Cultural, Economic, Political and Industrial Relation Factors to Consider a Chinese Steel Factory Must Consider to Invest in Britain or Sweden

This essay will look at various methods that have been used in the historical and modern context to give employees ‘voice’ which include Voluntarism, Trade Unions (TU’s) and

Although trade union has always been the main social institutions in societies represent worker interest, the decline in membership in many countries since the 1970’s and its consequent weakening of trade union is a serious threat to acceptable and fair working and

Employers initially resisted unions as they were seen as a ‘tool of worker power’, and some countries even banned the groups all together (Baoill 2011). Although these restraints have been lifted, restrictions and guidelines have been put in place by government bodies to govern union activity; and employees internationally have the right to form unions (Baoill 2011).

The following examines the nation of China and its trade relations with the world, particularly the United States. The focus is primarily on China’s culture and how it impacts business dealings with other countries. Areas examined include: Religion, Management Philosophy, and Business Etiquette. Also discussed is China’s growing status as a world super power and how that has impacted the global business landscape. Likewise, various trading partners are examined and the effects of doing business with China, specifically for the United States. Points of concern for the United States are things such as the

What is the role of management and unions in society today? How has this changed in the last 100 years?

These conditions provide some power and control for these multinational corporations over their workers. The Chinese workers are powerless against the influence of the corporate executives. They are able to “ultimately set the pace of production as well as the wages of the workers” (“Working Conditions”). Sine corporations may deny any connection to these labor abuses in China. However, with these powers, these corporations cannot shy away from the fact that they did have some degree of responsibility for the conditions of Chinese workers.

Prerogatives at all levels should take into consideration employers in the nation when it comes to making agreements with them. As such the prerogatives should not take higher priorities in a society with very many and large unions. The employers must be heard and a collective agreement between the different parties should be put into consideration. This explains that those in power should not take the power vested up them as a right, they should ensure that their subjects are well taken care of and their needs met.

These two articles discuss the violation of workers rights in the United Kingdom by both the government and labor unions themselves. The first article discusses laws enacted by the British government that allowed employers to coerce employees to leave the union and the cases brought to the UCHR while the second article discusses the infringement of workers right by the unions themselves through the process of blacklisting workers. Both these examples, and the long duration of time these cases happened, surprised me given the longstanding history of workers rights in Britain and my American idea of modern British fairness and left leaning ideals.

Union and collective bargaining rights are important for improvement as well as maintaining labor conditions and employment relations and are most certainly essential in international labor. Unions and collective bargaining rights are designed to promote and ensure our human rights are protected. This certainly doesn’t mean there aren’t flaws in the system, however, the intention of unions and collective bargaining is to safeguard workers, employers as well as the government to make it harmonious.

Minimum wage, maternity leave, and employee freedom of speech are all important topics today, but inequality in the workplace has become one of the defining issues of the start of the current century. When one looks to the proposed solutions for and refutation of the idea, conflict between victims of the same system becomes disturbingly clear. Some argue that no inequality exists to be addressed, and some argue that the government should intervene directly to end any inequity at all. One can reasonably see, however, that allowing all workers to voice their opinions in workplace democracies initiated by the bargaining power of unions may be the best way to implement what workers desire and

The last few decades have seen an unprecedented decline in the density and bargaining power of trade unions in western democracies. Among the reasons for this trend, include rapid globalization, volatile market conditions that trigger unemployment, the prevalence of anti-union laws, and intense hostility of employers towards unionization. Cyclic economic downturns have increased the operating costs over the years, especially in the form of wages and salaries demanded by employees through trade unions. High costs of operations translate into profit and revenue erosion, which threatens the viability of business organizations. For this reason, the majority of employers perceive unions as a “competitive liability” (Jackson, 2013). Employer hostility towards unions has intensified in recent years, leading to increased violations of labor laws in various workplaces. Companies use threats of job dismissals and sweet deals such as employee improvement programs to minimize union membership in their firms (Foster, Laird, McAndrew, & Murrie, n.d.). In the face of rising unemployment and surplus labor provided by low-skilled immigrant workers, employees are reluctant to engage in activities that threaten their job security, including unionism. As a result, union density and influence continues to fall particularly in the private sector where managerial resistance is stronger and endemic in the wake of capitalism and profit-maximization orientation (Jackson, 2013). This

With China emerging as a global power in business within the last decade, knowing about doing business in China has become more important than ever. There are both many advantanges and challenges with doing business in China in this modern era, and understanding both sides of this coin is the key to being successful in China. Some aspects to keep in mind include the cultural barrier, the price of the work force in China compared to the United States, and have the “made in China” brand be accepted back in the United States.

Another actor of employment relationship is union, defined as “a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their working lives” (S&B Webb, 1898). The function of union which is let workers join together to organise a union and the union which can empower them in the employment relationship. Union also is “legitimate voice of employees” in bargaining with employers (Nankervis et al, 2005, p.555). Unions like Queensland Teachers Union, Transport Workers Union, Queensland Public Sector Union have been successful in Australia in achieving improved wages and working conditions for employees. People join the union is because of their dissatisfaction with economic aspects of the job, a desire to influence the work environment and also believes that benefits of unionism outweigh the expected cost. According to the case, it shows that health union are battling to secure next year’s pay rise for nurses against a background of public sector cuts. Moreover, in the case, Snow (2009) believes that the union it is appropriate that staff are rewarded through training and pay where there are significant improvements in quality and services.(p 7).Unions have previously called for staff to be rewarded for efficiency savings, but employers have been reluctant to introduce such measures. (Snow, 2009, p.7). From this we can see that union also pay an important role on involvement of managers and business

British Union was hostile to partnerships with employers in the beginning due to political and economic environment but there was a change in 1990’s when there have been a number of agreements between unions and managements. For example, partnership agreements against membership loss by reducing the employer 's incentive to de-unionize: at Tesco, the shop-workers ' union USDAW increased its membership by almost 20,000 during the first twelve months of the agreement, a rise in density from 51 to 58% (Haynes and Allen, 2000:12). Or in term of wages and conditions, According to TUC, partnership companies offer levels of pay 50% higher than in non-partnership firms and very rarely declare compulsory redundancies because of their commitment to employment policies (TUC Partnership Institute, 2001b).

H&M has an open entryway strategy (open door policy) allowing all employees the privilege to talk about any business related issue straightforwardly with management. They additionally bolster their employee’s privilege to arrange and choose who ought to speak to them in the working environment. This clearly show that H&M has a positive experience of transparent dialog with the exchange unions, and they invite such relations wherever they work. Cases of a joint effort on staffing issues incorporate their occurrence with Union Network International (UNI) and the work they do with the European Works Council