Suchergebnisse

This article explores the consequences of "collective begging", that is the failure to provide meaningful legal protection and support for collective bargaining. The first part identifies the perils we are now facing, including increasing precarious work, growing economic inequality and diminished democratic engagement. The second part considers our journey here, namely how we took our (collective) eye off the ball and enabled "begging" rather than "bargaining". Finally, the third part considers potential legal solutions, including expanding the coverage of those at work legally entitled to trade union representation, facilitating sectoral bargaining and enlarging the scope for lawful industrial action.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how different actors interacted to influence local labour legislation in the case of the collective bargaining regulations in Guangdong Province, China, using long-term observation and in-depth interviews.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses the case study method to investigate the process of local labour law-making in China. First, the primary data focus on a series of in-depth interviews conducted in 2014. In Guangdong Province, the author collected the thoughts of three well-informed provincial and municipal-level trade union officials, one government official, five scholars and lawyers, four enterprise union chairs and three labour activists. Second, these interviews are triangulated with legislative documents and the author's observation of three public meetings. Held at various times from 2011 to 2014, these meetings were organized to discuss different legislative drafts on collective bargaining.


Findings
The six-year process of adopting collective bargaining legislation in Guangdong presents a complex picture as different actors joined the process at different times and engaged in different ways. Labour strikes were a crucial force in drawing the attention of both the local and central governments and functioned as a means to repeatedly make collective labour relations a policy "issue" for the government, particularly in 2010. Another actor – the local official trade unions – played a decisive role by not only putting the "issue" into the decision-making agenda, but by also providing policy alternatives based on workers' bargaining practices. At the same time, business associations, using slow economic growth as an excuse, exerted their economic leverage to pressure for suspension of the first two rounds of legislation. Nevertheless, the new political leadership assuming office in 2013, using an adoptive but restrained logic, pushed for the enactment of the compromise regulation.


Research limitations/implications
Guangdong Province and its emerging collective labour regimes are not representatives of China, but they are at the frontier of the labour field. Thus, this case study was an example of the "most dynamic" interaction with the "most participative" actors and perhaps the "most pro-labour" of China's official trade unions.


Originality/value
This paper is original and draws special attention to the dynamic process of the local law-making and the rationales of different actors in China.

Globalisation is a various and complex process that is displayed by the intensive relations among the countries and the movement of labour, services, goods and other capital that was forced by the scientific and technologic progress at the end of 20th centuary. Progressive globalisation has risen new goals for the labour law that has to adjust to the present changes. The thesis states that the main part has to be given to the social dialogue which is the main and most important means for decreasing negative consequences of globalisation. On the other hand, the use has to be made of the positive opportunities of globalisation. The main goal is stimulation and development of social dialogue in all the stages. Priority should be given to the regulation of the collective labour. The decrease of the present trade unions is a big problem. It is imposible effectively and properly participate at the collective negotiations and reach the social and economic solutions of a problem when social partners are missing. A very possitive mean is European social patners participation at legislation, but this phenomenon is not fully used when there are no concrete fundamentals of law for European associations to initiate and carry out negotiation. Having analised all the resources the conclusion is that globalisation affects labour in all the levels – international, regional (European Union) and national levels. At the international level the main place is given to the Internation labour organisasion that creates and renews international labour standards according to the globalisational challenge. Regional (European Union) level is the Lisboa strategy and European social model that can resist globalisational challenge. This level is based on social dialogue and social responsibility of an enterprise. At the national level separate countries feeling a big presure from multinational corporations has to adapt to the changes of the market in order to ensure the safety and flexibility of labour market.

Globalisation is a various and complex process that is displayed by the intensive relations among the countries and the movement of labour, services, goods and other capital that was forced by the scientific and technologic progress at the end of 20th centuary. Progressive globalisation has risen new goals for the labour law that has to adjust to the present changes. The thesis states that the main part has to be given to the social dialogue which is the main and most important means for decreasing negative consequences of globalisation. On the other hand, the use has to be made of the positive opportunities of globalisation. The main goal is stimulation and development of social dialogue in all the stages. Priority should be given to the regulation of the collective labour. The decrease of the present trade unions is a big problem. It is imposible effectively and properly participate at the collective negotiations and reach the social and economic solutions of a problem when social partners are missing. A very possitive mean is European social patners participation at legislation, but this phenomenon is not fully used when there are no concrete fundamentals of law for European associations to initiate and carry out negotiation. Having analised all the resources the conclusion is that globalisation affects labour in all the levels – international, regional (European Union) and national levels. At the international level the main place is given to the Internation labour organisasion that creates and renews international labour standards according to the globalisational challenge. Regional (European Union) level is the Lisboa strategy and European social model that can resist globalisational challenge. This level is based on social dialogue and social responsibility of an enterprise. At the national level separate countries feeling a big presure from multinational corporations has to adapt to the changes of the market in order to ensure the safety and flexibility of labour market.

Globalisation is a various and complex process that is displayed by the intensive relations among the countries and the movement of labour, services, goods and other capital that was forced by the scientific and technologic progress at the end of 20th centuary. Progressive globalisation has risen new goals for the labour law that has to adjust to the present changes. The thesis states that the main part has to be given to the social dialogue which is the main and most important means for decreasing negative consequences of globalisation. On the other hand, the use has to be made of the positive opportunities of globalisation. The main goal is stimulation and development of social dialogue in all the stages. Priority should be given to the regulation of the collective labour. The decrease of the present trade unions is a big problem. It is imposible effectively and properly participate at the collective negotiations and reach the social and economic solutions of a problem when social partners are missing. A very possitive mean is European social patners participation at legislation, but this phenomenon is not fully used when there are no concrete fundamentals of law for European associations to initiate and carry out negotiation. Having analised all the resources the conclusion is that globalisation affects labour in all the levels – international, regional (European Union) and national levels. At the international level the main place is given to the Internation labour organisasion that creates and renews international labour standards according to the globalisational challenge. Regional (European Union) level is the Lisboa strategy and European social model that can resist globalisational challenge. This level is based on social dialogue and social responsibility of an enterprise. At the national level separate countries feeling a big presure from multinational corporations has to adapt to the changes of the market in order to ensure the safety and flexibility of labour market.