The Manchester Industrial Relations Society (MIRS) is a well-established and important forum for the discussion of industrial relations and employment issues within Britain.

Founded in 1964, the Society has mounted a continuous annual programme of meetings addressed by distinguished speakers from the industrial relations, human resource management and trade union world. We now have over 160 members from across the north-west of England, drawn from the trade unions, management, Acas, Industrial Law Society, and Universities.

Recent Speakers

Speakers over recent years have included: David Fairhurst, Chief People Officer, McDonald’s North Europe; Catherine Glickman, Human Resources Director, Tesco; Shaun Grady, Global Projects Leader, AstraZeneca; Tony Stark, Head of Employee Relations, Vertex; Neil Carberry, Director of Employment Affairs, CBI; Mike Emmott, CIPD; Professor Keith Ewing, University of London; John Hendy QC; Brian Doyle, Regional Employment Judge; Billy Hayes, General Secretary, Communication Workers Union; Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, Public and Commercial Services Union; Matt Wrack, General Secretary, Fire Brigades Union; Alex Bryson, National Institute of Economic and Social Research; Professor Linda Dickens, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University Warwick; Professor Keith Sisson, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick; Professor Willie Brown, University of Cambridge; Professor Geraldine Healy, Queen Mary University of London; Will Hutton, The Observer; Paul Routledge, The Mirror; Paul Mason, BBC2 Newnight; Martin Kettle, The Guardian; Alastair Hatchet, Director, Incomes Data Services.

Next meeting

  • image of Professor Jo McBride (University of Durham, UK)

    Thursday October 8, 6-7.30pm at MMU Business School, lecture room G35 and on Zoom

    Manchester Industrial Relations Society Annual Shirley Lerner Memorial Lecture
    In-Work Poverty: An Exploration of causes, consequences and impacts in the North East of England.

    Professor Jo McBride (University of Durham)

    Despite growing research on poverty and inequality in the UK, academic studies on ‘In Work Poverty’ (IWP) remain limited, particularly qualitative research. Whilst some quantitative studies capture valuable numerical factors, they fail to uncover the complex realities affecting individuals’ lives that qualitative research explores. Organisations such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2026), Institute of Fiscal Studies (2025), Resolution Foundation (2026) and Living Wage Foundation (2025) produce more qualitative forms of data such as this and cite (together with earlier studies - see McBride and Smith 2022) low pay and precarious work as the main causes for the rise of IWP. These organisations also provide proposed policy solutions based around labour market and wage reform, improving social security welfare nets and lowering the infrastructural costs of work. The CIPD (2024) has also teamed up with the JRF and provides materials for employers with initiatives for companies to use voluntarily to combat working poverty. However, cases of IWP continue to rise and academic qualitative research is still lacking, yet this is considered essential to enable an in-depth investigation of this problem. Such a method will gather a more intricate and holistic understanding as to the more complex causes and consequences of IWP and the impact and depth of individualised experience. This is the key objective of this research.

    This presentation will focus on Jo’s continuous work on IWP together with the current research project that she is leading with colleagues from 4 NE universities across the 12 regions of the North East of England. The approach centralises the experiences of those directly affected by IWP. It is being conducted through engagement with voluntary, community, and social enterprises (VCSEs) who have been essential to this work as these ‘on the ground’ groups have experience in supporting those in IWP drawing our attention to the issues that people are saying are important. Preliminary findings from data collected with VCSE representatives has been invaluable so far, indicating that there is a need to better understand how IWP intersects with employment and social conditions. These complex and nuanced factors are currently unexplored and we are examining the way IWP emerges in the interconnection of working and social conditions and the personal, community and household contexts in which individuals are embedded. This has drawn out many complex themes from our initial set of interviews.

    Jo will also discuss the challenges of conducting this research and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the research process and on those experiencing IWP. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the implications of this research for policy and practice.

    Thursday 8 October, 6-7.30pm, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, Room G35 (also accessible via Zoom).

    Please register via Eventbrite to receive the login details.

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