Managing People in the Global Economy - Example

Managing People in the Global Economy 1. Introduction There has been a considerable decline in workers union membership in many countries around the globe. This decline can attributed to different factors such as structural changes in the economy and reduction in compulsory unionism. Workers union in Australia and China plays a significant role in promoting and ensuring the welfare of its members but their effectiveness may vary from each country. The following section compares the Chinese and Australian workers union and identifies their relevance in assisting the rights and welfare of workers in the respective localities. In addition, it will discuss issues concerning workers union autonomy from government and its advantage for the workers. 2. Workers Union in Australia and China 2.1 Australian Workers Union Australia is home for numerous workers union such as the occupational, industrial unions, and general union. However, for the last twenty years, membership in these union declines considerably and in 1996, there was only 31 percent of union members are active (Kuhn 2002, p.317). During the 1970s, workers in Australia recognize the importance of unionism and many joined the union for their protection. For instance, the union depended its members against legislative changes and offensive employers (Greig et al., 2003, p.233) while enjoying a better pay than those non-union members (Mankiw 2007, p.631). The consistent decline in Australia’s workers union membership may be attributed to different factors such as government and employers increasing opposition to unions where many business owners just closed their establishment to avoid further headache. Other factors may include structural changes in the economy or the reduction of compulsory unionism (Svensen 1999, p.2)... Australian workers union were all developed under a democratic system of regulation thus members’ wages and working conditions were all negotiated and legally binding. The union has the power to question or challenge employers decision and any changes that could affect workers should go through the union for approval (Waddington p.74). In 1998, the Australian government introduced Global Social Movement Unionism to enable workers union to understand working-class issues in other nations so they can fully understand their local struggles. Global unionism is more like a social movement where the sectors of the community participate along with the union movement in defending the right of the working class (Leisink 1999, p.247). Workers union in Australia is far better compared to the China (see section below). For instance, even the balance between work and family is being monitored by the union. These include ensuring that the worker work 8 hours a day, enjoy their weekends, given and being paid an annual leave, get taken care of when sick, and given the time to attend to their families (ACTU 2010, p.1). In contrast, the Chinese are underpaid, oppressed by local and foreign employers including their government, and dying at work without any help. Workers union seems to need just a little effort to get the right protection and welfare for their members since the protection of the rights of workers have been a concern the national and local governments even before. According to the Australian Apec Centre study (1999, p.4), Australia has been known to provide legislations for protection of workers such as those associated with wages, working hours, health, safety, and equality in the workplace. However, globalization may affect these legislations as changes in labour requirements increased. For instance, since business are mostly governed by international standards due to globalization, rules concerning labour must be internationalized to protect workers’ rights. Existing legislations will then become obsolete as they only applicable to local standards. Australia’s workers union regardless of industry seem to have one common objective and in the passing years and positive changes in the economy, union membership had gradually become voluntary. As mentioned earlier, the most common reason for a worker to join a union is wage and welfare protection. Apparently, if government and legislation are jointly taking care of these needs and employers are becoming increasingly responsible then union membership is just a waste of energy. However, in the age of globalization as presented by the Australian Apec Centre report, changes in legislation may be necessary but still, union membership remains an unlikely option. 2.2 China’s Workers Union Similar to Australia, workers union in China were formed to protect the workers against inhumane employers and abusive public servants. In 1989, the Beijing Worker’s Union was formed in response to the workers’ oppression and corruption of government officials (Ogden 1992, p.222). In the old days, China’s workers union were participating in management’s decision making and in the early 1950s, their power further expands as they have been allowed to create a school for training workers (Lewis & Cohen p.127). The Chinese government during that time was actually encouraging labour unions to fight owners of business enterprises. However, when China was nationalized in the late in1950s, they were kept under control by the Communist Party. By the 1980s, Chinese workers were no longer interested in trade unions and campaigning for its disbandment or re-organisation. Many of these workers realized the weakness of their unions as it seldom resolved critical problems endorsed by workers. The 1986 statistics shows only 40 percent of workers are satisfied with their union while the rest are angered by the behaviour of union leaders who only collect membership fees and much more like a government entity rather than a workers organization. By 1992, half of the 10, 000 workers surveyed were not interested in workers union particularly those that possess higher education (Brodsgaard & Zheng 2006, p.180). In contrast to the favourable condition benefitting Australian workers, Chinese workers will not enjoy any degree of control if they are not represented with ACFTU or All China Federation of Trade Unions which is duly recognized by government and employers. However, the union itself is not as powerful as their Australian counterpart as it appears that their main function is just secure stability and peace between employers and workers (Waddington 1999, p.74). According to Rowley & Benson (2000, p.273), ACFTU is an image of Chinese government’s bureaucracy, a useless institution with a major function to help management reach their quota and hand over welfare assistance to workers. It is a worker organization that does not have any concept of collective bargaining in mind or ambitions to protect its members. For instance, since China joined the free market low cost labour enriched Chinese economy but still workers have no legal protection, overtime pay is lower than regular time, workers being killed on the job without any protection, and no benefits whatsoever (Griffin & Moorhead 2009, p.153). It was only when the problem became pronounce to foreigners the Chinese government acted and provide workers union with collective bargaining, minimum wage bracket, safety provisions, and legally enforceable contracts. As a result however, the Chinese workers become choosier and demand more from foreign employers (Griffin & Moorhead 2009, p.153). The reality that China’s government is the one initiated the low labour cost strategy to encourage investments, workers union in China are nothing but an organization with members. As mentioned earlier, under pressure from the outside world, it was the government and not the union who gave the workers its collective bargaining rights and personal protection. Unlike Australian workers union, Chinese workers do not enjoy the support of both institutions but rather benefitting from superficial initiatives by government to cover their true identity. As previously discussed, there were never a time in the history of China that labour welfare is the main agenda of workers union. In fact, according to Ogden (2002) and Griffin & Moorhead (2009) above, organizers and leaders of these unions are puppets of government and only interested in getting rich. Australians in general appears more welfare oriented not only because they need it but because it’s their rights. The cultural difference between Chinese and Australians is the most likely determinant on whether workers union and government would indeed care for the workers. 3. Analysis Data from survey conducted by the International Labour Organisation in 2008, suggest that countries with active workers union tend to have a more coordinated collective bargaining and low income-inequality (International Labour Organisation 2008, p.83). On the premise that workers union leaders are indeed doing their job, the report of ILO is relevant. In Australia for instance, aside from existing legislations and policies regarding labour and working conditions, workers union regardless of declining membership are still active and working towards a more conducive working environment for their workers. Their presence alone can provide deterrence to any government or employers who may try to outsmart workers for the sake of profit and other business agenda. Membership in workers union appears more relevant and beneficial during the early years of industrialization as evidenced by the declining density of unions and its members. This phenomenon may be explained by the fact that in the beginning employers are not very familiar in good business practices. Similarly, governments are not smart enough to know what is best for their workers. During this period, workers union is very relevant and without a law to protect workers, they will likely turn to union for help. As evidenced by the result of the study regarding the decline in union membership, workers nowadays do not feel oppressed or underpaid. Many probably view the union as mere alternative rather than a necessity for beneficial employment. For instance, minimum wage issues are things of the past and dialogue is viewed as more acceptable than strike. Moreover, there are legislations that specifically protect the rights of the working class thus workers are more contented now than before. However, the above argument is not applicable to all as in the case of China’s workers union and government. As discussed earlier, historically and even today workers in China are not receiving due benefit similar to its counterpart in Australia. Although China’s government is showing its concern over their workers, one cannot deny the reality that they have a long history of coercive labour relation. Moreover, their national workers union is not autonomous enough to counter any government prerogative thus would remain serving and supporting political agenda rather than labour welfare. According to the statistics discussed above, fifty percent of those surveyed are not interested in union membership particularly those that are well educated. The reason for such attitude probably is the fact that the more you learn the more you become acquainted with the realities around you. As progress continues and China rapidly prospers, education is becoming increasingly accessible for the working class. It can be expected therefore that a lot of them would find better jobs and consequently union membership is irrelevant. 4. Conclusion The decline of union membership can be attributed to the changing structure of the economy and reduction of compulsory unionism. It also may be viewed as the increasing irrelevance of union in the eyes of already comfortable and secured workers. The main difference between the Australian workers union and the Chinese is the latter’s lack of commitment to labour security and welfare coupled by the Chinese government’s lack of genuine interest in Chinese workers well-being. However, Australian workers union may be different from each other now but in the near future and when the majority of workers in China completely reject their national workers union; they may employ the principle of social movement and join the community to protect the rights of the working class. Moreover, globalization and internationalization of businesses is becoming a common strategy for different countries and there may be time that Australian and Chinese workers will have the same problem and address this problem in similar manner. 5. References ACTU, 2010, Work and Family, Australian Council of Trade Unions, available online at http://www.actu.org.au/Issues/WorkandFamily/default.aspx Australian APEC Study Centre, 1999, Globalisation, Labour Issues and Civil Society in APEC, Australian APEC Study Centre, Melbourne, pp.1 -13 Brodsgaard K. & Zheng Y., 2006, The Chinese Communist Party in reform, Taylor & Francis, US Greig A. Lewins F., & Whte K., 2002, Inequality in Australia, Cambridge University Press, Australia Griffin R. & Moorhead G., 2009, Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, Cengage Learning, Canada International Institute for Labour Studies, 2008, Income Inequalities in the Age of Financial Globalization, Academic Foundation, Switzerland Kuhn P., 2002, Losing work, moving on: international perspectives on worker displacement, W.E. Upjohn Institute, US Leisink P., 1999, Globalization and labour relations, Edward Elgar Publishing, UK Lewis J. & Cohen J., 1971, The City in Communist China, Stanford University Press, 1971, US Mankiw G., 2007, Principles of economics, Cengage Learning, US Ogden S., 1992, China's search for democracy: the student and the mass movement of 1989, M.E. Sharpe, UK Rowley C. & Benson J., 2000, Globalization and labour in the Asia Pacific region, Routledge, UK Svensen S., 1999, Union Organising in Australia: Can the Decline be Stemmed?, National Key Centre in Industrial Relations, Melbourne, pp.1-21 Waddington J., 1999, Globalization and patterns of labour resistance, Routledge, UK Read More