Abstract for:
Unions, Performance-Related Pay and Procedural Justice: the Case of Classroom Teachers
Richard
Belfield,
David
Marsden,
November 2004
Paper No' CEPDP0660:
|
Full paper 
Save Reference as: 
BibTeX File | 
EndNote Import File
Keywords: Unions; Procedural Justice, Performance-Related Pay, Teachers
JEL Classification: J33; J51
Is hard copy/paper copy available?
YES - Paper Copy Still In Print.
This Paper is published under the following series:
CEP Discussion Papers
Share:
Google Bookmarks |
Facebook |
Twitter
Abstract:
Performance-related pay (PRP) and performance management (PM) are now a part of the organizational
landscape that unions face in the UK’s public services. While PRP and PM threaten the scope of traditional
union bargaining activities, they simultaneously offer a new role to unions as providers of ‘procedural justice
services’ to both union members and employers. We explore the case of the introduction of these systems for
classroom teachers in England and Wales as a means of testing this idea. Our survey evidence shows that
classroom teachers experiencing the introduction of PRP have expressed a strong demand for such services from
the teachers’ unions. Further, analysis of the PRP implementation process for classroom teachers indicates that
the teachers’ unions have progressively assumed a ‘procedural justice role’ since its introduction. Union action
in this regard has led to substantial modification over time of classroom teachers’ PRP and PM. These changes
have addressed many of the concerns of teachers, have created a new institutional role for the relevant unions,
and may permit the systems to avoid the operational difficulties they have experienced elsewhere in the UK’s
public services.