New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations Online


Volume 26 Number 3	October 2001

ARTICLES:

Casualisation and Outsourcing: A Comparative Study
Cameron Allan, Peter Brosnan, Frank Horwitz and Pat Walsh

A growing body of literature has examined the extent to which workplaces have increasingly used particular types of flexibility such as outsourcing and casualisation. However, a relatively neglected area of research has been the extent to which workplaces, having outsourced certain activities and functions, subsequently brought them back in-house or "in-sourced". In this article the authors consider this weakness in the literature by examining both phenomena on a comparative basis analysing data from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Workplace Culture, Text, and Activity in the Tranz Rail Inquiry
Mike Lloyd

The concept of workplace culture is an important one in the study of industrial relations, however, the broader concept of culture is notorious for its haziness. This paper uses an empirical case study, discussed in light of selected sociological approaches to culture, to present a view of industrial relations as saturated with the culturing effects of texts and documents. The case study is taken from the recent ministerial inquiry into workplace health and safety at Tranz Rail, specifically the inquiry's question of whether "any culture or cultures within Tranz Rail may be relevant to the operation of a safe and healthy place of work". Treating texts and documents as cultural objects is presented as a useful supplement to existing understandings of workplace culture. In many ways the story told is an old one, as it involves conflict between capital and labour, nevertheless, the industrial relations literature could benefit by including texts and documents in the study of such conflict.

The Employment Contracts Act 1991-2000: A Decade of Change
A.J.Geare

This paper examines the extent to which decisions of the Employment Court in particular, but also the Court of Appeal, have changed the tenor and real influence of the Employment Contracts Act ("the EC Act"), and discusses the effect this has had on industrial relations. Whether or not the rulings by the Courts during their past decade have simply been interpretation and application, or indeed have tended towards redrafting, the end result, it is submitted, is that the EC Act in the year 2000 was very different to the EC Act 1991. As a consequence the Employment Relations Act 2000 has not resulted in anything like the significant change suggested by commentators or Business New Zealand.

LEGAL FORUM:

Developments Since the Introduction of the Employment Relations Act 2000
Chris Patterson

The Employment Relations Act ("the ERA") came into effect on 2 October 2000. We are now 12 months on from the introduction of this legislation and employment law has undergone some significant changes. The Employment Court has had to consider its own jurisdiction and role in relation to the Employment Relations Authority. The nature of the relationship has taken on new meaning and the law relating to redundancy seems to have taken an about turn. Some of the significant changes and decisions under the ERA are discussed.

RESEARCH NOTES:

Unions and Union Membership in New Zealand: Annual Review for 2000
Robyn May, Pat Walsh, Glen Thickett & Raymond Harbridge

This paper reports the results of Victoria University's Industrial Relations Centre's most recent survey of trade union membership in New Zealand. The survey carries on from the Centre's earlier surveys of trade union membership under the Employment Contracts Act 1991, for the years 1991 to 1999. The data reported herein covers the first three months of the new Employment Relations Act (enacted on 2 October 2000), to 31 December 2000, and records the first increase in trade union density since the mid-1980s. The data also report a substantial increase in the number of trade unions. As at 31 December 2000, the 134 trade unions identified for the survey represent a jump of 63 percent in the number of trade unions, up from 82 identified by last year's survey.

Sexual Harassment in Employment: An Examination of Decisions Looking for Evidence of a Sexist Jurisprudence
Julie Debono

Sexual harassment within the workplace has attracted much research over the last 15 to 20 years, although very little has been undertaken within the New Zealand context. Decisions were analysed from both the Employment and Human Rights Institutions covering the period from 1991-2000. From this analysis there is evidence that sexism does persist in the decisions made in these institutions, but that it may not be as severe as what the literature from other countries suggests is happening there. Examination of the decisions also highlights the apparent lack of consistency in remedies awarded, and the need for the wide legal definition of sexual harassment to be broken down into a grading of behaviours that allows decion makers to adequately address the issues of remedies with some consistency and recognition of the impacts of the behaviour on its victims.

Adjudication Outcomes in the Employment Tribunal: Some Early Comparisons with the Employment Relations Authority
Ian McAndrew

The New Zealand Employment Tribunal has now functioned in its mediation and adjudication jurisdictions, resolving and arbitrating employment disputes, for a full ten years. The Tribunal will finally be disestablished early in 2002. The Employment Relations Authority established under the Employment Relations Act 2000 has replaced the adjudication function of the Tribunal, and the Authority will complete the Tribunal caseload still outstanding at the final closing down of the Tribunal, likely to be something in the neighbourhood of 100 cases. A number of Members of the Employment Tribunal have been appointed to the Authority, so the change in institutions has not been without some continuity of personnel. Temporary transitional Members have, in turn, served on the Tribunal, replacing those appointed to either the Authority or the new Mediation Service also set up under the Employment Relations Act. Although the institutions have changed under the Employment Relations Act 2000, the basic law related to personal grievances, with only a couple of notable exceptions, remains essentially unchanged. This has naturally given rise to a curiosity among both practitioners and scholars as to how the case oucomes in the Authority's determinations compare with outcomes in the Tribunal's adjudication decisions over the decade of the latter's existence. This research note sets out to provide some limited, early answers.

CHRONICLE:

June - September 2001
Erling Rasmussen, Ian McIntosh and Joe Beer

A round-up of recent New Zealand industrial relations events.