Description
Recent developments in the world economy, including deindustrialisation and the digital revolution, have led to an increasingly individualistic relationship between workers and employers, which in turn has weakened labour movements and worker representation. However, this process is not universal, including in some countries of Asia, where trade unions are closely aligned with the interests of the dominant political party and the state. This book considers the many challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in a wide range of Asian countries. For each country, full background is given on how trade unions and other forms of worker representation have arisen. Key questions then considered include the challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in each country, the extent to which these are a result of global or local developments and the actions being taken by trade unions and worker representative bodies to cope with the challenges.
This book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Keith Thurley, London School of Economics.
Table of Contents
PART 1. INTRODUCTION
- Refining Varieties of Unions and Labour Movements in the Asia-Pacific Region
- Perspectives on Asian Unionism as a Regional Pattern
- Australian Unions: Crisis, Strategy, Survival
- Unions and Alternative Forms of Worker Representation in China in an Era of Privatisation and Globalisation
- Compatibles or Incompatibles: Hong Kong Unions as One Brand of ‘Asian Unionism’
- Trade Unions and Globalising India: Towards a More Inclusive Workers’ Movement?
- Bucking the Trend: Union Renewal in Democratic Indonesia
- Changes in the Labour Market and Employment Relationships in Japan
- Malaysian Trade Unions in the Twenty-first Century: Failed Revitalisation in a Market Economy.
- Worker Representation in a Segmented and Globalized Philippine Economy
- From Worker Representation to Worker Empowerment: The Case of Singapore
- Labour Unions and Worker Representation in South Korea
- Still Trapped between the State and Management: Unions and Worker Representation in Taiwan
- Unions and Labour Representation in Thailand: Weakness Continued
- The Reform of Vietnam Trade Union and the Government’s Role Since Doi moi
- Reflections on Union Movements and Worker Representation in the Asia-Pacific Region
PART 2. COUNTRY CHAPTERS
PART 3. CONCLUSION
