Labour-management forums and workplace performance. Evidence from union officials in health care organizations

Many health care workplaces are adopting more cooperative labour-management relations, spurred in part by sweeping changes in the economic environment that have occurred over the last decade. Labour-management cooperation is seen as essential if health care organizations are to achieve their valued performance objectives. Joint labour-management committees (LMCs) have been adopted in many health care workplaces as a means of achieving better industrial relations. Using data from a sample of Canadian union leaders in the health care sector, this paper examines the impact of labour-management forums and labour climate on employee and organizational outcomes. Research results suggest that labour climate is less important in predicting workplace performance (and change in workplace performance) than is the number of LMCs in operation. However, labour climate is found to be at least as important in predicting union member satisfaction (and change in member satisfaction) as is the wide adoption of LMCs in operation. These findings are consistent with the notion that the greater use of LMCs is associated with augmented workplace performance (and a positive change in workplace performance), notwithstanding the contribution of the labour climate in the workplace.