On the nature of industrial decline in the UK

Abstract

poor competitive performance of the UK economy since the second world war (Blackaby, 1979; Singh, 1977), and in particular has highlighted its relatively low productivity growth (Maddison, 1977). These studies however have tended to ignore workplace conflict over the organisation of production, although the resolution of this conflict significantly influences overall factor productivity. (This point has also been made by Mason (1979).) The labour process has also been largely neglected in those studies which have recognised that the relative industrial decline of the UK economy has been underway for over a century. The supply side of the economy has of course by no means been completely ignored: many studies have detailed how since at least 1870 Britain has been systematically slow at widely adopting new products and processes even when these were invented (and sometimes even manufactured) in Britain, while others have drawn attention to relatively high manning levels in the UK.f Even so, the focus of attention has usually been on 'entrepreneurial failure'J or on so-called 'institutional' factors such as Britain's failure to develop a comprehensive technical education system in the nineteenth century. § While the importance of factors such as the educational infrastructure is not disputed we shall argue that Britain's industrial performance cannot be understood without some analysis of the labour process. The role of collective bargaining and the strength of job-based worker organisation are factors which must be carefully considered. In the UK, collective bargaining over all aspects of work takes place at local as well as at national level. However, the ability