Showing papers on "Labour law published in 1989"

Industrial relations in South Africa

Abstract: The labour relationship - a conceptual analysis industrial relations systems comparative industrial relations systems the South African industrial relations system in societal and historical context the legislative framework governing the employment relationship trade unions and employer organizations - theoretical basis South African trade unions and employers' organizations - the tripartite collective bargaining collective bargaining in South Africa labour relationships at the workplace basic principles of labour economics negotiation dispute settlement industrial democracy and workers' participation organizational change and organizational development industrial relations future.

The Impact of Industrial Relations Legislation on British Union Density

Abstract: The unionized share of the work force changed markedly in the United Kingdom between the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s density rose steadily, making the United Kingdom the most heavily organized large OECD country. In the 1980s, by contrast, density fell by 1.4 percentage points per annum -- a faster drop than in the rapidly de-unionizing U.S. or in Japan. What explains this turnaround - the severe recession of the 1980s? Shifts in the composition of employment from unionized manufacturing to services? The Thatcher government's industrial relations legislation? In this paper we investigate these questions with a quantitative analysis of 1945-1986 changes in British union density. In contrast to studies that concentrate on cyclical determinants of unionism (Bain and Elshiekh, Carruth and Disney, Booth (1983)) we focus on industrial relations legislation. We develop an index of the favorableness of labor laws to unionism and relate it to changes in density in time series regressions that control for inflation, unemployment, and the manufacturing share of employment, among other variables. As a further test, we develop an analogous labor law index for Ireland, whose industrial relations system is similar to the U.K.'s and which experienced a similar severe 1980s recession but which did not pass new laws to weaken unions, and contrast changes in density between the countries with differences in industrial relations law. Our major finding is that the Thatcher government's labor laws caused much of the 1980s fall in British union density. We present the evidence for this claim in three stages. Section 1 lays out the facts of changing union density in the U.K. and Ireland and examines structural explanations of the U.K. changes. Section 2 discusses the 1980s U.K. labor laws and develops an index of their likely impact on unionism. Section 3 presents our econometric analysis of the U.K. time series data.

Employment in Britain

Abstract: Part 1 Employment: the employment relationship in sociological theory new technology and clerical work technological change and manual work attachment to work and social values gender and experience of employment patterns of conflict and accommodation the frontier of control. Part 2 The social organization of the labour market: employers and the labour market gender and the labour market discrimination and equal opportunity in employment unemployment in Britain employment, the household and social networks educational institutions, youth and the labour market. Part 3 Economic change and collective organization: ownership and employer control employment, unemployment and social stratification sectoral change and trade union organization.

Labour law, social security and economic inequality

Abstract: The neoliberal policy of deregulation has failed to bring about significant improvements in the efficiency of the labor market in Britain. Cuts in social protection and legal constraints upon collective bargaining have contributed to growing inequalities in income and security of employment, without leading to greater flexibility of labor supply. Casualized employment does not present a viable route back to full-time work for the unemployed. With the failure of deregulation it is likely to shift to alternative means of reconciling the goals of justice and efficiency, such as minimum income and employment rights programs. Copyright 1991 by Oxford University Press.

The new unionism : employee involvement in the changing corporation

Abstract: This important, provocative, and highly readable book defies most traditionial ideological pigeonholes. In it Charles Heckscher raises issues in such a way as to make both liberals and conservatives rethink what they believe about unions and their place in the American economic and social system. Heckscher's basic thesis is that the decline of American unions results in large part from New Deal labor law the Wagner Act and the logic of industrial unionism and contrived scarcity upon which it is based. He argues that the Wagner Act framework maintains a rigid, increasingly artificial boundary between workers and management. This boundary accounts for union commitment to adversarial tactics, the importance of the strike as a weapon in bilateral bargaining, and organized labor's insistence that benefits be based upon seniority rather than performance. Of course, this line can also be drawn by management, which is all too often willing to violate standards of fair dealing and tacit agreements for short-term gain and to make adjustments at labor's expense using layoffs to adapt to market fluctuations, increasing worker discipline, and cutting wages and benefits to meet increased price competition. Heckscher acknowledges that workers are capable of solidarity and even militance, of striking and picketing in the traditional fashion, when they are treated as an inferior mass. But he insists that given the choice, they gravitate to less adversarial, more participatory modes of interaction. Heckscher observes that managers have increasingly come to recognize the folly of treating employees as an inferior mass. To win their trust and cooperation and thereby to mobilize their intelligence and creativity, many firms now offer strong guarantees of fair treatment and employment security, and their top managers have established effective mechanisms for employee participation in the direction of the firm. Because such firms can generate an unusual degree of commitment from employees at all levels of the organization, they are often far more successful than their competitors in meeting the challenges of economic change. Heckscher concludes that unions are declining because they have failed to meet the challenge of management reform: to adapt to participatory modes of interaction in which workers share work and allocate their own tasks and in which there is close cooperation among all the members of the organization and a strong sense of team spirit. Unions have failed to adapt because of barriers to worker participation established by New Deal labor law; under the Wagner Act worker participation is not encouraged and may even be illegal. The paradox Heckscher sees in this development is that by displacing unions participatory modes of interaction have tended to concentrate power in the hands of management. Hence, the positive commitment, increased productivity, and higher real incomes that are the goals of management reform remain vulnerable to myopic abuse and deception. Heckscher notes, for example, that many managers are satisfied with the appearance of employee participation rather than the reality. Clearly, any ongoing cooperative endeavor requires a system of formal governance

An introduction to labor law

Abstract: Gold has revised his explanation of the protection to which workers are entitled under the National Labor Relations Act. He includes discussion of fundamental topics including organizing and elections, the duty to bargain, economic weapons available to workers and enforcement of labour contracts.

The Labour Government of 1964–70

Abstract: After thirteen years in opposition the fragile victory of the Labour Party in 1964 seemed to mark a turning point in British politics confirmed by the success of 1966. Wilson’s government seemed symptomatic of a wider and deeper change taking place in British society. The sixties were an optimistic period in Britain. Yet the country and the government were beset by economic problems which remain unresolved. The Labour Party began an electoral decline after 1966 which has not yet been reversed. Divisions within the party took on a more sinister and damaging appearance when they became linked with the institutional and structural cleavages within the party such as those between the Parliamentary Labour Party, NEC and Conference. Relations between the unions and the party were soured by the attempt to subject the former to regulation through legislation. The record of the Wilson years is, indeed, one of a strange mixture of triumph, optimism and dismal failure. It set the scene for a thorough reassessment of the party’s policy stance and the long and bitter struggle that was to ensue some years later on the question of the party’s constitution and structure.

International Labour Statistics : A Handbook, Guide, and Recent Trends

Abstract: Part I: A Guide to the Use of Labour Statistics 1: Labour Statistics in International Perspective R. Bean 2. Working Population and Employment Paul Blyton 3. Unemployment James J. Hughes 4. Wages and Earnings k. Holden 5. Consumer Prices K. Holden 6. Labour Costs George F. Ray 7. Hours of Work Paul Blyton 8. Trade-Union Membership R. Price 9. Industrial Disputes S. Creigh Part II: Labour Statistics for Individual Countries 10. Labour Statistics for Twenty-Four OECD countries 11. Labour Statistics for Twenty non-OECD countries Appendix: Membership of the International Trade Secretariats.

Information and Socioeconomic Class in U.S. Constitutional Law

Abstract: The Supreme Court's information policy decisions support socioeconomic class divisions “by providing relatively few protections for media available to those at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale, directly limiting spending in some cases, deferring to labor law, and defining informational rights and responsibilities by profession.”

Sex discrimination in employment: Law, practice, and policy

Abstract: "Sex Discrimination in Employment" is a comprehensive guide to the legal complexities of a field of immense practical significance in labour law. The author begins by placing the legislation, its aims and the philosophy behind it firmly in the context of social and economic issues. With extensive use of statistical data he examines the realities of the labour market and the causes of inequality and discrimination. He then provides analysis of the present case and statute law (including the 1989 employment legislation) and enforcement structure, including the impact of community measures, and the extent to which they have proved effective in promoting social change. He concludes with a consideration of the desirability of further legislation and the extent to which discrimination might be reduced by non-legal techniques.

European Community Labour Market Harmonisation

Abstract: In assessing whether or not harmonisation is an appropriate policy goal for a social dimension to the European Community, the article compares different aspects of employment conditions, practices and legislation in member states to see the extent to which these converge or diverge. The thesis is that harmonisation for the most part depends on whether convergence already exists in specific aspects of the member states' labour markets. If there is considerable divergence, then it will be practically impossible to obtain harmonisation without highly disruptive and far-reaching policy changes by some member states, changes which may not necessarily yield them beneficial results.

Flexibility and labour markets in Canada and the United States (RS 94)

Abstract: Part of a series based on the research findings of the International Institute for Labour Studies, this book discusses the flexibility of labour markets in Canada and the United States. The strategies of both management and unions are examined.

Legal protection for the individual employee

Abstract: This book is intended for courses on the individual rights of workers in the employment relationship, independent of courses on the law governing collective bargaining or employment discrimination. It can be used for one three credit survey course on employment law, or for two related courses on employment law and employee benefits, each of two credits. The book covers the full range of employment law subjects from pre-employment screening, individual employment contracts, the employment at-will doctrine, exceptions to the employment at will doctrine, obligations of employees, monitoring and control of employees, the regulation of pay and hours of work (FLSA), the regulation of occupational safety and health (OSHA), state and federal regulation of workers compensation, unemployment compensation, and the regulation of employee benefits (ERISA). The book has been substantially updated from the last issue to facilitate teaching and to include such topics as: the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA), employee privacy issues in the new information technology, the proposed restatement of employment law, and recent enactments in unemployment compensation and health care. Where appropriate, the book presents interdisciplinary discussions of employment law problems from historical, sociological and economic perspectives. Efforts were also made to include relevant empirical evidence on important employment law questions. A recurring theme in the book, especially in the introductory chapter and the chapters on individual employment contracts, is the historical tension in the United States between legal ideologies of "free labor," i.e., of the law as conducing toward freedom in the contracting which is indifferent to outcome or of the law as conducing toward outcomes that conduce toward equality and fairness.

Work practices, technological change and sheet metal workers, 1929-1970

Abstract: This article surveys the history of work practices in sheet metal work from 1929 to 1970. It focuses on the role of internal labour markets and union power in sustaining such work practices as seniority, the strict allocation of work according to job classifications, and the regulation of working time. Internal labour markets were structured by formal and informal rules which made it difficult for employers to transfer employees or to recruit from the wider, external labour market. Such restrictions placed barriers in the way of the most efficient use of new technologies. Managerial control over how work was done and attempts to improve discipline and to increase work effort were also limited by work practices. To the extent that internal labour markets prevented the easy employment of labour from the external labour market, the bargaining power of employees was strengthened.