Non-Union Employee Representation in Australia

2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Markey
Keyword(s):  
Employee Participation ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Employee Representation ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Union Representative ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
Works Council

Non-union representative employee participation recently has attracted increasing international attention in employment relations due to the growing representation gap in many countries as union membership declines, and mounting evidence of the benefits of representative employee participation for enterprise flexibility and efficiency. However, relatively little is known about Australian experiments in employee participation, although it is essential to learn from Australian experience in order to develop effective public policy. This case study represents a contribution to this larger project. SMEC is a non-union employee representative body that has adopted a European works council organizational model. The case study evaluates SMEC's effectiveness as a non-union form of representative employee participation. It concludes that the opportunities for the formation of genuinely independent works council style organs of employee participation remain severely constrained by the current Australian regulatory environment, which tends to encourage a union substitution role.

Employee Participation Through Non‐Union Forms of Employee Representation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce E. Kaufman ◽  
Daphne G. Taras
Keyword(s):  
Employee Participation ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Employee Representation ◽  
Over Time

The distinctive approach considered in this article is indirect participation through forms of non-union employee representation (NER). NER has been practiced in industry for more than a century, with considerable diversity and variation both across countries and over time. This article defines NER and provides a thumbnail sketch of its historical evolution. It describes the various forms of NER and its alternative functions. The article then synthesizes these diverse forms and functions into four distinct models/strategies of NER (called the ‘four faces’ of NER). Furthermore, it provides a brief overview of theorizing on NER. The article surveys the recent empirical literature on NER, with an emphasis on evidence regarding NER's performance and strengths and weaknesses. It ends with a brief recapitulation of the main theme; that is, that NER exhibits great diversity in form, purpose, and outcome, and that sweeping generalizations are therefore hazardous.

scholarly journals Patterning employee voice in multinational companies

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Lavelle ◽  
Patrick Gunnigle ◽  
Anthony McDonnell
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Employee Representation ◽  
Union Directive

Employee voice has been an enduring theme within the employment relations literature.This article profiles the incidence of a range of direct and indirect employee voice mechanisms within multinational companies (MNCs) and, using an analytical framework, identifies a number of different approaches to employee voice. Drawing from a highly representative sample of MNCs in Ireland, we point to quite a significant level of engagement with all types of employee voice, both direct and indirect. Using the analytical framework, we find that the most common approach to employee voice was an indirect voice approach (i.e. the use of trade unions and/or non-union structures of collective employee representation). The regression analysis identifies factors such as country of origin, sector, the European Union Directive on Information and Consultation and date of establishment as having varying impacts on the approaches adopted by MNCs to employee voice.

Giving Knowledge Workers a Voice through Joint Consultative Councils

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-172
Author(s):  
Arosha S. Adikaram
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Employee Voice ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Joint Decision ◽  
Non Union ◽  
Employee Representation ◽  
Initial Sessions

This case study aims to outline and explore the implementation of a Joint Consultative Council (JCC) and the related outcomes, challenges and issues faced by an information technology (IT) company in Sri Lanka. Implementation of JCC in the company as a form of employee voice was a result of a planned intervention of the new Human Resources (HR) team of the company, with the intentions of increasing employee involvement, commitment, employee relations and most importantly, communication. At the initial sessions of the council ‘tea, towels and toilets’ issues were mainly discussed and an apparent gulf between the management and the employee representatives was apparent. While the council has given some form of voice to employees, it was clearly a ‘voice without muscle’, devoid of any significant joint decision making. After recouping the process to enhance joint decision-making and communication, the proceeding JCC regained the trust and enthusiasm of employees and management. There is a possibility of continuation and subsequent institutionalization of the JCC in the company. However, the process needs more time to establish itself effectively in the company with increased trust between parties. This case study provides practical insights into the creation of a JCC as a form of Non-union Employee Representation (NER) for knowledge workers, addressing a lacuna in knowledge on the practical implementation of JCC, as well as the practice of JCCs among different categories of workers such as knowledge workers. Insights drawn from the case can be used as learning points in creating successful JCCs in organizations.

Workers without Borders

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Regulatory Enforcement ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
National Models ◽  
Management Power ◽  
Exit Options ◽  
Two Sectors

This book addresses the complexities of transnational posted work through three key topics. First, it examines how the de-territorialization of national models and employment relations systems opens up exit options for management, enabling them to use the regulatory framework creatively and at a disadvantage for workers. Second, it discusses how re-territorialization, or resistance, is possible within these spaces. Third, the book analyzes the contours of the new structure for employment relations that emerges within the pan-European labor market and its implications for worker voice, regulatory enforcement, and management power. The research presented in this book is based on a qualitative and multilevel case study approach. It examines how posted workers and actors involved in the posting relationship actually utilize and experience the European posting framework by focusing on the experiences of transnational posted workers. This distinguishes the book from macro- and national-focused approaches in comparative political economy and industrial relations by zooming in on the workplace dynamics in a transnational setting. The window to how posted workers experience intra-EU mobility is Germany and the two sectors where posting is most prevalent: the construction and meat slaughtering industries.

scholarly journals Administrative Burden Reduction Policies in Slovenia Revisited

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Luka Kalaš ◽  
Irena Bačlija Brajnik
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Administrative Burden ◽  
Specific Focus

AbstractThis article explores non-stimulating regulatory environment that can effect economic activities. Specific focus is on the so-called administrative burdens as it has been established that administrative burden reduction is an internationally used policy with questionable outcomes. This is tested on a case study of Slovenian administrative burden reduction policy concluding that administrative burdens are mostly considered unnecessary but to some extent (34.5%) also necessary, however, as a subject of possible optimisation. The most burdensome is time spent in order to comply with regulation, following successiveness of the burdens (one following the other). Additionally,based on the case study policy, we can conclude that businesses are not well informed about government administrative burden reduction policies.

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating Joint Venture Opportunities between Hospitals and Physicians

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol K. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Regulatory Environment ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Health Care Managers ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Impact

A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating Joint Venture Opportunities Between Hospitals and Physicians This paper reviews the changes in the competitive and regulatory environment and examines the impact of those changes on the relationships between hospitals and physicians. Transaction cost economics (TCE) provides a conceptual framework for examining the emergence of closer linkages between hospitals and physicians than the traditional independent hospital and medical staff organisations. TCE predicts that as investments in support of transactions become more specialised, closer linkages are more efficient. To illustrate, two case studies of successful hospital-physician joint ventures are presented. The first case study describes a joint venture between hospitals and physicians to purchase durable medical equipment. The second case describes the breakdown of an informal arrangement and the subsequent formation of a joint venture to organise a clinical programme. The discussion reports the rationale for choosing these structural arrangements and their key features, pointing out how TCE would account for the decision to establish a joint venture. The conclusion discusses the implications of this argument for the strategic decisions of health care managers.

Contracting for Work in Tourism and Catering in Greece: Beyond a State/Market Dichotomy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregoris Ioannou
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spatial Parameters ◽  
Simple Matrix

Abstract Drawing on a case study of contemporary employment relations in tourism and catering in Greece, this paper seeks to contribute to our empirical understanding of employment law. Which factors determine the ways in which the law is perceived by employers and workers and complied with, breached or avoided? The main argument of the paper is that not only market forces are relevant here; several other factors need to be taken into consideration, which when combined with market forces can re-regulate as well as deregulate the field of employment. These tend to be informal, locally embedded and influenced by wider social relations. By constructing a simple matrix of employment settings based on locale and seasonality on one axis, and size of enterprise and scope of services provided on the other, the paper demonstrates how organisational and spatial parameters and the social environment interact with market forces and legal forces to shape prevailing norms and to influence the behaviour of parties to the contract for work. It further demonstrates that the structuring of the sectoral labour market is a process determined by broader social power dynamics. Beyond serving as part of the context within which contracting for work takes place, legal rules are a resource to be mobilised by both employers and workers.

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