Public sector industrial relations in transition

The economic environment of recent years has had a transformatory effect on public sector industrial relations, with the crisis serving to accelerate and deepen changes that were already in train. The effects of this include a revival of unilateralism in the public sector, a recentralisation of wage-setting systems, an acceleration of the introduction of private sector-style HRM practices, and a general weakening of trade union influence over governments struggling to adapt to tough economic conditions.