Introduction
Social partnership process
The “New Zealand experiment”
Productivity initiatives
The workplace of the future

Introduction

Over the past 15 years, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) has been working consistently to promote the idea that New Zealand workplaces, and the way that they work, are a key element in the way that our economy develops into the future.

As far back as 1992, the CTU was involved, with leading edge companies in New Zealand, in an initiative called Workplace New Zealand. This aimed to assist workplaces to be more competitive in the world economy. The vision was for New Zealand to become a high wage, high skill, high value-added economy based on:

• developing cooperative workplace relationships
• establishing portable, broad-based, adaptable skills
• developing learning networks between organisations
• having an industry-based approach to the development of technologies and markets
• investing in infrastructural supports for workplaces wanting to change
• providing coordination and leadership to take advantage of opportunities as they became available.

At the time, the idea that New Zealand needed to become more competitive was a relatively new one. The solution that was put in place during the 1990s was to rely on market mechanisms to achieve this.

Social partnership process

The CTU believes that a social partnership process is a better route for developing our economy. Our vision is for an economy made up of workplaces that produce high quality goods and services, which could be sold for good prices in both domestic and international markets.

These workplaces will have staff who have the opportunity to improve their skills, contribute their good ideas for how things could work better, are treated with courtesy and respect, and feel fully involved in how the workplace operates.

Workplaces will invest in putting new technology and new and innovative processes in place, and management and employees will work cooperatively for success, in the knowledge that the fruits of that success would be shared.

The “New Zealand experiment”

The results of the “New Zealand experiment” from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s are well known. It resulted in:

• large numbers of workers being displaced from their jobs without any assistance to develop new skills that would help them to apply for the new jobs that were being created
• fewer trainees participating in vocational and trades training
• wages falling behind those being paid in Australia and the rest of the world
• lack of incentive for employers to invest in new technology because wages were relatively low.

The overall effect of this approach is that New Zealand has, by and large, remained a relatively low wage, low skill economy. In addition, during that time New Zealand’s productivity growth has fallen behind that of other countries. While it has recently started to improve again, changes are not occurring fast enough to make a significant difference.

Productivity initiatives

There is broad agreement amongst the political parties, government agencies, unions, business, and industry networks, that improving our productivity is one of the biggest single challenges facing New Zealand if we are to improve our future prospects. A range of initiatives is being put in place to achieve this, including:

• actions to build better roads and improve transport systems
• a focus on ongoing improvements in the skills and qualifications of everyone who is already in work, as well as young people who are new to the labour market
• investment into research and development that can be readily applied to make new products and services
• development of better and faster broadband.

These initiatives can only go so far, however. Our biggest un-tapped resource when it comes to making productivity improvements is the people that work in New Zealand workplaces. Real and sustainable productivity improvements will only be made when people are able to work in jobs that make best use of their skills and knowledge, in workplaces that encourage their suggestions for innovations and changes, and in organisations that make sure both workers and managers share the benefits from changes that are made.

The workplace of the future

The CTU has developed a vision of a “workplace of the future” that builds on the ideas that we have worked on for the last 15 years. We are building strategies aiming for workplaces that:

• are highly productive, add value to quality goods and services and reward workers with high wages and excellent conditions of work
• are centres of lifelong learning that invest in people, create a pool of people with transferable skills – not merely job-specific ones – and constantly strive to develop the workforce
• have in place workplace practices based on fairness and respect and a high trust environment that values participation, diversity and flexibility
• have strong networks with others in the industry and the community and that recognise the value of public services and constructive social partnership with government and business
• are healthy, safe and sustainable with engaging and rewarding work, while recognising that people have lives outside of work.

These resources have been developed to support unions in this work.