Anne Munro

The New Unionism and the New Bargaining Agenda: UNISON-Employer Partnerships on Workplace Learning in Britain

A model of new unionism has been developed which is characterized by features such as the servicing of members as customers and a shift to co-operative industrial relations. The UNISON-employer partnerships in workplace learning in the UK initially appear to fit such a model. This paper outlines the model of new unionism and cautions against interpreting these partnerships as evidence of its development. The paper concludes that this initiative is organized within a collective framework and may provide a basis for the development of workplace trade union activism rather than being indicative of its decline. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 2000.

A feminist trade union agenda? The continued significance of class, gender and race.

During the 1990s attempts to identify a feminist trade union agenda have focused on both the content and process of such a potential agenda. In a period in which trade unions have changed significantly, the general national agenda appears to be changing, acknowledging issues of importance to women. UNISON, Britains largest trade union, has enshrined proportionality and fair representation in its constitution, developing national initiatives aimed at improving opportunities in work and in the union for women, black workers, manual workers, disabled workers, etc. who traditionally have been less well represented. Many issues affecting women generally have moved to centre stage, yet issues affecting women ancillary workers seem as excluded as ever. Through a study of cleaners in the National Health Service this article argues that workplace interests reflect wider social divisions, but in a variety of patterns depending on the social organization of work. Despite thewidening trade union agenda, particular interests — more specifically the workplace interests of working-class women and black women — continue to be neglected.

“Working together – involving staff”

Contributes to debates about employee involvement and social partnership by exploring the ways in which individualist and collectivist aspects interrelate in a single initiative in the National Health Service. Identifies a particular form of employee involvement in which partnership is integral. Draws on a case study of one NHS Trust over a period of 18 months, using individual and group interviews with senior and line managers, union officials, shop stewards and staff. Argues that tension between collectivism and individualism becomes more acute lower down the organisation where line managers are responsible for implementing change. Highlights how understanding of involvement and partnership change over time and how a climate that is more amenable to union organisation can be created.

Job Change and Workplace Learning in the Public Sector: The Significance of New Technology for Unskilled Work

Focussing here on local authorities and health services, this paper examines the significance of new technology to unskilled work in the public sector as it is developing and the implications for workplace learning. An argument is developed that new technology is central to a minority of examples of job change, although, significantly, it is more important to staff–initiated change and to workers’ ability to fully participate in life beyond the workplace.

Power at work: reflections on the research process.

Reflecting on a research project on workplace learning amongst low-grade staff in the public sector, this paper identifies a number of key issues arising from the research process. The theme which runs throughout the paper is a concern with the nature of power, both in the workplace and in the research process. The research itself focused on a relatively powerless section of the workforce. The process of securing access contributed to the research teams understanding of power relations in the work place and to consideration of the nature of the relationship between the researcher and the researched. The paper identifies a range of sources of power and concludes that researchers must use an understanding of the research process as a part of the findings, not merely a route to findings.

Making equalities work? Scottish trade unions’ approaches to equal opportunities

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyse trade unions’ approaches to equal opportunities in Scotland, focusing on issues of: recruitment of membership from different groups; promoting diversity in post‐holding; and the role of “key equalities issues” in collective bargaining.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on in‐depth interviews with equalities officers of 26 unions in Scotland. The analysis takes as its starting point the three models of equality policies identified by Rees: the “sameness”, “difference” and “transformation” models.Findings – The paper argues that, although some equalities officers demonstrated a thorough understanding of the issues, union approaches to equalities in practice reflect the “sameness”, and to some extent “difference”, models: attacking direct discrimination and insisting that members should be treated the same, establishing some limited mechanisms to reflect on the different needs of groups, but being less able to tackle the underlying structural causes of inequal...

Running Faster to Stay in the Same Place? The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Government Policy for Workplace Learning in Britain

Recent policy debates have emphasised the significance of workplace learning to the vision of the ‘learning society’ and the ‘knowledge-based economy’. Whereas these terms trip relatively easily off the tongue, identifying what they mean in terms of a vision of the economy and society is more problematic. We are indebted to Lloyd and Payne (2002) not only for their reflections on the vision of the high skill society, but also for their reference to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’. The starting point for this paper is the idea that workplace learning ought to be central to any vision of the economy and society which is based on skills and knowledge (cf. Rainbird, 2000). The objective is to examine three major arenas of UK government policy which, it could be assumed, might exemplify the way these connections are made in one form or another. These are policy interventions which are intended to have a direct impact on training and workforce competence, on the one hand, and interventions which affect it indirectly, on the other. The example we have chosen of the former is the development of occupational standards in the care sector. These have been developed and introduced as a means of securing a competent and qualified workforce in a sector which until recently has not been effectively regulated. Our example of the latter is public sector reform in health and local government, where the stated aim of policy is to improve the quality of public services. Following the logic of the argument that the quality of goods and services is linked to the skills and qualifications of the workforce, we might assume that this would involve investment in the training and development of public sector workers