This article presents some results of the study presented by the author in his General Report to the XVIth World Congress of the International Society for Labour Law and Social Security under the title of 'Industrial Relations, including Collective Disputes, in the Public Sector'. Following a historical overview of earlier studies (by Schregle, Bellace and Treu) looking at public sector industrial relations, attention is drawn to particular characteristics of this field of activity, and to the problem of how the modern 'public sector' phenomenon should now be defined. In the light of these observations, the author then reviews evidence of the dramatically changing face of public sector industrial relationships across the Globe, particularly in the wake of widespread 'privatisation' initiatives. The impact of such change upon the parties to public sector bargaining is then addressed, before some recent trends in the bargaining processes themselves are highlighted. After canvassing a variety of key issues touching industrial relations in the public sector on the threshold of a new Millennium, the author concludes with an assessment of emerging trends and offers some tentative comments on the future direction of public sector industrial relationships.
International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations