EMPLOYABILITY AND SECURITY IN A FLEXIBLE GLOBAL LABOUR MARKET network is a bottom-up organisation geared to promoting self-help and the exchange of ideas and focusing on delivery to members. The network is also enabling companies to gain new ideas and information that help in decision-making. Both human resources management and trade union policies need to incorporate new ideas, models and thinking. For example, performance related pay is a power issue. At present it is a pure management decision and we need to shift that power.’ Ms Benner outlined a network of union representatives of IT workers in lower Saxony. ‘The IT connection allows information on the various agreements within companies to be publicised. We have put together a framework agreement linked to standards which are posted on the internet for employees and employers to consult. We use a similar technique when we go to fairs and exhibitions. We try to present measurable criteria that can be used to impact on negotiating positions.’ ‘Traditional works councils must be sensitive to the changing environment and use framework contracts. For employees who fall outside the works council structure, it is even more important to provide a model contract, guidelines, a set of criteria, and guidance on what is happening throughout the industry. We need to give individuals within companies reference points, particularly those employed in small companies and in the IT sector where there are few works councils. In short, we need to empower people.’ A British delegate reported that there have been some attempts to provide similar levels of support to union members in Britain. The post office union has set up national, regional and local teams to enable people to discuss problems and exchange information and ideas. This has resulted in new types of pay agreements and systems of work that are better than the traditional confrontational pay negotiations.‘Some companies, such as British Telecom, are keen to maintain annually negotiated national collective agreements. But in the post office environment, for example, it is difficult to keep this model. The restructuring of the post office, and the introduction of new services, particularly by Post Office Counters, do not lend themselves to an overall agreement. In addition, management wants to put individual performance levels at the heart of pay agreements. In some areas we have introduced a points system which has allowed individuals to advance more rapidly up the pay scale. In other areas, we have not been as successful.’ The conundrum of performance related pay Performance related pay is perhaps the most controversial new element in pay negotiations in both countries. Trade unions have some tough choices to make: do they want to co-operate with this type of pay and if so, how do they influence the assessment process involved? What new concerns about the protection of employee rights does performance related pay throw into wage negotiations? Ms Benner believes that unions need to develop new processes and look carefully at what performance related pay is about.‘What do we want as unions to achieve? We have to see an identifiable outcome for our members. At IG Metall we advise university graduates who are looking for employment. They favour larger companies such as IBM and Siemens 22 © Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society