Practices of the Past: Politics and Industrial Relations in New Zealand, 1984-1990

Abstract

This thesis examines two prominent industrial disputes that occurred under New Zealand's fourth Labour Government (1984-1990). The first dispute (1986) was between the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company Ltd and the Northern Federation of Pulp and Paper Workers, centred on the Tasman pulp and paper mill site at Kawerau. The second dispute (1987-1988) was between the government and the state unions over the State Sector Bill. These disputes show how the industrial relations environment over this period, across the public and private sectors, became increasingly supportive of managerial prerogative. The fourth Labour Government fostered this industrial relations environment with a radical public policy approach that exposed industries to global economic headwinds, made sweeping changes to public administration and the structure of state services, and contributed to the estrangement of organised labour. The thesis situates its case studies with a view to the government's economic policies and its adoption of public choice theory in its policy-making. The thesis then proceeds to demonstrate the influence of these public policy factors upon the country's industrial relations framework and the government's relationship with organised labour. In the Tasman dispute, the government refused to involve itself directly to cause a settlement. This stance, combined with the pressures of the newly-competitive economic environment, led the company to impose strict new operational and disputes procedures upon the insurgent workers. Moving to the State Sector Bill dispute, the thesis illustrates the government's non-negotiable stance on the legislation, and the state unions' agitative reaction to this. Approaching its case studies using a combination of periodicals, correspondence, Hansard and other sources, this thesis affirms an existent body of political science scholarship that describes a decline in interest group consultation and negotiation under the fourth Labour Government. It also supports the view held by industrial relations scholars that the unitary perspective on industrial relations, which upholds workplace cooperation and decries conflict and state intervention, was on the ascendance during this period.