Introduction
Labor relations are management practices that focus on the unity of employers and their workforce. These practices incorporate areas such as labor laws, contracts, organization of unions, and laws of the civil service that govern both public and private sectors.
Globalization of labor relations has significantly enhanced the transactions amongst employers and employees worldwide. Many employers retain their workers based on good relations and levels of motivation. Global labor relations encompass collective bargaining with international trade unions in aspects such as law consultation, payments, workplace rights, and employee empowerment.
This essay summarizes the article ‘Reframing public service employment relations: The impact of economic crisis and the new EU economic governance’ with a view of examining the trends of collective bargaining, contemporary management of labor relations, and changes in laws that have enhanced collective labor relations at the global level.
Collective Bargaining as a Motive to Strengthen Unions
Many businesses experience decreased production due to negligence of labor laws that operate within their own countries. The relationship that exists between local and international labor laws has a significant influence on business. International harmonization of labor laws enables companies to manage demands on equity and fairness in the workplace (Albin, 2010).
Programs such as the Global Labor Certification Program enhance the coexistence of unions by studying the roles, challenges, and tactics of each union that are used by multi-lateral companies to manage employees. These programs also ensure that all the global labor unions have a common ground for fairness and management of employers and the workforce (Budd, 2012).
Most programs cover areas such as fairness of competition amongst international businesses and management of their relations with new economies such as China and Brazil. In the context of collective bargaining, these programs ensure that businesses abide by labor laws of industrialized nations such as Japan and the United Stated of America.
In addition, they promote management of the challenges and matters of concern that are raised by the unions (Donaghey, Reinecke, Niforou, & Lawson, 2014). Feasible global relations should have well laid strategies that entail sound law architecture.
The laws should address the meaning of work procedures and their accompanying influential capabilities, structural features, aims, and objectives. They should also feature the latest course actions that pertain to strike methods and remedies to curb potential disasters that can destroy labor relations.
Globalization of the unions enhances collective bargaining power to promote fair treatment and competition amongst international businesses (Budd, 2012).
Current Trends in Managing Labor Relations
Several issues that pertain to labor relations have been realized. These issues include change of productivity, fluctuation of costs, and closure of unions due to mismanagement. Contemporary globalization trends assume prudent approaches to address the aforementioned issues.
The strategies take into consideration the relevance of a union in global labor relations, union property, and identification of threats, achievable objectives, and proactive ability to control crises that can arise in the course of a business (Donaghey et al., 2014).
Changes on Laws that Enhance Collective Relations
Reluctance of labor movements and global abolition of regulations have enabled labor relations to remain strong at the enterprise level. There is a need to globalize laws that regulate enterprise conditions to ensure relevant and standardized work conditions that enhance global collective relations (Budd, 2012).
Formation of legal laws on relations should take into account the representation systems of employees. The intervention of representatives can minimize problems that arise in certain situations due to direct involvement. An enterprise level provides double duty to a representative.
In collective bargaining, the representatives perform their duties as a party. They also play a crucial role in negotiating with the employers (Bach & Bordogna, 2013). A collective negotiation framework addresses the types of employment techniques that are used by employers to evade labor regulations.
However, some employers take advantage of flexible employment patterns to employ part-time workers who can easily accept meagre employment terms and conditions. This situation raises a need to standardize global relations laws to address issues of permanent and non-permanent workers (Donaghey et al., 2014).
Developing a Win-Win Strategy
The win-win strategy is a theory that is implemented by many organizations worldwide. Most successful organizations structure their labor relations to benefit both employers and employees. The relevancy of this scenario is evident in businesses where employers understand the needs and demands of their employees.
Dialogue enables organizations to combat strikes that arise from payment problems, shifting management, and dissatisfactory compensation criteria among others. Companies that bring workers on board to deliberate on relevant salary conditions achieve higher goals and objectives (Bach & Bordogna, 2013).
Conclusion
Global labour relations are important management practices in contemporary business environments. There is a need to ensure collective bargaining, sound management of labor relations, and implementation of global laws that create uniform operational standards for international businesses.
Laws that address matters that pertain to economic stability and fairness in the world market should be prioritized. For instance, the All-China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU), a trade union that has strived to accommodate labor relations issues in a global spectrum, prioritizes strengthening of the relationship between employees and employers in various businesses.
Therefore, there is a need to sensitize unions to strengthen international labor relations to enhance the conditions of contemporary business settings.
Reference List
Albin, E. (2010). Labour Law in a Service World. The Modern Law Review, 73(6), 959-84.
Bach, S., & Bordogna, L. (2013). Reframing public service employment relations: The impact of economic crisis and the new EU economic governance. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 19(4), 279-94.
Budd, John. (2012). Labor Relations: Striking a Balance. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill.
Donaghey, J., Reinecke, J., Niforou, C., & Lawson, B. (2014). From Employment Relations to Consumption Relations: Balancing Labor Governance in Global Supply Chains. Human Resource Management, 53(2), 229-52.