Employers, Unions and Workplace Partnership in New Zealand

Abstract

In 2005 the Partnership Resource Centre of the Department of Labour commissioned a comprehensive review or ‘stock take’ of union-management workplace partnership practices and behaviors in New Zealand. The Study found that the penetration of partnership practices has been sporadic and/or experimental, set in an environment that is oftentimes abrasive to the concept. Nonetheless, in many workplaces where collective bargaining has existed for a significant period, both unions and management are adopting some key features of a partnership approach. The study concluded that prospects for further penetration of partnerships behaviors in unionized firms are positive as the attitudes of may officials on both sides are relatively open to the approach and to the practices it encompasses. This paper offers empirical insights into the attitudes ad behaviours of New Zealand employers and union officials in single-employer collective bargaining relationships regarding collective bargaining, other consultative measures, as well as collaborative versus competitive approaches to their relationships with one another.