Labor law is a highly dynamic and complex field which can be properly understood only in its broader international and historical context. This textbook - a work increasingly cited as authoritative in the higher appellate courts - provides a comprehensive analysis of current British labor law, which explains the role of different legal sources, as well as social and economic policy, in its development. It thus enables readers to obtain a deeper insight into likely future changes in the law. This sixth edition, while following the broad pattern of previous editions, highlights important new developments in the areas of: the contract of employment * discipline and dismissal * equality law * EU law * employee representation * human rights * 'work-life balance' policies * trade union law * industrial action law. The book examines in detail the law governing individual employment relations, with chapters covering the definition of the employment relationship; the sources and regulation of terms and conditions of employment; discipline and termination of employment; and equality of treatment. This is followed by an analysis of the elements of collective labor law: the forms of collective organization, freedom of association, employee representation, internal trade union government, and the law relating to industrial action. It is an essential text for scholars and students of law and of disciplines related to management and industrial relations.