Nigel Haworth

The international labour standards regime: a case study in global regulation

The World Trade Organisations (WTO) consistent rejection of proposals for the inclusion of a social clause into its existing rules and regulations has prompted the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to examine alternative ways in which global consensus on the regulation of labour standards can be developed. In this paper we map the failure of the social clause debate by reference to the outcome of successive WTO ministerials and we examine the role of executive leadership and related epistemic activity in the development of the international labour standards regime (ILSR). We conclude that the switch to a focus on a regime of core labour standards provides the most promising platform for progress in labour protection and an influential outcome in placing the ILO at the heart of attempts to integrate social policy into global economic governance.

Has the Strategic Role and Professional Status of Human Resource Management peaked in New Zealand

The rise of human resource management (HRM) has been associated with a quest for more strategic influence and higher managerial status. Findings from the 2004 New Zealand Cranet Survey are used to evaluate these normative assumptions. There are indications of a growing awareness of ‘people issues’ and an increase in the influence of HRM practitioners on strategic decision-making and an improvement in their professional status. Formalized references to people and people management have been high and stable over time. However, formalized HRM strategies are less prevalent and there are still many organizations that do not have an HRM department. Furthermore, there has been no increase in the proportion of senior HR managers who have a place among the organization’s senior executives.

Trade and International Labour Standards: Issues and Debates Over a Social Clause

The first ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation, held in Singapore during December 1996, brought into sharp relief the international tensions surrounding proposals for a social dimension to multilateral trade. The Singapore meeting finished in the same manner as it had started, predominantly divided and largely inconclusive on the issue of trade and labour standards. In a number of respects such an outcome came as no surprise. The debate over whether or not to attach a social clause to multilateral trade agreements draws on a long history of accusation and counter-accusation of labour exploitation and protectionist intentions, which has often resulted in little or no progress on the issue. This paper examines the arguments that have informed much of the contemporary debate with particular reference to a domi nant neo-liberalist orthodoxy and its implications for the regulation of labour stand ards. And in an attempt to broaden discussion, the paper also offers some thoughts on possible directions in which the debate could go by reference to regional trade blocs, the World Trade Organisation and the future of the International Labour Organisation.

Internationalisation, Industrial Relations Theory and International Relations

* Nigel Haworth is with the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Stephen Hughes was formerly with the University of Auckland and is now at the University of Newcastle, UK. This paper is a shortened and revised version of papers offered at the International Studies Association Conference Workshop ’International Relations and Industrial Relations: Exploring an Interface’, Washington DC, 20 February 1999, and the conference on ’Globalisation and Labour Regulation in Small Open Economies’, University of Newcastle, NSW, 13-14 May 1999. EC01101JÛC ÙltenUltionalisntio71, tmde libei-alisatioiz a7zd 1’egionolisotion are ilupoz= tant aspects of C011fe1l1porary inte17Ultionol political economy. They bave signifr-

Environmental upgrading of apparel firms in global value chains: Evidence from Sri Lanka:

Buyer firms in the apparel industry are using environmental standards to coordinate their global value chains (GVCs). In turn, supplier firms are complying with environmental standards as a way to increase their competitiveness. This article addresses the nascent gap in the GVC literature in relation to firm- and chain-level responses to environmental concerns, which enable apparel firms to upgrade. The article examines the drivers and conditions under which apparel firms embrace environmental upgrading in Sri Lanka. Findings suggest that GVCs represent both the drivers of environmental upgrading and the means by which to obtain the knowledge needed to upgrade particularly for firms in relational networks. The strategic intent and capability of the suppliers to assimilate the transfer of knowledge and upgrade are critical. However, upgrading does not necessarily yield higher profits for supplier firms. The incentive for upgraded firms to maintain their environmental performance is competitive advantage arising from reduced costs.

Addressing the productivity challenge? Government-sponsored partnership programs in Australia and New Zealand

In this article we investigate the role of soft regulation in the implementation of government industrial relations policy. Specifically, we examine two government programs to foster workplace reform through partnership; the Best Practice Program in Australia from 1991 to 1996, and government interventions from 1999 culminating in the creation of the Partnership Resource Centre (PRC) in 2005 in New Zealand. We conclude that both Programs have been successful in generating change in directly participating organisations. Despite identifying several factors which are likely to help embed a partnership approach, the evidence in our cases suggest that changes are difficult to sustain, or to diffuse to other workplaces. We conclude that in Australia and New Zealand soft regulation may have become the only acceptable model for government to promote workplace partnership.

Labour standards and regulation in global value chains: The case of the New Zealand Fishing Industry:

Building on the concept of polarity in global value chains, we explore how the nature of the governance of a global value chain can evolve and how contingencies can reshape governance arrangements. A case-study of the New Zealand fishing industry highlights how parties inside and outside the global value chain came to contest labour standards, laying the base for credible regulation. In 2011 through a series of convergent events, migrant crew on board South Korean fishing vessels, hitherto exploited, abused and isolated, emerged as a significant actor to bring about a clear transition in the governance of a multipolar global value chain. In this paper, we analyse the series of events which led to regulatory change and consider whether the dynamics from the case offer lessons for improving labour standards and regulation in global value chains more generally.

Evidence of bias in assessment of fisheries management impacts

Melnychuk et al.’s comments in PNAS (1) that successful fisheries management requires the “capacity to limit fishing pressure” and “scientists are generally unanimous in calling for stronger management” echo comments made in many earlier publications. However, their conclusions about specific fisheries and management approaches lack credibility.

Book Review: Labor Regulation in a Global Economy

E internationalisation, or, globalisation, has posed major challenges for national labour movements. Relatively mobile international capital, coupled with the integration of many newly industrialising economies into the global trading system, has had major, and often adverse, impacts on national bargaining regimes. In particular, the balance of national level tripartism is difficult to sustain when one party has in its power the capacity to leave the national system, or use the threat to do so to gain advantage over one or both of the remaining social partners. Indeed, a dominant theme in many approaches to internationalisation is the need to adapt labour market and bargaining structures to make them attractive to mobile capital. Thereafter, it is not easy to bargain eye to eye when prostrate in humble welcome. Traditional industrial relations analysis has not given much hope for an effective labour response to internationalisation. In particular, it has been hard trying to get multinational corporations to bargain internationally. All in all, for much of the period since the 1960s, when internationalisation first came to the attention of industrial relations, the idea that an effective labour response to internationalisation might emerge has languished, while much of the intellectual life in industrial relations has kept out of national industrial relations systems. A change is in effect as we begin the new millennium. A number of factors contribute to the change: the emergence of a trade and labour standards connection around the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its global trade regime, fuelled from two sources––countries wanting to see such a link (particularly the US and the European Union) and a hegemonic International Confederation of Free Trade Unions after the collapse of the Iron Curtain; the importance given to social partnership in the European Union; labour standards issues raised in other regional trade agreements; the refocusing of the work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO); the general climate of mobilisation of civil society around numerous concerns about the impact of ‘globalisation’; and the growth of corporate strategies to set in place responsible, monitored labour practices before they are ‘Niked’. The idea of global labour regulation has taken its first tentative steps. Tsogas provides a broad introduction to many of the key issues associated with global labour regulation. He covers the key aspects of the trade and labour standards debate––in the WTO, in other trade arrangements and regional blocs, in bilateral agreements, in corporate codes of conduct, and in unilateral

Manager-employee psychological contracts: enter the smartphone.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how company-provided smartphones and user-device attachment influence the psychological contract between employees and managers in terms of connectivity expectations and outcomes.,Data were collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews with 28 participants from four organizations.,The study showed that when organizations provide smartphones to their employees, the smartphones become a part of the manager-employee relationship through user-device attachment and this can change connectivity expectations for both employees and managers.,Due to participant numbers, these findings may not be generalizable to all employees and managers who receive company smartphones. However, the authors have important implications for theory. The smartphone influence on the psychological climate and its role as a signal for workplace expectations suggest that mobile information and communication technology devices must be considered in psychological contract formation, development, change and breach.,The perceived expectations can lead to hyper-connectivity which can have a number of negative performance and health outcomes such as technostress, burnout, absenteeism and work-life conflict.,Smartphone usage and user-device attachment have the potential to redefine human relations by encouraging and normalizing hyper-connected relationships.,This study makes an original contribution to psychological contract theory by showing that smartphones and attachment to these devices create perceived expectations to stay connected to work and create negative outcomes, especially for managers.