Taiwan: An Exploration of Labour Relations in Transition

This paper explores the emerging relations between workers and employers in Taiwan. The lifting of martial law in 1987 and other reforms have set in motion a basic restructuring of the industrial relations system. A union movement dominated by the interests of employers and the ruling political party has given workers little leverage in the employment relationship. Constrained collective bargaining plus consultation with employers offers the best long-term prospect of providing a systematic basis for worker participation in the workplace and broader business and economic decision-making.     

Fighting for Life: South African HIV/AIDS Peer Educators as a New Industrial Relations Actor?

This article examines HIV/AIDS peer educators in South African workplaces, drawing on research in five companies with large peer educator programmes. The research indicates that peer educators are primarily focused on reducing new HIV infections and ‘normalizing’ the epidemic by promoting change in the behaviour of individuals — a feature that is not accounted for by theories of workplace mobilization based on collective action. Similarly, their role is inadequately explained by theories on the emergence of new workplace actors based on the changing nature of work, shifting identity salience in society, and the nexus between workplace and communities as opportunities for union regeneration. After outlining the profile and activities of workplace HIV/AIDS peer educators, attention is paid to their motivations and methods of action, their relationship to management and unions, and the way in which they straddle workplace and community. The implications of this and the possible trajectory of workplace peer educators as a new industrial relations actor are discussed.     

The New Unionism and the New Bargaining Agenda: UNISON–Employer Partnerships on Workplace Learning in Britain

A model of new unionism has been developed which is characterized by features such as the servicing of members as customers and a shift to co‐operative industrial relations. The UNISON–employer partnerships in workplace learning in the UK initially appear to fit such a model. This paper outlines the model of new unionism and cautions against interpreting these partnerships as evidence of its development. The paper concludes that this initiative is organized within a collective framework and may provide a basis for the development of workplace trade union activism rather than being indicative of its decline.     

Nine Years of New Labour: Neoliberalism and Workers’ Rights

Since it was first elected in 1997, a large Commons majority won in three general elections and a benign economic environment have combined to give New Labour the authority and opportunity to implement its programme for industrial relations and employment law. This paper offers an appraisal of New Labour’s neoliberalism, and its relevance for understanding the scope and limits of its reform of employment law. The conclusion calls for a campaign to restore and extend trade union rights as a prerequisite for safeguarding workers’ interests within the labour market, employment relationship and society.     

The Erosion of the German System of Industrial Relations

The paper assesses current trajectories of change in the German system of industrial relations by analysing the co-determination and collective bargaining systems. It argues that two parallel developments undermine the institutional stability of the German model. First, the institutional base of the German industrial relations system, which has served as the pre-condition of its past success, has been shrinking during the last two decades. This is due to a decline in coverage by the two major industrial relations institutions: the works council system and wage agreements. Today fewer than 15 per cent of German plants are covered by both a valid collective agreement and a works council. Second, increasing decentralization pressures within collective bargaining tend to undermine the division of labour between co-determination and collective bargaining. The dynamics of an institutional erosion of the German industrial relations institutions and the decentralization of collective bargaining disturbs the fine-tuning of the mediating process between macroeconomic steering capacity and co-operative workplace industrial relations. This tendency has been aggravated by the effects of German unification. The current institutional developments of the German industrial relations system leave serious doubts about the future of a successful model of co-operative modernization.     

Industrial Relations in Transition Economies: Emergent Industrial Relations Institutions in Bulgaria

East European societies currently in transition to market economies are creating new structures for industrial relations. Transition has ambiguous effects upon the relations between industrial relations institutions and the state. On the one hand, economic pluralism implies separation between state and economy and 'depoliticization'. On the other, economic crises and threats to social order require co-operation between state and unions. The influence of the state is greater because of the embryonic form of employer organization and enterprise-level management. This paper examines the political and economic contexts of industrial relations in Bulgaria, as an example of one type of 'constrained' collective bargaining system. The paper emphasizes continuities between the communist and post-communist period, and the central role of trade unions in the transition process.     

Do Industrial Relations Institutions Influence Foreign Direct Investment? Evidence from OECD Nations

The potential impact of industrial relations institutions on economic outcomes has been a key element in analyzing the governing of the global workplace. We present case information and analysis that show that there are trade‐offs between higher levels of economic outcomes and greater equity and employee voice associated with more and deeper labor market institutions. The estimates from the model show the impact of industrial relations system policies within a nation on a country's foreign direct investment (FDI) from other nations for the period 1985 through 2000 using data from nations that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD). Examples of the impact of major transformations in national industrial relations systems on FDI for UK and New Zealand also are presented. Our results show that higher levels of industrial relations institutions from the firms’ perspective are usually associated with lower levels of FDI.     

Procedures and Third Parties

Procedural reform, with the help of third-party intervention, was at the heart of the Donovan Commission's recommendations. This paper looks at what happened since then, and why. In the 1970s considerable progress was made, although this was hidden from public perception by a number of economic and industrial relations traumas. In the 1980s, with the swing in the balance of power to employers, change was often imposed, rather than negotiated, and the role of third parties diminished. The proportion of workplaces recognizing unions and the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining was much reduced. Formal procedures remained in place, but this hid major changes in the conduct of workplace industrial relations.     

Addressing the Legitimacy Gap in the Israeli Corporatist Revival

Since the mid-1980s, Israel's labour law and industrial relations have transitioned from a Continental corporatist system to an Anglo-American pluralist system. The process has been characterized by greater fragmentation of the labour market and the system of interests' representation. However, in recent years, there have been several episodes of nationwide collective agreements and social pacts. These agreements resonate with a second generation of social corporatist bargaining that has been identified in some European countries. In this article, I question the legitimacy of the new agreements. The legitimacy gap evolves from the use of corporatist instruments against the backdrop of a pluralist system. I discuss the attempts to increase the legitimacy of the corporatist instruments, pointing to their limited success. Future attempts must consider solutions that track the hybrid nature of the industrial relations system and devise institutions that bring together the traditional corporatist social partners and the new pluralist agents. Of particular importance is the need to consider the role of the new associations in civil society that voice the interests of the growing segment of disadvantaged workers in the secondary labour market.     

Institutional Resilience in a Changing World Economy? The Case of the German Bankking and Chemical Industries

This paper examines whether there has been a transformation towards company-specific and unitarist industrial relations in Germany. On the basis of 25 case studies of employment practices in German and foreign-owned banks and chemical firms as well as industry data, the research found that the German system has so far remained relatively stable. Companies in the two industries studied generally still comply with the labour market institutions of multi-employer collective bargaining, workplace representation and initial vocational training. Pressures have been accommodated by changes within the system rather than by a radical change of the system.     

Informal Employment Dispute Resolution among Low‐Wage Non‐Union Workers: Does Managerially Initiated Workplace Voice Enhance Equity and Efficiency?

The decline of collective industrial relations has shifted the focus of industrial relations research to the study of individual employment disputes. In this article, we investigate whether employer‐initiated workplace voice is associated with improved resolution of individual complaints or grievances workers make against employers. We find that our measure of workplace voice is associated with less serious problems, more informal methods of dispute resolution, more satisfactory outcomes for workers and lower quit rates. However, these findings need to be set against generally low rates of satisfactory dispute resolution for all employees in our sample.     

The Ascendancy of Employment Arbitrators in US Employment Relations: A New Actor in the American System?

In this paper, we survey the underpinnings of the trend towards employment arbitration in the United States, and its implications for the broader industrial relations system. Specifically, we address the question of whether or not employment arbitrators have been substituted for collective bargaining by the government to an extent that warrants their inclusion as an actor in the industrial relations system. We review developments in workplace dispute resolution in the United States, the literature that attempts to explain these developments and posit an assessment of the stability of employment arbitration, and employment arbitrators, as a central feature of the US industrial relations system.     

The Metamorphosis of Australian Industrial Relations

This article outlines the current processes of change in Australian industrial relations - processes whose ultimate direction and effects are unforeseeable. The traditional dominance of conciliation and arbitration tribunals is giving way to more devolved arrangements. Some protagonists of change envisage a move towards collective bargaining, with trade unions having a pervasive and secure role; others believe the place of unions is in question. The impulse for change comes partly from market-oriented ideology, but this is not extensively discussed, A second source is the desire of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Labor Government to determine wage policy jointly, with the role of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission being essentially that of implementation. Also important is a widely held view that reform of industrial relations is a path to better productivity performance. The paper discusses the justification for that view. Various questions remain to be answered. These include the possibility for enduring wages policy; the legal framework necessary for bargaining; the nature of the industrial relations system of non-union enterprises; and the congruence of enterprise bargaining with the structure of trade unionism.     

Patterns of Continuity and Change in Managerial Attitudes and Behaviour in Industrial Relations, 1980-1990

In this paper, data are reported from a longitudinal study of managers' attitudes and behaviour in industrial relations based on a sample of fellows and members of the British Institute of Management. An account of two surveys, carried out in 1980 and 1990, follows an examination of theories of the managerial role in industrial relations and the presentation of a research model. Managerial attitudes and behaviour are then analysed with respect to views on trade unions, personal commitments to collective representation, collective bargaining, employee participation and involvement and views on the role of government. The findings have an added significance because survey dates roughly correspond with the so-called ‘Thatcher years’. The conclusion is that some major changes in industrial relations have occurred during the decade in question, but there are also substantial continuities which cannot be ‘read off’ directly from the dramatic alterations in the political, economic and legal environment.     

Toward Flexible Industrial Relations? Neo-Liberalism,Democracy, and Labor Reform in Latin America

Neo-liberal economic reforms have placed significant pressure on traditional industrial relations systems throughout Latin American. In this context, most countries have revised their basic labor legislation. Yet, despite similar economic pressures, countries have moved in varying directions in revising their labor laws, and industrial relations systems remain highly diverse. This paper focuses on democratization, institutional legacies, the role of organized labor, and the political negotiations surrounding labor law changes to help explain this diversity.     

后产业组织时代的市场特性研究

“抑制规模垄断、促进市场竞争活力”是各国产业组织政策长期以来致力于解决的问题，也是产业组织理论研究的核心问题。结构学派和效率学派的主要分歧正是在抑制集中度，重视结构绩效和忽略集中度，追求行为效率方面各有侧重。今天，经济全球化和活跃的技术变革，改变着市场边界和市场竞争关系，单纯的大规模不再构成市场垄断的主要力量，我们进入了后产业组织时代。新时期的竞争关系和市场垄断特征，应该是我国正在制定中的反垄断法的主要依据。     

产业链类型与产业链效率基准

在现代经济中，产业链控制策略已成为市场竞争的重要手段，相应的经济规制也是产业组织理论中的热点论题．但现有理论对于市场绩效及经济规制的研究是建立在单个市场效率基准的基础上的．因而严重削弱了其对经济现实的解释能力和政策指导意义。本文首先根据产品本身特性与技术条件对产业链类型进行划分，进而在此基础上建立起以产业链整体效率为对象的产业链效率评判基准。这将为基于产业链的市场竞争策略以及相应的经济规制的理论研究提供概念性基础。     

Collective Bargaining and Innovation in Germany: A Case of Cooperative Industrial Relations?

At the level of theory, the effect of collective bargaining on innovation is contested. The large proponderance of the U.S. evidence clearly points to adverse effects, but other‐country experience suggests that certain industrial‐relations systems, or the wider regulatory apparatus, might even tip the balance in favor of unions. Our pooled cross‐ section and difference‐in‐differences estimates provide some weak evidence that German collective bargaining inhibits innovation. However, in conjunction with workplace representation, there is the suggestion that it might actually foster innovative activity.     

Privatization, Markets and Industrial Relations in China

Within a context of gradual privatization and rapid marketization in China, this paper draws on detailed research of the perceived impact these have had on the work, status and attitudes of different industrial relations 'actors' within seven enterprises in Guangdong and Shanghai in 1998–9. It will be shown that the main pressure for tightening control over the workplace has come from the development of markets and that privatization has had important but limited catalytic effect in this process. Considerable internal and external constraints restrict the impact of privatization, which stem from China's continued ambivalence towards capitalist market relations.