Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

• The ILO's Shift to Promotional Principles and the 'Privatization' of Labour Rights: An Analysis of Labour Standards, Voluntary Self-Regulation and Social Clauses

  Royle, Tony (2010)

  The paper examines the existing quasi-legal means by which international labour standards may be protected. The paper considers the nature of the challenge that global capital creates for labour, the development of the ILO’s labour standards and the consequences of its shift towards promotional principles, the growth of corporate voluntary initiatives by multinational corporations and finally the associated debates around the inclusion of social clauses in trade agreements. The analysis suggests that the ILO’s shift to ‘promotional principles’ and the formal acceptance of voluntary self-regulation from the late-1990s has not significantly improved the situation for workers, but was a pragmatic response driven in part by US policy and the increasing marginalization of the ILO within the global system of economic governance. It is argued that even if the many political obstacles could be overcome, the result of including social clauses in WTO trade agreements may not be straightforward. In conclusion it is argued that in some respects the existing system has ‘privatised’ labour rights.
• Statutory Union Recognition Provisions as Stimulants to Employer Anti-Unionism in Three Anglo-Saxon Countries

  Gall, Gregor (2009)

  This article examines why employer opposition is stimulated by the introduction of statutory union recognition provisions in Britain, Ireland and the US. It examines the impact of the provisions for encouraging union organizing, which in turn stimulates employer anti-unionism, which then negates the intention of the provisions.
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  The changing logic of Japanese employment practices: A firm-level analysis of four industries.

  Keizer, Arjan B. (Erasmus University, 2005)

  In previous decades, the perception of Japan¿s employment practices has been strongly intertwined with its economic fortunes. From the 1970s, Japan¿s employment practices came to be seen as one of the cornerstones of its economic success. However, this perception changed, albeit with a substantial delay, when the economy proved incapable of returning to its former path of growth after the `bubble¿ burst at the end of the 1980s. Like so many of its economic institutions, the employment practices became the subject of substantial criticism in a debate on the revitalisation of Japan¿s economy. This study takes its position within this debate by discussing the likelihood, character, and economic consequences of change. Environmental changes, like the ageing of the population and the substantial decrease in economic growth, require Japanese firms to adapt their human resource management. However, the embeddedness of national practices limits the scope of firms to make these adjustments; and change is determined by the dialectics between their strategies and existing practices. The firm, as an institution, thus experiences the impact of both the embedded employment practices and the economic impact of environmental changes. Accordingly, it is at the centre of this study. Theories of the firm are used to discuss the contribution of employment practices on efficiency, capabilities, and competitive strength. Case-studies from four different industries ¿ automobile, electronics, construction, and retailing ¿ describe the adaptations made by individual firms. Subsequently, these findings constitute the basis for a discussion of industry-specific employment practices and provide an answer to whether developments such as the rise in performance-based pay and labour mobility have altered the logic of Japanese employment practices.