The Future of Decent Work in Asia: Regulatory Intervention, Institutional Innovation, and New IR Practices

The Future of Decent Work in Asia: Regulatory Intervention, Institutional Innovation, and New IR Practices open_in_new

The objective/aim of the special issue

This Special Issue aims to examine opportunities for, and challenges to, the future of decent work in Asia, with a specific focus on the role of regulation, institutional innovation and new industrial relations practices.

Asia is not only the most populated continent in the world but also home of several major economies, developed and emerging. The increasing globalisation of the economy in the region has impacted on nations in different ways. For example, Japan and South Korea were hit hard by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, resulting in the opening up of their labour markets and relaxation of labour regulation which  led to significant growth in non-standard employment (e.g. Cooke and Brown, 2015; Gottfried, 2008; OECD, 2012; Osawa et al., 2013). While India has the most complex labour regulation in the world, the majority of its workers fall outside its protection because employers tend to offer informal employment (such as agency employment) to avoid perceived cumbersome legislation and staffing inflexibility (Cooke, 2012). Poor employment terms and conditions and inequity between formal employees and agency workers have been a major fuse igniting several major industrial disputes in the Japanese-Indian joint venture auto plants in the last few years, some with fatal consequences (e.g. Saini, 2016). Similarly, while China has benefited economically from being the world’s factory, the 2008 Global Financial Crisis has led to significant reduction in export-driven production. For many workers, jobs were cut, wage growth stalked, and social security premium not paid by their employers. In short, the shock waves of financial crisis undermined national economic and business stability. A direct impact of this instability has been the erosion of labour standards, measured by job security, employment terms and conditions and other labour rights.

The pre-occupation of national governments with economic growth means that GDP growth has, in many cases, taken precedence instead of workers’ wellbeing. On the one hand, employers have found more space in adopting creative labour practices to contain cost without sanction. On the other hand, hard-pressed workers have formed pockets of resistance, sometimes aided by labour non-government organisations (NGOs) as an emerging actor in the IR system, in protest against worsening employment terms and conditions (e.g. Cooke and Brown, 2015). As has been observed, labour disputes have been on the rise across many countries in Asia, directly or indirectly challenging the stability of political regimes (e.g. Ford and Gillan, 2016). Emerging labour movements have acted as the counter-force for governments to take action to address the power imbalance between labour and capital, resulting in new legislation, particularly those aimed at offering greater levels of protection to workers in non-standard forms of employment. However, how effective are these regulations? What may be the unintended consequences? How do different institutional actors react and interact that shapes the implementational outcomes of new legislation? And what are the prospects of decent work in Asia? This Special Issue aims to shed light on these issues through conceptual debate and empirical research.         

Scope/themes/topics

The themes in the Special Issue reflect those of the 9th Asian Regional Congress of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA), but also with a focus on regulation, institutional innovation and industrial relations practices that may contribute to or undermine the prospect of decent work in Asian countries. Below are some indicative thematic topics that we would welcome for the special issue:

  • Changes in national legislation and administrative policies and their impact, both intended and unintended, on employment and industrial relations
  • Changes in national economic conditions and impact on labour policies and practices at national, regional, sectoral and firm levels
  • Labour market conditions and employment terms and conditions of workers in non-standard forms of employment
  • How gender relations and the gender division of labour affect, and are shaped by,  changes in work and regulation
  • Workers’ movements and labour activism in advancing workers’ rights and interests, particularly those in non-standard forms of employment
  • Institutional innovations, emerging actors and new practices in industrial relations and the prospect of decent work
  • Changes in remuneration policy and practice, for example, wages, social security and company benefits, in the context of global competition and economic downturn
  • Issues related to labour standards as part of corporate social responsibility  

Authors are invited to explore other themes beyond these that are relevant to the overall aim of the Special Issue.

Timeline for submission and review process:

15 Feb, 2017 - Successful authors to submit full papers to the JIR for external review - submission online via manuscript central                                                                                       

Feb-Apr, 2017 - Referee reports due in from reviewers - via manuscript central and provided to guest-editors for their review and decision                                                                                  

Feb-Apr, 2017 - Successful authors invited to REVISE based on (1st) referee reports and Guest editor guiding comments to authors                                                                             

May-July, 2017 - 1st Revised papers in (online) and back to referees and/or guest-editors for comment [2nd round of referee reports]                                                                                      

July-Sept, 2017 - Authors to complete 2nd revisions based on 2nd referee reports/comments   

October, 2017 - Authors to finalise/proofread and submit papers to the JIR online - via manuscript central                                                                                   

October, 2017 - Guest Editor to finalise the Introduction to the SI - submit online via manuscript central (for review, to be organised by the JIR editors)                                             

Jan/Feb, 2018 – full issue finalized.

Guidelines for Contributors – Summary:

  • The length of the full manuscript (including references, tables etc.) should be 8,000words.Please note that it would not be possible for us to consider papers for publication unless they are within the standard length (so longer papers are not possible to publish nor is a large number of tables/figures possible to include).
  • The anonymised manuscript should include a separate title page: with the author(s) affiliation and full contact details: full name of author(s), institution, postal address, email address, phone and fax numbers (noting the corresponding author). As well as a short biographical note for each author (100-150 words max).
  • The manuscript should include a brief abstract (150-200 words) and keywords (3-5 words).
  • The manuscript should follow the Harvard (author, date) system of referencing, with ‘endnotes’ (if necessary and kept brief) rather than ‘footnotes’.
  • For the full JIR submission guidelines and style guide, please consult the JIR website at http://jir.sagepub.com  

JIR Online Submission Process:

The Journal of Industrial Relations (JIR) is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne Manuscripts. Simply visit http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jir to login and submit your article online.

How to submit a manuscript to the JIR online?

  1. Navigate to the JIR’s ScholarOne Manuscripts site at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/JIR
  2. If you are not already registered, you will need to register with the system first to submit a manuscript.
  3. To register, click the Create Account tab for new users.
  4. Supply the requested information.
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  6. Please take note of the user ID and password you create, for future use to log into the system.
  7. Once your account is created, click the link to log in.
  8. To submit a manuscript, click the Author Center link, and then select Click here to submit a manuscript.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.

Contact Details:

  • Journal of Industrial Relations

JIR Editorial Office

Email: jir@econ.usyd.edu.au

  • Organisers and Special Issue Guest-Editors:

Professor Fang Lee Cooke

Department of Management

Monash Business School

Monash University

Melbourne, Australia

fang.cooke@monash.edu 

 

Professor Dong-One Kim

Dean, Korea University Business School

Seoul, South Korea

President, International Labour and Employment Relations Association

dokim@korea.ac.kr

References

Cooke, F. L. (2012), ‘Employment relations in China and India’, in Barry, M. and Wilkinson, A. (eds.), Edward Elgar Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp.184–213.

Cooke, F. L. and Brown, R. (2015), ‘The regulation of non-standard forms of work in China, Japan and Republic of Korea’, International Labour Organization Working Paper, Conditions or Work and Employment Series No.64, Geneva, Switzerland

Ford, M. and Gillan, M. (2016). ‘Employment relations and the state in Southeast Asia’, Journal of Industrial Relations, 58(2), 167–182.

Gottfried, H. (2008), ‘Pathways to economic security: Gender and non-standard employment in Contemporary Japan’, Social Indicators Research, 88, 179–196.

OECD (2012), ‘OECD economic surveys: Korea’. Chapter Three: Promoting social cohesion in Korea, OECD, pp.111–145.

Osawa, M., Kim, M. J. and Kingston, J. (2013), ‘Precarious Work in Japan’ American Behavioral Scientist, 57(3), 309–334.

Saini, D. (2016), ‘A popular HR chief burned to death: People management dynamics at the Indian subsidiary of Suzuki Ltd’, the University of Hong Kong, Asia Case Research Centre.