogeneity renders the total union wage differential highly variable across individuals. The endogeneity correction procedure employed yields a discernible pattern of the estimated union wage effect relative to OLS and Fixed effects. This is in line with Robinson (1989a) and Vella and Verbeek (1998) and refutes the pessimistic conclusions reached by Freeman and Medoff (1982) and Lewis (1986) that endogeneity correction methodologies do not contribute to our understanding of the union wage effect puzzle