In July 2002, Ireland’s new National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) issued a report on modernising workplaces through a partnership approach. The NCCP's executive chair stated that a new direction is now needed for workplace partnership, and that it has to move on to the next stage. Although there have been some signs of progress, advanced forms of workplace partnership are still rare in Ireland.
On 24 July 2002, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) launched a new report entitled Working together for change and a modern workplace, at a seminar on workplace partnership held at the European Foundation for the Improvement in Living and Working Conditions in Dublin. The NCPP was established in 2001 (IE0204203N and IE0104166F) to replace the previous National Centre for Partnership (NCP). The main role of the NCPP is to provide institutional support for the wider diffusion of workplace 'partnership' (IE0001204F).
At the launch, NCPP's executive chair, Peter Cassells, stated that a new direction is now needed for workplace partnership, and that it has to move on to the next stage. Although there have been some signs of progress, advanced forms of workplace partnership are still rare in Ireland (IE9807120F). Mr Cassells said, 'we urgently need to move to a new and more mature phase of partnership that will drive organisational change and modernise companies and public sector organisations throughout the country.'
In particular, according to Mr Cassells, much stronger workplace partnerships are required, whereby managers, employees and trade unions cooperate and work together to: increase productivity, protect competitiveness and safeguard jobs; modernise the workplace to address new pressures on workers, by increasing training and teamwork and achieving a better work-life balance; improve the delivery of public services; and modernise industrial relations and reward systems.
The new NCPP report incorporates a list of guidelines aimed at providing practical assistance for employers, unions and employees that wish to modernise their workplaces using a partnership approach. In terms of mutual gains arising from partnership, 'as employees become more deeply-involved in problem-solving there are often marked decreases in the level of absenteeism, staff turnover and industrial conflict', the report claims. Thus, it would appear, the more advanced the problem-solving initiative, the greater the benefit.
The report points to the key importance of employment security provisions for ensuring genuine partnership that provides a fair balance of mutual gains for all 'stakeholders'. The message here is that employees are unlikely to be positive towards partnership if it means their jobs are less secure. In view of this, redundancies should be viewed as a last resort in the event of a problem, with all other avenues being explored first.
Examples of partnership
The report outlines various participative initiatives in four major Irish companies, which are often cited as well-established exemplars of partnership - Aughinish Alumina, Jurys Doyle Hotel Group, Dairygold and Tegral Metal Forming Ltd. These initiatives range from more formal and structured forms of partnership, to more informal and 'organic' forms.
Tegral Metal Forming Ltd (TMF) has a joint union-management partnership structure in place, with eight members. It has also introduced a skill-based pay system, annualised hours and a self-monitored 'gainsharing' scheme (IE0007153F). The gainsharing scheme is linked to four jointly established 'key performance indicators' (KPIs): cost per tonne (productivity); hours lost (safety); customer complaints (quality); and delivery time (customer service). Overtime has almost been eliminated as a result of annualised hours, and working time has been reduced.
Aughinish Alumina Ltd is an alumina refinery, and it has had semi-autonomous teams in place since 1993, with teams having a significant degree of control over work organisation. The organisational structure has been flattened to just three levels of decision-making. Union-management partnership arrangements are based on informal cooperation, and there is no permanent formal partnership structure. A number of joint partnership groups have been established to address various significant business issues, such as future business strategy. Moreover, 'single-status' provisions have been implemented (ie uniform employment conditions for all categories of staff), and an annualised hours scheme introduced for all unionised employees, which is working well.
Dairygold Cooperative Society Ltd has used autonomous teams and gainsharing in the maintenance area at its Galtee pigmeat plant in Michelstown for many years. The idea was initially devised by the trade union at the plant, as an alternative to decreasing the maintenance workforce. The maintenance workers run their function on the basis of a self-managed work team, and have responsibility for budgeting, planning of work and liaising with production. They schedule their own holidays and working hours (within certain constraints), and their team leader negotiates the annual maintenance budget with management. The financial savings on the budget are shared between the company and the employees, with the first EUR 25,400 split 75% to 25% in the employees’ favour, and a 50%-50% split beyond that point.
Jury’s Doyle Hotel Group has established a partnership steering committee, consisting of five trade union and five management representatives. Local department partnership committees have also been established. For instance, a job-sharing initiative has been introduced on a permanent basis in the accommodation and reservations sections of the hotels.
Among the key lessons to emerge from these studies, the report says, is that securing a 'quick win'– for instance, in the area of health and safety - is important for inspiring confidence in partnership. Further, there is growing recognition that partnership and industrial relations processes need to be intertwined, and that a number of shared objectives must be identified that can deliver mutual gains for all 'stakeholders'.
The NCPP acknowledges the fact that, 'while there has been a significant level of innovation and experimentation with partnership-based approaches to decision-making in Irish companies, there is little compelling evidence that partnership has become part of the mainstream approach to change.'.
Commentary
At the current juncture, although Ireland possesses a number of well-established exemplars of partnership, such as Aughinish Alumina and Dairygold/Galtee Meats, beyond this, advanced forms of partnership and joint decision-making would appear to be relatively rare. However, there are signs of increased activity, with the NCPP playing a key role in driving the process forward.
Nevertheless, as matters stand, workplace partnership is voluntary, in the sense that there is no statutory obligation on employers to share power over the key operational and strategic issues facing company stakeholders. Concomitantly, unilateral management regulation would appear to be far more prevalent than joint regulation - in whatever guise. Moreover, even where partnership does exist, employers can withdraw at any time, as it currently has no legal underpinnings in Ireland. EU developments may be significant here. In particular, the new EU Directive (2002/14/EC) establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (EU0204207F) will require employers across Ireland who fall under its provisions to provide workers with new rights to information and consultation. It remains to be seen whether the Directive can provide a boost to the diffusion of partnership in years to come. (Tony Dobbins, IRN)