Tips and housekeeping

114.709: Managing
Employment Relations (ER) 1. Prepare for each ‘class’

2. Participate in ‘class’
Week One: What is ER? What is the
point of ER?
3. Written/assessed work – see course guide
Prof. Jane Parker – case study report (25%)
QB Room 3.03
Email: J.Parker@massey.ac.nz – essay (35%)
– media watch report (40%)

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Expectations
Introductions
• what do you hope to learn from this course?
Please introduce yourself on Stream to the
• my expectations of you class – your background, areas of study, work
– active participation experience, etc.
– self-directed learning and assessment
– curiosity – please feel free to enquire about any
aspect of the course on which you need clarification

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Week 1: outline 1 What is ER?

1. What is ER?
2. Questioning ER’s
i) what do you think? why?
relevance
3. Some conclusions
How would you define ER and what are
Readings the rationales for your definition?
Parker (2013) Ch. 1
Arrowsmith (2013) in Feel free to post your responses on
Parker Ch. 11
Stream
Rasmussen (2009) Ch. 1
BUIRA (2009)
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ii) Towards a definition
– changes in the titles adopted for NZ texts (see
– wide-ranging, for instance – the study of ... Rasmussen 2008:3-4):
• factors that lead to industrial conflict and its resolution
• individual and collective activities of labour • Industrial Relations in New Zealand (1978)
• institutions and procedures regulating employment • Labour Relations in New Zealand (1989)
• behavioral relationships in industry • Labour and Employment Relations in NZ (1994)
• all aspects of job regulation (rule making and • Employment Relations in NZ (2008), Employee Relations ...
administration which regulates ER – formal and informal,
structured or unstructured)
– where next?
– reflects expansion of subject area; shifting
– different foci, reflecting in part the different wide
employment norms and practices; strategic shifts in
variety of more established areas of study on which
industry (cf. journal names):
the subject draws (Deeks, Parker and Ryan 1994)

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– disciplines on which ER draws:

iii) Perspectives / theories on ER
• economics
• psychology – ER as ‘a politics of interests’: 2 primary outcomes:
• sociology
• political science
• set of rules (and frameworks and processes for making
rules) that determine a particular employment relationship
• historical and legal studies
• others? • set of understandings (may not be formally codified) which
form the psychological contract between parties
– ER is the study of: – nb: both are constantly under review

• relative powers and interests of key parties in employment

regulation and the establishment of workplace rights
– a multi-level perspective of ER
• strategies to influence, regulate or control ER • widens our definition beyond the employer and employee
• rules and processes to regulate ER at the workplace to consider
• contexts within which powers and interests of parties are
– workplace setting - national arena
established and exercised, and in which rules and processes that
– organisational arena - international setting
regulate ER are formed and applied (Rasmussen 2008)
– industry arena

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– Ongoing debate over whether ER/IR is a

multidisciplinary ‘field of study’ or a ‘discipline ‘ in its Exercise:
own right.
• think about how you would position the
– Bray (2000) identifies 5 core characteristics of the
subject:
fields of ER and HRM in relation to one
• focus on rules and rule-making
another (if you define them first, this may
• empirical basis (cf. theoretical models) help your assessment)
• recognition of complexity of social reality and need to see ER • you may like to use Venn diagram circles
in context (of society)
• strong sense of history and history’s influence
labelled ER and HR to convey your view
• pluralist approach to theory • justify your view

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 According to Storey (1995:5), HRM can be Video: food for thought
differentiated from Personnel Management and
Employee Relations by its
• emphasis on business goals e.g. productivity/ performance
• focus on employee attitudes – especially commitment • “Just another cog in the machine”

In this sense it is intrinsically ‘strategic’

‘(HRM is) a distinctive approach to employment management
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLGoKq
which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the PAhSk
strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable
workforce using an array of cultural, structural and personnel
techniques’

Do you agree? Why/not?

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2. Questioning ER’s relevance? What is the ii) ER/IR, work and labour
point of ER?
i) current context
– Lord Wedderburn (2007): the increasing complexity of
the employment environment does not mean ‘that the
sociological, comparative and industrial relations
‘discourse’ should be abandoned’.
– focus on regulation, control and governance of work and
employment relationship
– Inter-disciplinary field of study
– multi-level understanding of relationships at work
– multiple stakeholders with contrasting priorities and
interests
– policy-oriented field of study, concerned with multiple and
competing goals

– keep in mind: is ER/IR an area of study that has become – Emmott (2007): workplace conflict no longer shown by
more crucial for adequately understanding the policy high levels of industrial action/conflict but the ability to
dilemmas in the modern world of work? manage conflict remains key for many organisations

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Industrial stoppages in NZ, 2005-17 Number of work stoppages in NZ, 1986-2017

Year Number of Number of Person-days Estimated loss
stoppages employees of work lost in wages and
involved salaries
$(m)
2005 60 17,752 30,028 4.8
2006 42 10,079 27,983 5.2
2007 31 4,090 11,439 1.9
2008 23 C C C
2009 31 8,951 14,088 2.4
2010 18R C C C
2011 12 2,098 4,850 1.0
2012 10 5,179 78,589 13.6
2013 6 270 483 0.12
2014 13 1,564 1,448 0.3
2015 3 1,845 392.5 Unknown
2016 3 430 195 Unknown
2017 6 421 370 0.72
2018-19 ?? ?? ?? ??

Source: up to 2011: Dept of Labour and MBIE (Employment NZ)

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Things to note...
• all six work stoppages in 2017 were complete strikes and
amounted to 0.8 person-days lost per striking employee
and $720,000 in lost wages and salaries
• in comparison, the 3 stoppages that ended in 2016 were
two full strikes and one partial strike, involving 430
employees, and a loss of 196 person-days of work
• in 2018 and 2019, we have seen an array of strikes
involving different groups including teachers, nurses, bus
drivers, port workers, fast food workers, retail workers,
steel workers and public servants – why?
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Note: Employment Relations Act 2000 – a strike or lockout is
unlawful if:
– it occurs before 40 days have passed since the bargaining was
initiated;
– there is a current collective (employment) agreement;
– it relates to the inclusion of a bargaining fee clause in the
collective agreement
• the only employees who can lawfully strike/be locked out are
those who will be bound by the collective agreement being
bargained for
• Act requires that unions give notice of any strike, and that
employers give notice or any lockout if the strike or lockout
involves an essential service and will affect the public interest
• Nb: essential services; good faith
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– nb: absenteeism can be seen as an index of
‘unorganised’ conflict and is rising fast despite
legislative constraints
• absence cost NZ businesses c. $1 billion per year according
to research conducted by Conversa Global
• direct and indirect costs
• follows trends overseas (e.g. UK) nb: is presenteeism a
solution?
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Definitions
• complete strike: complete withdrawal of labour for a period.
Includes unauthorised stopwork meetings as well as failure to
resume work immediately after authorised stopwork meetings
• partial strike: a reduction of normal output. Includes go-slows,
refusal to work overtime, working to rules, and other means of
passive resistance that are clearly manifested
• complete lockout: employer discontinues the employment of any
number of employees for a period. Similar to complete strikes but
initiated by employers
• partial lockout: act of an employer that, although allowing
employees to work normal hours of work, withdraws the provision of
other contractual obligations such as the opportunity to work
overtime or the payment of penal rates
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Nb: the Employment Relations Amendment
Act 2018
• reverses a provision brought in several years ago under the
National government by now saying:
• employers cannot deduct pay for partial strikes
• employers can no longer deduct pay in response to
partial strikes, such as wearing t-shirts instead of
uniforms as part of low-level industrial disputes
• employers can still respond to a partial strike action the
same way as any other strike, which could include
suspending employees without pay or a lockout
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A bit more on the absenteeism survey
• 97,000 staff were surveyed in June 2013
• average absence per employee: 4.5 days (costing an average
of $837)
• average absence days in public sector: 6.6 (4.3 in private
sector)
• manual employees average 5 days (3.5 days for non-manual)
• Absence costs vary by organisation size and sector (SMEs
average fewer than 4 days; larger enterprises are well over
this)
• drivers of absenteeism: non-work related illness and injury
(by far), followed by caring for a family member – how could
employers help to reduce absenteeism?
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What can HR do?
• collect and analyse absence data (regular reporting)
• understand the health status of the people in your
organisation → health checks, onsite
• high-level report from health check, highlighting areas of
particular risk (gives a benchmark)
• wellness programmes
• provide a health insurance scheme at work (complementing
public health system)
• encourage a ‘culture of wellness’ at the organisation
• other?
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iii) Actors and institutions
• old conceptions:
– typical employee as male, manual ‘breadwinner’
– ‘craft’ and ‘trade’ less meaningful categories
– ‘skill’ v. ‘competences’
– training v. ‘vocational education’, ‘skilled labour’
– blurring of employee, independent contractor, self
employed, autonomous worker
– spread of ‘triangular relationships’ ...
– others?
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Non-standard employment in NZ
2018 Survey of Working Life (just published – June 2019):
• 27.5% of employed NZers = non-standard workers (self-
employed, temporary employees or part-time workers)
• among employees, 31.3% (nearly one-third). are
temporary employees (i.e. casual or fixed term and temp
agency), compared with 1 in 10 in temp jobs in 2012
• almost 1 in 10 employed NZers have more than one job
(222,900 people)
• temp employees form 9% of all employees (201,300);
half would prefer a permanent job
• only 38% of employees have been in the same job for 5
or more years (compared with nearly half in 2012)
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Employment relations: (potentially) conflictual?
• key supporting arguments:
– ER is in part an economic exchange but ‘labour is not a commodity’
(ILO)
– employment contract: incomplete and open-ended (Edwards 2003)
– thus, power is inherent in the employment relationship
– do you think ER is inherently conflictual?
• previously: focus on trade unions, CB and strikes
• today: also concern with work experience, all sources of rules
that govern the employment relationship
• ER: a repackaging of the original conception of industrial
relations?
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Is a non-standard worker actually non-standard?
“(F)ixed term contracts, part-time contracts, on-call
contracts, zero-hour contracts, contracts for workers
hired through temporary employment gencies, freelance
contracts, etc. Have become an established feature of
European labour markets”
- European Commission (2006) Green Paper, Modernising Labour Laws
• ‘non-standard’ contracts now cover 40% of the EU 25
workforce
• New Zealand?
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(cont’d)
• temporary employees were more likely to have their hours
often change to suit the needs of their employer (48%) than
permanent employees (37%)
• workplace autonomy levels were lower for employees with
short job tenure
• 57% of employed people felt that the skills they have match
well with the skills required for their job. 35% felt over-skilled
for their job, and 8% felt under-skilled
• six out of 10 employees underwent work-related training in the
last year, mostly on-the-job training
Nb: Rosenberg (2018) Insecure work in NZ. At:
http://www.lhp.org.nz/index.php/insecure-work-in-new-Zealand/
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Under-employment and unemployment rates
New Zealand situation?
• significant pay rises, and earnings differences
• gender pay gap has been decreasing (now 9.2% in 2019)rise
in atypical employment
– where high levels of casual and temporary employment: shorter hours
often prevalent
– Massey research: 2/3 of employment is casual, PT or contract
(Spoonley)
– 10% of employees in NZ works 2 or more paid job, some work 4 or 5!

• comparatively long working hours

• gender differences in working hours
• part-time employment
– major share of female employment

Nb: underutilisation rate in March 2019 • see also Stats NZ Quality of Working Life (2018) Survey,
quarter in NZ: 11.3% (324,000 people) Rasmussen (2009: 146-154); Parker (2013). Ch. 3

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Focus: zero hour contracts ZHCs (cont’d)Focus:

– a zero hour contract - no
guaranteed hours but on-call
– NZ firms were adopting ZHCs – thousands of employees in the fast
food industry – now the norm in the industry (Treen, Unite Union)
– beginning to creep into retail, finance and transport sectors – no
official figures available ... Yet – but ZHCs form part of trend of
workers on low hour agreements
– Implications for workers?
– ZHCs can be illegal in certain circumstances but few cases were
making it to court
– EmploymentStandards
Legislation Act (from April
2016):
▪ an employer will no longer be able to expect an employee to be
available without reasonable compensation; employees won’t be
obliged to accept extra hours that are not committed to in their
agreement or subject to an availability provision that also needs
to be in the employment agreement
▪ also requires employers to provide reasonable notice before
cancelling a shift, and if that doesn’t occur, compensation will
need to be given
▪ theme of mutuality

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ER institutions:
• changing employer identity
• ER’s increasingly international focus, for instance:
– internationalisation of product markets, product organisation,
– ER in MNCs supply chains
– labour migration – liberalisation of trans-national capital flows
– growth of the ‘informal economy’ – complex shareholding arrangements
– child labour – declining membership in employer federations
– transnational regulations (e.g. EU Directives, international labour
standards)
• “the balance of power between labour and capital arrived
at in the course of the twentieth century has now been
• employee representation systems have changed a lot: changed to the benefit of capital”
– trade union restructuring, growing international union links, - O’Higgins (2004:292)
reorientated policy
– employers’ own structures of ‘direct participation’ • Do you agree? Why/not?
– EWCs (independent of employer), statutory mechanisms for I&C

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“(W)hat we underrated was ... The power of emergent globalised
capital”
- Lord Wedderburn (2008:204)
“In place of collective bargaining, what has emerged at
European level is ‘social dialogue’ and the recognition of a
growing body of fundamental social rights, embodied in
primary and secondary labour legislation. At the same time,
the needs for world-wide labour standards irrespective of the
employment contract become ever more apparent. This
change in the focus of IR, from collective bargaining to labour
rights has gone together with attempts to address glaring
inequalities and discrimination, including those affecting
ethnic minorities and women”
- BUIRA (2008:6)
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• growth of individualism and consumerism → weakening
the salience of collective identities at work, reducing the
appeal of unionism (e.g. Beck 1992)
• through unions or not, employees ‘inevitably act
collectively at work’
– production is not a purely individual activity
– acting together at work, they engage in processes of collective
learning which provide a potential channel for citizen
engagement
– nb: new mechanisms of collective employee voice under EU
legislation
– through collective voice, employees able to shape their
conditions of employment
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v) The academic arguments
• studying ER provides a ‘transferable skill’ of critical,
reflexive thinking (which underpins the ability to manage
ER)
– students are enabled to comprehend the complexities of
relationships, policy and practice implications and think
through the consequences of action
– enhancing students’ sense-making → helps their ability to
make reasoned judgements and be ‘thinking performers’ –
vital in a world of constant change
– see world of work in context (not just as an ‘atomised
individual’
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iv) IR/ER and democratic citizenship
• workplace is often missing from considerations of citizenship
yet it is central to the lives of most people
• UK government: concept of citizenship and ‘social inclusion’
largely based upon work
– achieving world-class skills = key to achieving economic success and
social justice in the new economy; learning is increasingly defined as a
means to employability, productivity and competitiveness
• But Sisson (2007):
– skills and abilities are of little consequence if we are not given a chance
to use them; the same is true of our opinions if they are not valued. The
democratic engagement and sense of involvement in local communities
that most political parties wish to promote is also likely to be successful
if the concept of citizenship is carried over into the workplace and into
preparation for the occupational career. - what do you think?
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• shrinking coverage of collective, institutionalised
IR →
– weakening of employee voice and of industrial citizenship
– linked to erosion generally of the culture of active
citizenship
• decline in democratic cultures and political engagement
• Sennett (1998): growth in employment insecurity →
decline in social participation and active citizenship
• backlash?
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• ER academics see the field as:
– widely defined, involving a variety of actors and institutions
at multiple levels
– having studies which are all equally valued
– helping students to question simplistic or ‘commonsense’
propositions to do with ER
– one that values and encourages dissent and disagreement
in research, teaching and policy-making (critical thinking →
academic freedom – and responsibility)
– pluralistic (since it embraces a critical perspective) in terms
of theory, method and its underlying disciplines →
contributes to analytical dynamism, and can benefit many
groups in society
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Conclusions Next week
• ER is wide-ranging and dynamic
• ER PERSPECTIVES
• It encompasses the study of relative powers, interest of
key parties, strategies, rules and processes and contexts – frames of reference
• ER as a politics of interest – theoretical perspectives

• ER and multi-level perspectives

• ER ≥ HRM or ER ≤ HRM or ER = HRM?
• ER relevance
– current context
– ER/IR, work and labour
– actors and institutions
• Recommended readings:
– Rasmussen, E. 2009. Ch 2
- ER/IR and democratic citizenship – Donnelly and Proctor-Thomson (2013) in Parker (ed.)
- academic arguments – de Silva, S. 1997.
– BUIRA. 2008. pp. 4

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