scholarly journals In search of a living wage in Southeast Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 903-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Ford ◽  
Michael Gillan
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Steering Committee ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Living Wages ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Garment Manufacturing

Purpose Debates over the definition, processes and outcomes of minimum and “living” wages are heated and often politically contentious in garment-producing countries. Internationally, there have been various initiatives to promote and support the implementation of a living wage for workers in labour-intensive manufacturing, ranging from corporate-driven social responsibility and multi-stakeholder initiatives to the long-standing living wage campaign of the global unions. One prominent regional initiative is the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA). The purpose of this paper is to assess its reach and effect in Southeast Asia. Design/methodology/approach A living wage campaign is assessed with reference to Indonesia and Cambodia, two important garment manufacturing countries in Southeast Asia. The paper draws on data collected in interviews with garment manufacturers, brand representatives, trade unionists and labour NGO activists, including members of the AFWA Steering Committee in Indonesia and Cambodia, complemented by a systematic review of documents and reports produced by the AFWA. Findings As the paper shows, despite a series of initiatives, the Asia Floor Wage has failed to gain traction in Cambodia or Indonesia. This is so, the paper argues, because national economic, political and institutional contexts are the primary drivers of the strategies and priorities of constituent organisations, governments and industry stakeholders. In the absence of robust local and regional coalitions of trade unions, efforts towards a common and coordinated regional approach to living wages are thus unlikely to gain traction. Originality/value To a large extent, the literature on the concepts and practices associated with the living wage has focussed on developed rather than developing countries. This paper extends the literature by providing a systematic examination of a transnational wage campaign in developing Asian countries.

scholarly journals Implementing the living wage in UK local government

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 840-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Living Wages ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of living wages on organisational pay systems. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on 23 semi-structured interviews with HR managers, trade union representatives, and politicians at four UK local government case study sites. Findings The findings suggest that living wages can have a positive impact on directly employed workers in cleaning, catering and care services, but the research also finds that the localised adoption of living wages can lead to significant wage compression, resulting in a broad band of “low skill-low wage jobs”. Originality/value The theoretical contribution is twofold. In-line with earlier research the “first-order” effects of living wages are clear: hourly wages for a large number of women in part-time roles increased sharply. However, this is only part of the story as “second-order” effects such as ripples and spill-overs are less extensive than suggested by other studies. This is due to the limited scope for trade unions to restore wage differentials through collective bargaining, the slow progress in extending the living wage to contracted staff, and parallel processes of downsizing and outsourcing.

Collective bargaining as a tool to ensure a living wage. Experiences from the Nordic countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Alsos ◽  
Kristine Nergaard ◽  
Andreas Van Den Heuvel
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Wage Setting ◽  
Living Wages

To date the Nordic countries have not had a public debate on living wages, in contrast to many Anglo-Saxon countries. This does not mean, however, that the concept of a living wage is alien to them. In this article we examine whether wage-setting mechanisms in the Nordic countries promote and secure a living wage for all employees, and how trade unions have approached the concept of a living wage.

Living wages: a US perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 863-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Luce
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Review ◽  
Living Wages ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
New Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide background on the US living wage movement, with particular attention to recent victories, and also the ways in which the US movement differs from living wage movements in other countries. It begins with some technical distinctions of terms, then analyzes the campaigns and movement for higher wages, and considers some of the challenges the campaigns have faced. It will conclude with some discussion about the future of the movement. Design/methodology/approach This is a general review of living wage campaigns in the USA. This is based on a review of existing literature and the author’s own prior research and participant observation. Findings The author argues that the initial living wage movement that began in the early 1990s was limited in scope but successful in building coalitions and political power to launch a much more expansive movement to raise wages in 2012. Originality/value This paper is a general summary of the last 20 years of living wage campaigns. It does not include new research.

scholarly journals The UK living wage

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 790-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul John Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moral Basis ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the value that UK trade unions now place on the living wage. Design/methodology/approach The author is the TUC’s Pay Policy Officer and examines the issue from a practitioner’s perspective. Findings The living wage now has a well-established place within the hierarchy of pay demands adopted by UK trade unions. This continues a tradition of unions supporting norms and regulations as an adjunct to collective bargaining. However, support had to be achieved through a process of negotiation with the broader UK living wage campaign. Practical implications The paper concludes that there are good prospects for the living wage, and thus for the continued trade union support. Social implications The living wage standard is seen as having a strong moral basis, which often helps to win agreement with good employers. This results in a steady stream of workers out of in-work poverty. The credit for such pay increases is often shared between employers and trade unions. Originality/value The paper is written by a practitioner with inside knowledge and experience of the entire course of the living wage campaign in the UK and how it has been adopted and integrated by trade unions.

Identification and assessment of the unionization factors of the US electrical construction trade

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisham Said ◽  
Aishwarya Mali ◽  
Ajay Deshmukh
Keyword(s):  
Union Membership ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The Us ◽  
Share Data ◽  
Trend Data ◽  
Industrial Projects ◽  
Practice Knowledge

PurposeConstruction trade unions have been a vital force in improving the job standards and wellbeing of trade workers. However, the union membership in the construction industry has dropped by half between 1983 and 2017. The objective of this study is to identify and assess the controlling factors of construction electrical trade unionization in the United States.Design/methodology/approachThe study involved four main steps. Literature review and industry townhall meetings were conducted to identify the electrical trade unionization factors. A new unionization trend metric was developed using available union market share data to quantify the growth and decline of local unions. Mixed-mode surveying was used to collect questionnaire and interview data on the unionization factors in different local units of the electrical trade union. Finally, the survey data from the questionnaire and interviews were merged and their correlation with the unionization trend data was assessed.FindingsThe study found that the unionization of this specialty trade is dependent on increasing the crew ratio, expanding the non-apprenticeship union membership program, organizing larger contractors, and continuing the union focus on public and heavy industrial projects.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the construction management body of knowledge by providing a data-driven industry-wide assessment of the factors that affect electrical construction unionization. The study advances the understanding of construction trade unions by narrowing the theory-practice knowledge gap, illustrating the use of macro quantitative empirical research methods, and developing a new unionization trend metric.

Between cooperation and survival

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
JongHo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
South China ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
Japanese Empire ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Japanese Occupation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Migrant Communities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the survival capability of Chaoshan people in the maritime world of the South China Sea amidst the changing monetary systems of the rival empires and political regimes from 1939 to 1945. It particularly focuses on overseas Chinese remittance business in Shantou under the Japanese rule. Local societies in coastal China and overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia experienced severe hardships due to the Sino-Japanese War, the Pacific War and the Chinese Civil War. As fighting among the rival empires and regimes intensified, Chinese migrant communities straddling between Southeast Asia and South China had to negotiate and adapt to survive these crises, regardless of whether they were government-affiliated or local autonomous subjects. Design/methodology/approach This research draws on archival materials to investigate the reactions of Chinese migrant communities in Chaoshan region in times of war and regime change. How did local maritime societies and overseas Chinese adapt to the harsh realities of the wartime? How did the Japanese Empire use Wang Jingwei’s puppet government in Nanjing to control the Chaoshan remittance network? How did the remittance network shift its operational structure in face of a wartime crisis? Findings Faced with the wartime crisis and the Japanese occupation, Chaoshan communities used a variety of survival strategies to protect and maintain the overseas Chinese remittance business. In dealing with remittances from Singapore, British Malay and Indonesia, they cooperated with the Japanese military authority and its puppet government to maximize the autonomy of their business operation in the Japanese-controlled East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. On the other hand, to secure the flow of remittances from French Indochina and Thailand, the indirectly controlled territories in the Japanese Empire, Chaoshan merchants sought an alternative path of delivering remittances, known as the Dongxing route, to bypass the Japanese ban on private remittances from these two regions. Research limitations/implications It would be a better research if more resources, including remittance receipts and documents during the Japanese occupation, could be found and used to show more detailed features of Chaoshan local society. Originality/value This research is the first one to investigate the contradictory features of local Chaoshan society during the Japanese occupation, an under-explored subject in the Chinese historiography.

The living wage as an income range for decent work and life

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Yao ◽  
Jane Parker ◽  
James Arrowsmith ◽  
Stuart C. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Living Wage ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose A “living” wage (LW) is conventionally defined as enabling meaningful participation in society above subsistence through, for example, recreation, supporting a family, and savings. There is increasing debate over LWs due to growing inequality, rising living costs and welfare reform but this remains largely framed by the econometric cost-benefit parameters that apply to minimum wage regulation. The capabilities approach advocated by Sen (1999) offers a different perspective that is inclusive of choice, contingencies and the inter-connections between quality of (paid) work and private life. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts this framework and utilises a qualitative exploration of the narratives of 606 New Zealand employees to understand perceived wage effectiveness. The results suggest that a focus on a specific LW rate might be conceptually limiting, in comparison to a LW range. Findings First, the findings indicate that there is a pivot range in which people move from self-assessed “survival” to “decent” income. Second, a LW may have more than a simply monetary effect in better meeting employees’ living costs; it can also improve well-being through subjective perceptions of valued freedoms to do with job satisfaction, equity and security. Originality/value The results thus draw attention to a wider notion of a LW in terms of personal and family well-being, utilising a capabilities approach, with implications for organisational practice, policy and theory concerning sustainable livelihood and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

scholarly journals Organising to beat the Trade Union Act (2016) voting thresholds: a case study of organising and tactics from the University and College Union

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Richards ◽  
Vaughan Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
College Union ◽  
The University ◽  
Further Development

PurposeA retrospective action-research case study of one branch of the University and College Union (UCU) is used to show how threshold requirements of the Act can be systematically beaten.Design/methodology/approachThe paper responds to calls for “best practice” on how trade unions may react to member voting threshold requirements of the Trade Union Act 2016 (the Act). A broader aim is to make a theoretical contribution related to trade union organising and tactics in “get the vote out” (GTVO) industrial action organising campaigns.FindingsFindings are presented as a lead organiser's first-hand account of a successful GTVO campaign contextualised in relation to theories of organising. The findings offer “best practice” for union organisers required to beat the Act's voting thresholds and also contribute to theories surrounding trade union organising tactics.Research limitations/implicationsFurther development and adaptation of the proposed model may be required when applied to larger bargaining units and different organising contexts.Practical implicationsThe findings can inform the organising practices/tactics of trade unions in relation to statutory ballots. The findings also allow Human Resource (HR) practitioners to reflect on their approach to dealing with unions capable of mounting successful GTVO campaigns.Social implicationsThe findings have the potential to collectively empower workers, via their trade unions, to defend and further their interests in a post-financial crisis context and in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.Originality/valueThis is the first known empirical account of organising to exceed voting thresholds of the Act, providing practical steps for union organisers in planning for statutory ballots. Further value lies in the paper's use of a novel first-hand account of a GTVO campaign, offering a new and first, theoretical model of organising tactics to beat the Act.

scholarly journals LEGAL-LINGUISTIC PROFILING IN INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS: THE CASE OF EU STAFF REPRESENTATION BODIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 9-38
Author(s):  
Colin D. ROBERTSON
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
General Public ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Contexts

This paper applies a structured legal-linguistic profiling approach to EU “staff representation bodies” as a way to access domains that lie behind the public face of EU institutions and their texts concerning translation, language and terminology. The study commences with a legal-linguistic analysis of EU texts for references to “staff”, “staff representation” and “employment” in order to identify specific texts and bodies of relevance to the study. This approach leads to two broad categories: staff committees and trade unions. Information is sought from EU institutions about these bodies and their translation and language arrangements, and a list is made of websites available to the general public. These sites are then examined as part of the legal-linguistic profiling approach.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document