Trade Union Movement Research Articles

Aboriginal People and Labour Relations

The original inhabitants of Canada (the Indian, Inuit and Metis peoples) now number approximately one million people. Although they represent only about 4% of the national population, they are a significant force in the Canadian economy. It is, thus, rather surprising to note the limited attention that aboriginal communities and aboriginal workers have received from the trade union movement. There is currently an active movement for the restoration of self-government and self-determination for aboriginal peoples in accordance with their own laws through a constitutionally mandated process and by way of direct negotiations with federal and provincial governments. Developments in this regard will clearly impact on labour relations. This essay attempts to provide a brief review of the present state of labour law as it relates to the aboriginal peoples of Canada, to serve as a foundation on which change may be built.

La organización sindical de los trabajadores agrarios en Uruguay: origen, trayectoria y perspectivas

Los asalariados agrarios de Uruguay han presentado históricamente un rezago en sus derechos laborales y en su organización sindical. El propósito del artículo es reflexionar sobre la situación actual del sindicalismo agrario en un escenario político de expansión y reconocimiento de los derechos laborales de los asalariados y de apertura de la negociación colectiva en el sector. Con este fin se desarrollan analíticamente las distintas experiencias organizativas de los asalariados agrarios y su significación para su acción colectiva de estos trabajadores en el país. Luego se discuten los elementos de carácter más permanente que obstaculizan su sindicalización. Finalmente, se argumenta que a pesar de las peculiaridades del contexto histórico para la aplicabilidad de sus derechos laborales, el movimiento sindical rural no ha logrado consolidarse.

Trade union mobilisation and democratic institutionalisation in the Republic of Niger

ABSTRACTThe article examines the effect of union mobilisation on democratisation in the Republic of Niger between 1990 and 2010. It focuses on the Union des syndicats des travailleurs du Niger (USTN), a legacy umbrella union for public sector workers. The effect of union mobilisation on democratisation is not clear-cut. In both 1990 and 1999 union mobilisation was a necessary condition for democratisation. However, union mobilisation inadvertently contributed to the delegitimisation of democratically elected leaders. Between 2000 and 2010 the USTN lost its former strength and the Nigerien government was in a better position to accommodate union demands. As a result, the trade union movement lost its ability to shape the political arena.

Nepal’s Social Security Reforms, State-building and the Role of Trade Unions

Trade unions play an important role in Nepal’s post-conflict economic development, but their influence is under-studied. Using a qualitative case study, this article examines the negotiations surrounding the development of Nepal’s Labour Law and Social Security Act. The evidence highlights the difficulty of bedding down a new welfare regime for workers in a country that does not have a strong, established, state-run welfare system and lacks robust government institutions. The article provides insights into the function of trade unions and other political entrepreneurs and their role in reforms. While unions know the ‘rules of the game’, they serve their paying member base in a stringent, democratic manner. They need little assistance from donors, as they understand how to play the game in a more astute manner than other groups excluded from traditional power. This does not mean that the trade union movement is a threat to building an inclusive state or that it aims for elite capture. Instead, it reveals how the power captured by the traditional upper caste is being slowly diffused. The negotiation strategies presented in the article are relevant for development partners engaging in welfare-related reforms in post-conflict and clientelistic states.

Zubrycki’s point: Amongst Equals, utilitarian film in the Australian labour movement

ABSTRACTA film history project on the Australian trade union movement commissioned in the late 1980s for Australia’s bicentennial year, 1988, came to grief over differing views of the labour movement’s past and contention around the rights and ethics of the filmmaker when a work is commissioned or sponsored. In the political context of the late 1980s there had been a decade of collaboration between trade unions and artists, but in this case filmmaker Tom Zubrycki was caught in a web of intrigue and complex agendas as he sought to complete this sponsored film. Zubrycki challenged the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for the right to finish and distribute Amongst Equals, but without success. The struggle to resolve the Amongst Equals dispute continued for years and flared into a heated public debate. This case study illustrates dilemmas facing the artist, historian or filmmaker making sponsored work. A feature-length version of the unfinished film, not seen since 1991with inter-titles identifying scenes that the ACTU wanted revised or deleted was screened by Melbourne Cinematheque in October 2018, marking 30 years since the Australian bicentennial.

Left-Wing SPA-Led and CPUSA-Led Unions and Worker Organizations as the Vanguard of U.S. Social Democracy’s Left-Wing, Circa 1935 to 1950

During the golden era of world trade unionism (circa 1945 to 1980) the trade union movement’s political arm, the workers’ parties (Labor, Social Democratic, and Communist) were at their peak strength attaining a significant amount of electoral support from the citizens in many European industrial democracies. This situation, however, did not occur in the United States where both the Socialist Party of America (SPA) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) never exerted similar political power as their European counterparts. Nevertheless, SPA and CPUSA members and their supporters attained significant influence in U.S. trade unions and related workers’ organizations, circa 1930 to 1950. Based on the publication of recent literature, I argue that left-wing SPA-led and CPUSA-led unions and worker organizations were the vanguard of the left wing of U.S. social democracy (the New Deal) from the mid-1930s to approximately 1950. Since the SPA and CPUSA had relatively small membership numbers, it was more effective for these political groups to work through trade unions and other mass worker organizations, such as the International Workers Order, for promoting their ideas and policies.

Los derechos sociales en las cadenas globales de producción: nuevas perspectivas para la negociación colectiva transnacional en la Declaración de Empresas Multinacionales (OIT)

Entre las nuevas formas de organización empresarial destaca la formación de las cadenas globales de producción. Este fenómeno productivo desborda no sólo los marcos nacionales desde el punto de vista jurídico sino que además transforma los marcos de relaciones laborales como los conocíamos hasta ahora, afectando los derechos sociales de los trabajadores.

Rethinking the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ thesis

ABSTRACTNumerous scholars have identified the ‘neoliberal thought collective’ as the key driver of the neoliberal transformation. These accounts emphasize the building of neoliberal hegemony through the mobilization of this collective, and the New Right parties who aligned to these ideas. We argue that Australia's corporatist road to neoliberalism pushes against this thesis, as the movement found little sympathy among policy makers. Rather, the thought collective acted more like a ‘ginger group’, attempting to radicalize public debate and create space for new neoliberal arrangements. In Australia, successive centre-left Labor governments rolled out neoliberalism in a series of formal corporatist arrangements with the trade union movement. This paper sets out a reconsideration of the role of the thought collective, on the basis of the Australian experience, and argues this can move us beyond the ideational determinism that has come to characterize key accounts of how neoliberalism developed.

An Exploratory Study of Trade Union Pluralism in Ghana

The practice of trade union pluralism at an enterprise level is seen as problematic for both the management of enterprises and the trade union movement. The problems arise from inter-union rivalries, competition and disputes over demarcations of privileges and rights. This article explores the practice of trade union pluralism at the enterprise level in Ghana with the aim of creating awareness of the effect of the practice on the general trade union movement. This qualitative study employed a cross-sectional design and used purposive and snowball sampling methods in selecting the participants. The data was analysed thematically. The findings from the study show that union pluralism is stimulating the decline in general union membership, the breakaway of local unions from the federations, and employers’ classification of workers based on their qualifications once they are employed by organisations, and their assignment to specific unions (automatic membership at enterprise level). It is suggested that employment laws encourage union breakaways, which weakens the unions especially at the enterprise level. It is recommended that the state, labour officials and policy-makers should enforce labour laws, especially regarding freedom of association, and consider revisiting or amending some labour laws to curb their abuse. The government and labour institutions need to work together to operationalise the implementation of legal provisions on freedom of association or consider amending the provisions to curb the existing abuse.

An Exploratory Study of Trade Union Pluralism in Ghana

The practice of trade union pluralism at an enterprise level is seen as problematic for both the management of enterprises and the trade union movement. The problems arise from inter-union rivalries, competition and disputes over demarcations of privileges and rights. This article explores the practice of trade union pluralism at the enterprise level in Ghana with the aim of creating awareness of the effect of the practice on the general trade union movement. This qualitative study employed a cross-sectional design and used purposive and snowball sampling methods in selecting the participants. The data was analysed thematically. The findings from the study show that union pluralism is stimulating the decline in general union membership, the breakaway of local unions from the federations, and employers’ classification of workers based on their qualifications once they are employed by organisations, and their assignment to specific unions (automatic membership at enterprise level). It is suggested that employment laws encourage union breakaways, which weakens the unions especially at the enterprise level. It is recommended that the state, labour officials and policy-makers should enforce labour laws, especially regarding freedom of association, and consider revisiting or amending some labour laws to curb their abuse. The government and labour institutions need to work together to operationalise the implementation of legal provisions on freedom of association or consider amending the provisions to curb the existing abuse.

A Century of Striving for Social Justice

This year the International Labour Organisation celebrated its centenary at the annual conference in June, drawing around 7500 delegates, advisers and visitors, with Theresa May amongst the heads of state and government who attended. During the year there have been events around the world as member States have applauded the ILO’s work and its centenary project on The Future of Work. But here at home the centenary has been little noticed, even by the trade union movement. The ILO is not high on our domestic agenda and perhaps been seen primarily as a route of solidarity activity. Given the importance of the ILO as the UN specialised agency for work and labour matters, this is somewhat surprising. The ILO represents the international dimension of union and worker rights and employment policy. I have been extremely fortunate to be a regular visitor to the ILO in Geneva, first representing the TUC in the Committee on the Application of Standards for some years, and now a member of the Governing Body and the Committee on Freedom of Association. The centenary seems to be a good time to look at whether the ILO offers us some avenues and opportunities that we could utilise further. It seems to have been different 100 years ago, as it has been said that the structure of the ILO was a British construction. Many of the founding ideas and principles emerged from British and Irish trade unions. Perhaps the most fundamental of these, that labour should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce, was first advanced by Irish economist John Kells Ingham at the British Trades Union Congress of 1880 held in Dublin. This guiding principle of respect for the human dignity of the labour force informed the other eight founding principles: freedom of association, decent wages and equitable conditions of employment, weekly working limits, abolition of child labour, equal pay for work of equal value, and a labour inspection system which included women’s voices. The principles were aimed even in 1919 at achieving social justice for universal peace, recognising that ‘conditions of labour exist involving such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled’. That mission of social justice has not changed and has been reaffirmed in this year’s centenary declaration just as it was in the Constitution and the Declarations since that time. Most importantly, the mission is one to which the three constituents, the Government group, the Employers’ Group and the Workers’ Group, have all signed up, throughout the life of the ILO, although of course there will be differences about what this means in reality. Nevertheless the ILO’s work: the body of standards, the technical assistance provided to States, the policy development and research work, is all directed towards promoting social justice through human and labour rights, and sets an international framework for our domestic provisions. ILOStandardsandtheSupervisorySystem The ILO is probably best known in the UK for its body of international labour standards. The decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association have refined and clarified the meaning of the principles, so we know for example that the blanket ban on solidarity action and the overly complex regulation of industrial action are all aspects of our law which are challengeable. However it is rare for a complaint to made by Uk trade unions through the ILO’s ‘supervisory system’ that monitors and regulates State compliance. The supervisory system can seem somewhat opaque and difficult to navigate, although in practice it is not complex to use. There are essentially two routes for allegations that member States are not meeting their international obligations: the ‘regular’ supervisory process or use of one of the ‘special’ procedures. The former is a process of public discussion of whether the State has met its obligations, which takes place in the annual conference Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS). It is an opportunity for us to air concerns and call the government to account in front of its peers. The ‘special’ procedures allow individual unions as well as confederations to press specific allegations about violations...

Voices from the Sudanese Revolution

24 | International Union Rights | 26/3 TOWARDS UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION OF C87 AND 98 Sudan ratified ILO Convention No. 98 on collective bargaining and protection of the right to organise as far back as 1957, but it has not ratified Convention No. 87, the principle freedom of association instrument. Given recent instability there is little immediate prospect for ratification, but as the country marks its transition to a new political future there is fundamental concern with the country’s trade union structures and with the concepts of freedom of association. Fathi El Fadl is Vice President of ICTUR in Khartoum The beginnings of the trade union movement in Sudan was closely linked with the upsurge of the movement and struggle for national independence in the late 1940s. This stage of building the union movement was characterised by democratic and mass participation. Rank and file members were actively involved in the discussions and consultation that led to the establishment of the first workers’ trade union. At different times trade unions faced repressive measures, detention of leaders, banning of organisations, attempts to create fictitious organisations and assassinations. But governments and regimes come and go; the Sudanese democratic trade unions continued to live and develop. In 1989 the Muslim Brotherhood took power through a military coup, overthrowing the democratically elected government, banning political parties and trade union organisations. The 1990s were the darkest period in the history of Sudan. Thousands of trade unionists, politicians, women, youth and student leaders were jailed. Tens were tortured to death and over 250,000 were dismissed from work. In their attempt to stifle workers’ resistance, the dictatorship embarked on a policy of privatisation, dismantling the public sector and establishing organisations that were part of the regime. Labour laws were reformed to stifle trade union democracy and abolish independent trade union organisations. This practice continued until 11 April 2019. Sudanese democratic trade unions continued to struggle under very difficult conditions, to fight for their rights and against repressions. Thanks to international solidarity and assistance rendered by trade union organisations such as ICTUR, the democratic trade union movement survived the brutal repression and managed to organise even under the most difficult conditions. Professional bodies started to appear and organise independently. Gradually they managed to present an alternative to the government-controlled bodies. Today there is still a long way to go to reach the goals of the mass uprising: Freedom, Peace and Justice. However the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, a pillar of the mass protest movement, is working hard to rebuild democratic, independent and unified trade union organisations. Sara Abdelgali is President of the Sudan Doctors’ Union (UK) Unions in Sudan have always been fighting for democracy, that is part of our history, and professional unions always played a role in democratic change in Sudan in the 1960s and the 1980s. Since the 1940s we had independent unions, but in 1989 these were demolished and went to work underground, while pro-regime unions were formed [under the government-controlled Sudanese Workers’ Trade Union Federation, SWTUF] which was politically affiliated to the NCP [Omar alBashir ’s National Congress Party]. They re-organised the unions to make them more generalised, including different sectors together, and abolished a lot of rights. This was new for Sudan, because even in the two previous dictatorships, the unions were still there, but this regime demolished them. The SWTUF did not serve its members. In Sudan in the last thirty years there have been a lot of proposals and activities, but these activities have not been reflected in the lives of the professionals or citizens of Sudan. Implementation of any change was not done unless it was in the interests of the regime. The SWTUF leadership was not democratically chosen, they were appointed based on their affiliation to the regime. We continued independently and separately, not only the doctors but also other professionals. It took a while for these unions to gather, but there have been several previous attempts at calling for unity. Mostly this was not successful, for different reasons. One of the doctors [Dr. Ali Fadul of the Sudan Doctors’ Union] was tortured and killed in 1990, following a strike. Others have been arrested, expelled from...

A Century of Striving for Social Justice

This year the International Labour Organisation celebrated its centenary at the annual conference in June, drawing around 7500 delegates, advisers and visitors, with Theresa May amongst the heads of state and government who attended. During the year there have been events around the world as member States have applauded the ILO’s work and its centenary project on The Future of Work. But here at home the centenary has been little noticed, even by the trade union movement. The ILO is not high on our domestic agenda and perhaps been seen primarily as a route of solidarity activity. Given the importance of the ILO as the UN specialised agency for work and labour matters, this is somewhat surprising. The ILO represents the international dimension of union and worker rights and employment policy. I have been extremely fortunate to be a regular visitor to the ILO in Geneva, first representing the TUC in the Committee on the Application of Standards for some years, and now a member of the Governing Body and the Committee on Freedom of Association. The centenary seems to be a good time to look at whether the ILO offers us some avenues and opportunities that we could utilise further. It seems to have been different 100 years ago, as it has been said that the structure of the ILO was a British construction. Many of the founding ideas and principles emerged from British and Irish trade unions. Perhaps the most fundamental of these, that labour should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce, was first advanced by Irish economist John Kells Ingham at the British Trades Union Congress of 1880 held in Dublin. This guiding principle of respect for the human dignity of the labour force informed the other eight founding principles: freedom of association, decent wages and equitable conditions of employment, weekly working limits, abolition of child labour, equal pay for work of equal value, and a labour inspection system which included women’s voices. The principles were aimed even in 1919 at achieving social justice for universal peace, recognising that ‘conditions of labour exist involving such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled’. That mission of social justice has not changed and has been reaffirmed in this year’s centenary declaration just as it was in the Constitution and the Declarations since that time. Most importantly, the mission is one to which the three constituents, the Government group, the Employers’ Group and the Workers’ Group, have all signed up, throughout the life of the ILO, although of course there will be differences about what this means in reality. Nevertheless the ILO’s work: the body of standards, the technical assistance provided to States, the policy development and research work, is all directed towards promoting social justice through human and labour rights, and sets an international framework for our domestic provisions. ILOStandardsandtheSupervisorySystem The ILO is probably best known in the UK for its body of international labour standards. The decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association have refined and clarified the meaning of the principles, so we know for example that the blanket ban on solidarity action and the overly complex regulation of industrial action are all aspects of our law which are challengeable. However it is rare for a complaint to made by Uk trade unions through the ILO’s ‘supervisory system’ that monitors and regulates State compliance. The supervisory system can seem somewhat opaque and difficult to navigate, although in practice it is not complex to use. There are essentially two routes for allegations that member States are not meeting their international obligations: the ‘regular’ supervisory process or use of one of the ‘special’ procedures. The former is a process of public discussion of whether the State has met its obligations, which takes place in the annual conference Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS). It is an opportunity for us to air concerns and call the government to account in front of its peers. The ‘special’ procedures allow individual unions as well as confederations to press specific allegations about violations...

УКРАЇНСЬКА РЕЕМІГРАЦІЯ НА СТОРІНКАХ ГАЗЕТНИХ ВИДАНЬ УРСР 1950–1960-х РОКІВ ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИЗМУ БІОГРАФІСТИКИ

A peculiar phenomenon of post-war life in the Ukrainian SSR was the return of Ukrainian emigrants. Some of them were hoping to improve the economic situation, in particular, to obtain stable earnings and housing. The other part showed active pro-Soviet position. There were analyzed newspapers articles in the of the USSR 1950’s and 1960’s. This was the period of the most intensive movement of the return. The author analyzes the origin, age, social status, political preferences and activity of the re-emigrants from the point of view of the biographical component. It is established that it was residents of Western Ukrainian lands who left from Ukraine before the Second World War the most. Ukrainians went to Europe and America: France, the United States, Canada, but the largest number of them turned out to be in the countries of Latin America, in particular, in Argentina. These were mainly family people who leaved Motherland with their families and had a goal to acquire own land and engage in farming on it. However, the success in agriculture in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil in those who returned was insignificant due to the difficult working conditions in an unusual climate. Many people were forced to leave the land and work in cities at different jobs. Agricultural workers, workers in industry and services dominated among the re-emirates. Many participated in strikes, the trade union movement, cultural organizations that had contacts with the USSR. It was determined that they were mostly family people, had several children, lived together in the countries from which they returned, and in Ukraine. Bachelors were those who returned from Canada and the United States. Relatively few tried to settle there where they were from. These were elderly people. Most showed mobility and the ability to break with their usual way of life and moved to different regions of the Ukrainian SSR and the USSR, preferred life in cities. It is necessary to understand the specifics of the Soviet press, it was very ideologized, did not told about negatives of the process of re-emigration and all its features. However, thanks to her, we can get an idea about re-emigrant portrait: the majority of there had a pro-Soviet position, were an industrious part of society, preferred working professions and sought to get an education.

Voices from the Sudanese Revolution

24 | International Union Rights | 26/3 TOWARDS UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION OF C87 AND 98 Sudan ratified ILO Convention No. 98 on collective bargaining and protection of the right to organise as far back as 1957, but it has not ratified Convention No. 87, the principle freedom of association instrument. Given recent instability there is little immediate prospect for ratification, but as the country marks its transition to a new political future there is fundamental concern with the country’s trade union structures and with the concepts of freedom of association. Fathi El Fadl is Vice President of ICTUR in Khartoum The beginnings of the trade union movement in Sudan was closely linked with the upsurge of the movement and struggle for national independence in the late 1940s. This stage of building the union movement was characterised by democratic and mass participation. Rank and file members were actively involved in the discussions and consultation that led to the establishment of the first workers’ trade union. At different times trade unions faced repressive measures, detention of leaders, banning of organisations, attempts to create fictitious organisations and assassinations. But governments and regimes come and go; the Sudanese democratic trade unions continued to live and develop. In 1989 the Muslim Brotherhood took power through a military coup, overthrowing the democratically elected government, banning political parties and trade union organisations. The 1990s were the darkest period in the history of Sudan. Thousands of trade unionists, politicians, women, youth and student leaders were jailed. Tens were tortured to death and over 250,000 were dismissed from work. In their attempt to stifle workers’ resistance, the dictatorship embarked on a policy of privatisation, dismantling the public sector and establishing organisations that were part of the regime. Labour laws were reformed to stifle trade union democracy and abolish independent trade union organisations. This practice continued until 11 April 2019. Sudanese democratic trade unions continued to struggle under very difficult conditions, to fight for their rights and against repressions. Thanks to international solidarity and assistance rendered by trade union organisations such as ICTUR, the democratic trade union movement survived the brutal repression and managed to organise even under the most difficult conditions. Professional bodies started to appear and organise independently. Gradually they managed to present an alternative to the government-controlled bodies. Today there is still a long way to go to reach the goals of the mass uprising: Freedom, Peace and Justice. However the Sudanese Professionals’ Association, a pillar of the mass protest movement, is working hard to rebuild democratic, independent and unified trade union organisations. Sara Abdelgali is President of the Sudan Doctors’ Union (UK) Unions in Sudan have always been fighting for democracy, that is part of our history, and professional unions always played a role in democratic change in Sudan in the 1960s and the 1980s. Since the 1940s we had independent unions, but in 1989 these were demolished and went to work underground, while pro-regime unions were formed [under the government-controlled Sudanese Workers’ Trade Union Federation, SWTUF] which was politically affiliated to the NCP [Omar alBashir ’s National Congress Party]. They re-organised the unions to make them more generalised, including different sectors together, and abolished a lot of rights. This was new for Sudan, because even in the two previous dictatorships, the unions were still there, but this regime demolished them. The SWTUF did not serve its members. In Sudan in the last thirty years there have been a lot of proposals and activities, but these activities have not been reflected in the lives of the professionals or citizens of Sudan. Implementation of any change was not done unless it was in the interests of the regime. The SWTUF leadership was not democratically chosen, they were appointed based on their affiliation to the regime. We continued independently and separately, not only the doctors but also other professionals. It took a while for these unions to gather, but there have been several previous attempts at calling for unity. Mostly this was not successful, for different reasons. One of the doctors [Dr. Ali Fadul of the Sudan Doctors’ Union] was tortured and killed in 1990, following a strike. Others have been arrested, expelled from...

On the State of the Trade-union Movement in Russia

Актуальность темы обусловлена необходимостью повышения роли и значения профсоюзных организаций в реализации социального партнерства между работниками, работодателями и государством. Анализируется состояние российских проф союзов с точки зрения правового положения и участия в социальном партнерстве. Автор приходит к выводу, что от взаимодействия государства, объединений работодателей и профсоюзов как субъектов социального партнерства зависит развитие гражданского общества, предупреждение и разрешение социально-трудовых конфликтов, модернизация производительных сил и производственных отношений.

The Crisis in the Social Partnership Concept

This article is devoted to a critical analysis of the broadly accepted concept of social partnership. The author analyzes social partnership as one widespread way that has been effective in promoting the interests of social groups under certain historical and political conditions. However, the social partnership model is now in crisis because it no longer serves as an effective method for promoting the interests of the working class and the poorest segment of society. The author exposes the key internal contradictions in the paradigm of social partnership that have precipitated its crisis and call for revaluation of the concept in both theoretical analysis and public administration. The author’s main argument is that the concept of social partnership in the modern world, especially in Russia, is a fiction. The emergence of an influential and radical mass social movement in the working class was a precondition for the social partnership of the 19th and 20th centuries. It forced a significant part of the ruling class to make concessions. Social partnership has since become a fading form of social struggle. The contradictions have not been removed, but they have been expressed in another format. The stagnation of the trade union movement in the first world and the crisis of traditional social democracy have established a new reality. The strength of one of the parties in social partnership has been significantly reduced. The ruling class has embarked on a global campaign against the social and labor rights of the population at large. Under these conditions, social partnership has lost its conceptual grounding. The institutions of social partnership have been powerless to defend the rights of the common people to pensions, medical care, accessible education, decent wages, guaranteed jobs and protection from poverty. The crisis in the concept of social partnership requires renewed vigor and dedication in the social movements that struggle to advance the social and labor rights of the people.

The Durban Moment: turning temporary worker action into a permanent democratic trade union movement … and then … ?

The Durban Moment: turning temporary worker action into a permanent democratic trade union movement … and then … ?

Modern studies on trade unions within the framework of the sociology of trade union movement

Modern studies on trade unions within the framework of the sociology of trade union movement

Public Service and restriction of basic labour rights in Japan

6 | International Union Rights | 26/1 FOCUS | UNION RIGHTS OF STATE ADMINISTRATION AND ESSENTIAL SERVICES WORKERS Public Service and restriction of basic labour rights in Japan Still restricted: basic rights for Japanese public service workers In Japan, the basic labour rights of public sector workers employed by central and local government are largely restricted. In legal terms, trade unions in the public sector are called ‘employee organizations’. They have the right to organise, but do not have the rights to adopt collective bargaining agreement, nor to strike. This is a high hurdle or obstacle to achieve better working conditions, as we negotiate with the National Personnel Authority for central government employees and with each local government’s personnel commission or equality commission for local government employees. As a result, their terms and conditions are regulated by law, ordinance and orders legally committed to recommendation or opinion by those compensatory structures. However, this broad restriction violates the Constitution of Japan, which granted basic labour rights for all workers. The ILO supervisory bodies have repeatedly criticised the government of Japan, and they have requested improvements to rights for public servants. We, Japanese public sector unions, have struggled to restore our rights. The restrictions have posed a lot of challenges and difficulties First, we face decreasing wage standards for public service workers, particularly low starting pay as well as blunting wage increases for workers over 45 years of age. This particular pattern of public service workers wage reflects that of private sector workers. In 1973, the Japanese trade union movement achieved a 20.1 percent wage increase in the ‘Shunto’ (‘Spring Offensive’) collective bargaining, and in 1974 it achieved 32.9 percent. The number of strikes in 1974 was 11,576, which is the highest number since the Second World War. Business quickly reacted, and organised a counterattack at the bargaining table, and on the right to strike – not only in the private sector, but also in the public sector, so that wage increases could not take place by workers’ strike. Secondly, the restriction caused deterioration of administration. Under the principle of separation of powers, legislation is superior to the power of administration. Separate from the Diet (parliament in Japan), the administration is neutral and maintained stability and continuity in order to secure rights and interests of the people. Taking into consideration that the will of the cabinet consists of parliamentarians, the administration has maintained neutrality by collecting objective and fair data and statistics, or always made multiple proposals in policy issues. However, due to the lack of equal labour-employer negotiation and basic rights, political power now has superiority in policy proposals in a top-down way. In recent years, we have witnessed a series of frauds and the use of illicit statistics or data to support positions of the cabinet. Thirdly, this creates a lack of confidence in the political process, and politics is becoming not ‘for the people’ but also ‘for the handful number of ruling people’. We do believe it is vital to realise democracy in public sector workplaces for more open and democratic administration processes for the people. Basic labour rights for public service workers are vital for decent administration. I also have to point out that the lack of basic labour rights impoverishes public service workers, including those in essential services. They are denied an independent-minded way of work, and are working without any rights under de facto oppression by the employer. The most serious case is the prohibition of the rights to organise for firefighters and prison staff, a violation of ILO Convention 87. The government has implemented a policy to privatise or outsource prisons. If the prisons are privatised, workers should have basic labour rights employed by private entity. There is no reason to restrict the right to organise for prison staff. The government claims firefighters are regarded as workers in an essential service and as part of police force. And in fact, the Japanese fire service was formed in 1872 as part of the police organization. However, it was around 70 years ago that the fire service came under the control of municipal governments, just after the Second World War. During the...