scholarly journals The influence of collective employment relations on work accommodation: case studies in Estonia, Hungary and Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Märt Masso ◽  
Deborah Foster ◽  
Liina Osila ◽  
Balázs Bábel ◽  
Jan Czarzasty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Specific Situation ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Reasonable Accommodations ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Disabled Employees ◽  
Work Accommodation ◽  
Work Accommodations

Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteristics that could facilitate work accommodations. Current knowledge of the work accommodation process and the integration of this issue into the collective employment relations agenda, however, needs further improvement.

scholarly journals Work accommodations and sustainable working: The role of social partners and industrial relations in the employment of disabled and older people in Estonia, Hungary and Poland

2020 ◽  
pp. 095968012097189
Author(s):  
Deborah Foster ◽  
Mart Masso ◽  
Liina Osila
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Identity And Agency ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Eu Policies ◽  
Work Accommodations

The under-utilization of the labour of disabled and older people is a problem across the European Union (EU) but is most pronounced in Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states, where labour shortages are greatest. This presents a puzzle that is explored with reference to a project with social partners from Estonia, Hungary and Poland, the objective of which was to stimulate debate and actions around the role of industrial relations actors in facilitating work accommodations for disabled and older people. After establishing the extent of the demographic labour crisis in these countries, the policy tools being employed to address it are scrutinized and found wanting. A variety of factors are identified as having contributed to debate in this area: historical legacy, social policy path-dependency, social partner identity and agency, a ‘dead letter’ approach to EU policies, and the limited role of civil society organizations. We examine the potential of the concept of sustainable work, more commonly found in Northern Europe, to influence alternative approaches to the employment of disabled and older people in countries where state, labour and employment relations differ.

Social Dialogue Under Globalization in Nigeria: Does Democracy Add Value?

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru ◽  
Kehinde Kester
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
Modest Contribution ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Oil Sector ◽  
The Government

Social dialogue as an aspect of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is aimed at promoting industrial democracy by encouraging consensus building among social partners in the work place. The significance lies, among others, in minimising conflicts to enable harmonious industrial relations. This study utilized specific case illustrations to examine the inclination of the Nigerian government towards social dialogue in government-labour relations, with particular reference to the Obasanjo era 1999-2007— a period associated with the globalization of democracy. The cases included the minimum wage award 2000, University Autonomy Bill, the price deregulation of the downstream oil sector and the Trade Union Amendment Bill 2004. It was found that the government exhibited a penchant for authoritarianism in spite of the globalization of democracy. This was evident in the incapacity of the Obasanjo government to engage the social partners in social dialogue as indicated by the cases reviewed. The study, however, highlighted the modest contribution to social dialogue made by the wider democratic structure. It was concluded that the government had limited capacity for consensus building, accommodation of opposition and negotiated outcomes in government-labour relations

Workers without Borders

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Regulatory Enforcement ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Key Topics ◽  
National Models ◽  
Management Power ◽  
Exit Options ◽  
Two Sectors

This book addresses the complexities of transnational posted work through three key topics. First, it examines how the de-territorialization of national models and employment relations systems opens up exit options for management, enabling them to use the regulatory framework creatively and at a disadvantage for workers. Second, it discusses how re-territorialization, or resistance, is possible within these spaces. Third, the book analyzes the contours of the new structure for employment relations that emerges within the pan-European labor market and its implications for worker voice, regulatory enforcement, and management power. The research presented in this book is based on a qualitative and multilevel case study approach. It examines how posted workers and actors involved in the posting relationship actually utilize and experience the European posting framework by focusing on the experiences of transnational posted workers. This distinguishes the book from macro- and national-focused approaches in comparative political economy and industrial relations by zooming in on the workplace dynamics in a transnational setting. The window to how posted workers experience intra-EU mobility is Germany and the two sectors where posting is most prevalent: the construction and meat slaughtering industries.

scholarly journals Frontier of control struggles in British and Irish public transport

2020 ◽  
pp. 095968012092913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Hughes ◽  
Tony Dobbins
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Managerial Ability ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Irish Case ◽  
Control Patterns ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Cross National

Few contemporary studies of change in industrial relations use Carter Goodrich’s classic concept of the ‘frontier of control’ (FoC), especially in cross-national comparative research. Our study maps FoC struggles in two public transport organizations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Qualitative methods generate significant insights into complex day-to-day workplace control patterns in these two cases. Despite changes in the frontier of control in both organizations over time, it is observed that employment relations in the Irish case are more cooperative than in the British. The frontier of control still matters, because workplace control regimes shape managerial ability to secure worker consent and are always potentially contestable terrains.

Ever-Widening Ripples: The Impact of Specialist Industrial Tribunals on Management Practice

1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Thornthwaite
Keyword(s):  
Management Practice ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Employment Decisions ◽  
Public Role ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

While conciliation and arbitration tribunals have been at the forefront of Austral ian research on industrial relations institutions, numerous specialist tribunals enforcing individual workers' rights in employment have been virtually hidden from view. This paper examines the role of two such tribunals in New South Wales, the Government and Related Employees' Appeal Tribunal and the Equal Opportu nity Tribunal. It argues that although their most direct and public role is to resolve individuals' grievances, equally significant is the contribution of these agencies to the detailed regulation of employment relations and hence the increasing sophisti cation of labour management in public sector organizations since the late 1970s, and the institutionalization of management prerogatives and conflicts over an increasingly wide range of employment decisions.

Social Harmony and the Small Firm: A Reappraisal

1988 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Goss
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Media ◽  
Depth Interviews

Government, academics and the media have, over the past decade, entered fully into the spirit of ‘small business revival’. Many of the contributions to this debate, however, have taken for granted the nature of small firm employment relations. It has frequently been remarked that workers in a small firms behave in ways more compatible with the goals and interests of their employers than employees in large firms. Thus, industrial relations are assumed to be more harmonious. In support of this assertion attention is usually drawn to the relative infrequency of conflict and industrial disputes, and the absence of militant trade unionism as an indication of the small firm workers' greater commitment to the goals of the enterprise and the interests of the employer (Ingham 1970). This paper suggests that such assumptions are unwarranted and provide a potentially misleading starting point for studies of employment relations in small firms. Data from a small number of in-depth interviews with small firm personnel is used to illustrate some of the complex and contradictory processes through which capital-labour relations may be constituted within small enterprises.

scholarly journals New Actors in Employment Relations in the Periphery: Closing the Representation Gap amongst Micro and Small Enterprises

2011 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Webster ◽  
Christine Bishoff
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Community Based ◽  
First Response ◽  
Workplace Organization ◽  
Micro And Small Enterprises ◽  
Mapping Exercise

This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of how the representation gap in micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in nine countries can be closed through a mapping exercise (both horizontal and vertical). The study draws on peripheral workers in MSEs predominantly from countries on the periphery of the global economy. The assumption underlying the research is that the failure of traditional industrial relations actors, especially trade unions, to respond to the representation gap has created the space and the need for new actors to fill the gap. We identify a number of dimensions in trade union responses to non-standard employment relations and focus on their awareness of the specific nature of non-standard workers’ interests and their willingness to innovate with representation models.The paper identifies four main responses by trade unions to non-standard employees. The first response is where trade unions are indifferent to workers in MSEs as they are seen as marginal and unorganizable. Secondly, there are trade unions that are very much aware of the need to revise and revitalize their representation strategies, but they respond by attempting to extend existing forms of representation. Thirdly there are those who believe that non-standard employment should be resisted. The fourth, and most interesting response, is where unions create specific kinds of representation and protection for the new forms of employment.While there were positive outcomes both individually and organizationally from this mapping exercise, as an organizational tool designed to recruit members into the union, mapping is limited. In five of the nine case studies peripheral workers were recruited into a union or worker association. The paper confirms the existence of new actors in employment relations in developing countries. In particular the emergence of NGOs and community based worker associations and co-operatives have been identified as crucial intermediaries in developing new forms of workplace organization.

McKinsey, Hilmer and the BCA: The 'New Management' Model of Labour Market Reform

1994 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
John O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Market Reform ◽  
Management Model ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Labour Market Reform ◽  
Leading Role

This paper will discuss the origins and development of the labour market reform agenda pursued by the Business Council of Australia (the council). This agenda found its initial expression in the attempt to apply the McKinsey 'new manage ment' model of employment relations to the regulation of the labour market in Australia. The 'popular' management works of Fred Hilrner are discussed, as is their relationship to the various reports issued by the council from 1989 to 1993 on the development of enterprise-based employment relations. The paper will assess the extent to which the McKinsey-Hilmer-council discourse influenced the terms of the enterprise bargaining debate in the later 1980s and 1990s. In turn, there will be consideration of tlte extent to which the developments in the council's discourse were influenced by changes to the industrial relations system in the same period and the adoption of the enterprise discourse by other contributors to the labour market debate. The paper concludes that the council was able to take a leading role in establishing the hegemony of the enterprise discourse without necessarily achieving a regulatory regime that matched its 'new management' model of employment relations.

Alexander C. Pathy,Waterfront Blues: Labour Strife at the Port of Montreal, 1960–1978. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004. ix + 328 pp. $53.00 cloth.

2005 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 144-146
Author(s):  
Colin J. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Quebec City ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Maritime Economy ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Loading And Unloading ◽  
The Government ◽  
Technological Improvements ◽  
Two Sides

In this autobiographical account of labor relations on the Montreal waterfront, Alexander C. Pathy gives an insider account of the volatile relationship between shippers and longshoremen. Pathy worked as a lawyer and then official of the influential Maritime Employers Association (MEA). The MEA was in the forefront in changing employment relations to better fit the introduction of technological changes brought on by containerization. As in most ports around the world, the introduction of containerization was riven with challenge and controversy. The Port of Montreal, and the lesser ports of Quebec City and Trois-Rivieres, shared this common experience. According to Pathy up to 1960 the respective ports had seen little strife. Indeed, it would seem that the relations between the two sides had been relatively amicable. This would change once ship owners and stevedores embarked on a rationalization scheme to make the loading and unloading of cargo that much more efficient and speedier. Beginning in 1960, negotiations became increasingly heated and hostile. Not least was the problem of language. In what could be best described as mutual ignorance the employers negotiated in English, while the union representatives, reflecting the membership, spoke in French. It was no wonder that misunderstandings could occur because of poor translation. But according to Pathy more than language, the principal point of conflict was perception. Each side brought to the table mutual suspicion and hostility. The problem Pathy contends was, “Each party did not see its glass half full but half empty.”(40) Therefore, negotiations over gang size, technological improvements, hiring methods, and union jurisdiction all became major issues of contention. Adding to the complexity of the situation was the role of Canadian government. Canadian industrial relations law gave the government a vital stake in the negotiations. Just as important, as both official and wildcat strikes broke out, the government scrambled to stabilize the situation as ships were diverted to US ports. The loss of trade and thereby revenue was seen as a critical impairment to the maritime economy.

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