Workplace determinants of union presence in New Zealand organisations

This article reports a section of results from a survey of managerial practices in New Zealand. While the survey was primarily undertaken to discover what types of managerial practices in relation to employment relationships are being undertaken in New Zealand organisations, this article focuses exclusively on the influence of organisational variables on union presence. The results highlight the positive relationship between larger organisational size, older organisations, operation in the not‐for‐profit sector of the economy and the use of collective employment contracts and the variable “union presence”. The results also indicate that organisations that use formal approaches in managing employees and/or managing employment relationships have a higher likelihood of union presence than organisations using informal methods. The factors identified in this article also provide the starting point for an understanding of the role unions in New Zealand have played post‐Employment Contracts Act.