MIRS Links

Useful Industrial Relations Websites

Government and Statutory Bodies

Office for National Statistics
www.statistics.gov.uk
Up-to-date figures for trade union membership, strikes and unemployment.

DirectGov
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/index.htm
This site is a comprehensive guide to everything about the work of employment rights.

Central Arbitration Committee (CAC)
http://www.cac.gov.uk/
Reports on disputes and settlements regarding union recognition arising from the 1999 government employment legislation.

Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
http://www.acas.org.uk/
Useful material on pay, bargaining and industrial action from the principal provider of dispute resolution services in Britain.

Equality and Human Rights Commission
http://www.cehr.gov.uk
Good material on discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, disability, etc.

Low Pay Commission
www.lowpay.gov.uk
Independent statutory public body set up under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to advise the government about the National Minimum Wage.

Academic and Research Institutes

Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS O4)
www.dti.gov.uk/employment/research-evaluation/wers-2004/
Summary of key findings of the latest Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2004, providing reliable, nationally representative data on the current state of industrial relations in Britain.

ESRC Future of Work Programme
www.leeds.ac.uk/esrcfutureofwork/
Impressive and wide-ranging research project on the future of work.

Incomes Data Service
http://www.incomesdata.co.uk
Independent organisation providing information on pay, pensions, employment law and personnel policies.

Institute of Employment Rights
http://www.ier.org.uk
Independent organisation acting as focal point for the spread of new ideas in the field of labour law. Useful for details of employment legislation and campaign for trade union freedom bill.

Institute of Employment Studies
www.employment-studies.co.uk
Independent research and consultancy, covering people management to employment policy.

Warwick Institute for Employment Research
www.warwick.ac.uk/ier
Warwick University based site that features searchable publications related to the labour market.

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
www.eurofound.ie
Information concerning social partnership, European Works Councils, consultation and information.

Human Resource Management Sources

Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
www.cbi.org.uk
The main national employers' association provides information on a range of employment matters.

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
www.cipd.co.uk
Valuable source of material on variety of human resource issues from the main professional body in the field.

People Management
http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk
Online magazine of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, with news, reports and commentaries.

Human Resources Magazine
www.humanresourcesmagazine.com
Monthly magazine that contains a variety of both news and content on HR topics, some of which are very useful from an IR perspective.

Trade Unions

Trade Union Congress (TUC)
www.tuc.org.uk
Features documents, publications, search facility, and links from the main national co-ordinating body of the British trade union movement.

Unite
www.unitetheunion.org
Super union of 1.4 million members that organises across private and public industries.

UNISON
http://www.unison.org.uk/
Largest general public services union.

Communication Workers Union (CWU)
www.cwu.org.uk
Royal Mail and BT workers' union.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU)
www.fbu-ho.org.uk
Firefighters' union.

GMB
www.gmb.org.uk
General and municipal workers' union.

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
www.rmt.org.uk
Mainline railway and London Underground workers' union

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
www.pcs.org.uk
Main union for civil servants employed by the government.

Other Useful Websites

LabourStart
www.labourstart.co.uk
Excellent site for up-to-date news on trade unionism and strikes in Britain and internationally.

Labour Union Digest
www.labouruniondigest.org.uk
Another very good site for daily news features on industrial relations and trade union issues.

Union News
http://union-news.co.uk/
Good source of up-to-date information and comment.

International Sites

Labour Start
www.laboutstart.org
Goldmine of up-to-to date new items about industrial relations in virtually every country around the world

International Labour Organisation: Institute of Labour Studies
www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/papers/index.htm
World renowned body that campaigns for labour rights.

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUF)
www.ituc-csi.org
Excellent site with lots of material

Global Union Research Network
www.gurn.info
Research network with information on trade unions across the world

Global Labour Journal
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/globallabour/
New journal with articles on the global challenges facing workers and the trade unions

International Labour Solidarity
www.labournet.org
International labour solidarity site with news of trade unions and strikes from across the world

Global Union News
www.global-unions.org/
Site run jointly by a number of international union bodies, basically a directory

Cyber Picket Line
www.cf.acuk/socsi/union
News on labour disputes from across the world

European Industrial Relations Observatory
www.eiro.eurofound.ie
Provides very good annual reviews of industrial relations in all the countries covered on the module

European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
www.etuc.org
Trade union viewpoint on variety of key issues

International Centre for Trade Union Rights
www.ictur.org

Public Services International
www.world-psi.org