Concentration and Growth in New New Zealand Unions,1900-1966

Marten S. Estey , "Trends in Concentration of Union Membership, 1897-1962", Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. LXXX, No. 3, 1966, pp. 343-60.

W. Rosenberg , Compulsory Arbitration, Barrier to Progress? ( Wellington , 1952), p. 15.

H. S. Roberts and P. F. Brissenden (eds.), The Challenge of Industrial Relations in the Pacific-Asian Countries (Honolulu, 1965), p. 135.

N.S. Woods , Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration in New Zealand ( Wellington, 1963), p. 9.

W. Rosenberg , op. cit., p. 13. Or as Salleh Sulong, "Aspects of Trade Union Government in New Zealand", Master's thesis, Victoria University of Wellington , 1965, p. 10, puts it, "the small scale character of the unions still persists because many unions have as yet made no move toward amalgamation".

All New Zealand statistics are taken from the appropriate Report of the Department of Labour.

On this, it is interesting to compare the views of a prominent labour leader, writing in the thirties, with those of a recent Amercian observer—John Robinson, "Reconstruction of Trades Unionism in New Zealand", a paper presented to the Otago Trades Council, 1932, p. 4: "the Legislature maintained provisions barring real unionism ... it afflicted the trade union movement with a constitutional weakness, a kind of industrial tuberculosis, that was rooted in the system itself"; and Martin L. Gross, "The Condition of New Zealand Unions — An Environmental Approach", New Zealand Journal of Public Administration, Vol. 24, No. 1, 1961, p. 30: "compensating for organizational weaknesses ... I C and A in fact permitted the weaknesses to continue; membership apathy, leadership incompetence, narrowness of outlook, in addition to constitutional weaknesses such as small size and lack of full-time secretariats."

For a discussion on concentration measures see Business Concentration and Price Policy (National Bureau of Economic Research, Princeton, 1955), pp. 57-99; and P. E. Hart and S. J. Prais, "The Analysis of Business Concentration: A Statistical Approach", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Vol. 119, 1956, pp. 150-75.

Salleh Sulong, op. cit., p. 4. The one important gap, however, is that of public servants and teachers. They are not registered as unions and are not included in calculations on concentration; their inclusion would certainly have affected some of the conclusions.

Marten S. Estey, op. cit., p. 348.

This point is underlined if concentration is measured through the share of union membership controlled by the largest union. In 1937 the largest union, then the New Zealand Workers' Union, controlled 12.1 per cent of total union membership; by 1966 the largest union had only 9.6 per cent of membership.

Marten S. Estey, op. cit., p. 351.

Joe S. Bain , Industrial Organization ( New York, 1959 ), p. 86.

The figures for British and American concentration are taken from Marten S. Estey, op. cit., p. 357.

New Zealand Department of Statistics, Industrial Production 1965-66. Less than 2 per cent of manufacturing units employed more than 200 people.

Salleh Sulong, op. cit., p. 2.

For details on New Zealand's industrial relations legislation see N. S. Woods, Report on Industrial Relations Legislation (Department of Labour, Wellington, 1968); A. Tyndall, "New Zealand System of Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration", International Labour Review, Vol. 82, 1960, pp. 138-62; F. Challaye, "La Premiere Experience de Conciliation et d'Arbitrage Obligatoires dans les Conflits du Travail", Revue Politique et Parlementaire, 1965, pp. 479-98.

Hon. T.P. Shand , "The Role of Government in New Zealand in Wage Bargaining and Settlement of Disputes" in S. J. Callahan (Ed.), Wage Fixing in New Zealand (Wellington and London, 1968), p. 18.

A.E.C. Hare , Report on Industrial Relations in New Zealand ( Wellington , 1946), p. 176.

N.S. Woods , Industrial Relations Legislation, p. 6.

A. E. C. Hare, op. cit., p. 195.

Salleh Sulong, op. cit., p. 6.

J.M. Howells and R.P. Alexander , "A Strike in the Meat Freezing Industry: Background to Industrial Discontent in New Zealand", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1968, p. 423. A. E. C. Hare, op. cit., p. 198, commenting on written evidence from a trade union secretary, states that "before the introduction of compulsory unionism all his members were convinced unionists, now not twenty per cent had any understanding of or belief in the union".

A. E. C. Hare, op. cit., p. 199.

John Robinson, op. cit., p. 17.

Ibid., p. 5.

W. Rosenberg, op. cit., p. 13.

There has been a reduction in membership in national unions covering Shipping Officers, Stonemasons, Musicians, Theatrical Employees and Radio Officers. There has been very little change in those organizing Baking Trades Employees, Locomotive Engineers, Firemen and Cleaners, Bricklayers, Waterside Workers, Plumbers, Gas Fitters and Related Trades and Gasworks Employees.

B.C. Roberts , Trade Union Government and Administration (London, 1957), p. 492.

Salleh Sulong, op. cit., pp. 19-22.

New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 244, 1936, p. 525.

B. C. Roberts, op. cit., p. 397. This point can be taken further. It is a simple fact that unions are able to break away from associations much easier than from an amalgamation of unions. Unions are therefore able to join associations with less fear of permanent commitment. It is a course of action less fraught with dangers to a small union, a little jealous of its independence, than total involvement in a national union. This can be seen from a comparison of Rule 37 of the Otago and Southland Freezing Works and Related Trades Employees' Industrial Union of Workers with Rule 4(d) of the New Zealand Freezing Works and Related Trades Industrial Association of Workers.

Allan Flanders and H. A. Clegg (eds.), The System of Industrial Relations in Great Britain (Oxford, 1954), p. 182.

H.A. Turner , "British Trade Union Structure: A New Approach ", British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 173. It is suggested that there are two obstacles to the growth in size of unions organized on industrial lines: "very few of the white-collar and professional associations would merge in industrial unions", and "the major craft (or 'near craft') unions with interindustry memberships would be most unlikely to dissolve their occupational identity". This appears to be the case in New Zealand.

Marten S. Estey, op. cit., p. 358.

E.J. Riches , "The Restoration of Compulsory Arbitration in New Zealand", International Labour Review, Vol. XXXIV, No. 6, 1936, p. 753.

Allan Flanders , Trade Unions (London, 1952), p. 37.

New Zealand Federation of Labour, Minutes and Report of the Twentieth Annual Conference, 1956, p. 20.