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 second
edition
second edition

Understanding Employment Relations

“Prepares students for the CIPD qualification extremely well… A text which is accessible, but
does not oversimplify the issues.” Hamish Mathieson, Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations,
Manchester Metropolitan University

“This text provides detailed coverage of the theoretical and practical complexities of managing
employment relationships in the contemporary world.”
David Farnham, Professor of Employment Relations Emeritus, University of Portsmouth.

“I highly recommend this book. It effectively combines theory and practice and is packed
with real-life examples that bring the material to life. The critical approach helps the reader to
appreciate a range of perspectives and the style is informative and engaging throughout”
Julie Beardwell, Head of Department, Corporate Development, De Montfort University

This is the ideal resource for students who need to gain a

thorough understanding of contemporary issues and the Key features
practical skills needed for the workplace. > Integrative sections help
students place the chapter
Tony Dundon and Derek Rollinson clearly guide readers
topics in a wider framework
through the multitude of factors – economic, social,
psychological and legal – that shape contemporary > NEW chapter on diversity and
employment relations and management practice. Their equality and increased
student-friendly approach provides exercises, case studies coverage of employee
and reflective questions – plus a wealth of additional resources engagement
online – designed to help readers think critically and apply > NEW extended cases at the
their knowledge to real-world situations. end of each chapter and
critical discussion questions
Tony Dundon is Senior Lecturer in Employment Relations
encourage reflective thinking
and HRM at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has
and deeper understanding.
published extensively on employment relations in smaller and
non-union firms, employee voice and trade union organising. > Clear writing style, varied
pedagogy, and rich online

Understanding
He is also Editor of the Human Resource Management Journal.
resources make this book

Dundon and Rollinson

Derek Rollinson was Principal Lecturer and Head of the ideal for independent learning
Division of Organisational Behaviour at the University of or instructor-led teaching.
Huddersfield. He is now an independent writer and researcher.

Visit www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/textbooks/dundon Employment

For students: additional cases,
multiple choice questions and hints for
answering the exercises in the book.
Visit McGraw-Hill Education
at www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk
Relations
For lecturers: case teaching notes,
solutions manual and many other
resources to use in lectures, tutorials Tony Dundon and Derek Rollinson
or student assessment.
 Detailed table of contents

Preface x Integration 1 Comparing employment

List of abbreviations xvii relations systems 88
Guided tour xix Introduction 88
Technology to enhance learning and The environmental contexts of the
teaching xxi USA, Germany and Japan 89
Acknowledgements xxiv The effects of contexts at organisational
About the authors xxv level: employees and unions 92
Employment relations processes
and outcomes 96
Further reading 100
Part 1 Introducing employment relations 1
1 The subject of employment relations 3
Introduction 3 Part 2 The parties in employment
Employment relations: towards a relations 101
definition 4 4 Employers, managers and
Alternative conceptions of the management styles 103
employment relationship 5 Introduction 103
An overview and integration of the Management defined 104
three perspectives 20 Management in the modern
Review and discussion questions 26 enterprise 104
Further reading 26 The management role in
2 Control in employment relations 28 employment relations 108
Introduction 28 Management style 113
The purpose of organisational control 29 Management style and the
Alternative views on organisational non-union firm 121
control 30 Conclusions 125
Traditional methods of behavioural Review and discussion questions 128
control 38 Further reading 128
Recent developments in behavioural 5 Trade unions and other collective
control 45 associations of employees 130
Resistance to control 49 Introduction 130
Conclusions 51 Trade unions in Great Britain 131
Review and discussion questions 54 Trade union membership in Great
Further reading 54 Britain 142
3 The changing contexts of employment Trade union renewal strategies 146
relations in Great Britain 56 Statutory trade union recognition 153
Introduction 56 Workplace trade unionism 156
The contexts of employment relations: Other collective employee associations 159
an explanatory model 57 Conclusions 162
The changing nature of employment Review and discussion questions 165
relations contexts in Great Britain 61 Further reading 165
The impact of contexts at 6 The role of the State in
organisational level 70 employment relations 167
Conclusions 83 Introduction 167
Review and discussion questions 86 The role of the State in
Further reading 86 employment relations 168

vii

Prelims.indd 7 10/8/10 11:45:54 PM

 viii detailed table of contents

The changing nature of State Integration 3 Integrating the effects of

intervention 172 interpersonal processes  264
The law in employment relations 184 Introduction 264
How the law operates 189 Employment relations climate 265
Conclusions 194 The effects of interpersonal
Review and discussion questions 197 processes 266
Further reading 197 Conclusions and review 271
Integration 2 Integrating parties and
contexts in employment Part 4 Organisational processes in
relations  199 employment relations 273
Introduction 199 9 Employee voice 275
The effects of environmental Introduction 275
contexts on the parties 200 Defining employee voice 276
The effects of the State 203 The changing context for
Further reading 206 employee voice 277
Differences in the purpose and
utility of employee voice 278
Part 3 I nterpersonal processes in A framework to evaluate
employment relations 207 employee voice 280
7 Discipline and grievance 209 Employee voice in practice 282
Introduction 209 European influences on
Discipline and grievance: employee voice 290
a theoretical perspective 210 Beyond voice: towards employee
Discipline 213 engagement 299
Codes of practice and the legal Theoretical outcomes of employee
implications 214 voice and engagement 304
An outline scheme for effective Conclusions 305
handling of discipline 218 Review and discussion questions 308
Factors affecting the effective Further reading 308
handling of discipline 222
10 Equality and diversity management 310
Grievance 225
Introduction 310
An outline scheme for effective
Equality and diversity management:
grievance handling 229
a brief historical and theoretical
Factors affecting the effectiveness
perspective 311
of grievance handling 231
Diversity management: a new
Conclusions 234
approach to equality? 314
Review and discussion questions 235
The business case for diversity 316
Further reading 235
The public policy agenda for equality
8 Dismissal and redundancy 237 and diversity in Britain 318
Introduction 237 Problems with the policy and practice
Dismissal 238 of diversity and equality 321
Dismissals that are contestable 241 Conclusions 323
Redundancy and redundancy-handling: Review and discussion questions 326
overview and background 246 Further reading 326
Redundancy: definitions 246
Reasons for redundancy 247
11 Collective bargaining and pay
The legal framework to redundancy 248
determination 327
Redundancy handling 251
Introduction 327
Redundancy handling: a staged Defining collective bargaining 328
approach 254
The functions and purposes of
Conclusions 260
collective bargaining 329
Review and discussion questions 263
The objectives of collective bargaining 331
Further reading 263
The extent of collective bargaining
in Great Britain 333

Prelims.indd 8 10/8/10 11:45:54 PM

 detailed table of contents ix

Variations in collective bargaining Employment relations conflict

arrangements 335 in Great Britain 379
The dimensions of collective Strike trends in Great Britain 384
bargaining 335 Explanations of strike activity 388
Pay determination in Britain 341 The processes of conflict and
Legal aspects of collective bargaining 346 protest behaviour 391
Outcomes of collective bargaining 349 Industrial action and the law 395
Conclusions 351 Conclusions 398
Review and discussion questions 355 Review and discussion questions 404
Further reading 355 Further reading 404
12 Negotiation 357 Integration 4 Integrating the effects of
Introduction 357 organisational processes 406
Negotiation: a conceptual Introduction 407
perspective and definition 357 The impact of interpersonal processes
The theory of negotiation 359 on organisational processes 407
The internal dynamics of negotiation 363 Organisational processes 408
The practice of negotiation 366 Integrating organisational processes 410
Conclusions 371 The implications for the employment
Review and discussion questions 374 relations climate 412
Further reading 374 Conclusions 415

13 Conflict and protest in

employment relations 375 Glossary 416
Introduction 375 Bibliography 427
Conflict: theories and perspectives 376 Index 455

Prelims.indd 9 10/8/10 11:45:54 PM

 Preface

About this book

This book has been written to make it suitable for students and lecturers of employment relations,
personnel management and human resource management, and in particular, for students with
no prior exposure to this subject. However, it also gives access to some of the more advanced
knowledge in the area, which makes it of use to those who wish to commence studying the subject at
a higher level. More specifically, the book is directed at final-year undergraduate and postgraduate
students taking these subjects as part of a first degree, diploma or masters degree. The book has
also been written for use on programmes that are recognised as meeting the professional qualifica-
tions framework for managing employment relations, as set out by the Chartered Institute of Per-
sonnel and Development (CIPD). There are several components of the book that facilitate this:

■ integration chapters, which explain the connections between processes and themes
■ competence and skills-based chapters, such as Chapters 7, 8 and 12, which cover discipline and
grievance handling, dismissal, redundancy and negotiating skills
■ pause for reflection exercises
■ critical discussion questions
■ ‘real-world’ case studies
■ margin notes
■ review and discussion questions.

In addition, an online learning centre accompanies the book (www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/textbooks/

dundon), containing extra resources for both lecturers and students. These include additional
teaching materials, assignments and skills exercises. The way that the book provides coverage of
the CIPD’s professional qualifications framework is summarised in Table M1.

CIPD learning outcomes Indicative context for CIPD Managing Corresponding

for Managing Employment Employment Relations module chapters in
Relations module (code: 7MER) Understanding
Employment Relations

Understand, analyse and unitarism, pluralism and radical theories; Chapter 1

critically evaluate different
theories and perspectives on
employment relations
legal, economic and psychological Chapter 2
contract perspectives; power and
authority; voluntarism; regulation;
beneficial constraints; co-operation and
compliance; the contested nature of
work; good employment relations

Table M1 CIPD professional qualifications framework for employee relations

Source: adapted from the CIPD HR Profession Map and the Managing Employment Relations module
(January 2010; www.cipd.co.uk).

Prelims.indd 10 10/8/10 11:45:55 PM


Understand, analyse and
critically evaluate the impact
of local, national and global
contexts shaping employment
relations climates
Understand, analyse and
critically evaluate the roles
and functions of the different
parties to control and manage
the employment relationship
Understand, analyse and
critically evaluate the
importance of organisational-
level employment relations
processes that support
organisational performance
Understand, analyse and
critically evaluate the
importance of employment
relations procedures that help
mitigate organisational risk
Table M1 Continued
Prelims.indd 11
preface xi
impact of organisational and external Chapter 3
factors, including workforce diversity; Integration 1
fragmented organisational hierarchies; Chapter 4 (in part)
globalisation; international and Chapter 6 (in part)
political developments; labour and Chapter 10 (in part)
product markets; liberal-market
economic influences; co-ordinated
market influences; the European
Union; comparative employment
relations systems
management functions; corporate Chapter 4
governance; union and non-union Chapter 5
management styles; employer Chapter 6
associations; trade union strategies; Integration 2
union growth and decline; the role of
the State and its institutions; types
of legal intervention; individual and
collective employment law; how the
law operates
employee voice; collective bargaining; Chapter 3 (in part)
negotiation and persuasion skills; Chapter 6 (in part)
individual and collective pay systems; Chapter 9
employee engagement (informal Chapter 10
and formal); conflict and industrial Chapter 11
sanctions; dispute resolution; third- Chapter 12
party conciliation, mediation and Chapter 13
arbitration; management strategies Integration 4
to control employee behaviours to
mitigate organisational risk; change
management; resistance to change;
policy and practice for diversity
management
natural justice; discipline and grievance Chapter 7
policies; factors that influence Chapter 8
effective discipline and grievance Integration 3
handling; legal aspects of discipline, Chapter 12 (in part)
grievance, dismissal and redundancy;
collective redundancy consultation;
creative solutions for the equitable
handling of redundancy in support of
organisational goals, including skills
needed to negotiate redundancy
agreements and implement policy
10/8/10 11:45:56 PM
 xii preface

Understand, analyse and interconnections between Chapter 3 (in part)

critically evaluate the
integration of employment
relations processes and
how they impact on policy,
practice and organisational
outcomes such as
performance and employee
engagement
employment relations processes; Chapter 4 (in part)
impact of employment relations Integration 2
processes on organisational Integration 3
climate, performance and employee Integration 4
engagement; implementation plans
for the effective integration of
employment relations processes to
improve organisational effectiveness

Table M1 Continued

The way in which the employment relationship is managed is at the heart of all management
­activity. The wealth and performance of organisations, and indeed society as a whole, is ­derived
from the value and effort of those people employed in organisations. A comprehensive ­knowledge
and understanding of employment relations is therefore extremely important, not only for
the actual practices of management activities but also in understanding changes affecting the
­management of employment relations. For example, there can be complex informal as well as
formal workplace rules that shape management and employee actions. These facets pervade small
and large firms, and union and non-union organisations.
It is also important to understand many of the changes that have occurred in the past three dec-
ades, some of which have had a strong influence on the ways in which employment relationships
are made and modified. For example, the globalisation of trade has resulted in a more ­unstable and
­volatile environment in which firms have to operate, which in turn means that firms themselves have
to change more frequently. There has also been a vast increase in the amount of legislation affecting
employment, which gives an additional reason for firms to make internal adjustments. Moreover,
the structure of industry itself has changed in significant ways, as has the nature and composition of
the labour market in Great Britain. Perhaps most important of all, working people could well have
different aspirations in terms of the rewards and obligations they expect from paid employment.
Therefore, employment relations is important given the diversity of implicit and informal contracts –
for example, the psychological contract and whether this is satisfied for employees, or alternatively
why it may be violated in some way because of changes in contextual factors or employer actions.
The role of government, through its ideology and subsequent legislation, puts the manage-
ment of the employment relationship centre stage in many areas. For example, government
­agencies, such as ACAS, sponsor the well-respected Workplace Industrial Relations Survey that
helps to inform and shape policy. Government reports point towards areas of so-called best prac-
tice, such as the report on employee engagement, alternative dispute resolution, or approved
Codes of ­Practice in essential areas such as employee information and consultation, discipline
and redundancy (among others). The study of employment relations therefore requires that
we acknowledge the complex and dynamic nature of the relationships between employers and
­employees, and the institutions and contexts shaping those relationships at enterprise level. It
also requires that we recognise that there are both formal and informal aspects of the relationship,
and that, as well as having tangible physical and economic dimensions, the relationship also has
psychological and social outcomes which are equally important in small and large firms, and in
unionised and non-unionised settings.

Prelims.indd 12 10/8/10 11:45:56 PM

 preface xiii

Using the book

PART 4 ORGANISATIONAL PROCESSES

IN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
Chapter 9: Employee voice

PART 3: INTERPERSONAL
PROCESSES IN EMPLOYMENT
RELATIONS

PART 2 THE PARTIES

IN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
Chapter 4: Employers, managers
Chapter 11: and management styles Chapter 10:
Collective Equality and
bargaining diversity
PART 1 INTRODUCING management
and pay
EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
determination
Chapter 1: The subject of employment
Chapter 5: relations Chapter 6:
Chapter 7: Trade unions Chapter 2: Control in employment The role of Chapter 8:
Discipline and other relations the State in Dismissal
and collective employment and
Chapter 3: The changing contexts of
grievance associations relations redundancy
employment relations in Great Britain
of employees Integration 1: Comparing employment
relations systems

Chapter 12: Chapter 13:

Negotiation Conflict and
Integration 2: Integrating parties and protest in
contexts in employment relations employment
relations

Integration 3: Integrating the effects

of interpersonal processes

Integration 4: Integrating the effects

of organisational processes

Figure M1(a) A conceptual map for the book

The structure of the book

The above diagram, which indicates the contents of the book, has two main uses. As can be
seen, while the book is divided into four main parts, it is important to note that straddling the
boundaries of each part there are double-headed arrows. These reflect the idea that the issues
or topics covered in different chapters are all interconnected in some way. Thus the first use for
the diagram is to emphasise that the reality of employment relations is often highly complex
and varied.
The second use for the diagram, which is somewhat simpler, is as a navigational aid to help the
reader steer him or herself through the book. For this reason it will reappear in a slightly modified
form in the short introductions that precede the four parts into which the book is divided. Each
of these parts deals with topics that are focused on a particular facet of employment relations, and
are briefly described in what follows.

Prelims.indd 13 10/8/10 11:45:56 PM

 xiv preface

Part 1 Introducing employment relations

This part contains three chapters that provide a theoretical and practical introduction. The first
provides a general introduction on employment relations, and is based on the assumption that
the reader has had little or no prior exposure to this subject. The concepts and perspectives intro-
duced here are important in helping to explain and understand issues and processes discussed in
the rest of the book. The second chapter draws attention to the centrality of control in managing
the employment relationship. The ways in which managers seek to control different aspects of
the employment relationship are explained separately in this chapter, as control (and consent) are
important elements in subsequent processes discussed throughout the book. The third chapter
deals with the effects of wider environmental factors on employment relations. It explains how
changes in the surrounding contexts have influenced the nature of British employment relations.
These three chapters are followed by the first of the four integrative chapters in the book. This
extends the discussion initiated in Chapters 1, 2 and 3 by demonstrating how the characteris-
tics of employment relations in three additional countries reflect the influence of certain inbuilt
­features, such as national cultures, laws and economic conditions.

Part 2 The parties in employment relations

This part contains three chapters, each of which is focused on one of the main parties in employ-
ment relations. These are: employers and managers (Chapter 4); trade unions and other collec-
tive employee associations (Chapter 5); and the State (Chapter 6). At its end, this part has a short
integrative chapter (Integration 2), which traces some of the ways in which the actions of these
parties are interconnected and influenced by wider environmental factors. It also shows that the
behaviour of any two of these parties can have an impact on the behaviour of the third.

Part 3 Interpersonal processes in employment relations

The two chapters in this part both deal with what the CIPD standards refer to as professional
­activities and competences in managing employment relations (see Table M1). These are: disci-
pline and grievance (Chapter 7), and dismissal and redundancy (Chapter 8). They are followed
by an integrative chapter (Integration 3) that traces links between the ways in which the conduct
of these processes can affect the employment relations climate in a firm.

Part 4 Organisational processes in employment relations

The chapters in this part deal with several important organisational level processes and profes-
sional competences: employee voice (Chapter 9); equality and diversity management (Chapter
10); collective bargaining and pay determination (Chapter 11); negotiation (Chapter 12); and
conflict and protest behaviour (Chapter 13). These are followed by the fourth integrative chapter
(Integration 4), which explains how the processes are interconnected; how conduct of these proc-
esses can have an impact on the employment relations climate of an organisation; and how the
ways in which they are conducted can impact on other processes and outcomes.

How to use the book

General
There is considerable variation between lecturers in terms of what they consider to be the neces-
sary minimum coverage for a particular topic. They also differ in terms of the amount of time
they have available for instruction. However, in the interests of providing a text that can be used

Prelims.indd 14 10/8/10 11:45:56 PM

 preface xv

by the widest possible number of lecturers, this book has purposely been made comprehensive in
terms of the number of theories and concepts covered in each chapter. Indeed, some chapters will
contain far more information than a lecturer wishes to use. For this reason, chapters have been
written in a way that allows (if necessary) some of the material to be omitted. Therefore, lecturers
should not hesitate to be selective about the concepts and theories they use from each chapter.
For the most part chapters in the book deal with separate topics, and each one has a clear set of
learning outcomes that can be met by covering its contents. Therefore, providing the general structure
of the book is followed, it is not vital to use the chapters in the order in which they ­appear. The ­material
reflects teaching styles that have now become more common in higher education institutions. It is also
cognisant of the new qualifications framework of the CIPD, which places an emphasis on learning and
applying knowledge to real-world situations. Both of these mean that there is now less emphasis on
formal, in-class instruction, and students are required to take increasing responsibility for aspects of
their own learning outside the classroom. For this reason, periods of instruction often have a stronger
focus on checking that learning has taken place, and applying the skills and concepts through exercises
and/or case studies. To facilitate this, the book has been written as a complete vehicle of instruction
in its own right, rather than just background reading. Each chapter contains a full explanation of the
­concepts and theories it contains, together with associated exercises and/or case studies that can be
used to apply the material. There are two main reasons for doing this: first, to produce a text in which
students and instructors have confidence; second, to eliminate the need for an additional workbook to
support the text. This latter point reflects the difficulty of persuading students to buy any book, let alone
an additional one, at a time when their income has been progressively reduced by cutbacks in ­funding.

Activities featured in the text

A set of Learning outcomes is given at the start of each chapter, and these tell the reader what he
or she should be able to understand or accomplish. A number of Pause for reflection exercises
are included in each chapter. These are very short exercises that confront the reader with ques-
tions that encourage the application of concepts and theories covered in the text, but in a way that
prompts them to draw on his or her own learning and experiences. Critical discussion questions
have been included in all the chapters to prompt students to engage in some of the more contro-
versial and debatable topics. While these are primarily designed to be an aid to more critical and
reflective learning, they can, along with the Pause for reflection exercises, be used for classroom
discussion. The text also provides Margin notes, which define new concepts as they are intro-
duced, and these are also brought together at the end of the book in a Glossary.
Each chapter contains a number of Real-world case studies, which give students the oppor-
tunity to apply their learning. In addition, the online learning centre contains supplementary
cases, which bring together several concepts or theories. Most cases are drawn from real-life situ-
ations, some from the authors’ own experiences when collecting research data. Others have been
­extracted from the media or were reported to the authors by students or colleagues. Although
primarily intended for in-class use, the longer cases can also be used as material around which
assignments or examination questions can be based.
Exhibit boxes will also be found in most chapters. These are not case studies in the accepted
meaning of the term, although they can be used to illustrate a point or to stimulate discussion
in applying skills and knowledge. Rather, they are real-world examples of the application of con-
cepts or theories covered in the text, and sometimes they supplement a point already made in
the chapter. Their main use is to emphasise the idea that theories and concepts in employment
relations are not abstract pieces of knowledge constructed for the amusement of academics, but
things that find real-world applications in organisations.

Prelims.indd 15 10/8/10 11:45:57 PM

 xvi preface

Summary points will also be found at the end of each major section of a chapter. Each one
consists of a list of bulleted points that re-emphasise concepts, theories, ideas and themes con-
tained in the section.
At the end of each chapter there is a block of Review and discussion questions. These can be
used for a final review of its contents, or to re-emphasise its major points. They can also be used for
separate tutorials, or as a check on learning. Finally, for those who may wish to delve deeper into a
particular topic or issue, each chapter also contains a short list of Further reading at its end.

Prelims.indd 16 10/8/10 11:45:58 PM

 List of abbreviations

ACAS Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service

ACOP Approved Code of Practice
AEEU Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union
AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union
AFL-CIO American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations
ASE Amalgamated Society of Engineers
ATL Association of Teachers and Lecturers
BA British Airways
BDA British Dental Association
BERR Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
BIM British Institute of Management
BMA British Medical Association
BT British Telecom
BUIRA British Universities Industrial Relations Association
CAB Citizens Advice Bureau
CAC Central Arbitration Committee
CBI Confederation of British Industry
CCT Compulsory Competitive Tendering
CIPD Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
CMI Chartered Management Institute
CRE Commission for Racial Equality
CSO Civil Society Organisations
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
CTW Change To Win
CWU Communication Workers Union
DRC Disability Rights Commissioner
DTI Department of Trade and Industry
EAT Employment Appeals Tribunal
EEF Engineering Employers Federation
EHRC Equality and Human Rights Commission
EIRO European Industrial Relations Observatory
EOC Equal Opportunities Commission
ESOP Employee Share Ownership Plan
ETUC European Trades Union Confederation
ETUI-REHS European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety
EU European Union
EWC European Works Council
FDR Federal Republic of Germany
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GDR German Democratic Republic
GMB General, Municipal and Boilermakers Union (now just called the GMB Union)
GPMU Graphical, Paper and Media Union

xvii

Prelims.indd 17 10/8/10 11:45:59 PM

 xviii List of abbreviations

HPWS High Performance Work Systems

HRIS Human Resource Information Systems
HRM Human Resource Management
HSC Health and Safety Commission
HSE Health and Safety Executive
IBM International Business Machines
ICE Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations, 2004
ICI Imperial Chemical Industries
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IDS Income Data Service
ILO International Labour Organisation
IPA Involvement and Participation Association
IPRP Individual Performance Related Pay
IRS Industrial Relations Services
JIT Just In Time Management
JSSC Joint Shop Steward Committee
LPC Low Pay Commission
LRD Labour Research Department
LSC Learning and Skills Council
MBO Management By Objectives
MSF Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union
NASUWT National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers
NFU National Farmers Union
NHS National Health Service
NLRB National Labour Relations Board
NMW National Minimum Wage
NUT National Union of Teachers
PBR Payment By Results
PCSU Public and Commercial Services Union
PFI Private Finance Initiative
PRB Pay Review Body
PRP Profit Related Pay
QWL Quality of Working Life
RCN Royal College of Nursing
RSA Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
SCoR Society and College of Radiographers
SME Small to Medium-sized Enterprise
SNB Special Negotiating Body
TGWU Transport and General Workers Union
TINA LEA This Is Not A Legally Enforceable Agreement
TUC Trades Union Congress
TULRCA Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992
TUPE Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations
ULR Union Learning Representatives
UNICE Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe
UNISON The public service union
UNITE The largest trade union in the UK
USDAW Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers
WERS Workplace Employment Relations Survey

Prelims.indd 18 10/8/10 11:46:00 PM

 Guided tour

Learning outcomes Learning outcomes

After studying this chapter you should be able to:
define the State and its role in employment relations
Each chapter opens with a set of learning
describe the different political philosophies associated
in employment relations
outcomes summarising what students should
critically evaluate the changing nature of State in
relations
learn from each chapter.
analyse how employment legislation can influence
employment relationship
explain the roles of the major State institutions of emp
including the effects of the European Union.

introduction
Managers and employees (and their collective associations
the previous two chapters, are the parties that interact direc
p y gg
something that management should be prepared to discuss.
ing this matter an extensive airing, which could take consi
has been completed, however, it is likely that a milestone in
because by now it should be possible to reach agreement on
is, how many employees of each particular type will need to

Pause for reflection boxes Working with other students in your class, try to identify a s
criteria that could be used to select people to be made redun

Throughout the book these quick activities

ask students to consider their own ideas on the From here onwards, there is likely to be a great deal of deta
redundancies will be handled. Perhaps the first matter to be
topics presented. will be used to select individual candidates for redundancy.
capable of being applied consistently. It is as well to rememb
nancy, gender, race, disability, religion, trade union member
potentially discriminatory in nature, and because they can giv
for redundancy’, they need to be avoided. One criterion, which
because of its (apparently) objective nature, is the ‘last in, fi
nately, while this protects those with seniority, it can also lea
Therefore, managers will usually try to ensure that the emplo
these is organisational structure, because the choice of structu
least value to the firm, and opt for selection criteria such as: l
questioned by either employees or their unions. As will be ex
performance; poor attendance; high absenteeism, high sickn
often closely related to a manager’s preferred style of managin
problem with many of these is that an element of subjectivit
i b f i t h i t th h
Critical discussion question

t ogether with other students in your class, debate the propos

a manager to mould employee behaviour into something that
use organisational structure (including technology and job de

Critical discussion questions

Organisational structure
As was noted earlier, the modern business organisation ten
pattern of horizontally and vertically differentiated parts. Th
In each chapter these prompt students to debate and
in social science concerning the imperatives of structure ver
(Giddens, 1979). While employees occupy a subordinate po reflect in a more critical way on some of the more
organisation’s hierarchy, there is at the same time a hidden
daily basis which signifies agency as well as structure as a sour
which was explained in Chapter 1, predicts that alongside the
controversial debates and issues surrounding a topic.
there also exist interpersonal bonds of identity amongst peop
agency, such as organised labour, to influence relations (Baron
structure alone does not completely determine human beha
much it establishes predictable behavioural patterns. For ex
rules that lay down the activities undertaken by employees. T
g p g
into job descriptions, works rules and operational procedure
What do you feel would be the likely resu
employment, which create a large measure of control over
behaviour in other, more subtle, ways. Differences in authori

Although motivation theory can be a useful

tations on the freedom with which these techn
both the task itself and the technology used cle
tural design is likely to be influenced to some e
ment action, or by management’s own values. In
of its own ideologies and values as anyone else; i

Margin notes
employees. For example, managers who assume
money are probably more likely to apply a scien
ning and directing as strictly part of their own
intrinsic motivation is more important are likel
Key terms are highlighted throughout the A somewhat new twis
management is searchin

chapter and definitions provided in the margin empowerment

Giving people the authority
to make decisions in their
so they can be found quickly and easily. own area of operations,
without the approval of senior
management..
employee engagement
A state of mind in which people
employ themselves physically,
emotionally and cognitively
in their job role towards
organisational goals.
employees, the technique
of a renaissance under th
employee engagement, b
noted that there is an in
multi-skilled workforce,
engrossed in their jobs. A
engagement will be given
present, it is worth notin
ployees display a passion
(Salanova and Schaufeli,
However, the reasons
and/or keep labour cost

xix

Prelims.indd 19 10/8/10 11:46:06 PM

 xx Guided tour
Real-world case studies
There are a number of case studies throughout the
text which place concepts into a real-life context and
increase students’ understanding.
in the long run, have an effect which is exactly opposite to
theories. A great deal depends upon the way management g
to put matters another way, management’s style of managin
employment relations that it deserves separate consideratio
Summary points
■ Because managers have many matters other than emp
to attend, effective employment relations tends to be
■
rather than an end in itself.
Managers tend to use one or both of two arguments to
‘property rights’ argument and the ‘professional mana
■
■
The use of either argument can sometimes lead to a cl
Other than asserting its assumed ‘right to be obeyed’, m
■
ing employee behaviour by using some combination of
Employee engagement is a concept whereby employee
ing a greater emotional and psychological attachment
some uncertainty as to the precise meaning and impa
‘management style’ to mean.
Exhibit boxes
These real-world examples illustrate points
and stimulate discussion of main topics.
Review and discussion questions
1 Define employment relations and, in the light of cur
in many organisations, outline potential difficulties in
ment relationship.
2 Describe the main features of the legal conception of t
what you see as its major strengths and weaknesses.
3 Describe the main features of the industrial relation
employment relationship, together with what you see a
of this view.
4 In what ways does the social exchange perspective on
from the legal and industrial relations perspectives? A
disadvantages in viewing the employment relationship
5 What is the psychological contract and how is it likely
organisation might have with its employees?
Further reading
Ackers, P. and A. Wilkinson (eds) (2003) Understanding Work
Transition, Oxford University Press, Oxford. A useful book
ed picture of changes taking place in the world of work,
relations in organisations.
Blau, P. (1964) Exchange and Power in Social Life, Wiley, New Y
social exchange, which, despite its apparent age, is truly tim
Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degra
Further reading
This annotated list acts as a useful resource
for students who wish to increase their
knowledge of a particular topic.
Prelims.indd 20
the broad conceptual model given at the start of this chapt
countries (the USA, Germany and Japan) to illustrate how
take on a very different set of characteristics elsewhere.
r eal-world case study 3.2: Ba workers
British a irways (Ba ) has been hit particularly hard by the e
chief executive, Willie Walsh, admitted ahead of the comp
l
airline sector as a whole. f ewer people are travelling by air
corporate travel services. o perating costs have also increase
es and the weak pound. in 2009 Ba returned a pre-tax loss
the company was privatised in 1987 and it has stopped pa
it also looks like Ba will have to seek an emergency cash c
or investors.
Ba hopes to introduce a series of measures to achieve
in running costs. a mong other things, the plans include: c
the workforce); asking thousands of remaining staff to ta
month’s unpaid leave or work for free for a month; plus w
and terms and conditions. Willie Walsh agreed to work fo
£61 000 of his £730 000 annual salary. The starting salary
to up to £60 000 for senior and experienced long-haul staff
most cabin crew (compared to £14 500 at Virgin a tlantic).
h owever Ba
to reach an agreement by a management-imposed deadline
reached on the union’s counter-proposal, which included a tw
Summary points boxes
These briefly review and reinforce the main topics
students have just covered to ensure they have
acquired a solid understanding of the key concepts.
transfer, and so a number of contradictory court rulings app
government has had to clarify the issue by amending the o
preserve the continuity of employment conditions for those
to a new employer when a relevant transfer or service prov
some occupational pension rights, this effectively means th
transferred to a different employer, their terms and condit
regulations do not prohibit the old or new employer varyi
employees’ (or their representatives’) agreement (DTI, 2006
Brookes v Borough Care Services Ltd and CLS Care Services Ltd [IRLR 63
in this case Wigan Council decided to transfer the running of car
sector. There were 335 employees who worked for a company establi
occurred by transferring the shares of Cl S l td, along with the same d
court ruled that since there had been no change as to who the emp
had not been a transfer.
Suzënv Zehnacker Gebäudereinigung [IRLR 255, 1997]
in this case a school transferred a cleaning contract from one contrac
work with the new contractor, claiming her employment should have
The european Court of Justice (eCJ) ruled that as there was no tra
and/or a majority of a workforce and their skills, but only those of
there had been no transfer. The ruling meant there was considerable
lations apply in cases which involve a transfer of only labour-intensive
ECM Ltd v Cox [IRLR 559, 1999]
h owever, in another case there was a change of contractor who ran
was no transfer of tangible assets or employees or their skills, but t
a transfer, implying that labour-only activities do fall under TUpe. Th
escape TUpe by failing to take on the previous contractor’s workforce
Exhibit 6.1 Contradictory TUpe legal interpretations
Review and discussion questions
These end-of-chapter questions encourage students to review
and apply the knowledge they have acquired from that chapter.
g g p y
Further reading
Ackers, P. and A. Wilkinson (eds) (2003) Understanding Work
Transition, Oxford University Press, Oxford. A useful book
ed picture of changes taking place in the world of work,
relations in organisations.
Blau, P. (1964) Exchange and Power in Social Life, Wiley, New Y
social exchange, which, despite its apparent age, is truly tim
Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degra
Monthly Review Press, New York. A book that can be a rath
but gives a sound appreciation of one of the more promine
relations.
Budd, J.W. (2004) Employment with a Human Face: Balanci
University Press, Ithaca, NY. A highly engaging text that ad
sions of the study of employment relations, using the ‘effic
Cullinane, N. and T. Dundon (2006) ‘The psychological contra
of Management Reviews, Vol. 8 (2), pp. 113–129. A review
the psychological contract and its role in understanding th
Guest, D. and N. Conway (2002) ‘Communicating the psych
tive’, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 12 (2), pp.
ers convey their expectations of what they consider to be
the psychological contract.
Kelly, J. (1998) Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilisation,
London. An interesting reconceptualisation of what prom
10/8/10 11:46:10 PM
 Technology to enhance learning and teaching

Online Learning Centre (OLC)

After completing each chapter, log on to the supporting Online Learning Centre website.

For Students
The Online Learning Centre (OLC) is your gateway to the following activities designed to
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you have read in the text, and to develop your knowledge in a fun and effective way. These
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■  Chapter outlines
■  Hints for completing exercises and using case studies
■  Additional case studies
■  Multiple-choice questions and answers

For Lecturers
This collection of resources has been put together to help lecturers adopting this text save time
when preparing their teaching and to help them engage and challenge their students so that they
get more out of their course.

■  Case teaching notes including teaching notes for the additional online cases
■  Solutions manual including suggested answers or prompts for all the questions in the book
■  PowerPoint slides covering the main concepts in each chapter
■  Assignments and exam questions with suggested marking frames
■  Chapter
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■  Chapter outlines

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 xxii Technology to enhance learning and teaching

Custom Publishing Solutions: Let us help make our content

your solution
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 Technology to enhance learning and teaching xxiii

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 Acknowledgements

Authors’ acknowledgements
We would like to extend our grateful thanks to the following, who have helped in the completion
of this book: Wally Russell, European Employee Relations Manager, Hewlett Packard, who pro-
vided details of Hewlett Packard’s information and consultation forum; Alan Roe, UNITE officer,
who provided details on collective bargaining agreements; Peter Samuel, Nottingham University,
who helped obtain some existing company and union partnership agreements; and John Forth,
WERS 2004 Information and Advice Service, for timely details and help with the interpretation
of WERS data.

Publisher’s acknowledgements
Our thanks go to the following reviewers for their comments at various stages in the text’s
development:
Ronnie Caddow, Glasgow Caledonian University
Brian Critchley, London Metropolitan University
Karen Gilmore, University of the West of Scotland
Hamish Mathieson, Manchester Metropolitan University
Colm McLaughlin, University College Dublin
Keith Metcalf, Doncaster Business School

Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright and to clear permission for
material reproduced in this book. The publisher will be pleased to make suitable arrangements to clear
permission with any copyright holders whom it has not been possible to contact.

xxiv

Prelims.indd 24 10/8/10 11:46:15 PM

Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Patricia a startled look, and sat up as if some one had prodded him
unexpectedly in the back. He read both papers through frowningly,
unconsciously registering consternation. When he had finished, he
stared blankly at Patricia for a full minute.
“Pat Connolly, what the heck is this trick deed? I can’t feature it. I
don’t get it! What’s the big idea?”
“That’s just a deed, Gary. The cattle and the brand and the water
right to Johnnywater Spring, and the squatter’s right to the pasturage
and improvements are all included—as you would have seen if you
had read it carefully. The other paper is the water right, that he got
from the State. Besides that, I have the affidavits of two men who
swear that William Waddell legally owned one hundred head of cattle
and the funny X brand, and that everything is all straight to the best
of their knowledge and belief.
“I insisted upon the affidavits being furnished, since I couldn’t
afford to make a trip away up there myself. It’s all right, Gary. I could
send them all to jail for perjury and things of that sort if they have lied
about it.”
Patricia pressed her palms hard upon the table and gave a
subdued little squeal of sheer ecstasy.
“Just think of it, Gary! After almost despairing of ever being able to
have a ranch of our own, so that you could ride around and really
manage things, instead of pretending it in pictures, Fate gave me
this wonderful chance!
“I was working up our mailing list, and ran across an ad in the
Tonopah paper, of this place for sale. The ‘Free grazing and water
rights in open range country’ caught my eye first. And the price was
cheap—scandalously cheap for a stock ranch. I answered the ad
right away—that was over a month ago, Gary. I’ve kept it a secret,
because I hate arguments so, and I knew you’d argue against it.
Any, anyway,” she added naïvely, “you’ve been away on location so I
couldn’t tell you.
“That country is all unsurveyed for miles and miles and miles. Mr.
Waddell writes that there are absolutely no grazing restrictions
whatever, and that even their saddle and work horses run loose the
year around. He says the winters are open——”
 That last bit of information was delivered somewhat doubtfully.
Patricia had lived in Southern California since she was a tiny tot and
did not know exactly what an “open” winter meant.
“It’s scarcely settled at all, and there are no sheep in the country. I
knew that would be important, so I asked, particularly. It’s in a part of
the country that has been overlooked, Mr. Waddell says, just
because it’s quite a long way from the railroad. I never dreamed
there was any unsurveyed country left in America. Did you, Gary?”
Gary had slumped down in the big chair and was smoking his
cigarette with thoughtful deliberation. His eyes veiled themselves
before Patricia’s glowing enthusiasm.
“Death Valley is unsurveyed,” he observed grimly.
“I’m not talking about Death Valley,” Patricia retorted impatiently. “I
mean cattle range. I’ve been corresponding with Mr. Waddell for a
month, so I have all the facts.”
“All the facts, kid?” Gary was no fool. He was serious enough now,
and the muscles along his jaw were hardening a little. His director
would have been tickled with that expression for a close-up of slow-
growing anger.
“The only country left unsurveyed to-day is desert that would
starve a horn toad to death in a week. Some one has put one over
on you, Pat. Where does he live? If you’ve paid him any money yet,
I’ll have to go and get it back for you. You’ve bought a gold brick,
Pat.”
“I have not! I investigated, I tell you. I have really bought the
Waddell outfit—cattle, horses, brand, ranch, water rights and
everything. It took all the insurance money dad left me, except just a
few hundred dollars. That Power of Attorney—I pinned it on the back
of the deed to surprise you, and you haven’t looked at it yet—cost
me ten dollars, Gary Marshall! It gives you the right to go over there
and run the outfit and transact business just as if you were the
owner. I—I thought you might need it, and it would be just as well to
have it.”
Gary leaned forward, his jaw squared, his right hand shut to a
fighting fist on the table.
 “Do you think for a minute I’m crazy enough to go over there? To
quit a good job that’s just opening up into something big, and go off
in the sand somewhere to watch cattle starve to death? It just
happens that I do know a little about the cow business. Cattle have
to eat, my dear girl. They don’t just walk around in front of a camera
to give dolled-up cowboys a chance to ride. They require food
occasionally.
“Why, Pat, take a look at that deed! That in itself ought to have
been enough to warn you. It’s recorded in Tonopah. Tonopah! I was
there on location once when we made The Gold Boom. It’s a mining
town—not a cow town, Pat.”
Patricia smiled patiently.
“I know it, Gary. I didn’t say that Johnnywater lies inside the city
limits of Tonopah. Mines and cattle are not like sheep and cattle;
they don’t clash. There are cattle all around in that country.” Patricia
swept out an arm to indicate vast areas. “We have inquiries from
cattle men all over Nevada about stock food. I’ve billed out alfalfa
molasses and oil cakes to several Nevada towns. And remember, I
was making up a mailing list for our literature when I ran across the
ad. We don’t mail our price lists to milliners, either. They raise cattle
all through that country.”
“Well, I don’t raise ’em there—that’s flat.” Gary settled back in his
chair with absolute finality in tone, words and manner.
“Then I’m a ruined woman.” But Patricia said it calmly, even with a
little secret satisfaction. “I shall have to go myself, then, and run the
ranch, and get killed by bronks and bitten to death by Gila monsters
and carried off by the Indians——”
“Piffle!” from the big chair. “You couldn’t get on a bronk that was
dangerous, and Gila monsters live farther south, and the Injuns are
too lazy to carry anybody off. Besides, I wouldn’t let you go.”
“Then I’m still a ruined woman, except that I’m ruined quicker. My
cows will die and my calves will be rustled and my horses ridden off
—my cows and my calves and my horses!”
“Sell!” shouted Gary, forgetting other Bungalow Courters in his
sudden fury. “You’re stung, I tell you. Sell the damned thing!”
 Patricia looked at him. She had a pretty little round chin, but there
were times when it squared itself surprisingly. And whenever it did
square itself, you could souse Patricia and hold her head under
water until air bubbles ceased to rise; and if you brought her up and
got her gasping again, Patricia would gasp, “Scissors!” like the old
woman in the story.
“No. I shall not sell. I shall not do anything more than I have done
already. If you refuse to go to Nevada and take charge of
Johnnywater, I shall go myself or I shall let my cattle starve.”
She would, too. Gary knew that. He looked steadily at her until he
was sure of the square chin and all, and then he threw out both
hands as if in complete surrender.
“Oh, very well,” he said tolerantly. “We won’t quarrel about it, Pat.”
 CHAPTER THREE
PATRICIA TAKES HER STAND
A young man of intelligence may absorb a great many
psychological truths while helping to build in pictures mock dramas
more or less similar to real, human problems. Gary wore a brain
under his mop of brown hair, and he had that quality of stubbornness
which will adopt strategy—guile, even—for the sake of winning a
fight. To-night, he chose to assume the air of defeat that he might
win ultimate victory.
Gary had not the slightest intention of ruining his own future as
well as Patricia’s by yielding with an easy, “Oh, very well” surrender,
and going away into the wilds of Nevada to attempt the raising of
cattle in a district so worthless that it had never so much as seen a
surveyor’s transit. Desert it must be; a howling waste of sand and
lizards and snakes. The very fact that Patricia had been able, with a
few thousands of dollars, to buy out a completely equipped cattle
ranch, damned the venture at once as the mad freak of a romantic
girl’s ignorance. He set himself now to the task of patiently
convincing Patricia of her madness.
Patricia, however, was not to be convinced. For every argument of
Gary’s she found another to combat it. She repeated more than once
the old range slogan that you simply can’t lose money in cattle. She
told Gary that here was an opportunity, sent by a watchful
Providence, for him to make good in a really worth-while business;
and urged upon him the theory that pioneering brings out the best
qualities in a man.
She attacked furiously Gary’s ambition to become a screen star,
reminding him how cheap and paltry is that success which is based
only upon a man’s good looks; and how easily screen stars fall
meteorically into the hopeless void of forgotten favorites.
“It isn’t just that I’ve dreamed all my life of owning cattle and living
away out in the wilderness,” she finished, with reddened cheeks and
eyes terribly in earnest. “I know the fine mettle you’re made of, Gary,
and I couldn’t see it spoiled while they fed your vanity at the studios.
“I had the money to buy this cattle ranch at Johnnywater—but of
course I knew that I should be perfectly helpless with it alone. I don’t
know the business of raising cattle, except that I know the most
popular kinds of stock food and the prices and freight rates to
various points. But you were born on a cattle ranch, Gary, and I
knew that you could make a success of it. I knew that you could go
and take charge of the ranch, and put the investment on a paying
basis; which is a lot better than just leaving that money in the bank,
drawing four and a half per cent. And I’ll go on with the milling
company until the ranch is on its feet. My salary can go into what
improvements are necessary. It’s an ideal combination, I think.”
She must have felt another argument coming to speech behind
Gary’s compressed lips; for she added, with a squared chin to give
the statement force,
“This isn’t threatening—a threat is always a sign of conscious
weakness. I merely wish to make the statement that unless you go
over and take charge of the Johnnywater ranch, I shall go myself. I
absolutely refuse to sell. I don’t know anything about running a
ranch, and I was never on a horse in my life, so I’d undoubtedly
make a beautiful mess of it. But I should have to tackle it, just the
same; because I really can’t afford to positively throw away five
thousand dollars, you know. I should have to make some attempt to
save it, at least. When I failed—as I probably should—I’d have to go
away somewhere and get a job I hated, and develop into a sour old
maid. Because, Gary, if you flatly refused to take charge over there,
as you threaten to do, we certainly couldn’t marry and expect to live
together happily with Johnnywater ranch as a skeleton in our closet.
“So that’s where I stand, Gary. Naturally, the prospect doesn’t
appeal to you at this moment. You’re sitting here in a big, overstuffed
chair, fed on good things, with a comfy cushion behind your
shoulders and a shaded light over your head. You look very
handsome indeed—and you know it just as well as I do. You are
perfectly aware of the fact that this would make a stunning close-up
of you—with the camera set to show your profile and that heart-
disturbing wave over your right temple.
 “Just at this minute you don’t particularly care about sitting on a
wooden chair in a cabin away out in the wilderness, hearing coyotes
howl on a hill and your saddle horses champing hay in a sod-roofed
stable, and you thinking how it’s miles to the nearest neighbor—and
an audience! You’ve reached the point, Gary, where a little mental
surgery is absolutely necessary to your future mental health. I can
see that your soul is beginning to show symptoms of going a tiny bit
flabby. And I simply loathe flabby-souled men with handsome faces
and shoulders as broad as yours!”
That was like jabbing Gary in the back with a hatpin. He sat up
with a jerk.
“Flabby-souled! Good Lord, Pat! Why pile up the insults? This is
getting good, I must say!” He leaned back in the chair again, the first
effect of the jab having passed. “I can stand all this knocking the
movie game—I’m used to it, heck knows. I might just point out,
however, that making a living by expressing the emotions of men in
stories is no worse than pounding a typewriter for a living. What’s the
difference whether you sell your profile or your fingers? And what do
you think——”
“I think it’s ten o’clock, Gary Marshall, and I’ve said what I have to
say and there’s no argument, because I simply won’t argue. I
suppose you’ll need sleep if you still have to be at the studio at
seven o’clock in the morning so that you can get into your painted
eyebrows and painted eyelashes and painted lips for the day’s
smirk.”
Gary heaved himself out of his chair and reached for his hat,
forgetting to observe subconsciously how effectively he did it.
Patricia’s mental surgery had driven the lance deep into his pride
and self-esteem, which in a handsome young man of twenty-four is
quite as sensitive to pain as an eyeball. Patricia had omitted the
mental anesthetic of a little flattery, and she had twisted the knife
sickeningly. Painted eyelashes and painted lips nauseated Gary
quite suddenly; but scarcely more than did the thought of that ranch
of a hundred cattle in a Nevada desert, which Patricia had beggared
herself to buy.
“Well, good night, Pat. I must be going. Awfully pleasant evening
—great little dinner and all that. I wish you all kinds of luck with your
cattle ranch. ’Bye.”
Patricia did not believe that he would go like that. She thought he
was merely bluffing. She did not so much as move a finger until he
had shut the door rather decisively behind him and she heard his
feet striking firmly on the cement walk that led to the street.
A slight chill of foreboding quivered along her spine as the
footsteps sounded fainter and fainter down the pavement. She had
known Gary Marshall for three years and had worn a half-carat
diamond for six months. She had argued with him for hours; they
had quarreled furiously at times, and he had registered anger,
indignation, arrogance and hurt pride in several effective forms. But
she had never before seen him behave in just this manner.
Of course he would hate that little slam of hers about the paint
and the profile, she told herself hearteningly. She had struck
deliberately at his pride and his vanity, though in justice she was
compelled to confess to herself that Gary had very little vanity for a
man so good-looking as he was. She had wanted him to hate what
she said, so that he would be forced to give up the movie life which
she hated. Still, his sudden going startled her considerably.
It occurred to her later that he had absent-mindedly carried off her
papers. She remembered how he had stuffed them into his coat
pocket—just as if they were his and didn’t amount to much anyway—
while the argument was going on. Well, since he had taken them
away with him he would have to return them, no matter how mad he
was; and in the meantime it might do him good to read them over
again. He couldn’t help seeing how she had burned her financial
bridges behind her—for his sake.
Patricia brushed her eyes impatiently with her fingers and sighed.
In a moment she pinned on an apron and attacked the dinner dishes
savagely, wondering why women are such fools as to fall in love with
a man, and then worry themselves into wrinkles over his
shortcomings. Six months ago, Gary Marshall had not owned a fault
to his name. Now, her whole heart was set upon eradicating faults
which she had discovered.
“He shall not be spoiled—if I have to quarrel with him every day!
There’s something more to him than that mop of wavy brown hair
that won’t behave, and those straight eyebrows that won’t behave
either, but actually talk at you—and those eyes—— That darned
leading girl can’t make me believe it’s all acting, when she rolls her
eyes up at him and snuggles against his shoulder. That’s my
shoulder! And Gary says selling your profile is like selling your
fingers! It might be—if the boss bought my fingers to kiss! And I don’t
care! It was positively indecent, the way Gary kissed that girl in his
last picture. If he wasn’t such a dear——”
Patricia snuffled a bit while she scraped chicken gravy off a plate.
Gary’s plate. “Let him sulk. He’ll come back when he cools off. And
he’ll have to give in and go to Nevada. He’ll never see me lose five
thousand dollars. And those nasty little movie queens can find
somebody else to roll up their eyes at. Oh, darn!”
 CHAPTER FOUR
GARY GOES ON THE WARPATH
One thing which a motion-picture actor may not do and retain the
tolerance of any one who knows him is to stop work in the middle of
a picture. If there is an unforgivable sin in the movie world, that is it.
Nevertheless, even sins called unforgivable may be condoned in
certain circumstances; even the most stringent rules may be broken
now and then, or bent to meet an individual need.
Gary spent a sleepless night wondering how he might with
impunity commit the unforgivable sin. In spite of his anger at Patricia
and his sense of her injustice, certain words of hers rankled in a way
that would have pleased Patricia immensely, had she known it.
He rode out to the studio one car earlier than usual, and went
straight to the little cubbyhole of a dressing room to put on his make-
up as Chief Eagle Eye. Such was the force of Patricia’s speech that
Gary swore vaguely, at nothing in particular, while he painted his
eyebrows, lashes and lips, and streaked the vermilion war paint
down his cheeks. He scrubbed the copper-colored powder into the
grease paint on his arms and chest, still swearing softly and steadily
in a monotonous undertone that sounded, ten feet away, like a monk
mumbling over his beads.
With the help of a fellow actor he became a noble red man from
the scalp lock to his waist, got into fringed buckskin leggings, lavishly
feathered war bonnet, some imitation elk-tooth necklaces and
beaded moccasins. Then, with his quiver full of arrows (poisoned in
the sub-titles) slung over his painted shoulders, and the mighty bow
of Chief Eagle Eye in his hand, Gary stalked out into the lot in search
of the director, Mills.
When one knows his director personally as a friend, one may, if he
is a coming young star and not too insufferably aware of his starlike
qualities, accomplish much in the way of emergency revisions of
story and stringent rules.
 Wherefore, to the future amazement of the author, Chief Eagle
Eye that day died three different deaths, close up in front of two
grinding cameras; though Chief Eagle Eye had not been expected to
die at all in the picture. The director stood just behind the camera,
his megaphone under his arm, his hands on his hips, his hat on the
back of his head and a grin on his perspiring face.
“Thattaboy, Gary! Just sag at the knees and go down slowly, as
you try to draw the bow. That’s it—try to get up—well, that’s good
business, trying to shoot from the ground! Now try to heave yourself
up again—just lift your body, like your legs is paralyzed—shot in the
back, maybe. All right—that’s great stuff. Now rouse yourself with
one last effort—lift your head and chant the death song! Gulp, man!
“Run in there, Bill—you’re horrified. Try to lift him up and drag him
back out of danger. Say! Wince, man, like you’re shot through the
lungs—no, I meant Gary!—well, damn it, let it go—but how-the-hell-
do-you-expect-to-drag-a-man-off-when-you’ve-got-a-slug-in-your-
lungs? You acted like some one had stuck you with a pin! Git outa
the scene—Gary’s doing the dying, you ain’t!—— Cut—we’ll have to
do that over. A kid four years old would never stand for that damfool
play.
“Now, Gary, try that again. Keep that business with the bow. And
try and get that same vindictive look—you know, with your lips drawn
back while you’re trying to bend the bow and let fly one last arrow.
This time you die alone. Can’t have a death scene like that gummed
up by a boob like Bill lopin’ in and actin’ like he’d sat on a bee—all
right—come in—camera——
“That’s fine—now take your time, take your time—now, as the bow
sags—you’re growing weaker—rouse yourself and chant your death
song! That’s the stuff! Lift your head—turn it so your profile shows”
(Gary swore without moving his lips “—hold that, while you raise
your hand palm out—peace greeting to your ancestors you see in
the clouds! Great! H-o-o-l-d it—one—two—three—now-go-slack-all-
at-once——Cut!”
Gary picked himself up, took off his war bonnet and laid it on a
rock, reached into his wampum belt and produced a sack of Bull
Durham and a book of papers. The director came over and sat down
beside him, accepting the cigarette Gary had just rolled.
 “Great scene, Gary. By gosh, that ought to get over big. When you
get back, call me up right away, will you? I ought to know something
definite next week, at the latest. Try and be here when Cohen gets
here; I want you to meet him. By gosh, it’s a crime not to give you a
feature company. Well, have Mack drive you back in my car. You
haven’t any too much time.”
That’s what it means to have the director for your friend. He can
draw out your scenes and keep you working many an extra week if
you are hard up, or he can kill you off on short notice and let you go,
if you happen to have urgent business elsewhere; and must travel
from Toponga Cañon to the studio, take off your make-up—an
ungodly, messy make-up in this case—pack a suit case, buy a ticket
and catch the eight o’clock train that evening.
Gary, having died with much dignity and a magnificent profile in
full view of future weeping audiences, was free from further
responsibility toward the company and could go where he did not
please. Which, of course, was Tonopah.
He was just boyish enough in his anger, hurt enough in his man’s
pride, to go without another word to Patricia. Flabby-souled, hunh?
Painted eyebrows, painted lashes, painted lips—golly grandma! Pat
surely could take the hide off a man, and smile while she did it!
He meant to take that Power of Attorney she had so naïvely
placed in his hands, and work it for all there was in it. He meant to
sell that gold brick of a “stock ranch” Waddell had worked off on her,
and lick Waddell and the two men who had signed affidavits for him.
He meant to go back, then, and give Pat her money, and tell her for
the Lord’s sake to have a little sense, and put her five thousand
dollars in a trust fund, where she couldn’t get hold of it for the first
faker that came along and held out his hand. After that—Gary was
not sure what he would do. He was still very angry with Patricia; but
after he had asserted his masculine authority and proved to her that
the female of our species is less intelligent than the male, it is barely
possible that he might forgive the girl.
 CHAPTER FIVE
GARY DOES A LITTLE SLEUTHING
Tonopah as a mining town appealed strongly to Gary’s love of the
picturesque. Tonopah is a hilly little town, with a mine in its very
middle, and with narrow, crooked streets that slope steeply and take
sharp turnings. Houses perched on knobs of barren, red earth, or
clung precariously to steep hillsides. The courthouse, a modern,
cement building with broad steps flanked by pillars, stood with aloof
dignity upon a hill that made Gary puff a little in the climbing.
On the courthouse steps he finished his cigarette before going
inside, and stood gazing at the town below him and at the barren
buttes beyond. As far as he could see, the world was a forbidding,
sterile world; unfriendly, inhospitable—a miserly world guarding
jealously the riches deep-hidden within its hills. When he tried to
visualize range cattle roaming over those hills, Gary’s lips twisted
contemptuously.
He turned and went in, his footsteps clumping down the empty,
echoing corridor to the office of the County Recorder. A wholesome-
looking girl with hair almost the color of Patricia’s rose from before a
typewriter and came forward to the counter. Her eyes widened a bit
when she looked at Gary, and the color deepened a little in her
cheeks. Perhaps she had seen Gary’s face on the screen and
remembered it pleasantly; certainly a man like Gary Marshall walks
but seldom into the Recorder’s office of any desert county seat. Gary
told her very briefly what he wanted, and the County Recorder
herself came forward to serve him.
Very obligingly she looked up all the records pertaining to
Johnnywater. Gary himself went in with her to lift the heavy record
books down from their places in the vault behind the office. The
County Recorder was thorough as well as obliging. Gary lifted
approximately a quarter of a ton of books, and came out of the vault
wiping perspiration from inside his collar and smoothing his plumage
generally after the exercise. It was a warm day in Tonopah.
Gary had not a doubt left to pin his hopes upon. The County
Recorder had looked up water rights to Johnnywater and adjacent
springs, and had made sure that Waddell had made no previous
transfers to other parties, a piece of treachery which Gary had
vaguely hoped to uncover. Patricia’s title appeared to be
dishearteningly unassailable. Gary would have been willing to spend
his last dollar in prosecuting Waddell for fraud; but apparently no
such villainy had brought Waddell within his clutches.
From the County Recorder, who had a warm, motherly personality
and was chronically homesick for Pasadena and eager to help any
one who knew the place as intimately as did Gary, he learned how
great a stranger Tonopah is to her county corners. Pat was right, he
discovered. Miles and miles of country lay all unsurveyed; a vast
area to be approached in the spirit of the pioneer who sets out to
explore a land unknown.
Roughly scaling the district on the county map which the Recorder
borrowed from the Clerk (and which Gary promptly bought when he
found that it was for sale) he decided that the water holes in the
Johnnywater district were approximately twenty to forty miles apart.
“Pat’s cows will have to pack canteens where village bossies wear
bells on their lavallieres,” Gary grinned to the County Recorder.
“Calves are probably taboo in the best bovine circles of Nevada—
unless they learn to ride to water on their mammas’ backs, like baby
toads.”
The Recorder smiled at him somewhat wistfully. “You remind me
of my son in Pasadena,” she said. “He always joked over the
drawbacks. I wish you were going to be within riding distance of
here; I’ve an extra room that I’d love to have you use sometimes. But
—” she sighed, “—you’ll probably never make the trip over here
unless you come the roundabout way on the train, to record
something. And the mail is much more convenient, of course. What
few prospectors record mining claims in that district nearly always
send them by mail, I’ve noticed. In all the time I’ve been in office, this
Mr. Waddell is the only man from that part of the county who came
here personally. He said he had other business here, I remember,
and intended going on East.”
“So Waddell went East, did he?” Gary looked up from the map.
“He’s already gone, I suppose.”
“I suppose so. I remember he said he was going to England to
visit his old home. His health was bad, I imagine; I noticed he looked
thin and worried, and his manner was very nervous.”
“It ought to be,” Gary mumbled over the map. “Isn’t there any road
at all, tapping that country from here?”
The Recorder didn’t know, but she thought the County Clerk might
be able to tell him. The County Clerk had been much longer in the
country and was in close touch with the work of the commissioners.
So Gary thanked her with his nicest manner, sent a vague smile
toward the girl with hair like Patricia’s, and went away to interview
the County Clerk.
When he left the court house Gary had a few facts firmly fixed in
his mind. He knew that Patricia’s fake cattle ranch was more
accessible to Las Vegas than to Tonopah. Furthermore, the men who
had signed the affidavits vouching for Waddell did not belong in
Tonopah, but could probably be traced from Las Vegas more easily.
And there seemed no question at all of the legality of the transaction.
Gary next day retraced the miles halfway back to Los Angeles,
waited for long, lonesome hours in a tiny desert station for the train
from Barstow, boarded it and made a fresh start, on another railroad,
toward Patricia’s cattle ranch. So far he had no reason whatever for
optimism concerning the investment. The best he could muster was
a faint hope that some other trustful soul might be found with five
thousand dollars, no business sense whatever and a hunger for
story-book wilderness. Should such an improbable combination stray
into Gary’s presence before Patricia’s Walking X cattle all starved to
death, Gary promised himself grimly that he would stop at nothing
short of a blackjack in his efforts to sell Johnnywater. He felt that
Providence had prevailed upon Patricia to place that Power of
Attorney in his hands, and he meant to use it to the limit.
In Las Vegas, where Gary continued his inquiries, he tramped
here and there before he discovered any one who had ever heard of
Johnnywater. One man knew Waddell slightly, and another was of
the opinion that the two who had made affidavit for Waddell must live
somewhere in the desert. This man suggested that Gary should stick
around town until they came in for supplies or something. Gary
snorted at that advice and continued wandering here and there,
asking questions of garage men and street loiterers who had what
he called the earmarks of the desert. One of these interrupted
himself in the middle of a sentence, spat into the gutter and pointed.
“There’s one of ’em, now. That’s Monty Girard just turned the
corner by the hotel. When he lights som’eres, you can talk to ’im.
Like as not you can ride out with ’im to camp, if you got the nerve.
Ain’t many that has. I tried ridin’ with ’im once for a mile, down here
to the dairy, and I sure as hell feel the effects of it yet. Give me a
crick in the back I never will git over. I’d ruther board a raw bronk any
day than get in that Ford uh his’n. You go speak to Monty, mister. He
can tell yuh more about what you want to know than any man in
Vegas, I reckon.”
Gary watched the man in the Ford go rattling past, pull up to the
sidewalk in the next block and stop. He sauntered toward the spot. It
was a day for sauntering and for seeking the shady side of the
street; Monty Girard was leaving the post-office with a canvas bag in
his hand when Gary met him. Gary was not in the mood for much
ceremony. He stopped Girard in the middle of the sidewalk.
“I believe you signed an affidavit for a man named Waddell, in
regard to the Johnnywater outfit. I’d like to have a few minutes’ talk
with you.”
“Why, shore!” Monty Girard glanced down at the mail bag, stepped
past Gary and tossed the bag into the back of his car. “Your name’s
Connolly, I guess. Going out to Johnnywater?”
Gary had not thought of friendliness toward any man connected
with the Johnnywater transaction; yet friendliness was the keynote of
Monty Girard’s personality. The squinty wrinkles around his young
blue eyes were not all caused by facing wind and sun; laughter lines
were there, plenty of them. His voice, that suggested years spent in
the southwest where men speak in easy, drawling tones, caressing
in their softness, was friendliness itself; as was his quick smile,
disclosing teeth as white and even as Gary himself could boast. In
spite of himself, Gary’s hostility lost its edge.
“If you haven’t got your own car, you’re welcome to ride out with
me, Mr. Connolly. I’m going within fifteen miles of Johnnywater, and I
can take yuh-all over as well as not.”
Gary grinned relentingly.
“I came over to see how much of that outfit was faked,” he said.
“I’m not the buyer, but I have full authority to act for Pat Connolly.
The deal was made rather—er—impulsively, and it is unfortunate
that the buyer was unable to get over and see the place before
closing the deal. Waddell has gone East, I hear. But you swore that
things were as represented in the deal.”
Monty Girard gave him one searching look from under the brim of
his dusty, gray Stetson range hat. He looked down, absently
reaching out a booted foot to shake a front wheel of his Ford.
“What I swore to was straight goods, all right. I figured that if Mr.
Connolly was satisfied with the deal as it stood, it was no put-in of
mine. I don’t know of a thing that was misrepresented. Not if a man
knows this country and knows what to expect.”
“Now we’re coming to the point, I think.” Gary felt oddly that here
was a man who would understand his position and perhaps
sympathize with the task he had set himself to accomplish.
Monty Girard hesitated, looking at him inquiringly before he
glanced up and down the street.
“Say, mister——”
“Marshall. Pardon me. Gary Marshall’s my name.”
“Well, Mr. Marshall, it’s like this. I’m just in off a hundred-and-forty-
mile drive—and it shore is hot from here to Indian. If you don’t mind
helpin’ me hunt a cool spot, we’ll have a near beer or something and
talk this thing over.”
Over their near beer Gary found the man he had intended to lick
even more disarming. Monty Girard kept looking at him with covert
intentness.
“Gary Marshall, you said your name was? I reckon yuh-all must be
the fellow that done that whirlwind riding in a picture I saw, last time I
was in town. I forget the name of it—but I shore don’t forget the way
yuh-all handled your hawse. A range rider gets mighty particular
about the riding he sees in the movies. I’ll bet yuh-all never learned
in no riding school, Mr. Marshall; I’ll bet another glass uh near beer
you’ve rode the range some yourself.”
“I was born on the Pecos,” grinned Gary. “My old man had horses
mostly; some cattle, of course. I left when I was eighteen.”
“And that shore ain’t been so many years it’d take all day to count
’em. Well, I shore didn’t expect to meet that fellow I saw in the
picture, on my next trip in to town.”
Gary drank his beer slowly, studying Monty Girard. Somehow he
got the impression that Girard did not welcome the subject of
Johnnywater. Yet he had seemed sincere enough in declaring that
he had told the truth in the affidavit. Gary pushed the glass out of his
way and folded his arms on the table, leaning a little forward.
“Just where’s the joker in this Johnnywater deal?” he asked
abruptly. “There is one, isn’t there?”
“Wel-l—you’re going out there, ain’t yuh?” Monty Girard hesitated
oddly. “I don’t know as there’s any joker at all; not in the way yuh-all
mean. It’s a long ways off from the railroad, but Waddy wrote that in
his letter to Mr. Connolly. I know that for a fact, because I read the
letter. And uh course, cattle is down now—a man’s scarcely got a
livin’ chance runnin’ cattle, the way the market is now. But Mr.
Connolly must uh known all that. The price Waddy put on the outfit
could uh told ’im that, if nothin’ else. I dunno as Waddy overcharged
Connolly for the place. All depends on whether a man wanted to buy.
Connolly did—I reckon. Leastways, he bought.”
“Yes, I see your point. The deal was all right if a man wanted the
place. But you’re wondering what kind of a man would want the
place. It’s a lemon of some kind. That’s about it—stop me if I’m
wrong.”
Monty Girard laughed dryly. “I’m mounted on a tired hawse, Mr.
Marshall. I couldn’t stop a run-down clock, and that’s a fact.”
“Well, I think I’ll go out with you if you don’t mind. I suppose I’ll
need blankets and a few supplies.”
“Well, I reckon Waddy left pretty much everything he had out
there. Soon as he got his money at the bank he fanned it for Merrie
England. He just barely had a suit case when I saw him last. I reckon
maybe yuh-all better take out a few things you’d hate to get along
without. Flour, bacon an’ beans you can pretty well count on. And,
unless yuh-all want to take blankets of your own, you needn’t be
afraid to use Waddy’s. Frank Waddell was shore a nice, clean
housekeeper, and a nice man all around, only—kinda nervous.”
Gary listened, taking it all in. His eyes, trained to the profession of
putting emotions, thoughts, even things meant to be hidden, into the
human face, so that all might see and read the meaning, watched
Monty’s face as he talked.
“Just what is it that made Waddell sell the Johnnywater ranch and
clear out of the country?” he asked. “Just what makes you hate the
place?”
Monty sent him a startled look.
“I never said I hated it,” he parried. “It ain’t anything to me, one
way or the other.”
“You do hate it. Why?”
“Wel-l—I dunno as I can hardly say. A man’s got feelin’s
sometimes he can’t hardly put into words. Lots of places in this
country has got histories, Mr. Marshall. I guess—Johnnywater’s all
right. Waddy was a kind of nervous cuss.”
 CHAPTER SIX
JOHNNYWATER
Please do not picture a level waste of sand and scant sagebrush
when you think of the Nevada desert. Barren it is, where water is not
to be had; but level it is not, except where the beds of ancient lakes
lie bare and yellow, hard as cement except when the rains soften the
surface to sticky, red mud. Long mesas, with scattering clumps of
greasewood and sage, lie gently tilted between sporadic mountain
ranges streaked and scalloped with the varying rock formations that
tell how long the world was in the making. Here and there larger
mountains lift desolate barriers against the sky. Seen close, any part
of the scene is somber at best. But distance softens the forbidding
bleakness of the uplifted hummocks and crags, and paints them with
magic lights and shadows.
In the higher altitudes the mountains are less bare; more friendly
in a grim, uncompromising way and grown over scantily sometimes
with piñons and juniper and the flat-leafed cedar whose wood is
never too wet to burn with a great snapping, and is as likely to char
temperamentally and go black. In these great buttes secret stores of
water send little searching streams out through crevices among the
rocks. Each cañon has its spring hidden away somewhere, and the
water is clear and cold, stealing away from the melting snows on top.
A rough, little-used trail barely passable to a car, led into
Johnnywater Cañon. To Gary the place was a distinct relief from the
barren land that stretched between this butte and Las Vegas. The
green of the piñon trees was refreshing as cool water on a hot day.
The tiny stream that trickled over water-worn rocks in the little gully
beside the cabin astonished him. For hours he had ridden through
the parched waste land. For hours Monty had talked of scanty
grazing and little water. In spite of himself, Gary’s eyes brightened
with pleasure when he first looked upon Johnnywater.