Employment Relations in the Asia Pacific: Changing Approaches (original) (raw)
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Employment relations and the state in Southeast Asia
Journal of Industrial Relations, 2016
This article engages critically with the comparative employment relations literature, assessing its capacity to explain and analyse the relationship between state objectives – accumulation, pacification, legitimation – and employment relations. Having engaged with approaches that have influenced the discipline in recent decades, it draws on insights from capitalist Southeast Asia to identify determining factors not accounted for in comparative employment relations models developed from and applied to the Global North. These include the relatively high degree of fluidity in forms of governance characteristic of contexts where there is a dynamic interplay between democratic and authoritarian rule, which challenges the assumption that employment relations are underpinned by a relatively strong, stable and autonomous state. Equally significant is the impact of inter-state and international interests and influences, only some of which are economic, on the balance between different state ...
Editors’ note - Decent work and industrial relations in Asia: progress, challenges and prospects
Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 2018
Nearly 20 years have elapsed since Decent Work, a major labour protection initiative, was launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999. The decent work agenda includes four strategic pillars: International labour standards and fundamental principles and rights at work; Employment creation; Social protection; and Social dialogue and tripartism. It is underpinned by ten substantive dimensions: employment opportunities; adequate earnings and productive work; decent working time; combining work, family and personal life; work that should be abolished; stability and security of work; equal opportunity and treatment in employment; safe work environment; social security; and social dialogue, employers' and workers' representation (ILO, 2013). However, to date, decent work has not been given adequate research attention as an integral part of industrial relations (IR), with human resource management implications. This special issue examines opportunities of, and challenges to, the future of decent work in a number of Asian countries, including both developed and emerging economies. It aims to raise research and practical interest in this important area not just in Asia but also in other parts of the world. The increasing globalisation of the economy in the region has impacted Asian nations in diverse ways. For example, Japan and South Korea were hit hard by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, resulting in the opening up of their labour markets and relaxation of labour regulation that has led to the significant growth in non-standard employment. In India, although the country has a set of very complex labour regulations, the majority of its workers fall outside its protection because employers tend to offer informal employment to avoid the perceived cumbersome legislation and staffing inflexibilities. Poor employment terms and conditions and inequity between formal employees and agency workers have been a major cause for several major industrial disputes in Japanese-Indian joint venture auto plants, some with fatal consequences. Similarly, while China has benefited economically from being the world's factory, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis led to the significant reduction in export-driven production in recent years. For many workers, jobs were cut, wage growth stagnated, and social security premiums were not paid by their employers. In short, the shock waves of financial crisis continue to undermine national economic and business stability. A direct impact of this instability is the erosion of labour standards, measured by job security, employment terms and conditions and other labour rights, and development opportunities for many workers within the Asia Pacific region. The preoccupation of national governments with economic growth means that increases in GDP has, in many cases, taken precedence over workers' rights and well
The state, democratic transition and employment relations in Indonesia
Journal of Industrial Relations, 2016
Indonesia's transition since 1998 from authoritarian developmentalism to democracy has had a fundamental effect on employment relations. Although the basic structure of the economy has not changed, the twin processes of democratisation and decentralisation have seen the return of a degree of political space not available in Indonesia since the 1950s. This transformation was underpinned by a shift in the balance between the primary logics of the state that has seen an enhanced emphasis on legitimation. It has reshaped expectations of workplace-level employment relations practice in the country's small formal sector and of trade unions' engagement with policy-making and electoral politics. This article traces the processes through which this transformation occurred and analyses both its successes and the ongoing challenges to more robust implementation of the country's industrial relations framework.
2012
THE global economic crisis caused by an improperly regulated financial sector giving way to excessive risk-taking behaviour has led to a worldwide crises, and widespread slow down and loss of jobs. The situation in East Asia is somewhat different from that in the western world in that finance bubbles had already been burst in the 1997 crisis and lessons learned from that. Nevertheless, developing East Asia is still dependent on western markets as destinations for exports as domestic markets remain insufficiently developed to absorb production of goods and services. In this situation, states such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia look to examples from elsewhere in the region concerning the means of transforming themselves from being part of the factory age, which limits growth at the upward end of the middle income range, into the higher income range of economies. Examples include the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and even to some extent Malaysia. This raises the question of the extent to which the examples of those other states, in which labour market management has passed further along a familiar trajectory, offer practical examples that can be applied in the developing states that follow behind them. Issues of relevance in this case include wage and compensation issues, management of unions and the freedom of speech, association and collective bargaining, as well as the interaction between the education system and the labour market. Design Methodology/Approach: The paper employs a critical-analytical approach based on a mixture of secondary data sources introduced into a framework for analysis. Findings: It is found that significant differences exist between the various states concerned according to the analytical framework, which incorporates geographical and historical factors, including the role of the actors involved in the Cold War, as well as the diffusion of technology, the availability of capital for investment and other institutional factors. There are also important similarities to be noted. Research Limitations/ Implication: The analysis is conducted at a macro-level and more variations might be found if factors and data were to be disaggregated to the industry level or even further. Practical Implications: The analysis provides useful information for understanding the nature of investment regimes in the countries studied and the nature and structure of their labour markets. Originality/Value: Labour is often the overlooked factor when it comes not just to investment decisions (when aggregate costs are dominant) but also in economic and social development both from low to middle income and from middle to upper income levels.