Management-employee relations during re-structuring – a shop steward perspective – the effects and implications of the 2007 Structural reform

Abstract

This article examines how the 2007 Structural reform of the Danish local government sector has impacted the management-employee relations across merged and non-merged municipalities. It draws on a large-scale survey with nearly 1000 union affiliated workplace representatives in the Danish local government sector. We find that many workplaces have been affected by mass redundancies, restructuring, and financial cutbacks, but this have not necessarily affected the management-employee relations negatively. In fact, one in three shop stewards report that their collaboration with management has improved since the 2007 Structural reform, and one in two shop stewards experience that their level of influence has increased after the Structural reform. In this context, the shop stewards’ and management’s approach towards employee involvement appears pivotal. Trust based management-employee relations together with a social partnership approach seem to positively affect the collaboration between shop stewards and management. In fact, local government mergers appear less important when it comes to the management-employee relations. Instead, nearly three in four shop stewards report that their tasks are more challenging and nearly one in two state that their job as a shop steward is more interesting and often associated with higher levels of influence after the implementation of the Structural reform that changed the landscape of Danish local government sector considerably.