ABSTRACT
The radical reform of New Zealand's employment laws over the past two decades provides a unique opportunity to study the industrial relations policies and practices of the major international fast-food operators in a changing environment. The responses of the major chains to a shift from a highly regulated, to a minimalist, legislative regime for collective bargaining and wage setting throws their preferred approaches to managing labour into sharp relief. In particular, it is possible to test claims that the major fast-food operators are egregiously exploitative of their workforces and opposed to union organization. At the same time the New Zealand experience sheds light on the complex processes by which labour management practices are transmitted across borders, within the varied organizational context of locally managed, franchise and subsidiary operations.
