New Towns — A Centre of Non‐unionism?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055100 |
| Pages | 14-15 |
| Published date | 01 April 1987 |
| Date | 01 April 1987 |
| Author | P.B. Beaumont,L. Cairns |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
New Towns —
A Centre of
Non-unionism?
by P.B. Beaumont
Department of Social and Economic
Research, University of Glasgow, and
L. Cairns
Regional Education Officer, TUC,
Scotland
Introduction
In Britain, industrial relations researchers have generally
tended to ignore spatial considerations or features in their
analysis of variation in particular structures, behaviour and
outcomes. Admittedly, there have been some studies of, for
example, inter- (and even intra-) regional variation in strike
activity[1],
but, in general, the relatively small geographic
size of the British system has limited the extent of interest
and analysis along such lines. Indeed, Phelps Brown[2] has
recently cited the relatively small size of the British economy
as one of the leading historical determinants of the relatively
early emergence of "strong" unions.
There
are,
however, a number of reasons why this traditional
neglect of spatial considerations needs to be seriously re-
examined at present. For
example,
it is now well recognised
that manufacturing employment in the major urban centres
or conurbations of the country has substantially declined
in recent decades[3]. The favoured industrial locations now
appear to be small towns and rural areas, a tendency which
Massey[4] has argued may derive, at least in part, from a
management desire to have a less "militant" and more
"compliant" workforce. Furthermore, Massey and Miles[5]
have demonstrated that such locational tendencies have
produced a pattern of trade union membership increasingly
characterised by geographical dispersion, a change which,
they
argue,
does not augur well for the overall maintenance
of union strength.
In this article, we seek to reinforce these arguments with
findings which point to the potential value of more industrial
relations research containing an explicit spatial dimension.
This is done by presenting some key findings from a recent
study conducted in three New Towns in Scotland.
Specifically, we present some basic figures on the extent
and characteristics of non-union firms that have recently
been established in these locations. The potential
importance of this exercise follows from the fact that
Scotland is one of the traditionally highly unionised regions
of Britain, a fact largely deriving from the basic nature of
its industry/employment structure[6]. But as one recent
paper[7] has suggested (as opposed to demonstrated), this
position may now be changing, at least if one considers the
changing pattern of employment in the New
Town
locations.
The Basic Data
Initially, relevant information on the number of existing firms
and their date of establishment was obtained from the
annual reports of the three development corporations for
the years 1979-84, with some supplementary material being
provided by individual officers of the corporations
concerned.
The basic results obtained are those set out in
Table I.
Table I.
Town
Glenrothes
Irvine
Livingston
New Firm Start-ups in
New Towns
Total firms Number of firms
in 1984 established since
1979
195 107
221 108
260 196
the Three
% etablished
since 1979
55
49
75
The obvious point to make here concerns the relatively high
proportion of relatively recently established firms in these
locations. This particular finding is consistent with the
results of previous research which have shown that the
employment growth of New Towns is more a function of
having a relatively high proportion of new start-ups, rather
than being due to an above-average employment expansion
of already existing firms[8]. Moreover, given that a
secondary analysis of the 1980 workplace industrial
relations survey has identified a significant, negative
relationship between age of establishment and non-union
status[9],
at least in the manufacturing sector, we would
expect that a substantial proportion of these newly
established firms would be non-union ones.
This matter was investigated by enquiring about the
recognition status of the 411 firms set up in these three
locations since 1979. The basic information on this matter
was obtained from 30 full-time officers in the 14 unions
which were judged (on the basis of our information about
the industrial distribution of firms) to have a potential
recruitment interest there; in some cases, additional
information (and cross-checks) were obtained from local
trade union activists, members of trades councils and
officers of the development corporations. The basic
responses are those set out in Table II.
Table II. The Extent of Non-unionism
among the New Start-up Firms
Town
Glenrothes
Irvine
Livingston
Firms
established
since 1979
107
108
196
Number that
currently
recognise trade
unions
21
21
13
% that
currently
recognise
trade unions
19.6
19.4
6.6
14 ER 9,4 • 1987
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