Labour militancy and private contracting: public hospital ancillary services

Abstract

This paper attempts to show that regional variations in the strength of labour force militancy can be an important factor in mediating the regional development of privatization. By taking the private contracting of New Zealand public hospital ancillary services as a specific case study, it is seen that, in some cases, labour militancy can lead to the elimination of private contracting. While acknowledging the need for further research on this issue, some tentative conclusions are drawn on the relevance of labour militancy to the privatization of public service provision in other social contexts.