The Labour Relations of New Zealand's Health Reforms

1999 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71
Author(s):  
Kurt Wetzel
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Radical State ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Market Pressures

This paper examines factors contributing to the environment within which reform of New Zealnnd's public health care and its industrial relations system occurred. These include radical state sector; health and labour law reforms that marketised the health sector, decentralised bargaining, the ending of compulsory union membership and the elimination of the requirement that employers bargain 'in good faith'. The paper examines the implementation of these changes and their impact on various unions. Domestic service workers have fared poorly, while medical specialists have benefited from the reforms. The impact on nursing and support staff unions has varied according to regional and market pressures for different occupations. Various union strategies and structures are examined. The paper concludes that reform has ended the exceptionalism of labour relations in New Zealand.

scholarly journals Employment Relations in the New Zealand Public Health Sector - A Survey

1970 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Pye ◽  
Joanna Cullinane
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Public Health Sector ◽  
The Impact

The New Zealand Public Health sector has undergone significant political, Legislative and managerial changes since 1986. These changes have had a major impact on the nature of employment relations in the sector. The unified, state sector industrial relations regime has been restructured and replaced a by diverse set of practices. Many of the changes of the last decade have had time to 'mature' and become embedded into the system and it now seems appropriate to start to identify issues that have arisen from the impact of the new regime of employment relations. This paper presents the results of a survey of related public health sector organisations including employers, unions, professional organisations, statutory bodies and funding agencies. Five distinct areas for future employment relations research, with varying Levels of priority, were identified by the respondents including; 1) Workforce development and planning. 2) The nature, scope and negotiation of employment contracts. 3) The problematic of people management of largely 'professional ' group of workers. 4) Relationships with external organisations such as the 'NZQA 'and the 'Health and Disability Commissioner' and the impact on internal employment relations. 5) The effects of uncertainty about current health care delivery structures and possible further politically directed restructuring are having on employment relations.

Reducing the Impact of Unemployment through Work-Sharing: Some Industrial Relations Considerations

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah M. Meltz ◽  
Frank Reid
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
National Level ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Work Sharing ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Impact

The Canadian Government has introduced a work-sharing program in which lay offs are avoided by reducing the work week and using unemployment insurance funds to pay workers short-time compensation. Compared to the lay-off alternative, there appear to be economic benefits to work-sharing for both management and employees. Reaction to the scheme has been generally positive at the union local level and the firm level, but it has been negative at the national level of both labour and management. These divergent views can be explained mainly as a result of short-run versus long-run perspectives. Managers at the firm level see the immediate benefit of improved labour relations and the avoidance of the costs of hiring and training replacements for laid-off workers who do not respond when recalled. The national business leaders are more concerned with work incentive and efficiency aspects of work-sharing.

scholarly journals From Rigid to Flexible Employment Practices in UK Commercial Television: a Case of Government Led Reform

1970 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Trevor Campling
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employee Morale ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Commercial Television ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Costs ◽  
Flexible Employment ◽  
Perceived Pressure ◽  
The Impact

The article locates the forces precipitating the radical changes in employment practices in British Commercial Television since the mid 1980s and proceeds to discuss the various dintensions of these employment reforms jron1 a "flexible firm" perspective. It is argued that perceived pressure from government, rather than jron1 the product market, triggered the unilateral imposition by management of "flexible" employment practices. In addition, key industrial events in British comnzercial television, such as the dissolution of national multi-employer collective bargaining arrangenzents and the strike and lockout at TVam, combined with the numerous changes to national labour relations legislation, shifted the balance of industrial power to management. This allowed "flexible" practices to be introduced nzore rapidly and without disruptive opposition from the broadcasting unions. Whilst the new "flexible" employment arrangetnents have reduced labour costs dramatically in the short term, some of the practices are inconsistent, resulting in employee morale and product quality problems. With governments in New Zealand and Australia pursuing a variety of policies to inject greater "flexibility" and less regulation into product markets, labour I markets and work places, they should pay close attention to the lessons that can be learnt from the British commercial television experience. The impact upon productivity, work practices, and employment levels of politically instigated employmnent change is of importance to an industry; facing such circumstances. It is also contributes to the wider debate on the origins and nature of employment flexibility and changes in industrial relations.

scholarly journals The new jurisdiction: the impact of the Labour Relations Act

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Training Group ◽  
The State ◽  
Grievance Procedure ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
And Training ◽  
The Way

The new jurisdiction conferred on the Labour Court by Part IX of the Labour Relations Act 1987 has a number of facets. First, there has been a widening of the categories of worker who may use the procedure, not only under the 1987 Act but also by virtue of the State Sector Act 1988. Secondly, there have been substantial changes to the way in which the personal grievance procedure operates. Thirdly, the grounds upon which a personal grievance claim may now be brought have been expanded. Fourthly, the available remedies, whilst not substantially changed, have been "tidied up". The treatment of these changes in this paper will be selective. The procedural changes have been excellently covered in Mike Dawson's indispensable guide Handling Personal Grievances Under the Labour Relations Act 1987 (Canterbury Trade Unions Research and Training Group/UEA, 1988). I would like to take the opportunity to highlight what seem to me to be some of the more far-reaching changes and, in the course of the paper, touch only lightly on the distinctly "procedural" aspects of the changes since the Labour Relations Act 1987 carne into force. Surprisingly few decisions so far have turned on the new provisions. Most retread the familiar ground of unjustifiable dismissal.

The Early Nineteenth-Century Port of London: Management and Labour in Three Dock Companies, 1800-1825

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony R. Henderson ◽  
Sarah Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Management

This essay addresses the impact of industrialisation on the experience of work during the early 1800s. It presents the idea that industrial relations focused less on trade unions and more on broad labour/management contact and gave a new emphasis to the significance of the labour process. Also featured is a map of The Port of London in the 1830s, which is used as an example for evidence of change within the pre-industrial pattern of management/labour relations.

The Working Class Goes to the Movies: Labour Law and Thatcherism in British Films

Pólemos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Peruzzi
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
British Perspective ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Individual Dimension

AbstractThe essay focusses on the employment relationship as a privileged perspective for the analysis of the binomial “power of voices/voices of power.” In such context, the right to strike is presented as a meaningful example of the power stemming from a collective organisation of voices, the voices of the workers, granted as a means to counter-balance the power and the voice of the employer. The analysis highlights the enduring relevance of the British perspective towards the topic, from the liberalist policies fostered by Prime Minister Thatcher in the Eighties until the critical approach recently adopted by the British Government with regard to the protection of the right to strike at international level. British filmography is chosen as a lens for observing such perspective, in particular to the extent it describes the impact of Thatcherism on the British model of industrial relations as well as the economic and social consequences of such political measures in the Nineties. After a general overview, aimed at highlighting common features across the films, like the pivotal role of music and dance in the storyline, the analysis focusses on Billy Elliot, examining the ambiguous relationship between the collective and individual dimension in its narration.

scholarly journals The Freedom of Association Mess: How We Got into It and How We Can Get out of It

2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Langille
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
State Action ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Canadian constitutional law regarding freedom of association for workers is a mess. The jurisprudence to date has taken an approach to state action and positive obligations to legislate which is inconsistent with section 15, and has failed to articulate the relationship between the abstract statement of basic rights or freedoms and the detailed statutes and regulations that instantiate and enforce them. This paper focuses on the impact of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in BC Health. The author argues that this case misunderstood Canada’s labour law history, international labour law obligations, “Charter values”, and the distinction between “freedoms” and “rights”. This paper argues that by using labour relations statutes as a starting point and applying the constitutional idea of equality, courts can protect freedom of association for workers and find a way out of the mess we are in.

scholarly journals Down but not out: Union strategies and power resources in response to liberalization and changes in national postal services – The cases of Spain and Belgium

2020 ◽  
pp. 095968012098067
Author(s):  
Sofía Pérez de Guzmán ◽  
Esteban Martínez ◽  
Ester Ulloa
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Strategic Capacity ◽  
Postal Services ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Postal Sector ◽  
Market Pressures

This article analyses national postal services unions’ strategic capacity in Spain and Belgium in response to the effects of liberalization and changes in the postal sector. The analysis shows, first, that despite having had to operate in a hostile context, Correos and bpost unions have been able to mobilize their power resources to resist the impact of market pressures on employment and working conditions. Second, it detects the relevance of national industrial relations institutions in order to understand the strategies unions adopt.

scholarly journals Award, Agreement or Nothing? A Review of the Impact of S132(a) of the Labour Relations Act 1987 on Collective Bargaining

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Harbridge ◽  
Stuart McCaw
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Court System ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Court Of Appeal

The on-going saga of the G.N. Hale redundancy dispute appears now to have run its course. From grievance committee, to the Labour Court, to the Court of Appeal, and back to the Labour Court, the case has attracted considerable attention - from the media and naturally from industrial relations practitioners, eager to learn the view of the New Zealand court system on the vexed matter of redundancy compensation. In the most recent Labour Coun decision on Hale (WLC89/90), Goddard C J held that while the employer was able to prove that the worker was genuinely made redundant the dismissal was unjustifiable because "the circumstances called for the payment of compensation; none was paid; and the amount that was offered and refused was fixed by unilateral decision of the employer and was inadequate". The effect of this decision is profound. Employers planning to make employees redundant have a new set of requirements to meet before their actions can be taken as justifiable. While it will remain the case that there is no right to compensation for a dismissal on the grounds of redundancy unless that right is conferred by a redundancy agreement or by an award or collective agreement, there may still be a right to compensation if the dismissal, although genuinely on the grounds of redundancy, is unjustifiable and thereby gives rise to a successful personal grievance. An employer will now need to focus on the circumstances of the redundancy to detetuaine whether it calls for compensation and where it does, the employer will need to offer, and have accepted, compensation that is both adequate and negotiated.

scholarly journals Public Health Care and Government Health Expenditures in Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
Mudasir Ali ◽  
Durdana Qaiser Gilani ◽  
An ul Abdin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Expenditure ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Government ◽  
Expenditure Need ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adf Test

This study evaluates the impact of health care expenditure by the government on health sector outcomes in Pakistan by using data from the period 1982 to 2016. To examine whether the variables are stationary, the ADF test is run whereas the relationship among the variables is tested through the ARDL model technique. The empirical result from the regression equation shows that healthcare expenditure affects significantly the health sector outcome i.e., a decrease in infant deaths in the long run. Bilateral and multilateral fund assistance becomes a part of health expenditure in less progressive countries which is helpful for increasing the resource allocation in the vital segment of the economy. Hence funds allocated for health care expenditure need to be sensibly utilized because it will help in achieving a portion of the Millennium Development Goals. Improved wellbeing can be achieved as an outcome of enhanced capacities of the health sector as a result of the proper allocation of public healthcare funds.

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