Changing Role of Industrial

Relations

by-
Shimpy Kapoor
Richa Agrawal
Nidhi Purohit
International Trends – Role of ILO & WTO in Industrial Relations

Recent incidents happened in Maharashtra & Karnataka, where Shiv Sena &
other regional parities don't want people from other states to come & work
there.
World Trade Organization & International Labour Organization play a very
important role in maintaining the best trade practices in the world so that no
countries are exploited, so that the work force is not exploited & have ease of
working under different cultures & laws. Also they help in achieving uniformity
in the work & trade environment in the world.
Recent Trends
Competition on the basis of cheap labour

Globalization and increased competition has lead to less strikes, lockouts and less
man days lost due to strikes. Also now in the era of knowledge industry
employees are educated and thus don¡¦t believe in violent activities. They are
having responsibilities in cut throat competition and also are aware of their rights
well leading to decline in strikes. Employers also avoid lockouts because decline in
production for even hours results in heavy losses so forget about days or weeks
Disinvestment: - it affects IR in following ways

·It changes ownership, which may bring out changes not only in work org and
employment but also in trade union (TU) dynamics.

·It changes the work organization by necessitating retaining and redeployment.

·It affects the right of workers and Trade unions, including job/union security,
income security, and social security.

·Trade unions, mgt and government are responding to these challenges through
various types of new, innovative, or model arrangements to deal with different
aspects of disinvestment like
Deregulation
usually a reduction in pension benefits and an uncertainty concerning
future provision of pension benefit due to

·The absence of government guarantees

·Falling interest rates

·Investment of pension funds in stock markets

Decentralization of IR is seen in terms of the shift in consideration of IR

issues from macro to micro and from industry to enterprise level.
New actors and the emerging dynamics

Pro-labour-pro-investor policies

Declining TU density

Collective Bargaining
The Role of ILO
ILO Is

·A United Nations affiliate

·Consists of government, industry, and union representatives

·Works to promote fair labour standards in health, safety, and working conditions,
and freedom of association for workers
The ILO Defines core labour standards:

·Freedom of association and collective bargaining

·The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour

·The effective abolition of child labour

·The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation

·Declaration on Fundamental Principles & Rights at Work

·Key instrument on labour aspects of CSR

·Non-binding character : Not Compulsory for anyone to follow.

·Recommendations to enterprises, governments, employers and workers

·Applies to multinational and domestic companies

The role of WTO

·A multilateral trade organisation aimed at international trade liberalisation.

·Came into being in 1995, after a 48-year development that started with trade
negotiations at the Geneva Conference in 1947

·Is a relative of the original International Trade Organisation that was proposed
there.

·Successor organisation to GATT to administer international trade and investment

accords.

·In 2002, the Doha Round ended the first stage of implementation. The aim is to
further hasten implementation of liberalization to help the impoverished and
developing nations.
Industrial Relations Trends
USA

·Collective Bargaining
·Union

They directly determine labor costs, productivity, and eventually, even profits.

·Efforts are made to solve problems at the lowest level of the hierarchy as quickly
as possible

·First step usually involves a meeting between the union representative (shop
steward) at the operating level and the employee’s supervisor – they attempt to
agree on how to solve the grievance

·Unresolved grievances may involve union officials and higher-level management

representatives – these conciliatory approaches usually solve the grievance
China

·The Chinese economy has shifted from a command economy to a more

market-led one

·Integration of trade unions into workplace management continues to

prevent collective consultation from providing an adequate framework for
the full freedom and regulation of labor relations

·Chinese enterprises traditionally had two policy-making committees

Communist Party leaders and members
·Managers and worker representatives

·The political climate determined which committee had more power

·After reforms in the 1980s, the workers (not the party members)
represented industrial democracy in communist countries

·The Chinese government has agreed to an ambitious program of

cooperation with the ILO which will provide advice on such things as job
creation, workplace safety, collective bargaining, and the settlement of labor
disputes.
Japan

·Social custom dictates non confrontational union–management behavior

·Labor commissions have been established by law

·Japanese unions remain relatively weak.

·Strikes and lockouts in Japan are very rare

·Japanese workers sometime strike when a union is negotiating with

management during industry wide negotiations to show support for their
union

·Management is receptive to workers’ ideas that will produce bottom-line

results

·Enterprise Unions
◦Unions that represent both hourly and salaried employees of a particular
company.

·Many Japanese unions are relatively weak because they are company
dominated
Western Europe

·European firms typically negotiate agreements with unions at the national

level

·Many European unions have more political power than U.S. unions

·Salaried employees in Europe (including those at managerial levels) often

have unions of their own

·European unions have existed longer than those in the United States and
occupy a more accepted position in society

·The industrial relations systems in the w.europe have emerged as a mix

of growing decentralised employer unilateralism and enduring state
regulation (Bluhm, 2006); none of these aspects offering prospects for
employees’ voice.