EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS RESEARCH SERIES NO. 104 The Union Modernisation Fund – Round one: Final evaluation report MARK STUART, MIGUEL MARTINEZ LUCIO AND ANDY CHARLWOOD OCTOBER 2009 EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS RESEARCH SERIES NO. 104 Union Modernisation Fund – Round one: Final evaluation report BY MARK STUART, MIGUEL MARTINEZ LUCIO AND ANDY CHARLWOOD About EMAR Employment Market Analysis and Research (EMAR) is a multi-disciplinary team of economists, social researchers and statisticians based in the Employment Relations Directorate of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Our role is to provide the evidence base for good policy making in employment relations, labour market and equality and discrimination at work. We do this through: x Conducting periodic benchmark surveys x Commissioning external research reports x Conducting in-house research and analysis x Assessing the regulatory impact of new employment laws x Monitoring and evaluating the impact of government policies Further details of EMAR's work, including PDF versions of all our publications, please see our web pages at: www.berr.gov.uk/employment/research-evaluation Published in October 2009 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. URN 09/1346 © Crown Copyright 2009 Hard copies of this report can be ordered at: www.bis.gov.uk/publications Alternatively, call the BIS Publications Orderline on 0845 015 0010 (+44 845 015 0010) and quote the URN, or email them at: [email protected]. Electronic copies are available to download at: http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/research-evaluation/errs/index.html Enquiries should be addressed to [email protected] or posted to: Employment Market Analysis and Research Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Bay 4107 1 Victoria Street London SW1H 0ET UNITED KINGDOM ii Contents Contents ................................................................................................................i Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms ............................................................. iii Executive summary...............................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Background and introduction...............................................................9 Background and purpose of Fund .....................................................................9 The evaluation process ...................................................................................10 Methods and Analytic approach ......................................................................10 Structure of the report .....................................................................................15 Chapter 2: The context of union modernisation ..................................................17 The position of British trade unions .................................................................17 British unions and their administration.............................................................18 Understanding the UMF as an employment relations modernisation project ..21 Chapter 3: First Round Award Process...............................................................25 Background to the First Round call .................................................................25 UMF First Round Application Procedure .........................................................26 Characteristics of applications.........................................................................27 Analysis of applications by project themes......................................................30 Characteristics of unsuccessful projects .........................................................31 Experiences and perceptions of the First Round award process.....................32 Chapter 4: Project activities and outputs: the artefacts of modernisation............35 Round one project completion and delivery ....................................................35 Summary.........................................................................................................50 Chapter 5: Dissemination and the ‘demonstration effect’....................................51 Project dissemination and networking .............................................................51 Support for dissemination and strategic networking ........................................54 Summary.........................................................................................................55 Chapter 6: Challenges on the path to modernisation ..........................................57 Internal communication, co-ordination and governance ..................................58 Planning and strategy took longer than anticipated.........................................60 Relations between project workers and traditional union officers were at times strained ...........................................................................................................61 Tensions between ‘controlling’ projects and ‘buying-in’ expertise ...................62 Pressure on trade union workloads .................................................................64 Technical issues and contractor relations .......................................................65 Lack of employer buy-in in key cases..............................................................69 Modernisation challenges traditional union systems and way of doing things.71 Project buy-in and cultural resistance..............................................................72 i Internalising lessons learnt and knowledge assets..........................................73 External dissemination and memory ...............................................................74 Summary.........................................................................................................75 Chapter 7: The Lessons Learnt on the Way to Modernisation: Sustainable project outcomes ............................................................................................................77 Introduction......................................................................................................77 New resources, assets and roles ....................................................................79 Communication ...............................................................................................81 Contracting relations .......................................................................................82 Project management .......................................................................................83 Evaluation and reflection .................................................................................84 Networks and shared learning.........................................................................85 Mainstreaming and embedding change ..........................................................86 Summary.........................................................................................................87 Chapter 8: Conclusions.......................................................................................89 The potential for transformational change .......................................................90 The ‘demonstration effect’ ...............................................................................92 UMF Rounds Two and Three ..........................................................................92 References .........................................................................................................95 Appendix 1: The Supervisory Board ...................................................................99 Appendix 2: BIS reporting pro forma...................................................................99 Appendix 3: Final survey of projects .................................................................102 Appendix 4: Summary of Project Activity ..........................................................103 Appendix 5: The ten case study projects ..........................................................124 Appendix 6: Projects approved under UMF Round Two ...................................157 Appendix 7: Projects approved under UMF Round Three ................................164 Employment Relations Research Series...........................................................169 ii Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms BDA British Dental Association BERR Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform BIS Department of Business, Innovation and Skills BFAWU Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union BME Black Minority Ethnic CDNA Community and District Nursing Association CWU Communication Workers Union CYWU Community and Youth Workers Union DTI Department of Trade and Industry ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages FTO Full-time officer GFTU General Federation of Trade Unions GMB General Municipal Boilermakers Union HDNL Home Delivery Network Limited ICE Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations ICT Information communications technology NGSU Nationwide Group Staff Union NUJ National Union of Journalists NUT National Union of Teachers OCN Open College Network PGSA Portman Group Staff Association RCM Royal College of Midwives RMT National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers SCP Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists TGWU Transport and General Workers Union TSSA Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association TUC Trades Union Congress ULF Union Learning Fund UMF Union Modernisation Fund URTU Union Road Transport Union USDAW Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers WBBSSU