- ‘at its most basic level, every employment relationship is’ both an ‘economic exchange’ and a ‘power relationship’ between two parties, employers and employees. Because the exchange of labour power is different to any other commodity, the employment relationship is a continuous, open-ended authority relationship. The two sides are interdependent and display patterns of conflict and accommodation, ‘but the employer is in possession of greater power resources than the employee, creating an assymetrical relationship between the parties’.
Blyton and Turnbull (2004, pp. 34, 13) Ackers (2005b)
Reflecting critically upon this statement discuss whether employees can work with their employers to seek to redress a balance of power and develop strategies for workplace cooperation. Justify your answer, drawing upon academic theory and empirical evidence.
