Individual statutory employment rights since 1997: constrained expansion

Abstract

This article explores developments in statutory individual employment rights since the election of the Labour Government in 1997. It also discusses the mechanisms for the adjudication and enforcement of individual employment rights. There have been changes in the institutions and dispute settlement processes and procedures, although I argue that an opportunity for a radical re‐think was missed. There are continuities with Conservative thinking, as well as departures from it. Part of my argument is that policy is being based on a problematic representation of “the problem” of increased exercise of individual rights. There is also a neglect of the inter‐relationship between individual employment rights and collective representation at the workplace. The weakening of individual employment rights under previous Conservative Governments was achieved in part by weakening collective organization. Although the Labour Government has addressed the former by strengthening and expanding individual statutory rights, I argue that achievements are constrained by its seeming ambivalence towards the latter.