Recent developments in the world economy, including deindustrialisation and the digital revolution, have led to an increasingly individualistic relationship between workers and employers, which in turn has weakened labour movements and worker representation. However, this process is not universal, including in some countries of Asia, where trade unions are closely aligned with the interests of the dominant political party and the state. This book considers the many challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in a wide range of Asian countries. For each country, full background is given on how trade unions and other forms of worker representation have arisen. Key questions then considered include the challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in each country, the extent to which these are a result of global or local developments and the actions being taken by trade unions and worker representative bodies to cope with the challenges. This book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Keith Thurley, London School of Economics.
It cannot be denied that in recent decades, for many if not most people, work has become unstable and insecure, with serious risk and few benefits for workers. As this reality spills over into political and social life, it is crucial to interrogate the transformations affecting employment relations, shape research agendas, and influence the policies of national and international institutions. This single volume brings together thirty-nine scholars (both academics and experienced industrial relations actors) in the fields of employment relations and labour law in a forthright discussion of new approaches, theories, and methods aimed at ameliorating the world of work. Focusing on why and how work is changing, how collective actors deal with it, and the future of work from different disciplinary angles and at an international level, the contributors describe and analyse such issues and topics as the following: new forms of social protection and representation; differences in the power relations of workers and political dynamics; balancing protection of workers’ dignity and promotion of productivity; intersection of information technology and workplace regulation; how the gig economy undermines legal protections; role of professional and trade associations; workplace conflict management; lay judges in labour courts; undeclared work in the informal sector of the labour market; work incapacity and disability; (in)coherence of the work-related case law of the European Court of Justice; and business restructurings. Derived from a major conference held in Leuven in September 2018, the book offers an in-depth understanding of the changing world of work, its main transformations, and the challenges posed to classical employment relations theories and methods as well as to labour law. With its wide range of insights, analysis, and reflection, this unique contribution to the study of industrial relations offers an authoritative reference guide to scholars, policymakers, trade unions and business associations, human resources professionals, and practitioners who need to deal with the future of work challenges.
This book deals with international labor and employment law in the East Asia Region (EA), particularly dealing with China, South Korea and Japan. It explores and explains the effects of globalization and discusses the role played by international labor law as it affects lawyers, business, labor, labor unions and human resource management, and the labor issues that can arise in dealing in EA trade and investment. The text, and the readings (from area experts), are organized and written to provide the reader with, first, a broad understanding and insight into the global dimensions of the fast-emerging area of labor and employment issues (e.g., global legal standards and their interplay with domestic and foreign laws); and second, to show how these laws and approaches play out in specific EA countries (comparing global approaches with the specific laws of each country on four common agenda items: regulatory administration, workers' rights, trade unions and dispute resolution).
This book examines industrial and employment relations in the emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Turkey, and assesses the contribution of industrial relations institutions to inclusive development. The book uses real-world examples to examine the evolution of industrial relations and of organised interest representation on labour issues. It reveals contested institutional pathways, despite a continuing demand for independent collective interest representation in labour relations.
Labour law has traditionally aimed to protect the employee under a hierarchy built on constitutional provisions, statutory law, collective agreements at various levels, and the employment contract, in that order. However, in employment regulation in recent years, ‘flexibility’ has come to dominate the world of work – a set of policies that reshuffle the relationship among the fundamental pillars of labour law and inevitably lead to degrading the protection of employees. This book, the first-ever to consider the sources of labour law from a comparative perspective, details the ways in which the traditional hierarchy of sources has been altered, presenting an international view on major cross-cutting issues followed by fifteen country reports. The authors’ analysis of the changing hierarchy of labour law sources in the light of recent trends includes such elements as the following: the constitutional dimension of labour rights; the normative intervention by the State; the regulatory function of collective bargaining and agreements; the hierarchical organization of labour law sources and the ‘principle of favour’; the role played by case law in both common law and civil law countries; the impact of the European Economic Governance; decentralization of collective bargaining; employment conditions as key components of global competitive strategies; statutory schemes that allow employees to sign away their rights. National reports – Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States – describe the structure of labour law regulations in each legal system with emphasis on the current state of affairs. The authors, all distinguished labour law scholars in their countries, thus collectively provide a thorough and comprehensive commentary on labour law regulation and recent tendencies in national labour laws in various corners of the globe. With its definitive analysis of such crucial matters as the decentralization of collective bargaining and how individual employment contracts can deviate from collective agreements and statutory law, and its comparison of representative national labour law systems, this highly informative book will prove of inestimable value to all professionals concerned with employment relations, labour disputes, or labour market policy, especially in the context of multinational workforces.
Belman and Wolfson perform a meta-analysis on scores of published studies on the effects of the minimum wage to determine its impacts on employment, wages, poverty, and more.
Industrial Relations in Singapore — Practice and Perspective is a comprehensive account of the key developments in industrial relations in Singapore over the last five decades. It offers a holistic, one-stop information depository of relevant industrial relations frameworks, institutions, processes and practices, and issues from a practitioner's perspective.
Presents a general survey on the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) and Recommendation No. 168. Defines key terms and expressions of the instruments, and describes the provisions within the standards and the relevant national legislation in the countries that have ratified this Convention. Considers vocational rehabilitation from the stand point of social security schemes. Discusses member States' obligations to implement national policy on vocational rehabilitation, the means by which national policy can be developed and difficulties encountered by member States in the application of the instruments.
