Documents Brown, William 23 results

"Unauthorized strikes were a common feature of the private sectors of many Western economies in the third quarter of the twentieth century. They largely disappeared during the fourth quarter. At a time when such strikes are an increasing issue in China, the article considers why they ceased to be such in the West, using evidence from Britain. It discusses the nature of unauthorized or 'wildcat' strikes and argues that several factors caused them to fade away. Pressures of increased product market competition forced management to gain closer control over the conduct of work and payment systems. Trade unions restructured themselves to cope better with workplace bargaining, before declining in influence. Government increased the procedural constraints on workplace strikes and created an independent third-party intervention service. The article concludes with policy implications."

"The article discusses the current transformation of Chinese labour relations. The Labour Contract Law implemented in 2008 provided the legal framework for China's adjustment to individual labour relations; it also hastened the evolution of collective labour relations. The article discusses how two different aspects of the Chinese labour movement—top-down and bottom-up—have been interacting. Implications are drawn from the experience of the strike wave of the summer of 2010. It is argued that further legal intervention could facilitate the development of China's labour policy, but that the reform of collective labour law will require the strengthening of the collective rights of workers and the nurturing of institutions which can focus collective consciousness and organisation."

"The traditional mechanisms for improving and protecting labour standards in advanced economies are failing. In Britain, the effectiveness of collective bargaining has diminished substantially over the past quarter century. Legally enforceable minimum labour standards have been an inadequate substitute. A new form of ‘joint regulation' is emerging that may be better attuned to the contemporary structure of product market competition. It involves employers and unions coordinating action on labour standards across the supply chains of firms that contribute to the production of a particular good or service. This article explores the circumstances in which these ‘socially sustainable sourcing' mechanisms develop and examines their impact on labour standards, by means of two case studies."

"The current popularity of 'partnership' in workplace industrial relations raises the question of the durability of such arrangements. This article investigates the stability of cooperative employer–union relationships by means of case studies. It analyses perceptions of the experience of negotiation and consultation. Continuing net benefits are reported both by managers and by union representatives in workplaces where cooperative relationships are robust. The benefits come primarily from the informal consultative processes and levels of trust that are engendered. Nonetheless, parties to the relationship, however robust they were, faced substantial challenges to their efforts to diffuse and sustain cooperative working. It is concluded that cooperative relationships are likely to be stable where employers wish to maintain an independent employee voice, especially where workplace union density remains relatively high."

"We report how trade unions and employers initially reacted to the introduction of the statutory recognition procedure in the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA). Interview data indicate that the ERA and the drift of EU influence have acted to shift employer attitudes towards greater approval of unions and have accelerated the rate at which employers are redesigning their relationships with unions. Although they are restricting unions' influence over traditional issues such as pay-setting, employers are increasingly seeking their assistance in implementing organizational changes. We explore the impact of these developments on union activity and on collective representation more broadly."