Private sector norms and public service practices: employment relations in the civil service and the national health service

This submission for a PhD by published work looks at employment relations in the Civil Service and the National Health Service( NHS) over the last decade and in particular at management/union relations, pay determination and equal opportunities. The focus of research over this period was the extent to which private sector norms are advocated by the State impacted on public sector practices: a) in the Civil Service compared to the NHS b) in employing bodies within the Civil Service(ie executive agencies and employing bodies within the NHS (ie NHS trusts). The submission is in three parts. First, the distinctions between the private and public sectors are discussed along with the change agenda pursued by successive governments since 1979 to make the public sector more like the private sector. Second, four key debates are rehearsed: whether the state as employer is no longer a 'model' employer, whether there has been trade union renewal; whether the public sector ethos has been undermined; and whether the accession of the Labour government in 1997 was a watershed in respect of public sector employment relations. Third, the author's contributions to these debates are demonstrated