Read news releases and research updates from our December 2017 newsletter.
Unions and union membership in New Zealand in 2016
Sue Ryall, Manager, and Stephen Blumenfeld, Director, CLEW.
The Centre for Labour, Employment, and Work (formerly Industrial Relations Centre—IRC) at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington has collected data on union membership each year since 1991. The purpose of the research was to look at the impact of the Employment Contract Act on union membership. Over that time, we have reported on the change in union membership and unions. This report looks at the state of unions and union membership at 31 December 2016.
As we noted in our 2015 report, the challenge for the NZCTU and all unions is to maintain a level of union density that supports collective bargaining and the advantages this brings for wages and conditions of work. But recent research suggests that the consequences of a decline in union density and collective bargaining are not limited to unions and their members but impact broadly by increasing inequality and social disparity (Lee and Sobeck, 2012) and slowing growth overall. (Onaran et al, 2015)
To this end it is concerning that while total union membership has remained reasonably stable over the last five years, union density has continued to decline in the last ten years, apart from a slight rise during the global financial crisis (2008 and 2009) when the number of persons employed dropped.
The influence of collective bargaining on paid parental leave
The new coalition government prioritised paid parental leave in their legislative programme, and an extended period of paid leave was introduced last month to take effect on 1 July 2018. But, what provisions exist for new parents, particularly by way of collective bargaining, outside of the statutory provision?
Both paid and unpaid protected child-related leave varies considerably between industrialised countries. While entitlement to parental leave has generally been accomplished through legislative means, collective bargaining has historically influenced the formulation of national policies in a number of countries. Moreover, where there is little or no statutory entitlement to parental leave, collective bargaining can play an important role in determining policy and practice in this area, and in countries where workers enjoy a statutory entitlement to parental leave, collective bargaining frequently builds on that entitlement.
Seminar: transforming workplace relations 1976–2016
The way people work and workplaces have changed dramatically in the last forty years. But how has the management of workplace relations changed? What have been the drivers of change and has it made for better work and workplaces? What can we learn from this experience for future workplace relations?
CLEW's first seminar of the 2018 year on 1 March, 9am-1pm at Rutherford House in Wellington, will explore this subject matter. The seminar is based on the recently published book edited by Gordon Anderson with Alan Geare Transforming Workplace Relations in New Zealand 1976-2016 (Victoria University Press, Wellington, 2017). In this book a wide range of academic commentators reflect on the revolution in labour relations and speculate on the future of work relationships in a world again being challenged by newly evolving forms of work and employment.
The seminar brings together a number of the contributors to the book and will be valuable to policy analysts, employment lawyers, employment relations and union strategists and everyone with an interest in this area.
Take a look at our programmes and register your interest on our upcoming courses page.
