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

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Union–management partnership
• employee participation
• New Zealand
• Britain