Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211051794
Tobias Kalt
Green transitions create major challenges to union power in carbon-intensive economies as well as opportunities for the renewal of union power. This research asks why sometimes unions oppose or delay green transitions while other times unions are more open to green transitions and may even become strong transition supporters. In drawing on the Power Resource Approach, I argue that unions are neither natural opponents nor supporters of green transitions but instead engage strategically with green transitions. Unions’ strategic choices to pursue oppositional, reactive, affirmative or transformative transition strategies is guided by an imperative to maintain or expand their power resources. The strategic choices unions make are influenced by several contextual conditions. In a comparative case study on coal transitions in South Africa and Germany, I identify the following contextual conditions: sectoral interests, organisational identity, internal structure, coalitions, political- and socio-economic environment, governance context and public discourse. Regarding each of these, I show how unions make strategic choices to protect or expand different power resources and become agents of transition or defenders of the status quo. This paper contributes to empirical research on drivers behind union transition strategies and offers an analytical framework to explain unions’ strategic choices in green transitions.
{"title":"Agents of transition or defenders of the status quo? Trade union strategies in green transitions","authors":"Tobias Kalt","doi":"10.1177/00221856211051794","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211051794","url":null,"abstract":"Green transitions create major challenges to union power in carbon-intensive economies as well as opportunities for the renewal of union power. This research asks why sometimes unions oppose or delay green transitions while other times unions are more open to green transitions and may even become strong transition supporters. In drawing on the Power Resource Approach, I argue that unions are neither natural opponents nor supporters of green transitions but instead engage strategically with green transitions. Unions’ strategic choices to pursue oppositional, reactive, affirmative or transformative transition strategies is guided by an imperative to maintain or expand their power resources. The strategic choices unions make are influenced by several contextual conditions. In a comparative case study on coal transitions in South Africa and Germany, I identify the following contextual conditions: sectoral interests, organisational identity, internal structure, coalitions, political- and socio-economic environment, governance context and public discourse. Regarding each of these, I show how unions make strategic choices to protect or expand different power resources and become agents of transition or defenders of the status quo. This paper contributes to empirical research on drivers behind union transition strategies and offers an analytical framework to explain unions’ strategic choices in green transitions.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"499 - 521"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41517641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211070632
Christopher Wright, Randi Irwin, D. Nyberg, V. Bowden
Despite the worsening climate crisis and market shifts towards decarbonization, Australia remains heavily invested in carbon-intensive activities. As one of the world's largest exporters of coal and gas, Australian political economy has been dominated over the last several decades by fossil fuel expansionism. In this article, we explore how Australian corporate and political elites have defended the continuation of fossil fuel extraction and use in the face of calls for a transition to a low-carbon energy future. Through an analysis of public statements by industry associations, corporate leaders, politicians and trade union officials, we identify how these actors have constructed a hegemonic temporal narrative stressing the historical importance of fossil fuels and that a transition to renewable energy represents a threat to Australia's future. Our analysis contributes to the growing literature within the field of industrial relations attending to the complex industrial dynamics underlying the maintenance of fossil fuel hegemony. We also contribute to recent discussions on hegemony by demonstrating the importance of temporality in linking diverse actors together in defending hegemony. Finally, we highlight the critical importance of corporate power in fundamentally shaping climate and energy politics.
{"title":"‘We’re in the coal business’: Maintaining fossil fuel hegemony in the face of climate change","authors":"Christopher Wright, Randi Irwin, D. Nyberg, V. Bowden","doi":"10.1177/00221856211070632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211070632","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the worsening climate crisis and market shifts towards decarbonization, Australia remains heavily invested in carbon-intensive activities. As one of the world's largest exporters of coal and gas, Australian political economy has been dominated over the last several decades by fossil fuel expansionism. In this article, we explore how Australian corporate and political elites have defended the continuation of fossil fuel extraction and use in the face of calls for a transition to a low-carbon energy future. Through an analysis of public statements by industry associations, corporate leaders, politicians and trade union officials, we identify how these actors have constructed a hegemonic temporal narrative stressing the historical importance of fossil fuels and that a transition to renewable energy represents a threat to Australia's future. Our analysis contributes to the growing literature within the field of industrial relations attending to the complex industrial dynamics underlying the maintenance of fossil fuel hegemony. We also contribute to recent discussions on hegemony by demonstrating the importance of temporality in linking diverse actors together in defending hegemony. Finally, we highlight the critical importance of corporate power in fundamentally shaping climate and energy politics.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"544 - 563"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45164190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211070631
Frances Flanagan
Dominant approaches to researching cleaners’ experiences of invisibility and recognition have tended to focus on either the structural determinants of invisibility, such as outsourcing or ‘dirty work’ status, or the ways in which workers seek recognition as a strategy for managing taint. This article uses Honneth's concept of intersubjective recognition as a basis for bringing together structure- and agency-oriented approaches through a focus on the ways in which cleaners’ recognition experiences arise from historically specific contexts that are both found and made by cleaners. The article illustrates the usefulness of Honneth's theory through a comparison of the intersubjective recognition experiences of Australian school cleaners working in different work paradigms in two historical periods, public service cleaners in the 1910s–1990s and outsourced cleaners in the 2000s–2020s. The case studies contribute new empirical findings concerning patterns of cleaner recognition across all three dimensions theorised by Honneth – love, rights and solidarity – and the significance of shared horizons of purpose between cleaners and other workplace actors for enabling intersubjective recognition. Theoretically, the paper advances the concept of ‘dense’ and ‘sparse’ intersubjective recognition landscapes as a lens for understanding the changing nature and sources of cleaner invisibility and recognition over time.
{"title":"Beyond invisibility: Landscapes of intersubjective recognition experienced by cleaners in Australian schools","authors":"Frances Flanagan","doi":"10.1177/00221856211070631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211070631","url":null,"abstract":"Dominant approaches to researching cleaners’ experiences of invisibility and recognition have tended to focus on either the structural determinants of invisibility, such as outsourcing or ‘dirty work’ status, or the ways in which workers seek recognition as a strategy for managing taint. This article uses Honneth's concept of intersubjective recognition as a basis for bringing together structure- and agency-oriented approaches through a focus on the ways in which cleaners’ recognition experiences arise from historically specific contexts that are both found and made by cleaners. The article illustrates the usefulness of Honneth's theory through a comparison of the intersubjective recognition experiences of Australian school cleaners working in different work paradigms in two historical periods, public service cleaners in the 1910s–1990s and outsourced cleaners in the 2000s–2020s. The case studies contribute new empirical findings concerning patterns of cleaner recognition across all three dimensions theorised by Honneth – love, rights and solidarity – and the significance of shared horizons of purpose between cleaners and other workplace actors for enabling intersubjective recognition. Theoretically, the paper advances the concept of ‘dense’ and ‘sparse’ intersubjective recognition landscapes as a lens for understanding the changing nature and sources of cleaner invisibility and recognition over time.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"645 - 666"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49163173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211063924
S. Frenkel, S. Rahman, K. M. Rahman
In 2013, the Rana Plaza disaster highlighted the highly exploitative conditions of the global garment supply chain centred on Bangladesh. Global lead firms and other stakeholders responded by reforming the labour governance system comprising public and private regulations. How can the effects of this new multi-level governance system on worker outcomes (wages, working conditions and workers’ rights) be conceptualized and explained? Using an inter-disciplinary framework integrating an industrial relations/sociology perspective and a global production network approach, we show how workplace relations (structural and relational workplace characteristics) mediate the relationship between the labour governance system and worker outcomes. A mixed methods research design that includes a factory management survey and case studies enables us to identify and analyse two predominant types of workplace labour regimes associated with different patterns of worker outcomes (procedural and substantive employment conditions). Referred to as the hardship and sweatshop regimes, respectively, these differ in the extent to which workers are exploited. With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, we discuss the possibility that modern slavery, the worst form of worker exploitation, is emerging. The paper concludes by briefly considering several research and practical implications of our analysis.
{"title":"After Rana Plaza: Governing Exploitative Workplace Labour Regimes in Bangladeshi Garment Export Factories","authors":"S. Frenkel, S. Rahman, K. M. Rahman","doi":"10.1177/00221856211063924","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211063924","url":null,"abstract":"In 2013, the Rana Plaza disaster highlighted the highly exploitative conditions of the global garment supply chain centred on Bangladesh. Global lead firms and other stakeholders responded by reforming the labour governance system comprising public and private regulations. How can the effects of this new multi-level governance system on worker outcomes (wages, working conditions and workers’ rights) be conceptualized and explained? Using an inter-disciplinary framework integrating an industrial relations/sociology perspective and a global production network approach, we show how workplace relations (structural and relational workplace characteristics) mediate the relationship between the labour governance system and worker outcomes. A mixed methods research design that includes a factory management survey and case studies enables us to identify and analyse two predominant types of workplace labour regimes associated with different patterns of worker outcomes (procedural and substantive employment conditions). Referred to as the hardship and sweatshop regimes, respectively, these differ in the extent to which workers are exploited. With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, we discuss the possibility that modern slavery, the worst form of worker exploitation, is emerging. The paper concludes by briefly considering several research and practical implications of our analysis.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"272 - 297"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43908880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211063923
L. Hopfgartner, Christian Seubert, Franziska Sprenger, J. Glaser
Based on conceptualizations of a continuum of exploitation to examine phenomena related to precariousness and modern slavery, this article examined Romanian transnational live-in care workers’ job perceptions based on thematic analysis of qualitative interviews. As a framework, we adopted a five-dimensional concept of work-related precariousness, comprising (1) reproductive–material, (2) social–communicative, (3) legal–institutional (participation), (4) status and recognition, and (5) meaningful–subject-related aspects. While interviewees reported job satisfaction, they gave many accounts of unfair or exploitative treatment. Prime aspects of exploitation included low wages, extensive working hours and insecure self-employment, being tricked to work without remuneration, being urged to engage in work beyond care, being withheld food and sanitation, inadequate training, low status and recognition, and fulfilling excessive demands due to a strong sense of commitment. We align our findings with the literature to identify urgent fields of action for improving working conditions in live-in care.
{"title":"Experiences of precariousness and exploitation of Romanian transnational live-in care workers in Austria","authors":"L. Hopfgartner, Christian Seubert, Franziska Sprenger, J. Glaser","doi":"10.1177/00221856211063923","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211063923","url":null,"abstract":"Based on conceptualizations of a continuum of exploitation to examine phenomena related to precariousness and modern slavery, this article examined Romanian transnational live-in care workers’ job perceptions based on thematic analysis of qualitative interviews. As a framework, we adopted a five-dimensional concept of work-related precariousness, comprising (1) reproductive–material, (2) social–communicative, (3) legal–institutional (participation), (4) status and recognition, and (5) meaningful–subject-related aspects. While interviewees reported job satisfaction, they gave many accounts of unfair or exploitative treatment. Prime aspects of exploitation included low wages, extensive working hours and insecure self-employment, being tricked to work without remuneration, being urged to engage in work beyond care, being withheld food and sanitation, inadequate training, low status and recognition, and fulfilling excessive demands due to a strong sense of commitment. We align our findings with the literature to identify urgent fields of action for improving working conditions in live-in care.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"298 - 320"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49665317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-19DOI: 10.1177/00221856211054586
D. Caspersz, Holly Cullen, M. Davis, D. Jog, F. McGaughey, D. Singhal, M. Sumner, Hinrich Voss
‘Modern slavery’ describes various forms of severe relational labour exploitation. In the realm of global value chains and global factories that are led by multinational enterprises, modern slavery encompasses practices such as forced labour and debt bondage. Multinational enterprises organise and orchestrate global value chains into global factories that are highly adaptive to market pressures and changes in the external environment. We employ the global factory framework to conceptualise when and how global value chains become more vulnerable to modern slavery. We argue that combinations of the three global value chain characteristics: complexity, appropriation arrangements, and obligation cascadence, jointly form an environment in which modern slavery can evolve and take root. The degree to which forms of modern slavery become visible and recognisable depends on the particular combination of these characteristics. External factors can moderate the relationship between these factors (e.g. involvement of non-governmental organisations) or exaggerate their effect (e.g. a pandemic).
{"title":"Modern slavery in global value chains: A global factory and governance perspective","authors":"D. Caspersz, Holly Cullen, M. Davis, D. Jog, F. McGaughey, D. Singhal, M. Sumner, Hinrich Voss","doi":"10.1177/00221856211054586","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211054586","url":null,"abstract":"‘Modern slavery’ describes various forms of severe relational labour exploitation. In the realm of global value chains and global factories that are led by multinational enterprises, modern slavery encompasses practices such as forced labour and debt bondage. Multinational enterprises organise and orchestrate global value chains into global factories that are highly adaptive to market pressures and changes in the external environment. We employ the global factory framework to conceptualise when and how global value chains become more vulnerable to modern slavery. We argue that combinations of the three global value chain characteristics: complexity, appropriation arrangements, and obligation cascadence, jointly form an environment in which modern slavery can evolve and take root. The degree to which forms of modern slavery become visible and recognisable depends on the particular combination of these characteristics. External factors can moderate the relationship between these factors (e.g. involvement of non-governmental organisations) or exaggerate their effect (e.g. a pandemic).","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"177 - 199"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47019601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-18DOI: 10.1177/00221856211070633
Naama Bar-on Shmilovitch, Orna Blumen, S. Tzafrir
Discrimination against pregnant employees is widespread despite labour laws aimed at protecting them. Pertaining to recently emerging research on pregnancy in the workplace, including pregnancy discrimination, this study considered the gravest manifestation of direct discrimination, and one that has been neglected to date: dismissal during pregnancy. Inspired by John's contextual theory, we sought to identify the socio-economic profile of dismissed pregnant employees, illustrating their uneven distribution across the labour market. This overlooked actuality of pregnancy dismissal was studied in Israel, an environment where labour laws extensively protect pregnant employees. We focused on nearly two decades (2004–2020) of cases litigated in Israeli labour courts. This study adds to the research on pregnancy in the workplace with a new perspective that not only illuminates a frequent yet hardly addressed reality but also reveals its social variability, deconstructing the generalized vulnerability that pregnancy often connotes for women employees. Finally, directions for future research and implications for the labour market, legislators and policymakers are put forward.
{"title":"Pregnant and jobless: A contextualizing analysis of pregnancy dismissal in Israeli labour court rulings","authors":"Naama Bar-on Shmilovitch, Orna Blumen, S. Tzafrir","doi":"10.1177/00221856211070633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211070633","url":null,"abstract":"Discrimination against pregnant employees is widespread despite labour laws aimed at protecting them. Pertaining to recently emerging research on pregnancy in the workplace, including pregnancy discrimination, this study considered the gravest manifestation of direct discrimination, and one that has been neglected to date: dismissal during pregnancy. Inspired by John's contextual theory, we sought to identify the socio-economic profile of dismissed pregnant employees, illustrating their uneven distribution across the labour market. This overlooked actuality of pregnancy dismissal was studied in Israel, an environment where labour laws extensively protect pregnant employees. We focused on nearly two decades (2004–2020) of cases litigated in Israeli labour courts. This study adds to the research on pregnancy in the workplace with a new perspective that not only illuminates a frequent yet hardly addressed reality but also reveals its social variability, deconstructing the generalized vulnerability that pregnancy often connotes for women employees. Finally, directions for future research and implications for the labour market, legislators and policymakers are put forward.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"667 - 689"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2022-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45555778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-17DOI: 10.1177/00221856211056091
Uwe Jirjahn
Using firm-level data from Germany, this study examines the link between foreign ownership and the coverage by centralized (multi-employer) bargaining agreements. Conforming to theoretical considerations, the empirical analysis shows that it is important to distinguish between a direct and an indirect influence of foreign ownership on centralized collective bargaining. The direct influence of foreign ownership lowers the probability that a firm is covered by a centralized agreement. The indirect influence works through the unionization of the workforce. If the size of the firm does not exceed a critical level, the indirect influence counteracts the direct influence. Foreign ownership leads to a higher share of union members which, in turn, has a positive influence on the coverage by a centralized agreement. However, in very large firms the indirect influence appears to be negative. Foreign ownership is associated with a lower share of union members.
{"title":"Foreign ownership and centralized collective bargaining: Direct and indirect influences","authors":"Uwe Jirjahn","doi":"10.1177/00221856211056091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211056091","url":null,"abstract":"Using firm-level data from Germany, this study examines the link between foreign ownership and the coverage by centralized (multi-employer) bargaining agreements. Conforming to theoretical considerations, the empirical analysis shows that it is important to distinguish between a direct and an indirect influence of foreign ownership on centralized collective bargaining. The direct influence of foreign ownership lowers the probability that a firm is covered by a centralized agreement. The indirect influence works through the unionization of the workforce. If the size of the firm does not exceed a critical level, the indirect influence counteracts the direct influence. Foreign ownership leads to a higher share of union members which, in turn, has a positive influence on the coverage by a centralized agreement. However, in very large firms the indirect influence appears to be negative. Foreign ownership is associated with a lower share of union members.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"101 - 123"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46145838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-08DOI: 10.1177/00221856211051396
Laurie Ben, A. M. Sage
In a recent contribution in this journal, Mark Bray, Shae McCrystal and Leslee Spiess posed the question, ‘Why doesn't anyone talk about non-union collective agreements?’ Surveying business, government and union perspectives, the authors identified the need for greater attention and research to understand their effect on contemporary Australian industrial relations. This article serves as a response to this concern. Two case studies illustrate how non-union agreements work in practice under the Fair Work Act 2009. We outline further examples of how unions have been talking about non-union agreements through a legal and policy strategy rather than public advocacy. Assessing employer motivations for pursuing non-union agreements, as well as bargaining outcomes for workers, we conclude that there is an urgent need for reform.
Mark Bray、Shae McCcrystal和Leslee Spiess在本杂志最近的一篇文章中提出了一个问题，“为什么没有人谈论非工会集体协议？”通过调查企业、政府和工会的观点，作者发现需要更多的关注和研究，以了解它们对当代澳大利亚劳资关系的影响。这篇文章是对这一关切的回应。两个案例研究说明了根据2009年《公平工作法》，非工会协议在实践中是如何运作的。我们概述了工会如何通过法律和政策战略而不是公共宣传来谈论非工会协议的进一步例子。评估雇主寻求非工会协议的动机，以及工人的谈判结果，我们得出结论，迫切需要改革。
{"title":"Talking about non-union collective agreements: A union perspective","authors":"Laurie Ben, A. M. Sage","doi":"10.1177/00221856211051396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211051396","url":null,"abstract":"In a recent contribution in this journal, Mark Bray, Shae McCrystal and Leslee Spiess posed the question, ‘Why doesn't anyone talk about non-union collective agreements?’ Surveying business, government and union perspectives, the authors identified the need for greater attention and research to understand their effect on contemporary Australian industrial relations. This article serves as a response to this concern. Two case studies illustrate how non-union agreements work in practice under the Fair Work Act 2009. We outline further examples of how unions have been talking about non-union agreements through a legal and policy strategy rather than public advocacy. Assessing employer motivations for pursuing non-union agreements, as well as bargaining outcomes for workers, we conclude that there is an urgent need for reform.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"147 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49496636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-06DOI: 10.1177/00221856211052070
E. Hui, C. Chan
Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.
{"title":"From production to reproduction: Pension strikes and changing characteristics of workers’ collective action in China","authors":"E. Hui, C. Chan","doi":"10.1177/00221856211052070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211052070","url":null,"abstract":"Workers in the global South are becoming increasingly sensitive to their pension rights. In recent years, rural migrant workers in China have staged a series of protests to fight for pension protection. Drawing from two in-depth case studies conducted in the Pearl River Delta, we explain why workers staged pension strikes, what these protests looked like, how the employers and the government responded, and how these protests differed from previous strikes. Building upon insights from the sociology of collective action and labour process theory, we formulate a new framework for examining labour protests. In addition to seeing workers’ collective action as defensive or offensive, this framework helps us interpret these actions in relation to the spheres of production and reproduction. It classifies pension strikes in China as defensive actions located in the sphere of reproduction, which are distinct from previous strikes that were either defensive or offensive actions situated in the sphere of production. This synthesised framework assists us in theorising that workers’ protest activities, especially in the global South, are not restricted to the traditional production sphere but can also be found in the reproduction sphere.","PeriodicalId":47100,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":"64 1","pages":"3 - 25"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2021-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43809408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：