Welfare delivery has become a central point of industrial relations disputes in the UK today. Since the mid to late 1990s, there have been continual and recurring episodes of industrial action of various kinds involving social workers, teachers, lecturers, nurses, hospital ancillary staff, nursery nurses, home caregivers, etc. There are an increasing number of studies devoted to an examination of the UK's New Labour social policies. However, there has been little in the way of substantive discussion regarding opposition to, and conflict around, key elements of New Labour's agenda for the welfare state and public sector. New Labour/Hard Labour? provides the first critically informed discussion of work and workers in the UK welfare sector under New Labour, examines the changing nature of work, and explores the context of industrial relations across the welfare industry. The books focus on welfare at the point of its production makes it unique.
