Do strong unions make strong HR?
* Posted by sylvia hammondon July 26, 2011 at 9:11am
When the News of the World newspaper in London closed down two weeks ago, a few
hundred people lost their jobs. The paper closed as a result of the
revelations
about the illegal "phone-hacking" that had been taking place. Now an academic
asks whether this would have happened if there had been strong unions.
Union lockout “could be root of News International problems"
Strong unions create strong HR and management, says academic
The derecognition of unions in the 1980s may be part of the explanation for the
company culture that developed at News International, according to a leading
academic.
Rupert Murdoch famously froze out the print unions when his group of newspapers
moved to Wapping [in East London, away from Fleet Street] in 1986, while a
staff
association at the company is recognised as the main representative body for
journalists rather than a national union such as the NUJ.
But this arrangement may have contributed to the management culture which
developed and culminated in the phone hacking scandal, according to Miguel
Martinez Lucio, Professor of International HRM at Manchester Business School.
“There’s a part of the story here which is about trade unions and how many
voices you need in workplace,” Lucio told PM [Personnel Management]. “Having a
recognised, independent union can give you a more open, challenging culture,
with more pluralistic ideas and corporate responsibility that is more jointly
owned. Some staff associations may be capable of the kind of dialogue needed to
play this role, but it is always less likely they will be able to do it than an
autonomous union.”
Whistleblowers may have been less willing to raise concerns about the phone
hacking issue with a staff association rather than an independent union, Lucio
added. But a further knock-on effect may have been that the lack of union
influence for many years led to an HR department that was not used to being
challenged, he said.
“In a sense, an HR manager is as good as their opposition – if they have got a
strong union it makes them stronger. Some of the best HR departments that I
have
worked with are those where there is also a strong union and they keep each
other on their toes. It may be that after the move to a staff association they
were not overly challenged and they were not brought to book on certain issues.
Once you close down that place of discussion in a company, there is nowhere to
tackle any concerns at an early stage.”
He contrasted the situation at News international with employee relations in
the
public sector, where unions are strong, disputes and grievances receive more
media attention and whistleblowing is more common. He said that this led to HR
managers in the public sector developing a skill set which can be lacking in
non-unionised industries in the private sector.
News International closed the News of the World two weeks ago after revelations
that journalists had hacked the voicemails of murder victims and members of the
public as well as celebrities and politicians.
Sourc: CIPD 25 July 2011
Circulated by the International Employment Relations Network-List (subscribe at
http://lists.unisa.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/iern-l)
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