1 ©The Work Foundation The Changing Economy and the Future of Organised Labour: What role for workplace reps? David Coats, Associate Director – Policy

©The Work Foundation

1

The Changing Economy and the Future of Organised Labour: What role for workplace

reps?

David Coats, Associate Director – Policy


2

Summary

• What’s going on?- Knowledge Economy

- Restructuring- Union membership

- Job quality

• What do workers want?

• How should unions respond? Where do workplace reps fit?


3

The Rise of the Knowledge Economy• Knowledge based industries* now account for nearly 50 per cent of

employment;

• Most of the new jobs – both for knowledge and other workers - over the past decade have been generated in the knowledge based industries;

• Knowledge based industries account for 41 per cent of GDP compared with 36 per cent a decade ago, with knowledge based services expanding from 28 per cent to 34 per cent of GDP;

• Knowledge based service exports have trebled in ten years, generating a surplus worth between 3 and 3.5 per cent of GDP.

• Knowledge workers (defined by occupation**) account for over 40 per cent of total employment and have been strongest growing job category over past twenty years.

• *High to medium tech manufacturing, financial services, high tech services, telecommunications, business services, cultural and creative services, heath and education services

• **managers, professionals, associate professional and technical occupations


4

Manufacturing to Services


5

The rise of the “knowledge economy” 1995-2005: Job change by sector % (Source: UK LFS)

-21

40

2427

2

17

1

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

High/medium tech manuf

High tech services

Business/communications services

Health, education, culture

Financial Services

All knowledge industries

All other industries


6

More “high level” jobs Source: SSDA, 2006

Occupational Change 1984-2014 (%of all in employment)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1984 1994 2004 2014

Managers

Professionals

Assoc profs

Admin and clerical

Skilled trades

Personal services

Sales

Machine/transportoperatives

Elementaryoccupations


7

The 30-40-30 workforce (Source: TWF Knowledge Workers Survey

2008)


8

No significant evidence of casualisation in UK…

• Employment Change in the UK Labour Market 1996-2006 (%share of total employment) Source: UK LFS

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1986

1996

2006


9

…most employment growth in large firms [change in

private sector employee employment 1995-2005, excluding health and social care and labour recruitment services: Source: WF estimate based on Inter-Department Business Register, Enterprise Directorate (provisional findings)]

445 492

1470

-515

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

KE SMEs KE Large Other SMEs Other Large


10

Trade Union Density1970-2003 (% employees)(Source: OECD Employment Outlook 2004)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1970 1980 1990 2000 2003

Sweden

Denmark

UK

Neth

Germany

USA

France

Australia

NZ


11

Collective Bargaining Coverage 1970-2000 (% employees covered by collective agreements) (Source:

OECD Employment Outlook 2004)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1980 1990 2000

Sweden

Denmark

UK

Neth

Germany

USA

France

NZ

Australia


12

Why does “good work” matter?

• Impact on health and life expectancy

• Important factors:- Employment security

- Monotony and repetition- Autonomy, control and

task discretion - Effort-reward balance - Skills

- Fairness

- Relationships – “social capital”


13

How much “good work” is there in the UK

• High levels of job satisfaction – WERS 2004

• And employment security improving

• But

• Work intensification (Green, 2003)

• Falling autonomy - especially in public sector (Gallie et al 2004)

• Dissatisfaction with pay and voice (WERS 2004)

• Dissatisfaction with working time – and working life more generally (Taylor 2002)

• More intrusive performance management (White and Hill 2004)

• Employee engagement lower than it should be (CIPD 2006)


14

Job Security – international comparison (“My job

is secure” 0-3 scale) (Source: Paugam and Zhou 2007)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

GB France Germany Sweden Denmark Spain

1996 2001


15

Job Satisfaction in Europe (% of employees) Source: European Working Conditions Survey, 2005


16

British workers are bored… (% of employees who say their work

involves monotonous tasks) (Source: European Working Conditions Survey 2005)

0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%55%60%65%

NL

SE MT AT DE BE HU

RO LU SI IT LV FR

EU-27

DK

CY SK IE FI PT PL LT UK

CZ EE EL BG ES


17

…and learn new things less often than in countries with higher productivity… (% employees who say

that their job involves learning new things) (Source: European Working Conditions Survey 2005)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

FI

SE

DK

NL SI

MT

EE IE AT

LU BE

FR IT CZ

EU-27

PT

UK PL

LV SK

DE

CY EL

ES

HU

RO LT BG


18

….which leaves the UK with a “job content” problem… (monotony, low level of learning, problem solving, task complexity) (Source:

European Working Conditions Survey 2005)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

SE

NL

AT

DK FI

MT

DE

LU SI

BE

HU

FR EE

EU-27

IE IT CZ

SK PL

LV PT

RO

UK

CY

BG EL

LT ES


19

..which helps to explain why… (Source: CIPD Employee Attitudes and

Engagement 2006)

• “People are generally unhappy with how they are managed”

• A third never get feedback from their managers

• Only half believe that they will be dealt with fairly if they have a problem

• Two in five say they are not informed about what is happening in their organisation. Just a third believe that their views will be taken seriously

• Only a third trust senior managers

• Just over a third are “engaged”


20

What do workers want from unions?

• Protection or aspiration?

• “Getting on” or “getting even”


21

Workers prefer a “problem solving” organisation to a “defensive” organisation (% employees) (Source: BWRPS

2001)

72 75

2621

2 4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Member Non-member

Co-operative

Defensive

Don't know


22

But workers want protection and partnership (% union members) (Source: BWRPS 2001)

9298 94

40

91

40

63 62

26

44

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Pay Unfairtreatment

Equality Intrstng work Productivity

Workers sayshould beunion priority

"Good" or"excellent"performanceby unions


23

What does it all mean?

• A new offer to members - skills - progression - standards

• A new workplace agenda- Job quality- Partnership (going beyond the rhetoric)

- Service improvement – a role for unions?- Changing workplace agenda: NHS staff pledges

• Challenges:- Who would want to be a rep?- Skills- Risk of employer defection: budgets under pressure, shifting political priorities


24

Questions for discussion

• Do you have a clear understanding of nursing opinion across the NHS? Does this influence your agenda nationally and locally?

• Can you rely on “professionalism” as a recruitment strategy?

• How should you prioritise between “old and “new” issues? Is job quality an opportunity for the RCN to rehape the conversation?

• What further scope is there for developing a “strategic dialogue” with NHS employers?

• What model of employment relations do you want to see in the NHS?

Documents

1 ©The Work Foundation The Changing Economy and the Future of Organised Labour: What role for workplace reps? David Coats, Associate Director – Policy