In 1997 when ALU first investigated Codes of Conduct (CoCos), adoption of a CoCo was seen as progress because until around that time transnational corporations (TNCs) denied responsibility for the way their sub-contractors treated workers.
A labour affairs expert discusses the difference between individual and collective contracts, and how the Australian establishment is trying to persuade workers to sign individual contracts.
An employment contract is a formal legal agreement between an employer and employee or the employee’s representative, usually a trade union.
From a legal viewpoint, even workers who never sign an employment agreement still have a verbal or unwritten contract with employers which has the backing of law in many countries.
Ever since companies began to use legal means to force workers to accept their conditions, a written contract signed by individual workers and a company representative is increasingly common.
A Postal Workers Federation activist and delivery worker writes of his experiences over the last four months to negotiate a two year contract with state owned enterprise New Zealand Post, and makes observations on the role of another larger union which Post prefers to ‘represent’ its employees.
On 2 October this year a new Employment Relations Act became law in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
This is an abbreviated version of the full Verite report.
Contract workers in Taiwan, mostly from Thailand and the Philippines, face labour exploitation that constitutes a significant compliance risk [to codes of conduct] for associated companies that purchase goods from unlawful factories there.
This edition of ALU looks at different experiences in the complex world of employment contracts.
A labour affairs expert discusses the difference between individual and collective contracts, and how the Australian establishment is trying to persuade workers to sign individual contracts.
The Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) and subsequent International Labour Organisation (ILO) declarations recognised that availability of an "adequate level of social protection" is a basic right of all people.
From: "Pete and Carolyn" <luskcox@xtra.co.nz>
Subject: unions and the Internet
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 21:07:47 +1200
To Chris Bailey, LabourNet UK
Hi Chris,
I was very interested to read your article 'Labour movement and the Internet' in Asian Labour Update, May 2000. What you describe ties in closely with my experience.
South Korea's economy has fallen into serious crisis since 1997 and is now under the control of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The current economic troubles were unexpected, but the causes seem to be rooted deep in the South Korean economic structure.
The government's labour policy is determined by an economic system that places capitalist growth above all. This enables the capitalist system to continually reproduce itself because capitalist growth requires state protection, which the state provides through legal and political systems. The state thus presents itself as the guarantor of economic growth as well as the guardian and key player in the economy.
Guangzhou municipal government has earmarked 60 million yuan1 over three years to entice students back to the city from overseas. Each returnee will be granted 100,000 yuan1 with which to 'start up or invest in special enterprises'. China Daily, 18 May 2000.
From various UNDP and World Health Organisation reports; and from Third World Network - What does globalisation mean for health? by Diana Smith; and Experts attack shift in global health strategy, by Martin Khor.
Social security implementation began in Germany in 1884. In the early twentieth century workmen's compensation schemes became widespread in industrialised countries.
This time marked growing acceptance that the state should be responsible for health care, and that the poor should receive the same treatment as the rich.
The Declaration of Philadelphia (1944) and subsequent International Labour Organisation (ILO) declarations recognised that availability of an "adequate level of social protection" is a basic right of all people.
The first ILO definition of social security was drafted with developed countries in mind. But they had near full employment then, and it is now thought that the definition is inadequate for Third World countries.
At the start of the twentieth century Henry Ford's motor company set an example for big business by revolutionising production of the Model T motor car, in a process known as mass production. Before this, production was a craft based process where educated, highly skilled craftsmen made whole pieces of the product in a system called series production.