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Volume 13 of Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations (AILR) contains eight papers that deal with a variety of industrial relations topics. The first chapter, by Stephen Hills and Teresa Schoellner, analyzes the influence of the creation in 1999 of the European Monetary Union (EMU) on the deregulation of part-time work in each of the 13 EMU member nations. The second chapter, by Cynthia Gramm and John Schnell, provides a systematic review and analysis of the effects of flexible staffing arrangements (e.g. temporary employment) on individuals working under such arrangements, regular employees in the same organizations, organizational performance, and macroeconomic outcomes. The third chapter, by Alexander Colvin, analyzes the adoption, structure, and function of peer review and arbitration type dispute resolution procedures, respectively, for nonunion employees in two different business units of the TRW company. The fourth chapter, by Sue Fernie and David Metcalf, nicely complements the Colvin paper by examining the uses and implications for employee voice, conflict resolution, and fairness at work of ombuds arrangements in four British enterprises.

Trade unions have featured prominently in explanations of Britain′s relative industrial decline. Indeed, for at least a century, unions and their members have been accused of damaging productivity, increasing labour costs and destroying jobs. These claims are evaluated to see whether they are the product of systematic research evidence or mere prejudice. Focusing on the unions‐productivity link, looks at the most recent research evidence for Britain, situates it in a theoretical context, including recent American controversies, and then discusses the consequences of diminishing union membership and influence for the structure, performance and future prospects of the British economy.

Volume 15 of Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations (AILR) contains 10 papers, four of which deal with human resource management and six with unionization. Six of the papers were originally presented in “Best Papers” sessions at the 57th and 58th annual meetings of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). In keeping with AILR's global perspective and global sourcing of leading research, the studies contained in these papers draw on data from the United Kingdom, France, Asia, Canada, and the United States.

Examines the recent turnaround in UK productivity compared to other leading industrial nations and whether the improvement is sustainable, with reference to trade unions. Considers the policies required to further improve productivity, the distribution of the benefits among shareholders and workers, and wider community concerns such as the environment. Concludes that there has been no UK “economic miracle” in the 1980s, and that the signs for continued growth are not encouraging.

China has, apparently, more trade union members than the rest of the world put together, but the unions are subservient to the Party-state. The theme of the paper is the gap between rhetoric and reality. Issues analysed include union structure, membership, representation, and the interaction between unions and the Party-state. We suggest that Chinese unions inhabit an Alice in Wonderland dream world and that they are virtually impotent when it comes to representing workers. Because the Party-state recognises that such frailty may lead to instability it has passed new laws promoting collective contracts and established new tripartite institutions to mediate and arbitrate disputes. While such laws are welcome they are largely hollow: collective contracts are very different from collective bargaining and the incidence of cases dealt with by the tripartite institutions is tiny. Much supporting evidence is presented drawing on detailed case studies undertaken in Hainan Province (the largest and one of the oldest special economic zones) in 2004 and 2005. The need for more effective representation is appreciated by some All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) officials, but it seems a long way off, so unions in China will continue to echo the White Queen: “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today” and, alas, tomorrow never comes.

In his review of theoretical and empirical research on grievance procedures, Lewin (1999) states that the “grievance procedure is widely regarded by scholars and practitioners as the centerpiece of union-management relations.” It is somewhat strange, then, that a trawl through British industrial relations publications for the 1980s and 1990s reveals very few dealing with the process for resolving employment disputes in unionised workplaces (usually articles about industrial tribunals, now called employment tribunals). Given this paucity of studies in unionised workplaces, it is less surprising that almost no research has been published recently on how employees and management in non-union firms go about dealing with individual conflict in the workplace today.

Collective industrial relations are crumbling. Alternatives include employee involvement and authoritarian forms of workplace governance. Uses evidence from the third workplace industrial relations survey to analyse associations between these different types of governance and workplace performance.

Investigates pricing behaviour in the retail grocery industry, analysing pricing at the micro level of a London submarket. Looks at the extent and effect of recommended resale prices on grocery items. Compares the average expenditure between stores on a given set of items. Examines differences in pricing between counter‐service and self‐service outlets and also the pattern of special offers. Suggests that there must be a move towards prevention of an oligopoly situation in order to market efficiently.

The paper has three main sections. The first summarises both the evidence for union decline or stagnation (such as decreasing union density, falling numbers of workplace representatives and fewer days lost in strikes), and the standard explanations (such as macro‐economic factors, labour force changes, falling workplace size and changes in the bargaining context). The second section suggests an approach to the comparison of union cultures in the three countries. The third section develops a comparative approach to trends in job regulation, and the role of unions within this. Finally, the paper offers some conclusions from this comparative analysis on the emerging debate over union survival.