Documents Keizer, Arjan B. 9 results

"The weak performance of the Japanese economy since the 1990s has renewed the debate on the efficiency of its employment practices. Although actual changes have long trailed expectations, two major developments have taken place in recent years: a rise in non-regular employment and the introduction of performance-related pay (seikashugi). Both affect the internal labour market that has been crucial to human resource management in Japan. The first development diminishes its relevance and the second directly impacts its functioning. This paper discusses these changes and the factors that determine their character. Moreover, it argues that the changes are not just aligned with but also made possible by an important continuity in the support for the core practice of lifetime employment. What results is a story of institutional change and continuity which argues that the specific character of Japanese employment practices remains in spite of an apparent convergence. "

"Previous analyses of Japanese employment practices have often focused almost exclusively on regular employment, relegating non-regular employment to a role as employment buffer. However, recent years have seen a rise in non-regular employment which requires a renewed analysis of its role and importance. This article provides such an analysis and presents two major findings. First, it argues that a renewed duality in the labour market indicates important advantages to non-regular employment, not just in terms of flexibility, as suggested by previous interpretations and dual labour market theories, but mostly in terms of costs. However, the importance of this advantage differs between industries. Second, the article discusses the consequences of this duality. It argues particularly that the duality constrains the employment opportunities for women in spite of regulatory changes to strengthen their position. The article concludes with general insights into labour market dualism."

"Precarious work is increasingly considered the new ‘norm' to which employment and social protection systems must adjust. This article explores the contradictions and tensions that arise from different processes of normalisation driven by social policies that simultaneously decommodify and recommodify labour. An expanded framework of decommodification is presented that identifies how the standard employment relationship (SER) may be extended and flexibilised to include those in precarious work, drawing examples from a recent study of precarious work across six European countries. These decommodification processes are found to be both partial and, in some cases, coexisting with activation policies that position precarious work as an alternative to unemployment, thereby recommodifying labour. Despite these challenges and contradictions, the article argues that a new vision of SER reform promises greater inclusion than alternative policy scenarios that give up on the regulation of employers and rely on state subsidies to mitigate against precariousness. "

"Marketization of the employment relationship is a key causal factor explaining the adverse impact of subcontracting low-wage services on employment conditions. This article extends existing sociological theory by analysing the market-making and rule-breaking roles of client and subcontractor firms through qualitative data. It finds that client organizations construct different types and temporalities of marketized cost pressures, that clients and subcontractors exploit their power advantage over labour to evade institutional rules and that labour process and reputational concerns impose a degree of moderation towards socially desirable outcomes. The theoretical framework ‘unpacks' marketization by distinguishing the interplay between contracts, regulation and labour process requirements as shaped by clients and subcontractors. In the UK cleaning sector, the potentially positive effects of client and subcontractor actions on employment conditions are marginal, focused on non-pay aspects and introduced primarily for reputational reasons. The evidence indicates the limits of voluntary action and the need for regulation. "

"A strong rise in non-regular employment has posed a major challenge to Japanese trade unions which have long limited membership to regular employees. However, a number of mainstream unions in the retail industry have responded by organizing non-regular workers. The article draws on a series of semi-structured interviews with union representatives to analyse the initiatives by the industrial federation UA Zensen and three affiliated enterprise unions. It addresses the implications for both the workers and the unions concerned. Unions have provided a stronger voice to non-regular workers and negotiated better working conditions. However, it has not brought material equality with regular workers or major changes to Japanese unionism. Instead, the enterprise-based and cooperative nature of unionism has shaped the initiatives and reproduced traditional equilibria and processes between labour and management, thus constraining the ability of unions to develop a strong stance for the emancipation of non-regular workers. "

"This article analyses the two‐way relationship between multinational companies (MNCs) and Turkey's vocational education and training system through case studies of Japanese and German MNCs in the automotive industry. Drawing on semistructured interviews, it addresses the initiatives the MNCs have taken to guarantee skilled employees and their interaction with the Turkish vocational education and training system. The analysis shows how the MNCs have been ‘institutional entrepreneurs' by introducing new practices. This was possible as the host environment has been open to change but also a requirement where strong industrial relations systems constituted an essential but missing home country institution."

"This book explores how power operates in workplace settings at local, national and transnational levels. It argues that how people are valued in and out of work is a political dynamic, which reflects and shapes how societies treat their citizens.
Offering vital resources for activists and students on labour rights, employment issues and trade unions, this book argues that the influence workers can exert is changing dramatically and future challenges for change can be positive and progressive."

"This paper investigates the ability of unions to tackle precarious work by analysing three illustrative case-studies from Denmark, Germany and the UK. It draws on the power resource theory to analyse how different dimensions of power interact with union strategies towards workers in precarious employment, shaping outcomes in both collective representation and labour market conditions. The analysis stresses how unions need multiple forms of power, with important interactions among and across different levels of power resources and important differences between countries, sectors and workplaces. The paper discusses these interactions with a specific focus on the need to develop new resources, in particular ideational resources that are inclusive to those in precarious work, and the interaction between power resources and union strategies as the availability or absence of resources affects the strategies that unions can develop."