DO UNION VOICE AND WORKER PARTICIPATION COINCIDE - A STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN MANAGERS PERCEPTIONS

This paper examines the relationship between employee, union delegate and union official influence over managerial decision-making, using su rvey responses from 249 workplace managers from large Australian firms . By applying indicators of influence at different levels of aggregati on, a strong positive linkage between voice and participation is locat ed. Further, it is found that employee participation is more closely l inked to voice exerted by workplace union delegates as opposed to full -time union officials, and the areas where delegates and officials mai ntain influence are generally identical to the areas where employees e xert influence.