Last but not least... AUSTRALIA: Changes in ER over the last two decades

Hi guys, so for the last blog posts of the semester I will be talking about a few changes the Australian ER system has seen over the past 20 or so years. Most of these reforms have been very important in political and economic debates in this time period.

In the late 1980s enterprise bargaining was introduced that included the the cooperation of unions. This was an attempt to decentralise the ER system but the then current Hawke Labour government (Labor Party).

The Howard liberal government bought more radical reforms through in the mid 1990's with the intent to individualise the employee-employee relationship, thus reducing union involvement in the processes'.

Responses to this change have varied from employers: some have tried to introduce non union agreements (met with strong employee opposition, particularly in the water and mining industries) whilst others have tried to incorporate a more cooperative approach.

In particular there has been a change in wage determination approaches:
1983-1993- there was above from a centralised wage determination to a managed decentralism approach. This change saw the introduction of a two tier wage system a reduction of tariffs (important in the steel and automobile industry) and the establishment of a structural efficiency principle encoring collective agreements.
1993-1996- coordinated flexibility. In order to maintain increased competitiveness a more comprehensive enterprise bargaining system was introduced. This allowed employers to be able to make agreements with their employee, without the presence of unions.
1996-present- fragmented flexibility. An even greater move away from the involvement in unions and a higher focus on employer-amployee agreement making. Radical decentralisation of IR to enterprise level via the Workplace Relations Act (1996) giving workplace agreements.

I got this information from:
http://www.australianreview.net/journal/v1/n1/lansbury.pdf

ER in China- A transformation

Hi everyone, for this blog post I am going to quickly try to outline some of the change the Chinese ER system has been through over the past few decades and some background on this time.

The ER system in China has been through large changes, particularly in the last 30 years as China has moved towards a market economy and has become the 'world's factory'.

It has undergone tremendous transformation along with China’s journey towards a market economy in 1978. After 30 years of economic transition, China has become the ‘factory of the world’.
In 2008 (the 30th anniversary of economic reform) China introduced a series of new labour laws, which signalled it's entry into a new phase of ER development. These laws saw the promotion of collective bargaining, the promotion of wage negotiation and a union organisation campaign. These changes led to China having of the highest union densities as well as collective bargaining coverage ( a process that was almost unknown till the early 1990's). 

The reason behind these new laws being introduced could be the explosive growth in social conflicts as well as labour disputes in the large two decades. Collective protests incidents from 10,000 to 60,000 in the span of ten years, nearly 50% of these protests were labour issues which have become a source of social tension in China.

Following this, in the early 2000's the new Party State leader shifted the party's policy towards people centred development and building a harmonious society which led to the following changes to laws:
1) Revision of Trade Union Law
2) Establishment of a national tripartite consultation committee for the coordination of IR (known as the NTC)
3) The above committee issued the following- 'Joint Notification for Promotion of Collective Bargaining and Collective Agreements'
4) Trade Unions announced their new policy of actively organising rural migrant workers
5) Trade Unions began to elect enterprise union leaders

Hope this gives some background information on China and how these changes came about.

This was the source: http://www.ilera-directory.org/15thworldcongress/files/papers/Track_4/Wed_W2_LEE,Changhee.pdf

Post 3 :Labour standards and the regulation of global production networks

Hi everyone, I thought for this weeks blog I would just give a really clear description of what labour standards are, who they involve, their benefits and some examples of their significance etc etc.

So international labour stanards are...

legal instruments drawn up by the ILO's constituents (governments, employers and workers) and setting out basic principles and rights at work.

And from this definition we may ask, well what is the ILO... that would be the International Labour Organisation. Who are the International labour organisation....

the International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labour issues, particularly international labour standards and decent work for all.

185 of the 193 members of the UN are also members of the ILO, including Australia. The ILO registers complaints against entities that are violating international rules; however, it does not impose sanctions on governments. The ILO organises a conference every year for it's members. The International Labout Conference is where conventions and recommendations are crafted and adopted. This is also known as the parliarment of labour, and is the place where most decisions about the ILO's general policy, work programme and budget are made. These meetings also deliver the world international labour standards!

The ILO adopts certain conventions which each member representative takes back to their countries. If the convention becomes ratified by enough countries, it becomes enforced. All conventions are considered to be international labour standards, those that become ratified just come with legal obligations to the member states.

Some examples of violations of ILO sactioned international labour standards include workplace discrimination, child labour and unsafe labour practises.

The ILO declares the following as benefits of the incorpoation of labour standards:

1) a path to decent work
2) a level plaing field
3) an international legal framework for fair and stable globalisation
4) a means of improving economic performance
5) a safety net in times of economic crisis
6) a strategy for reducing poverty
7) a sum of international experience and knowledge

An example of the ILO and their signifiance can be seen recently in the European Commission's proposal to the EU's Council of Ministers that EU Member States should be authorised to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) new protocol. The protocol was adopted by the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference and countries ratifying the ILO protocol agree to prevent the use of forced labour, in particular in the context of trafficking in human beings, to improve the protection of victims, and to provide access to compensation. It also enhances international cooperation in the fight against forced or compulsory labour.

Hopefully this makes the whole ILO and international labour standards issue a little clearer for everyone!

Employment relations in the EU: focus on Denmark and the UK

Hi everyone, this is going to be my second blog post I hope you find it useful and learn some stuff from it!

The first thing to note about the European model of employment relations is that it contains a range of elements that are of different importance to each of the 27 nations that are part of the EU. Although there is the overall model put in place, each individual country has its own traditions and historical contexts that will affect it's employment relations schemes. 

The three characteristics that are noteworthy in highlighting what is unique about the European model are as follows:

1) the collective representativeness of employee and employee interest: both workers and employers interact in a variety of ways and at different level. This gave rise to the social partnership model

2) employee participation rights: a general decentralisation of employee relations has led to an increase in the importance of employee participation. Workers are involved in decision making through representative structures of works councils, enterprise committees, trade union bodies and similar bodies.

3) the EU as an ER and IR regulator: the breadth of European social policy has produced a close interweaving of European and national legislation in the area of employment

Differences in collective bargaining coverage rates (i.e. number of employees that are covered by collective agreements)...

UK: 38%

DENMARK: 82%

Union Density:

UK: 28%

DENMARK: 65%

Employment regulation in the public sector:

UK: there are group specific differentiations, but it is mostly decentralised

DENMARK: a mix of centralised and decentralised for all employees

Limitations on the right to strike:

UK: collective action is limited to disputes between workers and their employer. Since 1981 a number of laws have restricted the right to strike.

 DENMARK: statutory civil servants do not have the right to strike. Strike bans exist for groups of civil servants, members of the army, navy, police and judiciary as well as for employees in the railway or postal services.

So therefore the overall differences in characteristics are:

UK: in the case of the senior civil service, pay is determined centrally by the government on the recommendation of the Senior Salary Review Body; the pay review bodies system covers about 35 % of all public employees, including UK teachers, nurses and all employees of the National Health Service. Civil servants’ pay determination and HRM have been delegated to lower levels. The majority of civil service conditions of service, including pay, are the responsibility of the individual government departments and agencies.
DENMARK: collective bargaining and central and de-centralised levels. National framework agreement. Negotiations also at the local level, within strong coordination mechanisms.

 
So there you have the basic differences between the two systems, who are still both operating under the EU but clearly have very different ideas towards ER!

Hope this gave you all some information you can use in next weeks tutorial!

Blog post 1- challenges of the international trade union movement

Hi everyone, in my first blog post I am going to discuss the major challenges trade unions on an international level face.

The underlying factor in the loss of trade union strength can be attributed to globalisation. The great leaps in technology, communication and transport has enabled globalisation to proceed at an extremely fast pace leading to a shift of power from government to companies (most of which are the MNC's we spoke of this week!). This power comes from the fact that companies can take themselves international, thus avoiding national level political and trade union pressure (as nation states cannot control international capital).


1) There is a lack of vision for the future: trade unionists must look back to bottom up trade unionism and consider the formulation of demands and practices to be put in place at least on a continental level.

2) Power has been lost at a global level: loss during the economic crisis (especially in Europe) and also due to mass unemployment, mounting inequalities between countries and differences in trade-union cultures. International union networks must be built up.

3) The loss of power has lead to a loss of influence: in particular on the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

4) The loss of members in Europe means that trade union membership relies on emerging economies: unstable and unpredictable

5) The increase in migrant labour requires a change in union organisation

This information all indicates that a third way approach to unionism may be appropriate. Trade unions will be able to draw upon a set of best practises from previous struggles, but the need for adaptation on a global scale is evident. International campaigns , an example being the soccer world cup, are highly visible international trade union solidarity campaigns. These campaigns have resulted in better working conditions and also growing trade union membership!