THE ETHICS OF HRM 51But, again, there is the practical issue. Workplaces practising the ‘New Realism’
of high unionization combined with a high level of HR practices are few
and far between in the private sector, accounting for only 1 per cent of such
workplaces, according to WERS 98.
Perhaps the most realistic role for trade unions in the private sector today
is to go with the flow of the individualistic, consumer-oriented culture of the
twenty-first century and become what has been termed the ‘AA of the work-
place’ (Bassett and Cave 1993). The possible danger of union marginalization
is less relevant in those circumstances where unionism, at this time, has no
presence at all (Boxall and Haynes 1997). Most employees in the affluent
West exercise their most conscious lifestyle choices in acts of consumption.
(At the same time, of course, large firms may impede consumers’ negative
liberty through the manipulation of such choices via the media.) One role
for unions is to provide individual services for member-consumers, ranging
from financial, legal, training, and education services, to the expanding area
of individual representation in discipline, discrimination, and grievance cases
(Williams 1997). The latter area, in particular, is likely to grow given the
increased emphasis on individuals’ statutory legal rights in the employment
relationship. Research suggests that ‘support if I had a problem at work’ is
far and awaythemost cited reason for joining a trade union (Waddington
and Whitston 1997). This form of ‘collective individualism’ or, as Fox (1985)
put it, ‘instrumental collectivism’ is central to the role of trade unions as ‘a
means of redressing the vulnerability of the individual employee in his or her
dealings with the employer’ (Hyman 1997: 321). When this takes the form of
protecting individuals from the arbitrary actions of management, unions are
acting to protect employees’ negative freedom.
Ironically, such a role recalls the pre-Fordist days of unions’ birth, when
‘the Webbs identified “mutual insurance” as a trade union method even more
firmly established than collective bargaining’ (Hyman 1997: 321). Plus ca
change, plus c’est la meme chose?