Peter Haynes

Partnership as union strategy: a preliminary evaluation

Two general viewpoints on workplace “partnership” as a union strategy are identified: it is seen as either a potentially effective strategy for restoring union influence, or as fatally flawed. Discusses the determinants of robust union‐management partnership relations in order to assist the evaluation of “partnership unionism” as a union strategy. Outlines a definition of workplace partnership based on practice. Although common elements with earlier attempts to promote or implement union‐management cooperation can be discerned, it is argued that contemporary workplace partnership has distinctive characteristics arising from its specific context. Two cases are used to illustrate the internal dynamics of workplace partnership and the nature of interaction with environmental factors. The necessary components of robust partnership relations are thereby isolated. Partnership is found to be not only compatible with, but dependent upon, stronger workplace organisation. Such an understanding is found to be a possible alternative to accounts that stress union incorporation and demobilisation.

Non-Union Voice and the Effectiveness of Joint Consultation in New Zealand

Formal systems of non-union employee representation are receiving increasing attention in the Anglo-American world. Drawing on the New Zealand Worker Representation and Participation Survey 2003, this study finds joint consultation and certain forms of non-union employee voice to be more prevalent and effective in New Zealand workplaces than previous accounts have allowed. New Zealand workers report having greater influence over many areas of workplace decision-making than their US and UK counterparts. The rolling back of unionism under the Employment Contracts Act 1991 seems not to have been accompanied by a decline in management– employee consultation.The findings of high levels of workplace influence and consultation in New Zealand contradict the ‘cycles of control’ thesis and challenge the assumptions of radical labour process theory. While further research is needed, they may suggest that a shift has been occurring in employee relations style.

Union Reach, the ‘Representation Gap’ and the Prospects for Unionism in New Zealand

The New Zealand Worker Representation and Participation Survey, drawing on earlier surveys in the USA and Britain, charts the incidence, location and nature of demand for union membership in New Zealand for the first time. Using Freeman and Roger™s (1999) definition, we estimate the ‘representation gap™, the extent of unsatisfied demand for union membership, at 17.8 percent of the labour force. The gap is greater among younger and lower paid workers in smaller organizations in private sector service industries. How much of the gap consists of workers who would definitely join a union if actually offered the opportunity is a debatable point. New Zealand unions face three major challenges: indifference on the part of the majority of workers in non-unionized firms, lack of union reach (mainly into small, private sector workplaces), and free-riding. These challenges imply a mix of responses in union strategy and public policy.

Filling the vacuum? Non‐union employee voice in the Auckland hotel industry

Purpose – To examine non‐union channels of employee voice in the Auckland hotel industry over ten years in order to determine the efficacy of non‐union employee representation in a lightly unionised service sector context.Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on a longitudinal study of employment relations in the Auckland hotel industry. Interview and archival data were collected in three waves between 1993 and 2003. A case study of a single hotel illustrates the analysis.Findings – A majority of the hotels studied have adopted and continue to develop an array of non‐union voice channels. While hotel management retain their traditional decision‐making prerogatives and worker influence is constrained, there is evidence that interest in developing non‐union voice channels to gauge employees’ concerns and interests at work is valued by management, albeit for instrumental reasons.Research limitations/implications – Major limitations include the lack of employee data and sample composition: large hotel...

Union Membership Decline in New Zealand, 1990—2002

This article uses individual-level data from the New Zealand Election Study surveys to analyse trade union membership decline between 1990 and 2002. The abrupt decline in union density during the first two-and-a-half years of the Employment Contracts Act 1991 was concentrated almost entirely in the private and mixed/non-profit sectors, and was sharpest among workers in the secondary labour market. Across 1990—2002, compositional change (i.e. change in the structure of the economy and workforce) and attitudinal change, as captured in our analysis, had little impact on union density decline. Most of the decline in density explained in this analysis can be attributed to within-group behavioural change. A number of explanations are discussed. The findings are consistent with the thesis that the sharp decline in union membership under the Employment Contracts Act 1991 was largely due to receding union reach, resulting in the current unfulfilled demand for union membership reported elsewhere.

A Contingency Approach to the Employment Relationship: Form, Function, and Effectiveness Implications

In the United States, the at-will doctrine purports to give employers the right to terminate employees with or without notice or “good cause.” However, numerous exceptions have made protection afforded by the doctrine illusory, and wrongful termination litigation often results. Other countries such as Canada and New Zealand legally prohibit at-will employment, and require reasonable notice or justification when terminating employees. On the basis of comparison of nonunion employment in those countries with that typical in the United States, we examine alternative approaches to employment relationships (independent contractor, employee rights, and at-will), and offer suggestions for choosing among them strategically based on environmental contingencies, work characteristics, and outcomes valued by a given firm. Although the choice may be limited by law in some jurisdictions, we offer a more systematic approach for U.S. firms wishing to deal with the consequences of terminations proactively as part of their overall strategic planning process.

Workplace Union--Management Partnership: Prospects for Diffusion of Contemporary British Approaches in New Zealand

The level of interest in workplace union–management partnership (WUMP) in Britain in recent years contrasts markedly with New Zealand experience. The characteristics of contemporary notions of WUMP are discussed before considering how it has developed in the UK and examining the historical New Zealand experience with more co-operative models of union–management engagement. With this backdrop, we consider the factors that may explain why there are differences between NZ and Britain in this style of industrial relations. The small scale of New Zealand enterprise (and of unions) and the absence in New Zealand of EU politics and regulation are seen as the major factors in any explanation.