ANNUAL-REVIEW ARTICLE 1994

This review examines trends in the economy and industrial relations in 1994 and goes on to consider the implications for unions of the conti nuing restructuring of organizations in the public and private sectors . The background is one of cyclical improvement in economic performanc e, with low inflation and strong growth feeding through to higher prof it margins. Firms are shown to have enjoyed the benefits of the upturn with little pressure from labour for a greater share of the surplus. Unsurprisingly, employers have not generated much demand for further r eform of the industrial relations system. Unions, on the other hand, h ave remained largely on the defensive, from a combination of job insec urity among their members, organizational constraints and political ma rginalization. Initiatives from the TUC show evidence of the union mov ement trying to develop a new set of strategies to break out of the sp iral of decline.