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Malaysia’s industrial relations (IR) has been characterised by extensive state control guaranteeing a high level of managerial prerogative within the workplace, minimal overt conflict and very little bargaining power for labour. These arrangements were an integral component of the package to attract investors when Malaysia’s industrialisation strategy focused on low-cost, export-oriented industries. Since then, however, Malaysia has adopted the goal of developed country status by 2020 and embarked on a higher value-added, more capital-intensive industrialisation strategy. This paper analyses current Malaysian IR at the workplace level, posing the question as to whether the economic progress towards ‘Vision 2020’ is being accompanied by a transformation of Malaysia’s IR. It will be seen that there is evidence of substantial growth in training, the implementation of multi-skilling in some workplaces as well as isolated instances of some ‘lean production’ practices. Fundamental change, however, is not occurring; workers remain excluded from the decision-making process both within and outside the workplace.

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This book examines social dialogue and the role of social partners in the governance of the world of work in 34 European countries. Actors in the world of work are facing an increasing number of challenges, including automatization and digitalization, new types of jobs and more diverse forms of employment. Through interviews, surveys and examples of best practice, the volume provides evidence on how social dialogue can meet these challenges, how the social partners can become stranger and more representative, and what role they and social dialogue can play regarding digitalization. The volume also addresses demographic change, migration flows, global supply chain management and environmental objectives.

Excerpt from publisher's website.

The contents are as follows: Enhancing social partners' and social dialogue's roles and capacity in the new world of work: overview / Youcef Ghellab and Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead; Strengthening the representativeness of the social partners and their institutional capacity to shape labour markets through social dialogue / Dominique Anxo; Supporting the autonomous role of the social partners / Bernd Waas; Digitalization and social dialogue: challenges, opportunities and responses / Rafael Munoz de Bustillo Llorente; Enhancing the social partners and social dialogue in the new world of work in the Czech Republic / Sona Veverkova; Reforms and new challenges for work and employment in France: social dialogue under pressure / Christine Erhel; The German industrial relations system under pressure: structure, trends and outcomes / Ulrich Walwei, Lutz Bellmann and Christoph Bellmann; Striking the right balance between autonomy and assumption of responsibility: a way forward for social dialogue in Greece / Daphne Nicolitsas; Social dialogue and the new world of work in Ireland / Philip J. O'Connell; Enhancing the social partners and social dialogue in the new world of work: the case of Italy / Lorenzo Bordogna; Social partners and the world of work in Poland: between East and West / Dominika Polkowska; Social dialogue and world of work challenges in Romania / Magda Volonciu; Enhancing social partners' capacity and social dialogue in the new world of work: the case of Spain / Oscar Molina; Industrial relations, social dialogue and the transformation of the world of work: the Swedish experience / Dominique Anxo; Turkey: enhancing social partners' capacity and social dialogue in the new world of work / Gaye Burcu Yildiz; Social dialogue and the future of work in the Adriatic region / Igor Guardiancich; Social dialogue and the new world of work: the case of the Baltic states / Jaan Masso, Kerly Espenberg and Inta Mierina. Show less

This publication examines the changing nature of work in Australia and explores the changes that have affected working life since 1983, their causes and consequences, and proposes strategies to promote workplace justice and efficiency in the future. The discussion is based on a decade of commissioned research undertaken by the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT), ACIRRT's database of registered enterprise agreements, data taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys (AWIRS) of 1990 and 1995. Some of the major issues explored are: the emerging gap between higher and lower paid groups of workers in the labour market; the impact of enterprise bargaining in workplace relations on the role of unions; the managerialisation of the workforce where workers are impelled to negotiate salary packages in competition with fellow workers; the intensification of work and longer working hours; technological change; retrenchment; new workplace ideologies; increasing employment insecurity; and a rise in the casualisation of work, temporary jobs and outsourcing of work. The book concludes with a discussion of policy and proposes solutions which acknowledge new workplace realities and consider the needs of employees as well as economic productivity and competitiveness. Show less

Canada’s governments want to become ‘employers of choice’ and are introducing a new phase of reform in which workforce renewal is the challenge. This Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN) synthesis report is the outcome of the Human Resources in Government Project, which examined the impact of downsizing and restructuring during the 1990s of the public service in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and the federal government. The findings reveal several strategies with which governments can contribute to workplace innovation. The report also identifies a number of issues to be addressed if the public workplace is to become the preferred employment alternative. These include skill development and active learning, recruitment and retention, competition with the private sector, and compensation.

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The objective of this study is to understand better the algorithmic management practices adopted by regular workplaces. We investigate the degree of penetration and impact of algorithmic management on work organisation, job quality and industrial relations focusing on the logistics and healthcare sectors. The report focuses in these two sectors because the logistics sector has been at the forefront of digital transformation and has been deploying algorithmic management practices in regular workspaces. Similarly, digital technologies are revolutionising the healthcare sector, and there has been a significant rise in investments in digital health in the aftermath of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic. The research has been conducted in two European countries (Italy and France) and two non-European countries (India and South Africa), allowing for a comparative analysis across countries with different levels of development.

We show that algorithmic management is widely present in traditional sectors, with benefits in terms of streamlining and simplification of work processes and efficiency gains. The implications of these new forms of work for work organisation and working conditions are also discussed. We show significant challenges in terms of potential deterioration of job quality as well as concerns regarding the strong potential for worker surveillance.

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In this two volume report, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) reviews the Organization’s activities in the European region over the last five years in the light of the ILO’s four strategic objectives: fundamental principles and rights at work; employment; social protection; and social dialogue. The central focus of the report is the impact of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the world of work and the issues which they raise for the ILO’s constituents in the region. The report suggests that the ‘skills gap’ in Europe’s ICT workforce may impede the growth of ICT industries and widen the digital divide between technologically rich and poor regions in Europe. The report provides the background for the regional meeting which is intended to provide a forum for tripartite delegations to discuss the ILO’s regional activities with respect to the impact on ICTs on work. The tripartite delegation from each country taking part in the meeting is composed of two government delegates, one employers’ delegate and one workers’ delegate. This second volume examines development trends in Europe and Central Asia and summarises how the activities of the ILO over the past five years have addressed the goal of decent work in the areas of employment promotion, social protection, social dialogue and tripartism, and fundamental workers’ rights.

Volume one of the report is indexed at TD/TNC 69.530. Show less

It is sometimes asserted that an era of faster economic growth has come about - the so-called 'new economy'. New technology, notably information and communications technology (ICT), is seen as a key factor at work, together with international economic integration. This report examines the issue from a labour market perspective. The findings suggest that sanguine predictions about the 'new economy' are unlikely to materialise unless the appropriate policy environment is in place, notably as regards employment and human capital development policies. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to: (1) shed light on emerging trends in the structure of labour markets, notably as regards work practices and the nature of skill requirements; (2) analyse the possible links between labour markets and the growth process; and (3) discuss policy-related challenges.

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This report analyses the interaction of a state industrial relations system and vocational training practice in selected workplaces focusing on women’s training issues in enterprise bargaining. It is based on an analysis of the training arrangements in five organisations in New South Wales (NSW) complemented by an aggregate analysis of training provisions in NSW agreements registered until October 1995. This research highlights the difficult task facing women seeking to improve their vocational education and training (VET) prospects and indicates that women have historically been denied adequate recognition of their skills and have relatively less access than men to the available training resources. Case studies were conducted in five sectors (health and community services, retail, manufacturing, hospitality, and education) and recommendations offered. Show less

This article reports on a study of shopfloor ‘coping’ behaviour in an engineering company which had launched a major ‘World Class Manufacturing’ (WCM) initiative. The article unpacks the meaning of WCM and shows how its impact varied markedly between different manufacturing cells. More centrally, it reveals a significant gap between managerial understanding and attitudes to the new manufacturing and the response found among a significant proportion of employees. In particular, through a close analysis of employee accounts and concerns, it is shown that shopfloor employees, far from viewing initiatives such as WCM as panaceas, regard them as disruptions to routines which have somehow to be accommodated. Moreover, the analysis reveals how employee coping behaviour simultaneously allows them to achieve that accommodation and enables the shortcomings in the planned initiatives to be at least partly rectified. Coping behaviour therefore both subverts the WCM program and allows it to function.

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The Global Deal for Decent Work and Inclusive Growth is a global multi-stakeholder partnership whose objective is to jointly address the challenges in the global labour market and enable all people to benefit from globalisation. The fundamental idea at the heart of the Global Deal is to highlight and promote the potential of sound industrial relations and enhanced social dialogue as a means to foster decent work, quality jobs, and increased productivity - and by extension greater equality and inclusive growth. It is conceived as a concrete input to the UN 2030 Agenda and is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report is the result of a collaborative work between the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Global Deal Support Unit, which has been hosted by the OECD since 2019.

The report emphasises the role that social dialogue has to play in promoting lifelong learning and skills development, and in addressing the changes and challenges brought about by the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis, as well as the benefits of involving social partners in adult-learning systems to prepare for the future of work. The report shows how Global Deal partners (64 partners have made 99 voluntary commitments as of September 2020) have engaged in efforts to promote and strengthen social dialogue. Chapter one, on managing and recovering from COVID-19, explores how social dialogue has been used as an instrument to support the recovery from the crisis. Chapter two focuses on social dialogue and the promotion of lifelong learning and skills development, which are fundamental enablers of decent work, productivity and sustainability. Chapter three explores the role of social partners in adult-learning systems. In particular, it looks at the role that trade unions and employers' organisations play in anticipating skills need, establishing joint priorities in adult-learning strategies, facilitating access to lifelong learning (including by fostering a learning environment at work), financing training and ensuring the quality of training. The chapter combines quantitative and qualitative evidence using OECD analysis and presents examples of programmes and initiatives where the social partners have played a central role. It describes existing and emerging challenges for adult-learning systems - how the so-called megatrends - technological progress, globalisation, environmental change and population ageing - are altering the skills required to enter and progress in the labour market. Finally, chapter four reviews the voluntary commitments made by Global Deal partners. It considers the types of commitments made and the actions taken by different types of partners, with a view to highlighting areas of progress and showcasing good practices that could inspire reforms or improvements, based on the needs, practices and traditions of different stakeholders.

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