Trade Union Confederation Research Articles

Internacionalistas entre la revolución y el fascismo: la Unión General de Trabajadores en el mundo (1919-1936)

El artículo analiza la política exterior que desarrolló UGT de España, en el marco del internacionalismo obrero, durante el periodo de entreguerras. Se ha consultado documentación del Instituto de Historia Social de Ámsterdam, documentación de las Fundaciones Francisco Largo Caballero y Pablo Iglesias, así como abundante documentación de hemeroteca. Metodológicamente, se basa en la comparación entre los documentos de las Internacionales y los que elaboró la central sindical española, referidos a cuestiones exteriores. Entre 1919 y el estallido de la guerra civil española, se estabiliza el mundo internacional obrero, al que los ugetistas españoles se incorporaron en la creencia de que el internacionalismo sería eficaz para solucionar grandes problemas. Los acontecimientos fueron demostrando la impotencia de las organizaciones obreras a la hora de enfrentarse a los grandes desafíos de las décadas de los años veinte y treinta. UGT acudió al internacionalismo para justificar la estrategia reformista que el sindicato había adoptado en el interior. Durante el bienio negro, contribuyó a radicalizar la posición de líderes y militantes. El artículo pretende demostrar que la política exterior fue, en todo este tiempo, muy influyente en la línea estratégica que adoptó el sindicato en el interior de España.

A socialization paradox: trade union policy cooperation in the case of the enforcement directive of the posting of workers directive

AbstractThe formulation of common political positions from the trade union movement at the European Union (EU) level mainly takes place at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). In the case of the Enforcement Directive of the Posting of Workers Directive, a central cleavage line runs between neither countries nor political parties, but between different vertical levels of the system of European labor relations—the sectoral and interprofessional levels. Here, due to both horizontal and vertical differences, trade unions were unable to effectively formulate and pursue joint positions. On these grounds, we aspire to provide a theoretical argument on political dynamics in the EU’s multilevel system. While the ETUC representatives internalize supranational norms through their embeddedness in the EU’s institutional landscape, this socialization process does not advance—but rather prevents—integration by disrupting trade union power at the supranational level.

THE WAY OF HARMONIZATION OF LABOR LEGISLATION OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EEU (THE VIEW FROM BELARUS, KYRGYZSTAN)

Introduction: in the context of the Eurasian economic and legal integration, the functioning of the single labour market, the problems of convergence of labour legislation of the member States of the Eurasian Economic Union are of particular relevance. Methods: the article analyzes the historical experience of harmonization of labour legislation within the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Community with the broad use of the comparative legal method. Analysis: special attention is paid to the Concept of a Model Labour Code of the member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States, adopted in December of 2000, the experience of development of Model Labour Code and the current prospects for its addoption. The authors also examine the experience of developing the basics of the Eurasian Economic Union labour legislation, its intended structure and the question of whether it is possible to resume this work within the Eurasian Economic Union. The authors critically evaluate the draft Principles for the development of the Basics of labor legislation (model Labor code) of the Eurasian Economic Union member States, which was developed by the General Confederation of Trade Unions in 2015. Results: the authors on the basis of critical analysis of scientific points of view come to the substantiation of the five most promising ways of harmonization of labour legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation: conclusion or revision of regional international agreements; mutual consideration (national reception) of the best legislative experience in the regulation of labour and closely related relations; international legal reception through the implementation of international labour standards into national legislation; preparation and adoption of the Model Labour Code of the Commonwealth of Independent States member States; adoption of the principles of labor legislation and the program of harmonization of labour legislation of the Eurasian Economic Union member States in the form of a decision of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The Untapped Possibilities of Youtube as a Trade Union Tool

A majority of the trade union confederations in the European Union (EU), Switzerland and Norway use YouTube actively; 80 confederations have uploaded more than 13,000 videosbetween 2007 and 2016. O ...

Networking, lobbying and bargaining for pensions: trade union power in the Norwegian pension reform

AbstractNorway reformed its pension system in 2011, introducing a Swedish-style, NDC system. Contrary to expectations, the reform was largely supported by the dominant confederation of trade unions, the LO. In this article, we look at LO involvement in the process at different stages. Through qualitative interviews with key reform architects, we have traced the process between 2005 and 2008, emphasising actors, meeting places and interests. Starting from the insight that unions can influence through lobbying, bargaining and (the threat of) mobilising, we suggest that lobbying can be a mutual process, where parties and unions move each other’s positions. In addition, bargaining can take the form of behind-the-scenes cooperation, as well as of negotiations in the classic, Nordic-style industrial relations sense. Expanding on this framework, we suggest that the literature on pension reforms should pay more attention to negotiated and voluntary labour market occupational schemes, and to the importance of expertise and networks.

2 ilo Committee on Freedom of Association: Complaint against the Government of Bangladesh Presented by the International Trade Union Confederation (ituc), Case No. 3203, Interim Report ̶Report No. 382, June 2017

2 ilo Committee on Freedom of Association: Complaint against the Government of Bangladesh Presented by the International Trade Union Confederation (ituc), Case No. 3203, Interim Report ̶Report No. 382, June 2017

Inside the trade union family: The ‘two worlds’ within the European Trade Union Confederation

The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 to the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe brought an encounter between two distinct ‘trade union worlds’ in terms of attitudes towards European integration. Unions from the old EU Member States want to defend their existing national standards, while those from Central and Eastern Europe have nothing to defend and look for solutions at EU level. I ask whether it is possible for the European Trade Union Confederation to realize a trade union vision of ‘Social Europe’ based solely on the perspectives of the West.

Is a new paradigm needed? A commentary on the analysis by Sławomir Adamczyk

In this commentary, we support the core thesis of Sławomir Adamczyk that there exist ‘two trade union worlds’ within the European Trade Union Confederation, but our emphasis is somewhat different. The East–West divide can be explained both in terms of structural differences and of contrasting expectations about the role of European integration, rooted in the diverse histories and experiences of national affiliates. In the context of recurring particularistic logics which privilege national or regional interests over transnational labour solidarity, the need to create a new paradigm of trade union cooperation based on the recognition, articulation and, if possible, reconciliation of diverse workers’ interests can be legitimately seen as a major challenge to European trade union institutions.

Trade Unions and Facebook: The Need to Improve Dialogue and Expand Networks

This policy brief assesses the presence and the relationships brokered by trade union confederations through their online channels, in order to, first, find out who they are engaging with and, second, to consider whether these virtual connections have any implications for the wider discussion about union revitalisation. Based on an analysis of the Facebook pages of five confederations from Portugal, the United Kingdom (UK) and Brazil, this policy brief confirms that unions are maintaining a ‘one-way’ model of online communication and keeping their networks restricted to organisations within the labour movement, which in turn hinders their ability to engage meaningfully and to develop alliances with other people and organisations.

Death by Overwork: Beyond Industry 4.0 in Japan

12 | International Union Rights | 25/3 Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promoted a policy package called the ‘Work Style Reform’, in association with a ‘Society 5.0 Strategy’, collaborating with the CEO of the Hitachi group, Hiroaki Nakanishi, who was appointed President of the Japan Business Federation (JBF) in May 2018. Society 5.0 is defined as the fifth formation of society (after Hunting, Agrarian, Industrial and Information stages of society). The concept is hard to comprehend, as JBF President Nakanishi admitted, as it should be recognised as a system that consists of combining cyber space and physical space. The Society 5.0 strategy mentions the development of automated driving systems using artificial intelligence, referring to Toyota by name. Akiyo Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, says now is the time for a great transformation in the century of the electric vehicle and automated driving system or connected system. He emphasises that his company not only competes with auto rivals, but also with IT companies like Google, Apple or Amazon. Overtime Crisis: Karoshi The average annual working hours of Japanese workers is around 1900 hours - 600 hours more than in Germany, according to OECD data (excluding part-time workers). The Japanese word karoshi, death from overwork, is now included in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour officially recognise approximately 200 cases a year as karoshi, which are entitled to be compensated through an official scheme. The number seems to have been stable over the years. The case of one young University of Tokyo graduate killed by overwork at Dentsu, one of Japan’s most powerful advertising firms, shocked Japanese society. Matsuri Takahashi jumped from the company apartment and killed herself on 24 December 2015. She wrote on Twitter: ‘It is 4am now. My body is shivering, may be dying. It is impossible to work anymore, too tired’. Her work record showed 130 hours and 99 hours overtime respectively in the two previous months. The Abe administration’s ‘Work Style Reform’, submitted to Parliament early this year, ostensibly aims to address excessive working hours in Japan. It introduces the so-called Highly Professional Work System and is backed by Japanese business, but opposed by labour confederations like Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC RENGO) and Zenroren. A new law will be implemented from April 2019, which unions have labelled the ‘Zero Overtime Pay Act’. It destroys the principle of an eight-hour day and forty-hour week described in the existing Japanese labour law. Under the new law, no matter how long workers’ work, no overtime pay is paid to them. The law will allow a maximum of 100 hours overtime per month. This is well over the Ministry of Labour’s guidelines of 80 hours a month, above which is the de facto standard to recognise a death from overtime for official OSH accident recognition. In addition to unions, the association of families bereaved by karoshi requested a meeting with Prime Minister Abe. However, Abe refused to meet them. Work Everywhere, All the Time Even the legal 100-hour cap on overtime will not apply to certain designated jobs, such as Research and Development (R&D) workers. The rights and working conditions of R&D workers are now at stake. For them, there is no overtime limit. The Japanese auto industry’s need for R&D workers is greatly increasing. Toyota now largely accepts applications for work on production technology or next generation battery development. Toyota implemented a so-called ‘Free Time and Location’ (FTL) Innovation last December, which is regarded as a pre-emptive measure for the ‘Work Style Reform’. It aims to lift any limitation on place or time to work. A ‘section chief class’ worker may work 80 hours overtime per month, or 540 hours a year. For undertaking 45 hours overtime a month, they are supposed to be paid by 50 percent more. This means workers should compete with others on the assumption of overtime work. Toyota’s existing discretion work system lets workers decide when to sign-in and out and to manage their work schedule, based on a baseline of a nine-hour workday. Most workers who used the discretion system have now moved to FTL...

Focus: Mission impossible? Strengthening workers' rights in the MENA region is difficult but worth it

8 | International Union Rights | 25/2 FOCUS | TRADE UNION RIGHTS IN THE MENA COUNTRIES Mission impossible? Strengthening workers’ rights in the MENA region is difficult but worth it Every year, when the ITUC launches its Global Rights Index, the MENA region features prominently as ‘the world’s worst region for workers’, with several Arab countries in the Top 10 of the worst scores. These exhibit regular and systematic violations of rights, or no guarantee of rights, partly due to the breakdown of the rule of law: All MENA countries are regularly placed in those categories. Forced labour, state repression, discrimination and the exclusion of migrants from labour law are among the most notorious violations of rights. But less obvious, though not less severe, violations occur on a day-to-day basis. “Is there even such a thing as Arab trade unions?”, is a question I get to hear regularly in my work, coming from Germans or Europeans that I cross, an incredulous look on their faces, ‘that must be really tough’. For sure, the historic path of the labour movement in the region has not been an easy one. From colonial powers to authoritarian one-partystates , workers have been facing difficult circumstances. Arab states have deployed a wide array of strategies to weaken genuine workers’ representation, ranging from open repression to cooption or leadership capture. The evolution of the political economy of the Arab states in the last decades has prevented most trade unions from becoming the strong, vibrant forces effectively protecting workers’ rights and shaping socially just societies that we would all like to see and that would be needed to make progress. The economic situation aggravates this trend: while many Arab states played a role of taking care for the poor to a certain extent following independence, decades of attachment to neoliberal policies – and elite concentration of wealth generated by rents – have since left their mark on the region. Today, unemployment and informal employment are pervasive, inequalities soar and terrorism and armed conflict prevent economic recovery. Social justice was all over the protest banners a few years ago at the height of what has mistakenly been termed as the ‘Arab Spring’, but most workers haven’t even come one step closer to it now. Marginalisation is the norm. Individual workers are marginalised within labour markets – informal workers, migrant workers, young workers, in many cases female workers; entire regions are marginalised within the countries’ economic landscapes. The MENA region as a whole is marginalised in the world economy, and is less integrated into global supply chains than the rest of the world. The obvious exception are the economically affluent Gulf countries, the ‘super-rich’ of the Arab world, who expand their global investments to a worrying extent, given that they may also export extremely difficult working conditions and a ruthless disrespect for workers’ rights. Trade unions in transformation As Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, we have been committed to supporting the labour movement worldwide for much of our 90+ years history. We are a close partner of the German trade union movement, of the ITUC and the Global Union Federations, and the same holds true for many of the more than 100 country offices who work closely with trade union centres or sector unions. In the MENA region, FES work first started with reaching out to trade unions in the Maghreb countries back in the 1960s, long before FES offices were opened in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria in the 1980s and 2000s. The difficult political evolution in the region also took its toll on our trade union work, though. In many cases, we have been much more involved with the wider civil society, though we have mostly been able to maintain a focus on social and labour policies even then. The uprisings in the years following 2010 also brought some changes in the Arab trade union landscape, and a major achievement was made when the Arab Trade Union Confederation (ATUC) was founded in October 2014, providing a new platform for exchange on regional matters for Arab unions, stretching across North Africa, the Gulf and the Arab Middle East, from Mauritania to Palestine. ATUC has stepped up debates on political issues...

Death by Overwork: Beyond Industry 4.0 in Japan

12 | International Union Rights | 25/3 Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promoted a policy package called the ‘Work Style Reform’, in association with a ‘Society 5.0 Strategy’, collaborating with the CEO of the Hitachi group, Hiroaki Nakanishi, who was appointed President of the Japan Business Federation (JBF) in May 2018. Society 5.0 is defined as the fifth formation of society (after Hunting, Agrarian, Industrial and Information stages of society). The concept is hard to comprehend, as JBF President Nakanishi admitted, as it should be recognised as a system that consists of combining cyber space and physical space. The Society 5.0 strategy mentions the development of automated driving systems using artificial intelligence, referring to Toyota by name. Akiyo Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, says now is the time for a great transformation in the century of the electric vehicle and automated driving system or connected system. He emphasises that his company not only competes with auto rivals, but also with IT companies like Google, Apple or Amazon. Overtime Crisis: Karoshi The average annual working hours of Japanese workers is around 1900 hours - 600 hours more than in Germany, according to OECD data (excluding part-time workers). The Japanese word karoshi, death from overwork, is now included in the Oxford English Dictionary. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour officially recognise approximately 200 cases a year as karoshi, which are entitled to be compensated through an official scheme. The number seems to have been stable over the years. The case of one young University of Tokyo graduate killed by overwork at Dentsu, one of Japan’s most powerful advertising firms, shocked Japanese society. Matsuri Takahashi jumped from the company apartment and killed herself on 24 December 2015. She wrote on Twitter: ‘It is 4am now. My body is shivering, may be dying. It is impossible to work anymore, too tired’. Her work record showed 130 hours and 99 hours overtime respectively in the two previous months. The Abe administration’s ‘Work Style Reform’, submitted to Parliament early this year, ostensibly aims to address excessive working hours in Japan. It introduces the so-called Highly Professional Work System and is backed by Japanese business, but opposed by labour confederations like Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC RENGO) and Zenroren. A new law will be implemented from April 2019, which unions have labelled the ‘Zero Overtime Pay Act’. It destroys the principle of an eight-hour day and forty-hour week described in the existing Japanese labour law. Under the new law, no matter how long workers’ work, no overtime pay is paid to them. The law will allow a maximum of 100 hours overtime per month. This is well over the Ministry of Labour’s guidelines of 80 hours a month, above which is the de facto standard to recognise a death from overtime for official OSH accident recognition. In addition to unions, the association of families bereaved by karoshi requested a meeting with Prime Minister Abe. However, Abe refused to meet them. Work Everywhere, All the Time Even the legal 100-hour cap on overtime will not apply to certain designated jobs, such as Research and Development (R&D) workers. The rights and working conditions of R&D workers are now at stake. For them, there is no overtime limit. The Japanese auto industry’s need for R&D workers is greatly increasing. Toyota now largely accepts applications for work on production technology or next generation battery development. Toyota implemented a so-called ‘Free Time and Location’ (FTL) Innovation last December, which is regarded as a pre-emptive measure for the ‘Work Style Reform’. It aims to lift any limitation on place or time to work. A ‘section chief class’ worker may work 80 hours overtime per month, or 540 hours a year. For undertaking 45 hours overtime a month, they are supposed to be paid by 50 percent more. This means workers should compete with others on the assumption of overtime work. Toyota’s existing discretion work system lets workers decide when to sign-in and out and to manage their work schedule, based on a baseline of a nine-hour workday. Most workers who used the discretion system have now moved to FTL...

Do public sector industrial relations challenge the Swedish model?

This article discusses recent developments in public sector labour relations in Sweden from a historical, gender and power relations perspective. The main question is whether these trends challenge the established Swedish industrial relations system. Our point of departure – yet chronologically also the point of arrival – is the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union, Kommunal’s, exit from the coordinated wage setting model within the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO) in 2015/2016. The immediate reason was that Kommunal, representing one-third of the LO members, including many low-paid women, turned down the LO’s proposal on a general wage increase for low-wage groups. Instead, Kommunal urged to upgrade wages for a specific member group, the auxiliary nurses. This broke an almost uninterrupted 20-year-long period of labour market cooperation and coordination that was introduced in 1997 through the so-called Industry Agreement (Industriavtalet). This agreement was launched in the wake of the deep financial crisis in the early 1990s, and the neoliberal move towards a complete decentralization of pay negotiations. How should this move by Kommunal be interpreted? Why, and when, has the centralized system become a straitjacket for Kommunal, when for decades it seemingly was a precondition for both private and public union strength?

The case of ISEL within the strategy of CISL

The history of ISEL, the research center affiliated to the Italian Confederation of Labor Trade Unions (CISL), is to be considered closely related to the intellectual and personal vicissitudes of EzioTarantelli, the Italian economist who first prompted the creation of a trade union study center. Since its foundation (1981), ISEL activities have led to various publishing initiatives and formulation of the econometric model of the labor market (MOMEL). We will discuss how ISEL was originally founded in order to provide a suitable basis to support the key choices of the trade unions. Nevertheless, behind the rapid decrease in ISEL activity and its subsequent dissolution, which occurred in the immediate aftermath of Tarantelli’s death, lay the aim of giving back the trade unionists a degree of freedom in political terms.

21 ilo Committee on Freedom of Association: Complaint against the Government of the Republic of Korea presented by the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, IndustriALL Global Union and the International Trade Union Confederation, Case No. 3047, Report in which the Committee Requests to be Kept Informed of Developments – Report No. 381, 9–24 March 2017

21 ilo Committee on Freedom of Association: Complaint against the Government of the Republic of Korea presented by the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, IndustriALL Global Union and the International Trade Union Confederation, Case No. 3047, Report in which the Committee Requests to be Kept Informed of Developments – Report No. 381, 9–24 March 2017

Economic growth, full employment and decent work: the means and ends in SDG 8

ABSTRACTThis article examines SDG 8 ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’. It critically examines the goal from two perspectives, the business approach advocated by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the human right to full employment and decent work advocated by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and human rights NGOs. While full employment and decent work are indeed prominent in SDG 8, the 2030 Agenda embraces market-centred institutional arrangements that may present obstacles to achieving the goal. Specifically, grafting the human rights to full employment and decent work onto a business-oriented economic growth agenda in SDG 8 calls into question whether the 2030 Agenda enshrines full employment and decent work as human rights obligations of states or merely as benefits of economic growth. The article concludes that the ambiguity in SDG 8 presents both opportunities for human rights monitoring and accountability but also enhanced legitimacy for the business approach.

'An End to Cheap Labour' How a Public Campaign May Become a Turning Point for Czech Unions' Strength

The main Czech trade union confederation, the CMKOS, launched its campaign for 'An End to Cheap Labour' at a rally of 1500 trade unionists on 16 September 2015. The aim was to start closing the pay gap with Western Europe which, even after 25 years of transformation into a market economy and subsequent accession to the EU, left Czech wages about one third the level of richer countries of western Europe. It is not clear whether the campaign for 'An End to Cheap Labour' marks a complete turnaround in union fortunes, but it could mark an important first step in that direction. The following sections analyse the nature and effects of this campaign, starting with an overview of relevant aspects of the existing economic structure, followed by an assessment of the position of Czech trade unions at the time of its initiation based on the power resources approach. The results of the campaign, relating them to trade union power resources, are covered in subsequent sections.

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References

What Can the State Do for You?

It has been suggested that Swedish policy during the early post-war period was strongly directed towards mobility-increasing expenditures – most notably relocation allowances – aimed at moving labour from north to south. While this view has dominated the academic discussion on labour market policy, there is little direct evidence. We make three claims. First, the relocation allowances have to be evaluated against the regional policy. Second, by doing so we show that the mobility-oriented policy was predominant only for a short period of time: in the early 1970s, there was a decisive shift towards a policy directed at stimulating employment in the north. Third, drawing on this, we revaluate the previous view on policy making in Sweden. Our analysis suggests that the Social Democratic government acted in a voter-maximizing way. The relocation allowances were introduced at the behest of the Trade Union Confederation (LO). The regional subsidies were expanded when voter sentiment turned against the perceived depletion of rural regions. However, this strategy interacted with the political and institutional environment. The new election law in 1970 and political competition from the Centre Party pushed the Social Democrats to shift their policies on regional subsidies.

Guaranteeing Freedom of Association in China’s Socialist Market Economy

A complaint, lodged by the International Trade Union Confederation (ituc), alleged that the Chinese government had intervened in industrial labor disputes in Guangdong Province—specifically, at the Lide Shoes Factory of Panyu and at the Japanese-owned Cuiheng Bag Factory—in a manner contrary to the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining provided for by two ilo Conventions, that concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Rights to Organize, 1948 (No. 87), and that concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organize and to Bargain Collectively, 1949 (No. 98). 1