Industrial Relations and the New Orthodoxy? A Comparison of Irish and US Manufacturing Companies

The prolonged economic crisis in Ireland of the 1950s forced a reassessment of national economic policy, a move towards Free Trade and the adoption of an outward looking policy initiated by a strategy of ‘industrialisation by invitation’ (O'Malley, 1989). To attract foreign companies the Irish government provided grant aid to firms establishing in Ireland and the profits of export oriented industry were exempt from tax for 15 years (Daly, 1981). By the mid 1990s Ireland had apparently been transformed into a modern industrial state but indigenous industry had contributed little to industrial expansion or employment. Foreign Multinational Corporations (MNCs) accounted for 41% of manufacturing employment with over three quarters of that employment being in firms which had started up since the 1950s. While research on the impact of MNCs on the Irish economy focused mainly on employment creation the study of labour relations in such firms received much less attention. Two articles published in the mid 80s attempted to remedy this neglect (Enderwick, 1986; Kelly & Brannick, 1985).