Labor Conflict Research Articles

Labor Conflicts in Russia: Current Trends

In the modern world, labor conflicts are an integral part of social and labor relations. Official statistics record only that part of the conflicts that has grown into strikes, given the number of workers who took part in it and the loss of working time. Scientific institutes and research centers dealing with this issue, considering the issue more broadly, collect more detailed data. The presented work analyzes various sources of information on labor conflicts in Russia over the past few years. As results, the main trends for the last three years are identified and an assessment of possible causes is given, the main regulatory measures are proposed taking into account the role of the state and trade unions.

Labour NGOs in China

Since their appearance in the mid-1990s, Chinese labour NGOs have mostly focused on three kinds of activities: establishing workers’ centres; carrying out outreach programs on labour rights; and conducting social surveys and policy advocacy. Some scholars have strongly criticised this approach, considering it excessively unbalanced towards an individualistic and narrowly legalistic view of labour rights and thus in line with the political agenda of the Party-state. Still, in the past few years, as labour conflict intensified, a handful of labour NGOs have moved forward to adopt a more militant strategy focussed on collective bargaining and direct intervention into worker collective struggles. Based on dozens of interviews with labour activists and workers and detailed analysis of two case studies of NGO-fostered collective labour mobilisation in Southern China in 2014-2015, this paper will outline the personal and political reasons that motivated these organisations to move beyond a narrow legalistic approach and turn towards collective struggles. It will also describe the strategies that Chinese labour activists have adopted in dealing with collective cases. We will conclude by examining the main challenges that labour activists in China have to face when dealing with labour unrest and by questioning the sustainability and feasibility of this new approach in the current political climate.

PECULIARITIES OF MEDIATION IN THE SETTLEMENT OF LABOR DISPUTES

In the article the peculiarities of legal regulation of the settlement of labor disputes are analyzed. A list of them has been determined. The content of each of them is described.
 Based on the substance of the mediation of the parties' desire to resolve the conflict, they are themselves interested in fulfilling the decision that the parties will make jointly. Accordingly, if no such decision has been taken, the mediation procedure will be followed either by arbitration or a trial, the decision of which is binding on the parties, regardless of their will.
 The author emphasizes the importance of ensuring proper legal regulation, which would guarantee the possibility of applying the mediation process to resolve all types of labor conflicts on the basis of material and procedural equality, while maintaining the flexibility of mediation and its independence from the state.
 On the basis of the scientific approaches analyzed, the general features of mediation of labor dispute are distinguished: lawfulness, confidentiality, reflectivity, professionalism. And also on the basis of the analyzed material and analyzing the concept of mediation of labor disputes, it is possible to distinguish the following specific features: interest of the parties, flexibility, voluntary performance and differentiation of reasons for holding.

Small Price Responses to Large Demand Shocks

Abstract We study the pricing response of U.S. supermarkets to large demand shocks triggered by labor conflicts, mass population displacement, and shopping sprees around major snowstorms and hurricanes. We find that these large swings in demand have, at best, modest effects on the level of retail prices, consistent with flat short- to medium-term supply curves. This finding holds even when shocks are highly persistent and despite the fact that stores adjust prices frequently. We also provide evidence that retailers maintain frequent promotional sales even as their demand varies and that they seek to match movements in their local competitors’ recourse to promotional sales.

En clave de conflicto: dinámica de la industria regional y trabajo en Mendoza, Argentina

La dinámica de los conflictos laborales ocurridos en la provincia de Mendoza entre 2009 y 2016 evidencia una progresiva visibilización de los límites del crecimiento económico vinculado con la producción industrial y del resquebrajamiento de la anuencia política, económica y laboral. Durante dicho período recrudece la conflictividad laboral: de reclamos centralmente orientados a mejoras salariales y ratificación de los convenios colectivos de trabajo a luchas por fuentes de trabajo, pagos atrasados y despidos. Con el fin de reflexionar sobre las transformaciones socioproductivas en curso, se analiza dicha conflictividad en cuanto a las demandas de los trabajadores, sus acciones y modos de resolución, distinguiendo sectores productivos y actores involucrados.

Is the strike still a right? The case of the Portuguese nurses' surgical strike

In democracy, a strike is an unquestionable constitutional right. However, the wave of Portuguese nurses’ strikes in recent months, especially the strike to the surgeries – the ‘surgical strike’ – has questioned the right to strike. I analyse this conflict in four aspects: the political and economic context of strikes; the problems and demands of nurses; some unusual elements in this strike; results and dilemmas. Political and economic context of strikes Between 2011 and 2015, Portugal was ruled by a coalition of right-wing parties (PSD/Social Democrats and CDS-PP/Christian Democrats). During this period – which coincided with the financial intervention of the troika (European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund) – there was severe austerity, which affected working conditions and people’s lives in general. Labour conflicts were intense, especially in the public sector. Thus, the following ‘thesis’ seems to be valid: under economic crises, the rate of strikes increases because workers react energetically to the withdrawal of rights. In October 2015 a new political cycle began, still in force, under the leadership of a minority socialist government, supported by a parliamentary agreement with two leftmost parties (communists/PCP and Left Bloc/BE). Since then several social and labour rights have been recovered: reversal of the privatisation of strategic corporations; restitution of wages, pensions, holiday and Christmas subsidies; minimum wage raise; reinstitution of some national holidays; reinstatement of the 35 hour work week; etc. However, especially in the second half of the current political cycle, there has been an intensification of social conflict, despite the improvement of the country’s economic indicators (unemployment rate of 6.7 percent in January 2019, compared to 17 percent at the time of the troika). During 2018, there were multiple strikes in both public and private sectors, including nurses, doctors, teachers, court officials, judges, prison guards, dockworkers and fire fighters. In the public sector, there have already been more strikes and notice of sectoral strikes (in particular in the health sector) in the current socialist government than in the rightwing government of the previous political cycle1. The ‘thesis’ of the positive correlation between economic crisis and labour conflict has thus been called into question. In other words, in a more favourable economic context, the strikes have increased in part because the government has created in many sectors of society (unsuccessful) expectations of problem solving. Problems and demands According to the Portuguese Nurses’ Order, on 31 December 2018, there were 73,912 nurses in Portugal, the vast majority responsible for ‘general care’ (55,273), while the rest are ‘specialist nurses’ in rehabilitation, maternal and obstetric health, community nursing, child and paediatric health, mental and psychiatric health. Of the total, 60,000 nurses are women2. The strike to the surgeries had two periods: between 22 November and 31 December 2018; and between 31 January and 28 February 2019. This strike drew attention to the situation of Portuguese nurses: they are among the lowest paid in the OECD (on average, nurses in public hospitals earn 1.285€ gross monthly)3; it is estimated that 600 extra nurses are needed as a way to compensate for the shift from the 40 hour work week (from the troika period) to a 35 hour week; nurses are subject to overtime but are being used to fulfil permanent service needs; there is a lack of equipment in hospitals, and so on. Two unions (created in 2017) called for a strike in 10 public hospitals: the Sindicato Democrático dos Enfermeiros Portugueses (Sindepor) and the Associação Sindical Portuguesa dos Enfermeiros (ASPE). Each has an estimated membership of approx. 2000. The main claims associated with this strike – transversal to the entire National Health Service (NHS) and shared by other unions – were: ■ remuneration on an equal footing with pharmacists, psychologists and nutritionists, although nurses have to be prepared to perform their duties in a wide variety of settings (surgical blocks, intensive care units, palliative care or haemodialysis, emergency service, heli-transport, Health Line 24, etc.) ■ differentiated remuneration according to length of service, since nurses with 30 or more years of experience, with post-graduate training, earn the same (1.285€ gross monthly, that is, 980€ net) as colleagues new to the profession...

<strong>Is the strike still a right?</strong> The case of the Portuguese nurses' surgical strike

In democracy, a strike is an unquestionable constitutional right. However, the wave of Portuguese nurses’ strikes in recent months, especially the strike to the surgeries – the ‘surgical strike’ – has questioned the right to strike. I analyse this conflict in four aspects: the political and economic context of strikes; the problems and demands of nurses; some unusual elements in this strike; results and dilemmas. Political and economic context of strikes Between 2011 and 2015, Portugal was ruled by a coalition of right-wing parties (PSD/Social Democrats and CDS-PP/Christian Democrats). During this period – which coincided with the financial intervention of the troika (European Central Bank, European Commission and International Monetary Fund) – there was severe austerity, which affected working conditions and people’s lives in general. Labour conflicts were intense, especially in the public sector. Thus, the following ‘thesis’ seems to be valid: under economic crises, the rate of strikes increases because workers react energetically to the withdrawal of rights. In October 2015 a new political cycle began, still in force, under the leadership of a minority socialist government, supported by a parliamentary agreement with two leftmost parties (communists/PCP and Left Bloc/BE). Since then several social and labour rights have been recovered: reversal of the privatisation of strategic corporations; restitution of wages, pensions, holiday and Christmas subsidies; minimum wage raise; reinstitution of some national holidays; reinstatement of the 35 hour work week; etc. However, especially in the second half of the current political cycle, there has been an intensification of social conflict, despite the improvement of the country’s economic indicators (unemployment rate of 6.7 percent in January 2019, compared to 17 percent at the time of the troika). During 2018, there were multiple strikes in both public and private sectors, including nurses, doctors, teachers, court officials, judges, prison guards, dockworkers and fire fighters. In the public sector, there have already been more strikes and notice of sectoral strikes (in particular in the health sector) in the current socialist government than in the rightwing government of the previous political cycle1. The ‘thesis’ of the positive correlation between economic crisis and labour conflict has thus been called into question. In other words, in a more favourable economic context, the strikes have increased in part because the government has created in many sectors of society (unsuccessful) expectations of problem solving. Problems and demands According to the Portuguese Nurses’ Order, on 31 December 2018, there were 73,912 nurses in Portugal, the vast majority responsible for ‘general care’ (55,273), while the rest are ‘specialist nurses’ in rehabilitation, maternal and obstetric health, community nursing, child and paediatric health, mental and psychiatric health. Of the total, 60,000 nurses are women2. The strike to the surgeries had two periods: between 22 November and 31 December 2018; and between 31 January and 28 February 2019. This strike drew attention to the situation of Portuguese nurses: they are among the lowest paid in the OECD (on average, nurses in public hospitals earn 1.285€ gross monthly)3; it is estimated that 600 extra nurses are needed as a way to compensate for the shift from the 40 hour work week (from the troika period) to a 35 hour week; nurses are subject to overtime but are being used to fulfil permanent service needs; there is a lack of equipment in hospitals, and so on. Two unions (created in 2017) called for a strike in 10 public hospitals: the Sindicato Democrático dos Enfermeiros Portugueses (Sindepor) and the Associação Sindical Portuguesa dos Enfermeiros (ASPE). Each has an estimated membership of approx. 2000. The main claims associated with this strike – transversal to the entire National Health Service (NHS) and shared by other unions – were: ■ remuneration on an equal footing with pharmacists, psychologists and nutritionists, although nurses have to be prepared to perform their duties in a wide variety of settings (surgical blocks, intensive care units, palliative care or haemodialysis, emergency service, heli-transport, Health Line 24, etc.) ■ differentiated remuneration according to length of service, since nurses with 30 or more years of experience, with post-graduate training, earn the same (1.285€ gross monthly, that is, 980€ net) as colleagues new to the profession...

The social rights of irregular migrants in Mexico

The importance of migration in Mexico comes from the diversity of components (internal, external, transnational, labor, irregular, transit migration, etc.) migration and its own specific problems which are mixed with national problems such as poverty, social insecurity and organized crime. The phenomenon of migration in this country is immersed in various social contexts and areas such as politics, economics, social and labor conflicts, among others, which have caused increment of migration rate. Unfortunately, there is a gap in the guarantee of the social rights of irregular migrants, since they do not have legal certainty in their granting derived from their migratory status. Therefore, this work focuses on the effective access to social rights for irregular migrants in Mexico.

Labor conflicts in the Spanish press: strikes as a reflection of the contradiction between capital and labor

Labor conflicts in the Spanish press: strikes as a reflection of the contradiction between capital and labor

Bringing (The History of) Capitalism Back In

Bringing (The History of) Capitalism Back In Noam Maggor (bio) Bhu Srinivasan. Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism. New York: Penguin Press, 2017. 576 pp. $30.00. Peter Kolozi. Conservatives Against Capitalism: From the Industrial Revolution to Globalization. New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. 264 pp. $60.00. Harry S. Stout. American Aristocrats: A Family, a Fortune, and the Making of American Capitalism. New York, Basic Books, 2017. 432 pp. $32.00. William J. Novak and Naomi R. Lamoreaux. Corporations and American Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2017. 528 pp. $35.00. Ten years after the financial crisis that announced the arrival of the "history of capitalism," the impact of this new scholarship remains uneven. "Capitalism" has certainly caught on as a focal point of debate, generating a steady stream of monographs, edited collections, conferences, manifestos, and critical assessments. This lively debate, however, has failed to crystalize any methodological consensus. It has also struggled to broaden the scope of inquiry beyond a few, and mostly U.S.-centered, topics. The effort to foster a broad conversation that would bring together scholars from separate fields and backgrounds, at least thus far, seems to have generated more friction than cooperation. The four works under consideration here, hailing from the subfields of business history, intellectual history, social history, and legal history (or history of the state), demonstrate why continued fragmentation is deeply unfortunate. Each one of the books offers insights from the vantage point of a well-defined subfield. Each exploration brings attention to a neglected topic, deepening and complicating our historical understanding of the American political economy. As works in discrete areas of study, however, the books are nevertheless powerless to more fundamentally dislodge traditional meta-narratives and analytical frameworks. They demonstrate why the pursuit of greater synthesis—of the type historians of capitalism have called for—remains a worthwhile goal. [End Page 140] Bhu Srinivasan's Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism, the least scholarly of the four books, is also most symptomatic of the tendency to use the history of capitalism as a new bottle for very old wine. A tech entrepreneur-turned-author, Srinivasan is an informed and lively narrator. He builds on work in business history to offer a fast-clipped narrative, moving through thirty-five "Next Big Things," from the Virginia Company, through Standard Oil and Henry Ford, to Apple and Facebook. As with many popular histories, the past in this account is emphatically not a foreign country. With terms drawn from the corporate world, capitalism is insinuated into American history as folklore, hence the book's title. The Virginia Company, we are told, was formed via "adventure capital" and had "an unlimited upside" (pp. 6–7). Slaves in the antebellum South were "the single most valuable asset class in America" (p. 126). Federal regulation under Theodore Roosevelt was not anti-business but merely helped "correct for excesses" in the market (p. 275). Capitalism in the U.S., in this rendition, did not emerge over time but has been integral to American society from its inception. All major pivots or collisions in this history are subsumed under a relentless but ultimately benign process of invention and reinvention. The dark chapters—racial slavery, violent labor conflict, residential segregation—are not ignored, but neither are they allowed to cast more than a passing shadow on the overall arc of progress. The result typifies the sensibility of what Nancy Fraser has called progressive neoliberalism: forward-looking, pragmatic, and optimistic about markets. It tells an exceptionally American story of how entrepreneurs, with the helping hand of government (always in a supporting role), transformed the world time and time again. The only real enemy, it proposes, has been misguided dogmatism of any sort, of the libertarian or the socialist variety. That Srinivasan so easily and unproblematically assimilates capitalism into the American past suggests that political economy and cultural methods have not yet made their way into the core of business history, despite considerable efforts to this effect in recent years. The notion that capitalism has always been as American as apple pie, not a historically specific and controversial formation, remains firmly in place. The attempt to rethink U...

On the Issue of Labor Conflicts Control in Medical Stuff

The article presents the results of study of inter-personal conflicts in medical staff. The awareness of psychological causes of development of conflicts, their dynamics and methods of counteracting, psychological characteristics of conflicting personalities permits to implement their prevention and outcoming. The particular attention is paid to types of reaction of personalities and their behavior in conflict situation and acquiring of full information about conflict to find out the most rational modes of their regulation.

La huelga minera en Santa Eulalia, en la nueva Vizcaya, 1730.

The oldest collective labor conflict that has been documented to date in the history of Mexico is the so-called tumult or uproar of Santa Eulalia, in Chihuahua, which began on March 7, 1730 in a nearby rural area called “The Eye of Don Benito.” The episode has been briefly addressed by other authors, 1 and it is the first antecedent of the modern strike movements in which the active germination process of the working class is revealed at the same time. the viceroyalty novohispano. It follows from the foregoing the need for a particular study on the case, which provides some clarity about the complex social processes that announced signs of legal and political modernity, and it must also be established that the present work is merely exploratory and preliminary on a matter that certainly deserves more attention. For your presentation, it is advisable to take a quick look at that remote mining town of the 18th century.

Поняття і предмет колективного трудового спору за законодавством України та окремих зарубіжних країн

The definition and subject of collective labour dispute under the legislation of Ukraine, Republic of Belarus and Russian Federation are analyzed in the article. the basis of comparative analysis proposals on improvement of respective provisions of the Draft of the Labour Code of Ukraine are made. The legislative definition of the concept of collective labor disputes makes it possible to understand to which specific disputes it is possible to apply specific methods of resolving these disputes, including strikes. It is estab- lished that in all three concepts of collective labor dispute (according to the Labor Code of the Republic of Moldova – collective labor conflict) there are two of its features: the collective nature and the special subject of differences. In order for unresolved differences between employees and employers to be classified as a collective labor dispute (collective labor conflict), it is necessary to have both of these features. Collective labor disputes (collective labor conflict) under the laws of Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, in contrast to individual labor disputes, are characterized by the collective nature of the parties, requirements and specifics of the subject of un- resolved differences. Based on the analysis of the provisions of legislative acts of Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, it is concluded that the broadest concept and subject of collective labor dispute (conflict) is defined in the Law of Ukraine On Collective Labor Disputes (Conflicts), which allows to ensure collective protection of the rights and interests of employees. Based on the comparative legal analysis of the current legislation of Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova, proposals were made to improve the relevant provisions of the draft Labor Code of Ukraine. The lack of special norms in the draft law on the procedure for resolving collective labor disputes in contrast to the labor codes of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova has been criticized.

Advance notice labor conflicts and firm value—An event study analysis on Israeli companies

The Israeli law has a special requirement—unions must announce a labor-conflict at least 15 days before a potential strike. This raises the question whether (and how) an advance notice affects the firm value, as it allows employees and employers to negotiate and reach an agreement prior to an actual strike. Using event study analysis, we find in large firms and in companies with relatively high stock liquidity significant negative effect only after the announcement. Smaller firms with relatively illiquid stock exhibit significant negative effect prior to the announcement day, and their post event-day effect is statistically insignificant.

Introduction

Introduction

La instrumentación de la reforma constitucional de 2017 en materia de justicia laboral y de seguridad social en México

Tras de un siglo de mantener la justicia tripartita como dogma jurídico en el Derecho del Trabajo, el Estado mexicano se aleja de él optando, en base a los resultados obtenidos en los «Diálogos por la Justicia Cotidiana», por cambiar de operador en materia de justicia, traspasando tan delicada función al Poder Judicial Federal y Locales en sus respectivas competencias y condenando a desaparecer a las Juntas de Conciliación y Arbitraje dependientes del Poder Ejecutivo, quitando así todo tinte político en la resolución de los conflictos laborales. Este cambio radical, el más trascendente en un siglo de existencia del mítico artículo 123 de nuestra Constitución Política Federal, tendrá muchos problemas en su instrumentación legal, al punto que ya se venció el plazo fijado para ello en el Decreto de reforma publicado el 24 de febrero de 2017.

The Contested State vs. Contentious Workers: The Symbolic Labor Politics in Transitional China

How does the Chinese state maintain its legitimacy and manage labor conflicts during its transition to market economy? Through detailed analysis of a 10-year struggle by a group of state workers to defend their pensions by active engagement with state agents, this article attempts to explore the circular feature of the state and how this circular state functions to absorb the labor contentions. This state is composed of three intersecting circles—a circle between different petition offices, a circle between petition offices and courts, and a circle between the local and the center. On the one hand, the circulation of the workers’ case in this circular bureaucratic field elongates the struggles of the workers and prevents the radicalization of their resistance; on the other hand, this circle promotes the circulation and inculcation of statist capitals among workers. This process realizes both the discursive construction of the new state and the symbolic domination of the resisting workers.

The prelude and global impact of the Great Depression: Evidence from a new macroeconomic dataset

Based on a novel dataset of about 1150 time series, this study provides monthly economic activity estimates for 28 countries during the Great Depression. Due to their high frequency, the indices reveal that steady growth was far from universal even in the second half of the 1920s. Monetary and financial instability, agricultural crises, and labor conflict continued to plague economies around the globe. The high frequency of the data also facilitates a global comparison of the severity of the Great Depression along two dimensions: the cumulative loss and duration. The variation along these two dimensions across and within countries indicates a rising importance of the trade channel at the later stages of the crisis. Finally, the study highlights promising avenues for future research on the Great Depression.

Promoting Conciliation and Mediation in Collective Labour Conflicts in Europe

Promoting Conciliation and Mediation in Collective Labour Conflicts in Europe

Do labour unions mitigate labour conflicts in China’s manufacturing firms?

PurposeThis paper aims to examine whether labour unions influence labour conflicts and this mechanism is different in China compared with other countries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the data from the China Employer–Employee Survey that interviewed 1,208 firms and 10,087 workers in 2016 as the measurement of variables, and it uses Logit regression model to do the empirical research.FindingsUnions cannot significantly influence labour conflicts. More active unions and unions whose leaders are appointed by the firms’ management are associated with a higher incidence of labour conflicts.Originality/valueThis paper finds a new mechanism that explains the relationship between unions and labour conflicts. The existing literature states that unions may increase labour conflicts via “monopoly power” and may also mitigate labour conflicts via “voice mechanisms”. This paper’s findings show that the positive correlation between unions and labour conflicts may be explained by the lack of “voice mechanism” rather than “monopoly power”. The findings imply that labour unions should represent the interest of workers to mitigate the increasing labour conflicts.