Trade Unions in Renewal by Fairbrother Peter;Yates Charlotte;

Author:Fairbrother, Peter;Yates, Charlotte;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2003-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Renewed efforts at change: 1993–6

Most SWU officials reacted to the ECA by adhering to an arbitrationist, servicing orientation. In the turbulent period following the ECA’s introduction, officials focused on negotiating collective employment contracts as quickly as possible to secure access to worksites, even though in many instances only a minority of workers on these sites were members. They based recruitment around contract negotiations and dispute handling, and engaged in concessionary bargaining, which the northern health division leader described as ‘the concept of organizing as being deals done with the boss’. She commented further that the SWU responded to the ECA by ‘imitating the old award system’. This resulted in minority membership representation, weak organization, lowered wages and conditions, and negative perceptions of the union among workers, who associated it with wage cuts.

Officials became disenchanted with this state of affairs, and interviews conducted in 1994 revealed a strong determination to cease using concessionary strategies and focus instead on building activism through rank-and-file organizing. This led certain individuals once again to look at alternative organizing approaches. During 1993 and 1994 the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU), Communication and Energy Workers Union (CEWU) and the Finance Sector Union (FinSec) funded speaking tours of American unionists from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who advocated the use of organizing model techniques. The SWU’s northern health division leader attended one such seminar in 1993. Soon after, she and northern health organizers began trialling organizing model techniques, with much success. She used organizing methods employed by the CWA and SEIU, such as ‘mapping’ worksites to assess levels of union support, employee surveys, establishing workplace organizing committees (WOCs) and communication networks, holding meetings in workers’ homes, and worker-to-worker organizing campaigns.

By 1993 the SWU had a new national secretary who was supportive of efforts to implement organizing model methods. He stated that his support stemmed from the fact that these methods had proven successful in the northern health sector, which had experienced membership growth during 1993–4; because grassroots organizing was aligned with his philosophy of ‘genuine effective unionism’; and because staff levels had been reduced, meaning that greater organizing responsibility would have to be devolved to members. He stressed that they had adopted the organizing model as a matter of sheer survival, given the financial catastrophe experienced in 1993.

Following her efforts in the northern health division, the divisional leader tried to promote the use of organizing model methods throughout the entire union. In mid-1994 she and the national secretary urged the union’s executive committees to appoint her to the newly created position of national organizing and education coordinator. Once appointed, she endeavoured to educate staff and members about the organizing model concept at conferences in 1994. Her brief involved training all organizers in membership education techniques and assisting them in planning organizing campaigns. However, interviews with staff conducted directly prior to and following the conferences uncovered significant resistance to the model. Staff prevented her from planning and directing their

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