Outsourcing and collective bargaining in the UK
In the United Kingdom (UK) outsourcing is traditionally very common both in the private and public sector and protection for outsourced workers by a collective agreement is generally weak. One reason for this is the "liberal" nature of the British industrial relations system which facilita...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | informe técnico |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2018 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:199544 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/199544 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Outsourcing Collective bargaining United Kingdom |
| Sumario: | In the United Kingdom (UK) outsourcing is traditionally very common both in the private and public sector and protection for outsourced workers by a collective agreement is generally weak. One reason for this is the "liberal" nature of the British industrial relations system which facilitates outsourcing because it is usually based on voluntary collective bargaining between trade unions and management at the company level. The research project shows that the British industrial relations system has certainly facilitated outsourcing and in particular had the effect that employees who were previously covered by a collective agreement often lose this protection soon after their activity was outsourced. The research also showed that one major trend in recent decades, which has accelerated since the economic crisis of 2008, is the increased outsourcing of public sector activities to private sector companies. Therefore in this report, two of our case studies focused explicitly and in detail on outsourcing of public services to private sector companies and the implications for the collective bargaining coverage of these employees. More specifically, we analysed outsourcing activities in the Adult Social Care and Prisons sectors. In addition, we investigated the role of outsourcing for and within an individual Facility Management Company (FMC). In our research we were able to give a detailed portrait of the different activities, services and sectors with respect to outsourcing and the socio-economic situation in which outsourcing is embedded as well as highlighting the problems and challenges for workers therein. On the basis of our analysis we then identified ways and options for different actors, i.e. trade unions and the state, to address the issues identified. |
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