"In 1945 a Labour government with socialist aspirations was elected. Prior to this, much of the Left's political energy had been directed towards nationalisation and the private sector had been seen as peripheral. Equally the private sector was ill-prepared to deal with a Labour government. Despite the coolness between the two, the war had left a legacy of a high level of interaction between private industry and the forces of government." "Labour Governments and Private Industry examines in detail the complex relationship between the Labour government and the private sector. The first part of the book analyses the types of policy in operation and their implementation. The second part takes certain sectors of British industry as case studies, to consider the practical application of these policies. Throughout the book, the contributors focus their arguments around three main questions. To what extent were the policies of this Labour government actually socialist? What was the role of the Labour government as a modernising agency in the private sector? What was the power of private industry to hinder the policies of the government?" "Despite the centrality of the years 1945-51 for an understanding of Britain's long-term industrial problems, this is the first historical study of the relationship between privately-owned industry and the government during the period. Its relevance for contemporary politics can hardly be overestimated. This reconsideration of a crucial period, with the benefits of the modern perspective, is timely and necessary."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Why our workplaces are authoritarian private governments—and why we can’t see it One in four American workers says their workplace is a “dictatorship.” Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are—private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives. Many employers minutely regulate workers’ speech, clothing, and manners on the job, and employers often extend their authority to the off-duty lives of workers, who can be fired for their political speech, recreational activities, diet, and almost anything else employers care to govern. In this compelling book, Elizabeth Anderson examines why, despite all this, we continue to talk as if free markets make workers free, and she proposes a better way to think about the workplace, opening up space for discovering how workers can enjoy real freedom.

This book assesses the labor market consequences of privatization in developing countries (the Republic of Korea, India and Mexico) and transition economies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Eastern Germany and Hungary) during the first half of the 1990s. Based on over 20 case studies in seven countries, it considers the effect of privatization on productivity and on the level and structure of employment. The evolving patterns of industrial relations in privatized firms and the subsequent changes in wages, remuneration systems and non-wage benefits are also examined.

Adopting a comparative approach and covering four countries over the period 1950-1990, studies the relationship between parties, government, and public sector employees. Examines how different parties and governments treat public sector employees, with regard to level of employment, wages, workers rights and the right to engage in political activity, focusing on whether parties and governments of the left are more generous towards public sector employees than those of the right.

Assessment of economic policy of the labour government in the UK - includes regional planning, economic planning and human resources planning, and covers public enterprise and investment, taxation, price and wage policy, multinational enterprise, economic growth, the balance of payments, trends in labour relations, etc.