ILO/ARPLA. Codes of Practice: A StructuralAnalysis. Bangkok: ILO (ARPLA). 1987. 88pp.US $ 2.00 Paperback

Abstract

ILO/ARPLA. Codes of Practice: A StructuralAnalysis. Bangkok: ILO (ARPLA). 1987. 88pp.US $ 2.00 Paperback. ILO/ARPLA. Monitoring Labour Markets. Bangkok: ILO (ARPLA). 1987. 11Opp.US $ 3.00 Paperback. ILO/ARPLA. Managing Contract Migration: Philippine Experience Observed. Bangkok: ILO (ARPLA). 1987. 68pp.US $ 3.00 Paperback. All three books deal with various issues concerning the labour market, such as basic agreements on industrial relations, labour market information, and managing temporary migration. (i) A Code of practice in industrial relations is a collective agreement and a moral instrument of voluntary partnership. The agreements are most often concerned with development and are not related exclusively to conflict resolution or conflict avoidance as explicit goals. It is not a Code of law, yet it determines the range of the moral authority of laws in practice. In many ways, a Code is the core of an industrial relations system. The objects of a Code are: to maintain discipline and industrial pace, to achieve greater industrial harmony, to develop and promote a compatible system of labour relations to ensure justice and fairness, and change in" work attitudes and productivity. The structure of a Code must incorporate elements of the approach to dispute settlement; the criteria for recognition of unions for consultation, the status of grievance- and consultative-machinery, and the status of the partism. The book on the Codes of Practice addresses the question as to how these objectives have been aligned structurally in the industrial relations of six Asian countries; India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The Indian Code of Discipline is such that the government is not a party to the agreements between management and union_ However, the government does keep the administrative machinery in good order. By structuring the agreements in three parts, responsibility is distributed in three spheres. For instance, industrial disputes, strikes, and lockouts have been placed in the joint sphere. Workload composition, employers' labour practices, and administrative responsiveness have been placed in the sphere of management, while the sphere of the union includes union activities. Thus, the Indian Code is prepared in such a way that violation of a single Code leads to total violation in both the joint and individual spheres. This dependence is both the substance and the moral authority ofthe Code.