Tag

Work relations

Union effects on performance and employment relations: Evidence from China

By | China, Social dialogue

Abstract

This paper empirically studies union effects on the performance of, and employment relations in, China’s private enterprises. The study finds a positive and statistically significant union effect on labor productivity, but not on profitability. It further finds that unions lead to better employee benefits and increased contract signing in employment. These findings suggest that, in the era of transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, unions in China’s private enterprises do promote workers’ interests as unions do in other economies. And they do that without abandoning their traditional role of harmonizing employment relations, as required by the Party.

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Workplace Relations, Social Dialogue and Political Milieu in Nigeria

By | Nigeria, Social dialogue

Abstract

Harmonious and stable labour-management relations are sine qua non to the development process in Nigeria. For economic and social stability, Nigeria needs to sustain the existing democracy, encourage social dialogue with a view to coping with conflictual issues nationwide. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to examine social dialogue as a set of roles for trade unions, and the degree to which this function is enabled or constrained by the dynamics of the political environment in Nigeria. To achieve this objective the authors adopted the qualitative research method. Secondary data such as collective agreements, newspapers reports and official state records were used and supplemented with in-depth interviews with key union representatives and employers’ organizations. The authors outline essential elements for social dialogue and how it can contribute to healthy labour-management relations. The authors addressed the positive contributions that social dialogue can make towards minimising open expression of conflicts with the negative consequences on the tripartite social partners, as well as the impacts of political milieu on the effectiveness of trade unions and by extension social dialogue in Nigeria.

 

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Role of Trade Unions in the Enhancement of Peaceful Work Relations for Efficient Conflict Management in Public Universities in Kenya

By | Kenya, Social dialogue

Abstract:

Disagreements are always an inevitable part of organizational life. Labour conflicts can be regarded as disputes that occur when interests, goals or values of different individuals or groups within a workplace are unharmonious with each other. The institutions of higher learning in Kenya are experiencing a lot of conflicts which are mostly left unresolved. Conflicts between individual workers/employees and also between workers and management have escalated. Labour conflicts leads to cases of frequent strikes, lock ups and any other forms of unrest as seen in our Universities. Proper management of conflicts however deserves special and adequate consideration in harmonizing workplace relations. This study aimed to establish the role of trade unions in managing conflicts in institutions of higher learning by enhancing of peaceful work relations. The study was based in Moi University since it one of the oldest and largest universities in Kenya. The target population of the study encompassed all the 683 employees in the university who were registered members of different trade unions. Stratified sampling was used to divide the population into three categories thus Lecturers, Middle grade staff and junior staff. 205 respondents were selected purposively for the study. Secondary data was obtained from existing literature and university documents while primary data was collected from the respondents using questionnaires. According to the results, 80% of the respondents confirmed that trade unions in their workplace use the role of labour relations in conflict management. In relation to whether job specification is clearly drawn to ensure peaceful work relations, 64.8% of the respondents agreed while 17.1% disagreed. The respondents were additionally asked whether existence of harmonious work relations leads to high productivity among workers. 94.2% of the respondents agreed that high productivity is achieved when harmonious relations exist among the workers. In regard to whether trade unions encourage consultations among their members as a way of creating harmonious work relations, 82.5% of the respondents agreed while only 0.5% disagreed. The study recommends that trade unions jointly with management should maintain continual negotiations with the employers to avoid employee-employer conflicts. Collective bargaining should be promoted as a tool with which employers and employees are able to negotiate on matters affecting the work place.

 

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