Employment Relations in the Asia Pacific: Changing Approaches

Citation

Smith, C. (2002), "Employment Relations in the Asia Pacific: Changing Approaches", Employee Relations, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 564-565. https://doi.org/10.1108/er.2002.24.5.564.5

This edited volume considers changing approaches to employment relations in the Asia‐Pacific region. Such an endeavour is ambitious given the diversity of the region in terms of institutions, history and culture. However, each chapter has change as a theme, and the introductory chapter considers the impact of industrialisation and democratisation on employment relations, facilitating a largely coherent text. This book is a useful teaching aid and provides an important contribution to the existing international and comparative literature.

The scope of the book comprises (macro) chapters on seven countries: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the People’s Republic of China, supplemented by more specific case study examples of labour movements in two countries, and two (micro) case studies at the level of the firm. The final chapter is an international institutional perspective on human resource development in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The introductory chapter considers the extent to which industrialisation and democratisation leads to convergence in the region. Australia, Japan and New Zealand are compared as industrialised market economies (IMEs), while South Korea and Japan are compared as newly industrialised economies (NIEs), and finally Indonesia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are compared as the “next industrialisers”. Japan has seen little change to its employment relations law and institutions, whereas deregulation has been a key feature in Australia and particularly New Zealand. Korea and Taiwan have witnessed rapid industrialisation and some change to employment relations through democratisation. For Indonesia and the People’s Republic of China, industrialisation is regionalised and strong authoritarian governments have retained direct employment relations policies. The chapter concludes that there is not strong evidence for convergence, therefore the industrialising Asia Pacific economies are distinct social formations deserving of systematic analysis.

The country chapters, although set out in different formats, commence with a historical perspective, then consider economic and political change and developments in employment relations institutions, legislation, key actors and practices. The 1997 “Asian crisis” was recognised as an important driver of change in many of the chapters. The union and firm level case studies provide greater depth on certain countries, in particular there are three chapters in total about Korea. The chapters on trade unions highlight challenges facing Australian and Korean labour movements, while the firm level chapters are case studies of companies that have introduced labour‐management partnership (Korea) and performance assessment (Taiwan). While the chapters themselves are interesting and a welcome attempt to move beyond the macro level, the limitations of space mean these levels of analysis are barely touched upon. Further, the book would have benefited from the inclusion of other national level case studies of important economies in the region that have undergone rapid change, such as Thailand and Malaysia.

The chapters on Australia and New Zealand are particularly insightful when considered together, given the institutional similarities and the common trend towards decentralisation of employment relations in pursuit of international competitiveness. The differences, in particular the radical model adopted in New Zealand, are also interesting. The chapter by Tackney on Japan examines the enduring nature of life‐time employment, but this piece suffers from not covering the breadth of issues examined in the other country chapters.

The chapter by Suwarno and Elliott on Indonesia is particularly interesting and enlightening. It examines the establishment of the principles of Pancasila industrial relations (PIR), in which sociocultural and traditional values are reflected in employment relations. PIR was designed to achieve an ideal society via peace, stability, a dedicated workforce, high productivity and commitment to improving worker welfare and human dignity. In practice, this system has brought about the suppression of independent unionism. International attention has brought about some changes, and the ending of the Suharto regime creates new uncertainties and potential for change. This chapter is particularly strong as it is set in the context of international labour standards.

An important inclusion is the concluding chapter by Haworth and Hughes on the APEC forum, which was established in 1989 to facilitate trade in the region. Despite the diversity of the region, there is a commitment to international economic integration. The focus of the chapter is on the human resource development (HRD) agenda. The consensus‐based nature of APEC means that practical initiatives are only developed where agreement exists, as such, the traditional focus of the HRD agenda has been on a technical, developmental approach, for example, the sharing of management practices. Broader employment relations issues such as labour mobility and labour standards have been the cause of tension and therefore excluded from practical initiatives. The chapter reviews how political considerations have increasingly moved onto the agenda, particularly labour standards, and how the structures in the HRD working group have changed to reflect this. This chapter provides an important supra‐national perspective to the book, with insights into key issues at the regional level and illustrating some of the complexities and tensions. It is a fitting final chapter to an interesting and useful book.