Enterprise Unions Research Articles

Balancing Equity and Innovation of Japanese Corporate Governance

This paper critically examines Japanese corporate governance, evaluating its role as a benefit or constraint in achieving equity and efficiency. It contrasts Japan's stakeholder-oriented model, characterized by long-term stability and employee-centric management, with the shareholder-focused frameworks of the United States and the United Kingdom. The analysis focuses on the unique roles of CEOs in Japan, emphasizing their responsibility toward employee welfare over short-term financial gains. It further explores Japan's historical business structures, including Zaibatsu and Keiretsu, which foster interconnected corporate networks but limit flexibility and innovation. The relationship between firms and main banks within Keiretsu is analyzed, highlighting their role in financial oversight and stability. Additionally, the study addresses Japan's "Three Sacred Treasures" of labor-management relations—lifetime employment, seniority-based wages, and enterprise unions—as integral to its governance approach. Despite its strengths, Japan’s model faces challenges, including limited board independence and slow decision-making processes. Recent reforms aimed at increasing transparency and aligning with global governance standards are discussed, suggesting a shift toward a hybrid model that blends traditional stability with market responsiveness. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving dynamics of Japanese corporate governance, offering insights into its impact on Japan’s global economic competitiveness.

Rejecting the Radical New Left: Transformations in Japanese Social Movements

After a disastrous period of New Left political violence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, followed by two decades of abeyance, Japan has experienced a renewed era of social movement activity since the 1990s. These new movements explicitly seek to avoid contamination by the earlier period, even when their participants know little about it except for fear perpetuated by media portrayals of senseless violence. We analyze ethnographic accounts of contemporary groups engaged in collective action, ranging from small informal groups in Japan’s invisible civil society; groups trying to mobilize laborers who fall outside Japan’s traditional enterprise unions; and groups reviving and revitalizing older movement networks to deal with new threats; to new right-wing challengers and their counter-movements; and those making innovative use of cultural resources. They all seek alternatives to earlier social movements that engaged in political violence, by creating very different organizational structures and relations to ideology, relying on social media for communication, and developing new forms of collective action. They foreground cultural and expressive repertoires, and seek to establish the movement as a place of personal and social belonging. As was true of the New Left social movements in the mid-20th century, these new groups are closely attuned to movement developments around the world, even as they craft their responses to specific historical conditions in Japan.

The effect of enterprise unions on employment adjustment speed in Japanese firms

AbstractUsing 20‐year dynamic panel data, we analysed the difference in employment adjustment speed and behaviour between unionized and non‐unionized firms, whether continuous or discontinuous, to investigate the effects of enterprise unions on job security in Japan. We confirmed that unionized firms were more reluctant to downsize and continue to offer stronger job security than non‐unionized firms. However, the unions’ influence on job security has gradually weakened. The primary contribution of this study is its clarification that unions in Japan played the role of guardians of job security under increasing globalization and technological innovation over the 20‐year sample period. Our clarification provides evidence that a different type of union, distinct from those in Western countries aiming for wage increases, is deeply embedded in the Japanese stakeholder system.

Fueling employee proactive behavior: The distinctive role of Chinese enterprise union practices from a conservation of resources perspective

AbstractGiven its importance to organizational development, interest in exploring the antecedents of employee proactive behavior has grown exponentially. Moving beyond the traditional managerial mindset, we highlight the role of Chinese enterprise union practices in fueling proactive behavior. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we argue that Chinese enterprise union practices can exert a downward influence on proactive behavior, and critically, this cross‐level effect can be accounted for through perceived insider status and affective commitment. Multilevel structural equation modeling based on a sample of 433 employees from 43 enterprises supported the hypotheses. This study responds to previous calls for action to commence a multidisciplinary perspective to explore predictors of proactive behavior, and contributes to a deeper understanding of the distinctive characteristics and unique effects of trade unions in China. It also presents implications for broader union research and workplace partnership initiatives aimed at promoting better labor relationships.

Employee association in Japanese family and non-family SMEs

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the nature of employee associations (EAs) and whether the EAs function as a collective voice similar to enterprise unions in Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises by clarifying the differences in the determinants and effects between EAs and unions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyze 2,440 Japanese small- and medium-sized firms for determinants of unions and EAs. Using the bivariate probit model, the authors examine whether EAs complement (a way station to unionization) or substitute for (dampening the desire for unionization) traditional unionization. Furthermore, the effects of EAs and unions on voluntary employee turnover rates are compared.FindingsThe authors' findings regarding EAs are as follows: (1) although owner-managers are averse to both unions and EAs, owner-managers are not as averse to EAs as to unions; (2) EAs reduce the turnover rate to the same extent as unions do and (3) EAs are voice institutions that are less affected by the influence of unions.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this study are as follows: (1) the dataset is slightly outdated; (2) due to the absence of panel data, the authors could not capture unobserved time-invariant factors that are the primary sources of endogeneity and (3) to overcome this vulnerability, the authors were able to control for the characteristics of management but not for the characteristics of employees because of a lack of information.Originality/valueThis study clarifies that non-union employee representation (NER) has the unique feature of being neither complementary nor substitutive to unions in Japan's industrial relations. EAs are organized not for union avoidance by employers, but voluntarily by employees without the aim of unionization. The associations have the same function as unions in reducing the turnover rate by resolving employees' grievances as entities independent from management.

Power resources and workplace collective bargaining: evidence from China

During the strike wave of 2010, S provincial authority began to support trade unions in experimenting with workplace union elections and collective bargaining. Drawing data from union documents and ethnographic research, the variability in workplace collective bargaining in the context of official union reform in Y City in S Province is explained in this article. By comparing multiple enterprise union collective bargaining cases, four models of workplace collective bargaining in practice are identified in the research: moderated mobilization, technical negotiation, collective consultation, and managerial domination. Using the power resources approach to analyze collective bargaining, the author argues that the various practices result from the dynamic interactions between workers’ power configuration and employers’ perception of disruption. Furthermore, the author argues that the variability in workplace collective bargaining is not a transient phenomenon but a semi-institutionalized middle ground.

Union influence on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: evidence from China

PurposeDespite the considerable research into China's industrial relation system, little attention has been focused on what do Chinese unions at the enterprise level do and how their daily work influences employees' work-related outcomes. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this paper aims to examine the impact of Chinese enterprise union practices on employees' change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior through the mediating roles of psychological safety, perceived insider status, and role breadth self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 450 employees at 45 unionized enterprises in China through a three-wave survey. Multilevel analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized effects.FindingsChinese enterprise union practices positively predicted change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Critically, psychological safety and role breadth self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between Chinese enterprise union practices and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.Originality/valueThis study provides new evidence on the effectiveness of Chinese enterprise union practices from a perspective of employees' work-related outcomes. It also enriches the existing literature on antecedents of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and provides a “planned” perspective to understand the mechanism that underlies the relationship between Chinese enterprise union practices and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior.

Cross-level effects of union practices on extra-role behaviors: the mediating role of industrial relations climate, union commitment and union instrumentality

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between union practices and two types of employees’ extra-role behaviors, namely, union citizenship behavior (UCB) and employee voice (EV), and the mechanisms that mediate this relationship.Design/methodology/approachUsing matched data from 46 union leaders and 279 union members of 33 workplaces in China, this study utilized multilevel structural equation modeling to test the cross-level influences of union practices on employees’ extra-role behaviors and the mediation effects.FindingsThe results show that (1) union practices have a positive impact on employees’ UCB and EV, and (2) union practices increase UCB and EV through the improvement of industrial relations (IR) climate at the workplace level, as well as union commitment (UC) and union instrumentality (UI) at the individual level.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the authors collected data from multi-sources (i.e. union leaders and members), the cross-sectional data of this study limited the ability to make casual inferences.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by providing theoretical explanation and empirical evidence to illustrate the role of union practices in increasing the extra-role behaviors of employees (i.e. UCB and EV). This is of particular importance in elaborating the effectiveness of enterprise unions under the recent reforms in China. In addition, the authors also unpacked the antecedents of extra-role behaviors in the union context by investigating how IR climate, UC and UI mediate the relationship between union practices and extra-role behaviors of employees.

Bottom‐Up Unionization in China: A Power Resources Analysis

AbstractDrawing on the modified power resources approach, this article examines efforts at bottom‐up unionization by rural migrant workers in China. Prior to 2010, they utilized their associational power to pursue predominantly immediate economic interests, but since 2010, they have begun to deploy associational power, and societal power at times, in attempts to form enterprise unions that could provide them with workplace institutional power. Through three revelatory in‐depth case studies, the article investigates the efforts made by workers to unionize and the strategies used by employers, the state and the upper‐level unions to suppress them. It highlights that the attainment and exercise of workers’ power do not only play out in relation to employers but are also dependent on the role of the state and its apparatus.

Tackling the crunch mode: the rise of an enterprise union in South Korea's game industry

PurposeThe present study seeks to trace the unionization process of a global top 10 video game company (Company N) in which workers formed the first enterprise union in South Korea's game sector. Drawing upon the analytical framework of Kelly's (1998) mobilization theory, the authors investigated what motivated workers to form a union and what factors facilitated unionization.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a qualitative research method on a single case study basis. The authors collected 41 in-depth interviews with game developers, full-time union staff from the case company and union leaders in their affiliated union, as well as game journalists, labour attorneys, and human resource professionals in the video game industry. The authors had their original data supplemented and triangulated by archival data including union letters and other documents and media reports. They analysed the data using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).FindingsThere are three key findings. First, in the game sector, a high barrier against unionization exists, arising from industry characteristics such as a project-based work system, high mobility, reputation-based hiring, meritocracy, and a continuous influx of game-loving young developers. Hence, although the time was ripe for worker activism, latent grievances failed to be converted into real collective mobilization, resulting in non-organized workplaces for the past decades. Second, the mandatory labour-management negotiations arising from a legal change acted as a key catalyst for unionization at Company N. The newly elected three employee representatives came to identify and develop their own collective interests through the direct experience of negotiations, which greatly augmented their negative emotions and improved their legal consciousness. These three representatives could identify numerous deep-rooted problems, attribute these problems to their employer, and realize that they are ordinary salaried workers different from their employer. Going through the three-month negotiation and post-negotiation period, a set of ordinary game developers transformed themselves into natural union leaders who started a union in the game industry, which was traditionally non-organized. Third, various layers of external factors, such as a sister union, the upper umbrella union, the changed socio-political atmosphere following the candlelight protests for presidential impeachment, and the improved union image facilitated the unionization at Company N.Practical implicationsThis study offers practical implications to governments, union activists, and employers in the game sector and more broadly in the tech industry, where labour-management conflicts are escalating across the globe.Originality/valueOur study of a rare unionization event in the difficult game sector offers a nuanced understanding of mobilization and its process. Theoretically, by introducing the dynamic process of natural leader emergence and spontaneous union formation in a young industry where neither pre-existing leadership nor extant union influence exists, this study suggests that the mobilization process is more complex and variegated than suggested by Kelly's study and subsequent studies. Therefore, this study can advance the current discussion of mobilization mechanisms in the field of industrial relations. Our study also contributes to current research by introducing collective mobilization in a new context, i.e. the young, dynamic game industry in a non-Western country, which is a context that has been under-studied thus far.

Why worker-supported collective bargaining may still fail

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate that some enterprise unions in South China, as strategic labor actors, made local progress in collective bargaining, but further elaborates on why gainful bargaining would require a more systematic understanding of the prevailing industrial structure.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is mainly drawn from intensive site visits and 51 in-depth interviews in 2013 and 2014, and several follow-ups up to 2018. Three cases of collective bargaining, featuring different union strategies of assertive negotiation, informal cooperation and direct confrontation, are discussed in detail.FindingsThe study illustrates that viable collective bargaining with worker-supported unions is possible in China. However, the effectiveness of bargaining does not count on this alone; the supply chain structure also imposes significant constraints, mainly by narrowing the bargaining scope of each supplier and differentiating the structural power of their unions. In these cases, institutionalized union coordination beyond individual suppliers is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThese cases began as post-strike bargaining in Japanese auto supply chains and became the frontier of industrial relations in China. The impact of the supply chain in different sectors or regions requires further study.Originality/valueThis paper draws attention to the effect of an “invisible” but increasingly significant factor, industrial structure, on enterprise-level collective bargaining in China, unlike many previous criticisms of unwillingness or incompetence among labor actors.

Union structure, bounded solidarity and support for redistribution: Implications for building a welfare state

This study unveils the effects of union structure – national, industrial and enterprise unionism – on the solidarity and redistribution preferences of workers. We argue that labor unions have varied scope and levels of solidarity as well as redistribution preferences because solidarity is not naturally given but tends to be cultivated by labor unions. In order to sustain commitment to egalitarian wages and redistributive social policies, a spirit of solidarity must be instilled in the minds of members, especially more privileged workers. Our analysis finds that countries with encompassing unions at national and industry levels have higher levels of overall support for government intervention to reduce income inequality than countries with enterprise unionism. It suggests that welfare state building is not just a function of relative power between labor and capital; union structure and preference formation matter as well.

ЕКОНОМІЧНІ АСПЕКТИ УПРАВЛІНСЬКОГО ПРОЦЕСУ У СІЛЬСЬКОГОСПОДАРСЬКОМУ ВИРОБНИЦТВІ

Introduction. The article discusses the most pressing scientific issues, basic economic laws and concepts that affect the process of management and motivation of hired personnel, based on the position of increasing the efficiency of agricultural enterprises functioning. Results. In modern conditions, interests between the actual owners of enterprises and operating personnel have sharpened. The first strive to maximize profits. To do this, they use official, and mainly shadow income. In the second category, they apply simple management methods (dismissal from work, violation of labor laws, payment of salaries in envelopes, etc.). In this situation, it is necessary to clearly monitor the actions of the owners. It is advisable to assign this function to the personnel of the enterprise and trade union bodies. Conclusions. The relationship process of the concepts of expanded market production, distribution by labor and the cost of agricultural products, as well as labor prices is considered. The article proves that the interconnection of the concepts of value and labor regulation is reduced to free pricing and acceleration of the cash flow rate. Effective organization of the personnel management process reduces the cost of production and products sales and, automatically, increases the income of the owner. Therefore, it becomes possible to form motivation funds and accrue dividends. In the article, the authors substantiate the opinion that the interaction level of the concept of distribution according to work and the law of value is due to their essence and manifestation form in specific economic reality. The distribution process can be based on a specific or abstract work, as well as their combination. There is no consensus among economists on this issue. Key words: economic laws, concepts, industrial enterprises, factors, interconnection, material motivation, employees, employees, management.

Worker Activism and Enterprise Union Reform in China: A Case Study of Grassroots Union Agency in the Auto Parts Industry

ABSTRACTResearch on Chinese trade unions has privileged a state‐centred, structuralist approach, while the question of union agency has remained undertheorized. Seeking to overcome this limitation, this article examines the agency, the strategies and practice, and the limits and potentials of enterprise union reform in China's auto parts industry driven by worker activism since the wave of auto strikes in 2010. Drawing on in‐depth fieldwork conducted in Guangzhou and Chongqing between 2011 and 2017, the authors reveal variegated but constrained grassroots union agency and identify four key factors to explain the variations in the operation and reform of enterprise unions. Contrary to the common perception that Chinese trade unions are of no value to workers, the authors argue that, driven by worker activism and under specific circumstances, democratically elected enterprise unions are able to exploit certain operational space within the existing political and institutional constraints to carry out substantive collective bargaining and adaptive, incremental reforms, which have improved workers’ material well‐being and union representativeness and effectiveness. However, given the authoritarian regime and state‐controlled union structure, the space for grassroots union agency is severely restricted and contingent on broader political and economic environments. With growing state repression, the future of worker‐driven grassroots union reform is unclear.

Moderated Mobilization: A New Model of Enterprise-level Collective Bargaining in South China

AbstractIn response to a series of strikes in south China in 2010, a new model of collective bargaining has emerged, featuring what this article describes as “moderated mobilization.” Distinct from what is typically known as China's quadripartite industrial relations system, whereby workers are separated from the party-state, official trade unions and employers, this model shows workers and enterprise-level trade unions in collaboration with one another. According to our observations from 2012 to 2017, some enterprise unions have successfully mobilized workers throughout the collective bargaining process. These unions are democratically elected by workers and are relatively independent from the official authorities. At the same time, they have “moderated” such mobilization particularly to reduce labour militancy, given the political and institutional constraints within which they must work. The implication of this new model is significant. Although it might be far from solving the quadripartite dilemma, it has signalled an increase in local initiatives among enterprise unions – a previously neglected but pragmatically favourable channel for workers.

Union suppression and union substitution strategies of multinational enterprises in Ghana

AbstractThis article complements the literature by furthering the understanding of an ‘African dimension’ of multinational enterprise (MNE) union avoidance. The evidence suggests that MNEs engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies by (i) exploiting young employees' apathy to promote opposition and indifference for union organisation (evil stuff), (ii) implementing union member‐centred employee retrenchment (fear stuff), (iii) using enterprise‐level collective bargaining arrangement to suppress union bargaining power (fear and fatal stuff), (iv) exploiting the fragmented labour union environment to suppress union organisation (fatal and evil stuff) and (v) promoting individual employee voice and involvement mechanisms (sweet stuff). Although MNEs in Ghana engaged in both union suppression and union substitution strategies, they appear to particularly favour the adoption of ‘union suppression’ strategies and what might be termed as ‘corridor tactics’. Our article highlights four transitional issues underpinning the emerging success of ‘corridor tactics’ in union suppression in a less developed host country.

Revisiting Industrial Unionism in Korea in the Wake of the 1997 Financial Crisis: Neoliberal Rhetoric, Bargaining (De)centralization and the State

This paper revisits the rise of industrial unionism in Korea in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis at the turn of the twenty-first century. By closely investigating the reorganization of labour unionism in the context of neoliberalization, it challenges the alleged converging impact of neoliberal rhetoric or hegemony on industrial relations. To this end, this paper raises following substantive questions: How far did Korea’s industrial unionism advance under the new economic circumstances and how stable was it? More importantly, what were the fundamental factors behind such re-formation of labour unions? This paper finds that the transformation of labour unions in Korea is a mixture of the rise of industrial unionism and the persistence of enterprise unionism, that is to say a precarious progress of industrial unionism. It argues that behind the unstable development of industrial unionism in Korea were state-fostered legacy of power imbalance within labour in favour of enterprise unions, especially at chaebols, and continuing state intervention in the re-formation of labour unions in the neoliberal era. Finally, it argues that the seemingly sweeping neoliberal rhetoric or hegemony does not override the long-standing political-economic institutions of industrial relations and the leverage of the state, but it is filtered and reified by them.

Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy

Strategies, Struggles, and Sites of Transformation in Korean Political Economy

Condescending Saviors: Union Substitution at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK)

“Condescending Saviors” identifies and analyzes multiple factors underlying the ability of Toyota Motor Corporation’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant to stymy unionization of production workers through sophisticated and extensive union substitutionism. Two key factors in this case study of its profoundly pragmatic long-term substitution are the meso-corporatist institutions by which it successfully embedded itself in Kentucky, and, critically, the trajectory of the United Auto Workers from business unionism to narrow enterprise unionism based solely on the interests of the auto companies. A contrast between the Kentucky Building Trades Council’s successful unionization of construction work and the UAW’s organizing failures places the latter in bold relief and argues against the popular reasoning that the UAW was simply the victim of events, the period, or TMMK’s location. It also exposes the insularity that has shielded Toyota’s plants and workers from all objective academic investigation. A final substantive chapter charts the stages of the UAW’s transition to enterprise unionism, decades of erosion of union democracy and concomitant organizing capacity, and thus offers a view of possible alternative developments. The historical and comparative method contextualizes these events within the larger framework of the shifting relationship between capital, labor, and the state in the second half of the twentieth century US. The similarities between the weak class struggle in the US and the defeat of Japanese working-class struggle overshadow any reliance on cultural differences. Thus, “American exceptionalism” and “Japanese uniqueness” are abandoned as frames that deny an important commonality of forces, and the specific working of meso-corporatism in the US. Investigating this puzzle using the arsenal of political science and, necessarily, the methods of the meticulous historian, yielded a new paradigm to better understand trade union decline. Identifying these factors required an in-depth understanding of Japanese and US union history since the nineteenth century; an extensive review of the history of industrial relations practices at Toyota’s earlier joint venture with General Motors in California; and the decades-long process of centralization of control within the UAW and its refusal to enforce the Constitutionally-required prohibition of competition between UAW-represented plants; all of which are further explored in working papers.

How Enterprise Unions of Polluting-companies Responded to the Issue of Environmental Pollution and What Kind of Relationship These Unions Had with Anti-pollution Movements: A Case Study Based on Environmental Pollution in Fuji City

How Enterprise Unions of Polluting-companies Responded to the Issue of Environmental Pollution and What Kind of Relationship These Unions Had with Anti-pollution Movements: A Case Study Based on Environmental Pollution in Fuji City