Collective Bargaining and Workplace Performance: An Investigation Using the Workplace Employee Relations Survey 1998

Abstract

AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Barbara Kersley, John McQueeney, Carmen Alpin and their colleagues at the Department of Trade and Industry for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper, and for guidance throughout the study. We also appreciated comments on an earlier draft given by participants in an internal DTI seminar. Thanks also to John Forth at NIESR for his advice and comments which were enormously valuable in editing the WERS data to obtain accurate recognition and coverage data. iii iv ForewordPromoting good employment relations is an important task of government. Our role in the Department of Trade and Industry is to encourage the development of a skilled and flexible labour market founded on the principle of partnership at work.The Department commissions an ongoing programme of evaluation and research in employment relations. In-house researchers, economists and policy advisors devise research projects to be conducted on our behalf by external researchers, who are chosen through a competitive tendering process. Projects typically look at areas where we are interested in identifying good practice, in assessing the impact of particular policies or regulations, or examining emergent trends. Details of the programme appear regularly in Labour Market Trends and can be found at http:/www.dti.gov.uk/er/emarThe Research Series is where we disseminate the results of this work. The views expressed in these publications do not necessarily reflect those of the Department. We publish these reports as a contribution towards an open debate about how we might best achieve our overall aim of improving competitiveness.

Managerial Responsiveness to Union and Nonunion Worker Voice in Britain

“…A workplace is said to have a “recognized” union where one or more unions are recognized by the employer for negotiating pay for any section of the workforce at the establishment. It is often the case that negotiations over pay take place at a higher level in an organization, but if they apply to employees in the sampled establishment, the union is recognized (Bryson and Wilkinson 2002). Unions recognized for pay bargaining also tend to be recognized for negotiation over a broad range of issues, including nonpay terms and conditions and procedural matters such as grievance and equal opportunities agreements (Millward, Forth and Bryson 2000).…”

Unions and Workplace Closure in Britain, 1990–1998

“…However, it is an open question as to whether unions are effective in improving managerial responsiveness to employees through voice. Indeed, there is evidence that union voice is no more effective in improving managerial responsiveness to employee needs than direct, non-union forms of voice, which are becoming increasingly common in Britain (Bryson 2004). A growing proportion of British workplaces house both union and non-union voice (referred to here as 'dual channel voice').…”

“…Underlying unions' ability to perform the three functions discussed above is the strength of the union. Unions' effectiveness in bargaining for their members, articulating workers' voice and operating as an agent for the employer, will depend in part on their ability to represent the bulk of employees at the workplace (Bryson 2003). Consequently, although strong unions may be better rent-seekers than weaker unions, potentially jeopardizing workplace survival, they may also have better opportunities to improve workplace performance in their voice and agent roles.…”

Workplace performance: a comparison of subjective and objective measures in the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey

“…Much of this work arises not from a desire to understand the micro‐level determinants of national productivity, per se, but rather from the point of view of establishing the efficacy of different organisational practices, policies and payment systems. The range of subjects studied have included the impact of union representation, performance‐related pay, high‐involvement practices, and equal opportunities, diversity and family‐friendly policies (see Bryson and Wilkinson, 2002; Bryson et al ., 2005; Conyon and Freeman, 2004; Dex and Winter, 2001; McNabb and Whitfield, 2000).…”