scholarly journals Trade Unions: Relevant Out of Irrelevant? A Study on Generation’s Perception in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Che Supian Mohamad Nor ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Moona Haji Mohamed ◽  
Charles Ramendran SPR ◽  
Prem Kumar Nadarajan ◽  
Vimala Kadiresan
Keyword(s):  
Generation X ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Generation Y ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Trade Unionism

Generational differences on workforce in Malaysia have stirred the value of trade unionism. The transition from generation-X to generation-Y has created diverse perceptions on the relevance of being a member of a trade union. In the near future, generation-Y will be the bastion of the Malaysian workforce. They will be a fundamental actor in reshaping the industrial relations ecosystem in Malaysia. In this respect, this study focused on unionized and non-unionized generation-X and Y employee’s perception on the importance of trade unionism in the Malaysian context. Using a qualitative study, face-to-face semi-structured interviews with targeted respondents were conducted. The findings showed that the trade union do bring contributions to employees and protect employees from unfair actions but the density of trade unions declined due to unclear information known about trade unionism among generation Y. Based on the research findings, practical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Brazilian Trade Unions

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lang ◽  
Mona-Josée Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Heavy Body ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Labour Legislation

Many analysts of Brazilian industrial relations share a determinist vision of the country’s trade unionism, according to which the unions maintain a paradoxical yet atavistic relationship with the heavy body of laws that provide them with advantages while limiting their freedom. We tested this vision by conducting field enquiries into the daily activities of two Brazilian unions: the ABC Metalworkers Union and the Seamstress Union for the Sao Paulo and Osasco Region. In this article, we present the results of our case studies and what they reveal about Brazilian trade unionism’s relationship with the labour legislation. We also briefly discuss former trade union leader and current President Lula’s recent attempts to reform the country’s labour relations system.

Managerial Trade Unionism

1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Arthurs
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Union Activity ◽  
Trade Unionism

The development of trade unionism amongst managers poses a challenge to traditional conceptions of industrial relations. This paper discusses government policies towards managerial unionism and the justifications which have been put forward for restricting the trade union activity of managers. It argues that concern about managerial unionism is built upon three main assumptions: (a) managers will be faced with conflicting loyalties and placed in the impossible position of attempting to satisfy the contradictory demands of employer and union; (b) the unionisation of managers will lead to an unacceptable shift in the balance of power from employers towards trade unions; (c) the presence of managers will compromise the independence of trade unions. The conclusion is reached that the limitations which many governments place upon managerial unionism are based upon assumptions which, although not entirely without foundation, are generally incorrect.

scholarly journals AN ANALYSIS OF THE GOOD FAITH BARGAINING PRACTICE IN THE TRADE UNION RECOGNITION PROCESS: REFORM OF THE MALAYSIAN TRADE UNION LEGAL FRAMEWORK

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 501-524
Author(s):  
Siti Suraya Abd Razak ◽  
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Recognition Process ◽  
Primary Focus

The trade union recognition process is a pre-requisite to the collective bargaining action of a trade union. The recognition is important to ascertain the competency of a trade union and the acceptance by the workers to represent them in the collective bargaining action with the employer. However, the ambiguities in the existing legislations on the trade union recognition process in Malaysia and the anti-union practices of the employer are currently depriving the workers of their rights to negotiate for better working conditions. The primary focus of the present work is to identify the weaknesses of the recognition legal framework and the anti-union practices of employers in the recognition process of trade unions. Secondly, is to critically analyse the good faith bargaining practice in other countries and its significance to the recognition process in Malaysia. To explore the anti-union tactics perpetrated by employers, semi-structured interviews have been conducted to analyse the trade unions’ experience in their recognition claims. This research employed a qualitative approach as the instrument to study the good faith bargaining practices in the Australian and New Zealand labour law framework. The findings reveal that the good faith bargaining practices in Australia and New Zealand have improved the odds for trade unions to represent the workers in negotiating collective agreements. The study finally concludes that in order to reform the recognition process of trade unions in Malaysia, the good faith bargaining practice should be implemented in the nation’s industrial relations law framework.

Re-framing the debate on breakaway trade unions in an era of neoliberalism

2018 ◽  
pp. 153-170
Author(s):  
David Evans
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Contingent Approach ◽  
Union History ◽  
Labour Organisation

Breakaway unions have been a feature of labour organisation since the dawn of trade unionism. Despite this long history, the historiography of the subject remains undeveloped. The process of breaking away from an established union and setting up a rival organisation can be triggered by a range of impulses and inducements, fostered by both progressive and reactionary forces. On one level they can be considered a product of intra-union conflict, but a fuller understanding comes from viewing breakaways in the context of the broader economic and political circumstances in which they are embedded. The systematic remapping of the political and industrial relations landscape during the neoliberal epoch has brought into question the pluralist assumptions that have traditionally underpinned the notion of breakaway unions. Building from a historically-contingent approach, this chapter contends that the ideological onslaught unions have faced since the 1980s has encouraged division among union members and the breakaways that have emerged have generally given voice to a more moderate approach, sometimes couched in a ‘non-political’ narrative. In shining a light on the reasons behind these ideologically-motivated breakaways, this chapter contributes to the knowledge of this important but neglected area of trade union history.

scholarly journals Trade Union Responses to Transnational Labour Mobility in the Finnish-Estonian Context

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolle Alho
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Free Mobility ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Migration Strategies ◽  
National Trade

This article examines trade union strategies in relation to labor migration in Estonia and Finland, drawing on face-to-face interviews with trade unionists and official union statements. The study considers the national trade union strategies located in two separate but interconnected localities that represent different approaches to market economy. Previous research suggests that the national industrial relations system is a key factor in explaining unions’ labor migration strategies. Unions operating in liberal market economies are claimed to be more open toward immigration and more inclusive toward immigrants than unions in coordinated markets. This study analyzes the extent to which this theory holds in the context of Estonia and Finland—Finland representing a coordinated market economy and Estonia a liberal market economy. Furthermore, the analysis examines how the emergence of a translocal labor market, resulting from the geographical vicinity and linguistic affinity between Finland and Estonia as well as from free mobility within the EU, is reflected in trade union approaches to labor migration. The study finds that Finnish trade union strategies influence labor mobility, whereas Estonian trade unions remain bystanders in the issue.

scholarly journals Trade union community membership: exploring what people who are not in paid employment could contribute to union activism

2021 ◽  
pp. 102425892110433
Author(s):  
Jane Holgate ◽  
Gabriella Alberti ◽  
Iona Byford ◽  
Ian Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
Community Membership ◽  
Private Sector Union ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Paid Employment ◽  
Union Activism

The industrial relations literature tends to argue that workers join trade unions primarily for instrumental reasons, for example, to obtain assistance if there is a problem at work. But this clearly does not apply to people who are not in work. It is in many ways counterintuitive to join a trade union when one is not an employee or in paid employment, looking for a job, or retired. Generally, there is little material benefit in doing so. Others have noted, however, that personal values, particularly associated with the ideological left, can cultivate a predisposition toward joining a union that is not based on a purely material calculus. Nevertheless, this analysis is usually applied to workers. The research reflected in this article aims to understand the motivation of people who are not in paid employment, such as jobseekers/unemployed, students and retirees, to join labour unions and become active within them. It does so through a case study of the United Kingdom’s largest private sector union, Unite, and considers the contribution to, or rationale for, union activism within community membership and the possibilities for rethinking trade unionism beyond its traditional workplace base.

scholarly journals Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1114-1130
Author(s):  
Matteo Rizzo ◽  
Maurizio Atzeni
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Informal Work ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The World ◽  
Transport Workers

The growing precariousness of employment across the world has radically altered the conditions upon which the representation of workers’ interests has traditionally been built, as it has posed challenges for established trade unions: individualized employment and fragmented identities have displaced the centrality of the workplace and the employee–employer relationship in framing collective issues of representation. In this article, we compare the processes of collective organization of two groups of precarious workers in the transport and delivery sector of Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam. Through this comparison we investigate how existing trade union structures, industrial relations frameworks, socio-political contexts and labour processes interact with the processes of workers’ organization that take place even in the harsher conditions of informal work, critically engaging with the argument that the growing precariousness of work represents the end of trade unionism as we know it.

French trade unions and the mobilisation against the El Khomri law in 2016: a reconfiguration of strategies and alliances

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Béroud
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Other ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Central Actor ◽  
New Form ◽  
The One ◽  
Union Competition

A number of French trade unions played a determining role in the opposition to the El Khomri law (also called the ‘loi Travail’) in Spring 2016. As well as large demonstrations and sector-level strikes, the movement also gave rise to the occupation of public spaces, such as the Place de la République in Paris. This new form of protest acquired the name ‘Nuit Debout’ (‘Up All Night’). This article examines the convergences, but also the tensions, which characterised the relations between the trade unions and Nuit Debout. It shows in particular how the Confédération générale du travail (CGT, General Confederation of Labour), a central actor in the protest, was caught in a dual and sometimes contradictory rationale. On the one hand, it was confronted with the particular dynamic of social movements, and with the capacity of trade unionism to mobilise and politicise the protest being called into question during the Nuit Debout movement. On the other hand, it faced certain constraints within the field of industrial relations, related to the issues of trade union competition and representativeness.

scholarly journals Changing Power of Union in India: A Study of Actors’ Perception

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Manoranjan Dhal
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Union Leaders

Abstract — With the growing globalization of market, out sourcing of production, and downsizing of manpower trade unions are losing their power across the globe. This paper tries to explore the perception of actors, i.e. workers, trade union leaders and managers about the changing power structure of union. Attempt was made to study the perception of actors about the function of union, industrial relations climate and its impact on power of union. This study is based on 640 structured interviews conducted in manufacturing industries across different sectors in India. Keywords: Actors; Trade Union; Union Power

scholarly journals Ratification of International Labour Convention and the Reformation of Trade Union Recognition Process in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Suraya Abd Razak ◽  
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Recognition Process ◽  
Collective Agreements ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Impact

The decline in the density of trade unions and the decreasing number of collective agreements had resulted in a deplorable situation in Malaysia. It is difficult to resolve the problems because the trade unions’ recognition process is often complex and legislatively restrictive. Nonetheless, the ratification of the International Labour Convention and ILO Convention No.87 could be a stepping stone in the reformation of the recognition process’s legal framework. Therefore, the present paper analysed the role of the ILO convention in reforming the trade union recognition process in Malaysia. Additionally, a qualitative method was employed to examine the role of the convention and its mechanism in the reformation of trade union recognition. Next, pure legalistic analysis and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the industrial relations key player to obtain their perspectives on the effect of ratification on industrial relations. Based on the generated outcomes, there were mixed views on the ratification of the stated convention. Additionally, this paper analysed the impact of the ratification of the convention by the member states of the ILO and how these countries benefitted from the ratification. Finally, this paper concluded that despite the challenges, the ratification of the convention improved the trade union recognition process in Malaysia. Therefore, the Malaysian government should immediately ratify ILO Convention No.87.

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