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There has long been an interest in consultative processes and in raising the level of social dialogue within European companies ever since the Vredeling proposals of the early 1970s. While such interest has been delayed and made secondary to market‐oriented integration policies (Ramsay, 1990; Grahl and Teague, 1990), it has reemerged in the very systematic development of the European Works Council directive. Given that the employers had been strongly resisting any such legislation since the original Vredeling proposals, coupled with the reduction in trade union political influence and power throughout Europe generally, it is not surprising that the European Works Council directive has been warmly greeted by the unions generally.

Throughout the 1980s British port employers had increased their pressure on Government to repeal the National Dock Labour Scheme (NDLS); a scheme introduced in 1947 to regulate the employment of dockworkers. The port employers had continually argued that the main cause of the uncompetitive nature and poor performance of the British ports in comparison to its European neighbours was the Dock Labour Scheme. Deregulation was seen as not only the answer to revitalising the British port industry itself, but essential to enable ports to compete in the Single European Market. The employers' demands were answered with the abolition of the NDLS in 1989. Since this time, competition between British ports has intensified, with substantial job losses accompanying the introduction of radically different working practices.

The adoption of human resource management (HRM) and assertive attempts at organisational change in key multi‐national corporations (MNC's) present the European labour movement with a serious challenge in terms of its traditions. Such a challenge has various dimensions. First, it attempts to construct the company as the locus of worker loyalty through a range of techniques disturbing traditional understandings of solidarity. Secondly, representation at the level of the company is developed and articulated around the broader concerns of the company. Thirdly, the adoption of techniques such as teamworking, team briefings and other direct communications with employees indirectly undermines the joint union‐management regulations of work in its attempt to redefine working practices, and opens up an alternative vision of collective worker organisation. The combination of these three dimensions, when used in a concerted manner, serve to undermine the independent nature of labour representation via the trade union. Co‐existence, as envisaged by Guest (1989), between traditional industrial relations systems and the HRM project is difficult to accommodate given that its long term objective is to gain worker allegiance.

Reviews the competing perspectives given to the developments of European works councils (EWCs). In doing this an evaluation is given regarding the current state of the European labour movement and its ability to condition and influence contemporary practices of multinational corporations in an era of disturbances to existing national industrial relations regimes. In particular, the article addresses the concerns raised by commentators who adopt the position that EWCs may undermine traditional forms of joint regulation and, consequently, reinforce the development of narrow/parochial enterprise‐based unionism. The paper questions this position by offering an alternative interpretation regarding the evolution and influence that EWCs can have on the management of MNCs. It highlights how management information systems, organisational structures and power relations are vulnerable to employee collaborative activities across national boundaries.

A local company, Briton Electronics, have successfully completed and delivered a vital piece of equipment designed for use on flight simulators for the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford.

Film provides an alternative medium for assessing our interpretations of cultural icons. This selective list looks at the film and video sources for information on and interpretations of the life of Woody Guthrie.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the returns to the investors and the state in private finance of road infrastructure. It uses an empirical case of the E4 Helsinki-Lahti road, which was built in 1995-1999 in Finland as the first real PPP-project.

The analysis adopts an approach based on cash flow modelling of the project and the analyses show how the cash flows are formed and divided between the various stakeholders. The pure cash flow based approach to compare the economics of PPP vs traditional procurement of road infrastructure projects produced results that pose challenges to the logic, and pros and cons of shadow toll PPPs.

The analysis shows that potential win-win situations are hard to find in shadow toll arrangements. This is largely due to the different discount rates used by investors and state. It is argued that the state does not include all the true costs in its appraisal of projects. Private investors, in principle and as a rule, price all of the relevant risks and uncertainties of which they are cognisant.

The paper presents an analytical cash flow model that can be applied a wider range of PPP projects than simply to shadow toll roads. The paper contributes to the discussion on the viability of PPPs in different contexts.