Michel Grant

Unions and Productivity: Convergence or Divergence in Perceptions?

The conventional view is that employees and even more so their respective union resist and often oppose productivity improvement programs introduced by management. This paper presents the results of a research conducted among small and medium-size manufacturing companies (more than 50 employees, less than 200 employees). Two-hundred (200) interviews were conducted with employers and employees in both unionised and non-unionised workplaces. Our data show a general and positive convergence in our respondents’ perceptions regarding the state of productivity and of industrial relations at the workplace level. They also indicate that unionism and productivity improvement programs can be mutually supportive in a healthy industrial relations environment where these programs are not seen as threatening to work conditions. Unionised employees particularly even associate improvement in productivity to improvement in working conditions. This is one of the most important strategic link on which an employer must tap when preparing and introducing a productivity improvement program. These results must not blur our awareness of certain problems. While being more popular than technology-based programs, programs based on human resources are less successful. Our observations lead us to suggest that a greater employee and union involvement in the design and implementation of productivity improvement programs enhances the degree of employee and union support and increases the probability of better performance.