Why employment relations matter(s) for governance of problems for labour in the real world of work

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this Research Insights article is to emphasise why employment relations matter(s) for governance of problems for labour in the real world of work. This article presents two main points of novelty. One is the contemporary contribution of ER in relation to emergent research themes addressing real-world challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic, climate emergency, intersectionality, technological change and good work. The conceptual boundaries of work and employment/industrial relations research have therefore expanded beyond a traditional focus on collective bargaining and trade unions (although these remain vital). These contemporary themes mainly concern problems for labour, rather than traditional perceived problems of labour. The second, related, contribution is that ER has developed its analytical apparatus so as to be sensitive to concrete real-world issues, like climate change, and new perspectives in social science, like intersectionality. So, overall, there is a new and evolving conversation between analytical perspectives and real-world challenges. [Re]asserting core ER perspectives and specifying a research agenda and road map around big picture themes and challenges, the article follows other critical scholars in suggesting that it is important that ER researchers continue to speak truth to power in pursuit of ‘sociological imagination’ relating to the world of work.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment relations
• ideas
• political economy
• sociological imagination
• work

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Editor Jim Arrowsmith and the reviewers for constructive comments that helped to improve the manuscript. Appreciation to Paul Edwards for some very helpful feedback about novelty of contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Employment relations and industrial relations are interchangeable. In What’s the Point of Industrial Relations, Darlington et al., (2009, 244) note that ‘ER is simply a reformulation of the original conception of industrial relations, with its focus on the employment relationship; indeed, since most employment today is outside the industrial sector (if defined as manufacturing), it is arguably a more appropriate term’.

2. Thompson (2023) defines labour process theory as a post-Marxist framework for analysing the process of deploying human labour power to transform raw materials into products to sell for profit under capitalist market exchange relations. Core LPT outlines basic features of capitalist labour processes (such as structured antagonism between capital and labour) that inform ER approaches.

3. An example of this is a special issue (Dobbins et al. 2023) assessing the international impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on work and employment. It outlines conceptually why industrial relations institutions matter for shaping policy choices across different countries. This includes countries in the Global South that are not covered by conventional varieties of capitalism theories. More international and comparative research about why and how IR institutions matter, both in global crises and in ‘normal’ times, is required, especially in countries from the Global South.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tony Dobbins

Tony Dobbins is Professor of Work and Employment Relations at University of Birmingham, UK. He researches employment relations, employee voice and democracy at work, good work, living wages, sociology of work, and labour markets. He is a former Parliamentary Academic Fellow in the UK Parliament, and former British Universities Industrial Relations Association president. Tony is visiting professor at the University of Malta and University of Limerick, Ireland.