Research
Evaluation of support provided by the Partnership Resource Centre to the KiwiRail group of companies and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union
This report describes and assesses the support provided by the Partnership Resource Centre (PRC) to improve the working relationship between the KiwiRail Group of companies (KiwiRail) and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU). The evaluation examines PRC support as provided in three KiwiRail projects – the Hutt workshops, and KiwiRail Network (formerly ONTRACK) and the Multi-employer Collective Agreement (MECA). The main part of the report includes a synthesis of findings about PRC support and the organisational factors that help or constrain its success. KiwiRail and RMTU Evaluation Summary Report [pdf, 4 pages, 237KB].
Partnership and Productivity in the Public Sector: A Review of the Literature
This report was commissioned by the Partnership Resource Centre to identify the key elements that lead to increased productivity in the public sector. The research was carried out during 2006, and the literature review included books, academic journals, specialist journals, official documents and publications by governments, unions and public sector organisations, in three languages (English, French and German). The report includes international examples. A Summary Report is also available [pdf, 18 pages, 406KB].
International Experiences of Partnership
This report documents international workplace partnership approaches and experience, in terms of its interest and relevance to New Zealand policy and practice.
The report illustrates the diversity of workplace partnerships by drawing on experiences in Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom.
With the current focus on partnership approaches and high performance workplaces, the question is not whether partnership will become a new way of organising work, but rather what particular forms of workplace partnership will be constructed in New Zealand workplaces. A Summary Report is also available [pdf, 22 pages, 218KB].
Workplace Partnership in New Zealand: A Stocktake of Practice
In 2005, the Partnership Resource Centre commissioned a comprehensive review or ‘stocktake’ of union-management workplace partnership practices and behaviours in New Zealand.
The study found that the penetration of partnership practices has been sporadic and/or experimental, and set in an environment that is often abrasive to the concept. However, in many workplaces where collective bargaining has existed for a significant period, both unions and management are adopting some key features of the partnership approach.
The study concluded that, because attitudes on both sides are relatively open to the approach, the prospects for further penetration of partnership behaviours in unionised firms is positive. A Summary Report is also available [pdf, 25 pages, 234KB].
Northpower and the PSA
This is a story about people and a traditional company in provincial New Zealand doing some seemingly unremarkable things and yet achieving remarkable results.
Winstone Pulp International with the NDU and the EPMU
This case study documents the workplace partnership experiences at Kariori Pulp Mill. Over a number of years, Winstone Pulp International (WPI) and the unions – the National Distribution Union (NDU) and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) – have developed close and productive working relationships.
Fisher & Paykel and the EPMU
Fisher & Paykel Appliances and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) have built a mature, highly developed model of partnership over many years.
The company (both managers and staff) and the union have found some very effective ways of working together and have created a successful and healthy workplace that people enjoy being a part of.
Partnership for Quality Between ASURE NZ and the PSA
ASURE is a business that operates between the public and private sectors in New Zealand. In September 1999, ASURE became the first State Owned Enterprise to sign a Partnership for Quality agreement with the PSA.
ASURE and the PSA found common ground in working constructively together on ‘growing the cake’ and adding value and/or reducing costs.
This has enabled them to work together more constructively for the overall benefit of the business and the employees.
