For many managers, the law relating to employment can seem labyrinthine, gut with today's escalating number of legal claims, they ignore it at their peril. Managers must be able to construct sound yet flexible and progressive policies built on firm legal foundations. This series should enable them to meet the challenge. It forms a practical, and above all, accessible source of reference on employment practice and the law. Individual titles have been written by leading employment law experts and human resource practitioners. Together, they provide a combination of up-to-date legal guidance with in-depth advice on current employment issues. Recent legislation and competitive pressures have swept aside many industrial relations traditions. Yet, working effectively with the unions is a continuing and crucial challenge for most organizations. So, although employers should always seek co-operation rather than conflict, it is also essential that they understand the legal framework, and establish machinery for dealing with disputes. This guide considers: recognition, derecognition and single-union agreements; effective bargaining strategies for the 1990s; consultation, training, technological change, and health and safety; arbitration, conciliation and the role of ACAS; disputes, strike ballots and termination of contracts; and likely union responses - and the best countermeasures.