Strategy and Trade Union Effectiveness in a Neo‐liberal Environment

Abstract

In the absence of state sponsorship, unions must become more effective in the workplace or suffer the inevitable consequences. The analysis of union strategy and effectiveness, however, presents special difficulties. We adopt a strategic choice perspective, defining strategy as a framework of critical, enacted choices about the ends and means of an organization. For unions in a neo‐liberal context, this means that strategy can be described in terms of the nexus between two complex dimensions: union‐worker relations and union‐employer relations. On this basis, we identify four broad patterns of union strategic choice in the New Zealand environment: classic, paper tiger, consultancy, and partnership unionism. Those patterns in which union‐worker relations rely on ‘servicing’ are seen as fatally flawed at worst, and strategically vulnerable at best. On the other hand, those patterns in which union‐worker relations are more securely based on servicing complemented with robust forms of organization also contain strategic tensions. These must be managed carefully if unions are to become more effective. While illustrated with New Zealand case studies, this framework provides lines of analysis for the strategic review of unions in neo‐liberal contexts more generally.

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