Public sector unions

Public sector unions as sources of innovation and promoters of faster adoption. In some fields unions representing professionals and manual workers have resisted innovations (particularly ones involving changes to demarcations). However, in other cases unions have helped drive innovation, such as the Fire Brigades Union in the UK which helps firemen find part time employment as benefits advisors alongside their roles as firemen, or the local branch of Unison in Newcastle upon Tyne that played a central role in the introduction of a new IT system for the Council. In Norway, the Model Municipalities initiative involves politicians, management and trade unions in a quality programme for upgrading public services.