The Public Service Ethos, Union Activism and Building Alliances
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THE PUBLIC SERVICE ETHOS AND UNION MOBILISATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE Steve Davies Cardiff School of Social Sciences Cardiff University This thesis is submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2012 ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of the UNISON members, reps and paid officers who helped in the completion of this thesis by giving their time, ideas and assistance so generously. I would also like to thank those members of library campaign groups who similarly enthusiastically provided me with information and opinions. I thank the Richard Benedict Fund for a grant of £2000 to support my work for this thesis and Professor Ed Heery of the Cardiff Business School for facilitating the application. I particularly thank Professor Huw Beynon as supervisor for all his advice, help, discussion and encouragement. Finally I thank my family, Sue, Anna and Meg for putting up with periodic absences, occasional grumpiness and the odd moment of panic over this (very) long period of research and writing. iii Abstract After thirty years of neoliberal public sector reforms involving the increased use of the private sector and the import of private sector methods, in many respects, the public sector is barely recognisable from when Mrs Thatcher was elected. This study is about one specific part of the public services – the public library service – and is analysed in the context of the wider picture of change in the public services. In particular, the focus of the thesis is the attitude of library service workers to the public service ethos (PSE), whether and how it informs their attitude to their work and its potential for use by their union in mobilisation. The thesis addresses three research questions: Has the public service ethos survived? And if it has, what does it mean for workers? Is there a relationship between commitment to the public service ethos and union membership and activism? Could the union utilise the ethos in its campaigning? And, if so, how? Starting from a theoretical discussion of the origins and meaning of the PSE and a discussion of the relevance of mobilisation theory, the study highlights three key areas. First, there is an examination of whether workers in the public library service believe that a PSE exists and, if so, what it means to them. It is demonstrated through qualitative and quantitative data, including a survey of union members in the library service that it is both alive and well and a significant influence on how they view their working life. Secondly, there is an analysis of whether there is a relationship between union activism and commitment and a belief in the PSE. Connected with that is a debate about the utility of the PSE as an aid to mobilisation at the workplace. Thirdly, there is a discussion of the relevance of the PSE to unions’ wider campaigning, given their expressed aim of drawing on external power resources through alliances with service user groups. The study shows that public service workers continue to believe in a PSE, offering their union the opportunity to associate itself with it, thereby distinguishing itself from the employer and strengthening the union both within and outside the workplace. iv Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iv Contents ...................................................................................................................................... v List of Acronyms used ................................................................................................................ xi Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Marketisation and public sector reform – the context ....................................................... 1 Public services under the Conservatives 1979-87 ............................................................. 1 New Labour – continuity not change 1997-2010 ............................................................... 5 Figure 1a: New Labour’s public service reform agenda ..................................................... 7 The Conservative - Liberal Democrat Coalition 2010 ........................................................ 8 1.3 The End of the Public Service Ethos?............................................................................ 10 1.4 The Structure of the Thesis ............................................................................................ 12 Chapter 2: Origins and development of the public service ethos ..................................... 12 Chapter 3: Politics, power and public service union mobilisation .................................... 13 Chapter 4: Researching the Union .................................................................................. 13 Chapter 5: The UK public library service ......................................................................... 14 Chapter 6: Measuring a public good – development and decline in the language of metrics ............................................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 7: The public service ethos: a terminal case or alive and well? ......................... 14 Chapter 8: Union reps and the PSE ................................................................................ 15 Chapter 9: UNISON’s library campaign ........................................................................... 15 Chapter 10: Conclusion ................................................................................................... 16 PART ONE: BACKGROUND ................................................................................................... 17 Chapter Two: Origins and development of the public service ethos ......................................... 17 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Definitions and contested meanings .............................................................................. 18 2.3 Origins and forms .......................................................................................................... 22 Northcote-Trevelyan in the Civil Service .......................................................................... 22 2.4 Public services and democratic change ......................................................................... 24 2.5 Basis of the ethos .......................................................................................................... 29 2.6 The threat of marketisation ............................................................................................ 30 2.7 The continued survival of the public service ethos and resistance................................. 35 Table 2a: Public sector employment 2012 (first quarter) ................................................. 36 Chapter Three: Politics, power and public service union mobilisation ...................................... 43 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 43 3.2 From staff associations to unions .................................................................................. 44 3.3 Sources of public service union power ........................................................................... 46 3.4 Recognition of the need for alliances ............................................................................. 48 3.5 Beyond defensive alliances to proactive coalitions ........................................................ 54 v 3.6 Overcoming conflicts of interest ..................................................................................... 55 Figure 3a: The changing dynamics of alliances ............................................................... 56 3.7 Mobilisation .................................................................................................................... 58 3.8 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 60 Chapter Four: Researching the Union ...................................................................................... 62 4.1 Background .................................................................................................................... 62 4.2 Working with unions ....................................................................................................... 64 Figure 4a: Research and unions ..................................................................................... 65 Table 4a: Objectives in collaboration ............................................................................... 66 4.3 Policy sociology - writing for the union ........................................................................... 69 Table 4b: Types of writing for