Stabilising Industrial Relations in a Multi‐Plant Footwear Company

This article derives from a research project supported by the Social Science Research Council, the results of which appear in a book, Rule Making and Industrial Peace. The article is an account of industrial relations in a large multiplant footwear manufacturing company and a discussion of the factors, including personnel management initiatives, which appear to make for stable industrial relations in circumstances which from experience in some other industries commonly seem conducive to conflict, e.g. a high proportion of the labour force employed on payment by results, variable piecework earnings and disparities of earnings between factories.