Assessing the reaction of trade unions to innovation, this revisionist study asserts that unions do not, in fact, obstruct change as often as is commonly assumed. In a detailed analysis of industrial innovations and labor relations, Willman examines three major industries that have experienced abnormal problems in both the U.S. and Great Britain: the port, newspaper, and automotive industries. The explanation for this pattern isolates the close relationship--in the U. S. and Great Britain--between technological and organized change.

A study which looks at the reciprocal influence of technological change and labour relations and includes case studies from six industrialized market economy countries, as well as a comparative chapter.; The book focuses on the introduction of microelectronic technology in machinery manufacturing, banking and printing to examine how workers participated in the changeover and how labour relations in the enterprises studied were affected by the new technology.

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION BETWEEN EROSION AND TRANSFORMATION: INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEMS UNDER THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE -- Part One TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND LABOUR RELATIONS -- Chapter One TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, ORGANISATION OF WORK, AND UNIONS -- Chapter Two CHANGING SKILL REQUIREMENTS AND TRADE UNION BARGAINING -- Chapter Three TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, LABOUR MARKET, AND TRADE UNION POLICY -- Part Two THE POLITICS OF RATIONALISATION: THE CAR INDUSTRY -- Chapter Four RATIONALISATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF VOLKSWAGEN -- Chapter Five THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AT BRITISH LEYLAND -- Chapter Six CHANGES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT FIAT -- Part Three CRISIS AND RATIONALISATION: IMPACT ON UNIONS -- Chapter Seven BUREAUCRACY, OLIGARCHY, AND INCORPORATION IN SHOP STEWARD ORGANISATIONS IN THE 1980s -- Chapter Eight SHOP STEWARDS AND MANAGEMENT: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AS CO-OPERATION -- Chapter Nine SOME CURRENT STRATEGY PROBLEMS OF THE ITALIAN TRADE UNIONS* -- Chapter Ten CENTRALISATION OR DECENTRALISATION? AN ANALYSIS OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES IN THE ITALIAN TRADE UNION MOVEMENT AT A TIME OF CRISIS -- Chapter Eleven SOCIAL CHANGE AND TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE 1970s -- Chapter Twelve LABOUR CONFLICTS AND CLASS STRUGGLES -- Chapter Thirteen WORKERS' REACTIONS TO CRISIS -- NOTES ON EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS -- TRANSLATORS -- INDEX

Study of trade union attitudes and policies towards technological change in the UK and its effects on industrial structure - cove4s industrial ownership and control, monopolys and mergers, productivity bargaining, vocational training and apprenticeship schemes for industrial workers, restrictive practices, the impact of technological change and Innovation on union membership and collective bargaining, etc.