Research Commons at The

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Research Commons@Waikato http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/ Research Commons at the University of Waikato Copyright Statement: The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). The thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author’s right to be identified as the author of the thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author’s permission before publishing any material from the thesis. STRATEGY AND VISION: THE INFLUENCE OF THE AMWU ON THE NZEU FROM 1987-1992 WITH RESPECT TO EDUCATION AND TRAINING REFORMS. By Gemma L. Piercy Monday, August 23, 1999 This thesis is presented in partial fulfillment of a Master of Social Sciences, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii Acronyms v Chapter One: Introduction 1-16 Purpose 3 Central Arguments 3 Background 6 Research approach 13 Structure 15 Chapter Two: Historical and Theoretical Framework 17-42 The Demise of the Welfare State 18 The Changing Nature of Work 20 The Rise of Neo-liberalism 23 The resurgence of Human Capital Theory 27 Summary of the First Part 29 The Case of Australia: the ‘Accord’ 30 The Case of New Zealand: Rogernomics 34 Summary of the Second Part 37 Union Strategies in a Neo-liberal Environment 38 Summary 41 Chapter Three: Education and Training Reforms in Australia 43-61 The Case for Reform 44 Australia Reconstructed (1987) 46 Skills for Australia (1987) 48 Skills for Manufacturing Industry: Future Directions (1988) 49 Improving Australia’s Training system (1989) 51 Training Costs of Award Restructuring (1990) 53 Young People’s Participation in Post Compulsory Education & Training (1991) 56 Australian Vocational Certificate System (1992) 58 Summary 59 Chapter Four: Education and Training Reforms in New Zealand 62-77 The Case for Reform 63 Learning and Achieving 65 Green Paper on the NZ Vocational Education and Training System 67 The Management, Funding and Organisation of Post-Compulsory Education 68 Report of the Working group on Post-Compulsory Education and Training 69 Learning for Life II 71 Towards a National Qualifications Framework 72 Designing the Framework 73 The Industry Skill Strategy 75 Summary 76 Chapter Five: Australian Union Strategies 78-89 The Compulsory Conciliation and Arbitration Legacy 79 Economic Crises 80 The 1977 Metal Industry Conference 81 The Accord 82 Australia reconstructed 84 Award Restructuring and the National Training Reform Agenda 85 Summary 89 Chapter Six: New Zealand Union Strategies 90-97 Compulsory Arbitration and Conciliation 91 The Economic Crises 92 The Labour Relations Act of 1987 93 Award Restructuring 94 The National Qualifications Framework and the Industry Skills Strategy 95 Summary 97 Chapter Seven: Findings from the Australian Interviews 98-121 Beyond Post Taylorism 99 The Political Economy Debate Towards the ‘Accord’ 102 Award Restructuring and the Industry Training Reform Agenda 107 The Australian-New Zealand Union Movement Relationship 117 Chapter Eight: Findings from the New Zealand Interviews 122-150 The AMWU-NZEU Relationship 124 Towards Education and Training Reform 127 The Emergence of the Training Reforms in New Zealand 131 Unions and Education and Training Reform 134 National’s Election and Policy Shifts 140 Reflections on the AMWU’s Social Democratic Vision 148 Chapter Nine: Discussion of Findings 151-167 The Australian Unions’ Reform Strategy 153 The Australian Influence on New Zealand Unions 157 Education and Training Reforms in New Zealand 162 Chapter Ten: Conclusion 168-170 References 171-180 Schedule of interviewees 181-182 ABSTRACT It has been established that in the late 1980s, early 1990s the AMWU and the NZEU developed a close relationship through which the NZEU altered it traditional bargaining strategies. This study set out to discover the specific details of this relationship and its implications, with respect to education and training reforms, from around 1987-1992. The thesis began the investigation with a literature review, followed by an extensive series of interviews in Australia and New Zealand. The interviews were conducted with officials and former officials of the AMWU and the NZEU. Key players from the education and training reform process in both countries. The conclusion of this thesis is that, the pressure from the rise of neo-liberalism and the changes to production drove the NZEU to find alternative bargaining strategy. The strength of the unions in Australia and historical ties drew the NZEU to the AMWU, who under similar constraints, had formulated new bargaining strategies. These new strategies embraced ‘partnership unionism’ which used co-operative practices and training as a means of maintaining leverage under hostile conditions. This thesis asserts that the NZEU took on board the AMWU’s ‘partnership unionism’, through their relationship, as they saw them as a means of maintaining leverage in a neo-liberal environment. Training is the linchpin of this approach highlighting the strategic importance of education and training to unions. This thesis concludes that the NZEU has been able to maintain its leverage in a neo-liberal environment because, in line with Wolfgang Streeck’s analysis, it has recognised that education and training provide a degree of leverage in a hostile environment. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you Michael Law, you are my teacher, my mentor and my mate. Thanks to Sue Kelsey, without your boot this process could have been tortuous. Thanks to Joanna Cullinane for her last minute crisis management. More particularly, thank you Joyce, Ray and Michael for letting me steal your partners for prolonged periods of time. Thank you to all my friends who understood when I had to say ‘no I have to do my thesis’. And to the team in Labour Studies, thank you for the laughter and support. Also thank you to my proof-readers; true friends all. Thank you to my family, for your continual love and support. Aunty Sandra, thank you for always believing in me and giving me strength. Thank you to Winifred Green and Muriel Piercy, your loss is felt keenly and this is for you. Most importantly, thank you to those I interviewed, your gift of knowledge was priceless. In particular, thank you Richard Pickersgill, Anne Junor and Max Ogden in Australia and Mike Smith and David Lythe in New Zealand. ACRONYMS ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACAC Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission ACCI Australian Council of Commerce and Industry ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions AEU Amalgamated Engineers Union AIRAANZ Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand ALP Australian Labor Party AMC Australian Manufacturing Council AMT Advanced Manufacturing Technology AMWU Australian Metal Workers Union ANZAC Australia/New Zealand Army Corps AR Australia Reconstructed ATS Australian Training System AVCTS Australian Vocational Certificate Training System BEETS Basic Mechanical Engineering Training System BRT New Zealand Business Roundtable CAD Computer Aided Design CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing CAP Computer Aided Planning CBT Competency Based Training CER Closer Economic Relations COSTAC Commonwealth and State Training Advisory Committee CPA Communist Party of Australia ECA Employment Contracts Act 1991 EDI Electronic Data Interchange EEC European Economic Community EFT Electronic Transfer of Funds EITO Engineering Industry Training Organisation ETSA Education Training Support Agency HCT Human Capital Theory IMF International Monetary Fund ITAB Industry Training Advisory Board ITO Industry Training Organisation JIT Just in Time LRA Labour Relations Act 1987 N/C Numerical control NTB National Training Board NTRA National Training Reform Agenda NZCTU New Zealand Council of Trade Unions NZEF New Zealand Employers’ Federation NZEU New Zealand Engineers Union NZLP New Zealand Labour Party NZQA New Zealand Qualifications Authority OECD Organisation of Economic and Commercial Development PCET Post-Compulsory Tertiary Education POS Point of Sale Devices SEP Structural Efficiency Principle SCOTVEC The Scottish Vocational Education Council TAFE Technical and Further Education TCRC Training Costs review Committee TDC Trade Development Council TDU Trade Development Council TQC Total Quality Control TUEA Trade Union Education Authority TUTA Trade Union Training Authority VAM Value Added Management VEETAC Vocational Educational Employment Advisory Committee VTC Vocational Training Council CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION This study examines the influence of the Australian union movement on the New Zealand union movement’s approach to education and training reforms. The period under examination in this study ranges from around 1987 through to the end of 1992. Since the late 1980s, the argument that education and training is the key to improving a country’s economic performance has been popularised throughout the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development1 (OECD) (Tuijnman & Schomann, 1996). This view has been advanced not just by governments and business, but also by unions

Load more