The Role Of Labour Standards In Industrial Restructuring

Change is a permanent feature of market economies. What is new in today's world is the pace, breadth and depth of economic change and the industrial restructuring that this entails. Over the past two decades, industrialized countries have witnessed a level of industrial restructuring which, in its scope and tempo, has probably been without historic precedent.[...] A central question has become whether labour standards impede necessary changes in economic units, industrial structures, and employment groth, as the well-established current of neoliberal thinking would maintain or whether, on the contrary, labour standards and the institutions through which they are delivered constitute viable channels for industrial innovation, economic dynamism, and sustainable development, as another school of academics, policymakers and practitioners would hold. The present volume directly addresses this debate and contains a number of contributions which lay out the arguments for and against labour standards in relation to economic performance [...] provides analyses of industrial restructuring at the firm, industry, regional, national and international levels, and includes detailed case studies of experiences in Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, the United States, Canada and Australia [...] develops conceptual perspectives on labour standards, provides comparative overviews of their impact, and trace the evolution of labour standard-setting at the level of the European Community and in the international economy.

This book analyses the current conditions of work in the Indian factory sector, and provides a critical analysis of the wage, profit and productivity behaviour in India’s organised manufacturing sector over the last two decades. Examining the specificities of the conditions of industrial workers, it addresses three major questions:/-//-/- What has happened to the relative shares of profits and wages;/-/- How do we explain the levels and changes and;/-/- Are better labour standards antithetical to the project of industrial restructuring?/-//-/The author also examines the problem of industrial restructuring in India within the broader context of power and inequality in the workplace. He argues that even though the existing laws mandate decent labour conditions, India has been unable to implement them because of the minimalist position taken by successive governments./-//-/Providing new and fascinating insights into industrial growth, labour standards and development in the framework of globalisation, this book will interest students and scholars of economics, economic history, political science and sociology, as well as students of management and labour relations.

This bulletin presents a comparative analysis of the degree of worker protection available today in nine countries in the event of corporate restructuring. The countries are France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Each of the papers, presented by a noted industrial relations scholar from the country in question, proceeds from a summary of the national legal framework governing corporate restructuring, through the succession of employment contracts, to an analysis of such major components of the problem as justification of economic dismissals and changes in terms and conditions of employment. Specific topics covered in each analysis include the following: special legislation covering transfer of undertakings treatment of insolvent corporations economic dismissals before and after corporate restructuring transfer of workers in lieu of dismissal the role of labour unions and works councils The authors pay particular attention to the effectiveness of employee protection legislation such as the EC Transfer of Undertaking Directive (and its implementation by Member States) and Japan's Labour Contract Succession Law and, in the case of the United States, the virtual absence of such legislation. These papers were originally presented at the Sixth Tokyo Seminar (March 2002) of the Japan Institute of Labour. Their penetrating individual analysis and revealing comparative perspective is sure to help policymakers, lawyers, academics, and other specialists in industrial relations find a way forward in this important area that recognizes the best interests of both employers and employees.

This collection of essays offers a survey of restructuring processes in Europe and their outcomes. . . Given the likelihood of increased dislocation in labor markets, the book is a timely contribution. Recommended. R.L. Hogler, Choice This detailed, comprehensive study on downsizing in Europe is underpinned by cross-national, interdisciplinary empirical research on restructuring management in five European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It contains systematic national comparative overviews, and transversal analyses of more than 30 in-depth case studies, taking into account a broad range of perspectives across professional human resources managers, unions representatives, local and national civil servants, social workers and physicians. The authors examine strategic choices and practices in national and local contexts, showing that the practice of restructuring is not as heterogeneous as many previous studies have indicated or predicted. Systematic policy proposals for better economic and social management of restructuring are also prescribed. This team of well-known economists and social scientists have prepared a book that will appeal to consultants and human resource managers and employees, especially in transnational firms, as well as to students in industrial relations, in labour economics, and in sociology. It will also be of special interest to members of the European Commission and policymakers involved in employment and social affairs.

There are an increasing number of studies devoted to an examination of New Labour's social policies. However, thus far there has been little in the way of substantive discussion of opposition to and conflict around key elements of New Labour's agenda for the welfare state and public sector, from those who are involved in the frontline implementation and delivery of welfare policies. Since the mid to late 1990s, there have been continual and recurring episodes of industrial action of various kinds involving social workers, teachers, lecturers, nurses, hospital ancillary staff, nursery nurses, home helps and local authority librarians among others. Welfare delivery has become a central point of industrial relations disputes in the UK today. This book provides the first critically informed discussion of work and workers in the UK welfare sector under New Labour. It examines the changing nature of work and explores the context of industrial relations across the welfare industry. While the main focus is on the workforce in state welfare, this is set within the context of recent and current shifts in the mixed economy of welfare between state, private and third sector organisations.

"For employees, collective protection has never been more urgent. Everywhere, pressures resulting from worldwide competition and technical innovation are downgrading and relocating jobs, closing companies, and fuelling workers' fears of less-than-secure working conditions, de-qualification, and job loss. More and more, trade unions confront the challenge of asserting their rights across borders. However, in order to establish the necessary preconditions for any transnational solidarity, it is necessary to define and clarify both what is distinctive and what is fundamental in the different legal frameworks affecting trade union activity. That is what this book sets out to do. The essays presented here are an outcome of an international and comparative conference, organised and sponsored by the newly established Hugo Sinzheimer Institute of Labour Law (HSI), Frankfurt am Main, which took place in Frankfurt in January 2011 at the premises of IG Metall, the world's largest trade union. The book offers an overview of trade union rights in each of seven industrial countries: Belgium, Hungary, England, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United States. A concluding chapter by Manfred Weiss notes the futility of a 'harmonization' approach, stressing rather a strategy of accepting variety which nevertheless embraces close cooperation. Issues covered include the following: direct and indirect recognition of the rights of the unions at the workplace; the right of access of trade union representatives not employed in the establishment; competition from non-unionized firms and low labour cost operations; new styles of management hostile to trade unions; employers' use of the courts to prevent industrial action illegalized by new legislation; relations among trade unions, works councils, workers' representatives, and employers' organizations; the role of the union at a time of change of company ownership; and effects of public resistance to cuts in public services and to job losses. At a time when the protection of the global 'voice' of workers is of the utmost importance, sensitivity to existing cultural differences is crucial to effective international engagement and cooperation among trade unions. As an important contribution in this respect, this book will be of great value to labour and employment lawyers and other professionals involved in law and policy affecting labour and industrial relations."--Publisher's website.