Between Convergence and Exceptionalism: Americans and the British Model of Labor Relations,c. 1867–1920

Between the late 1860s and the aftermath of the First World War, American discourse about the ‘labor problem’—relations among workers, unions, employers, and the state—was permeated by comparisons. Reformers looked especially toward Britain, the first industrial nation, for clues about how to build an industrial relations system. This article explores how three generations of American employers reflected on what Britain's experience with relatively strong, recognized, legally secure unions could teach about how to handle the challenge of American labor. Their interest was serious, sustained, if discontinuous. It was most important at key moments of decision in the early 1900s and in 1918–19 when the Open Shop was first built, and then refurbished and defended. Examination of their understanding and representations of the British model of labor relations aids our appreciation of the ideological framework within which they conceived and constructed the American Way.     

Compensation,retraining and respiratory diseases: British coal miners, 1918–1939

By 1918, the British coal industry, like all industries, was facing the pressures of transitioning from a wartime to a peacetime economy. The pressures brought by a slowing economy would leave many coal miners, who possessed limited transferrable skills, harbouring deep concerns about their future employment. For those still in employment, concerns were increasing for workers’ health. Sharp increases in respiratory illnesses across the nation’s coalfields were now a major cause of disablement. Accompanying this was the almost inevitable possibility of unemployment, prompting major concerns among workers and trade unions. This article will explore how the nature of industrial relations across Britain’s coalfields changed during the interwar years in response to these challenges, and reveals how the government developed schemes to train disabled coal miners for work in other industries. The relationship between trade unions and the Ministry of Labour, and the incremental passage of legislation to address issues concerning workers’ occupational health in Britain’s coal mines will be examined. The onset of the Second World War ensured the coal industry was now central to the war effort. Recruitment was intensified accordingly. The improvement to working conditions underground, negotiated by trade unions, helped ensure that the workforce and the coal industry more generally were well-prepared for the challenges of the post-First World War economy, and the difficulties the Second World War would bring.     

英国劳资关系的特征及演变--20世纪90年代以来英国劳资关系的变化

自二战结束以来英国的劳资关系模式独具特色,其发展变化也引人注目.同其他西方国家相比,英国解决劳资冲突的方式有几个特征:自愿主义的传统;法律体制的薄弱;政府作用的不断加强;工会自身的结构对劳资关系良性发展带来的不利影响.20世纪90年代以来英国的劳资关系有了较大变化,而变化的主要因素来自于工会自身的变化.英国职工大会提出了新合作主义的政策,开始强调与资方建立"社会伙伴关系".此举表明英国工会在劳资关系的处理中力图放弃过去"战斗性"十足的政策,而准备同资方进行合作.     

Organizing for partnership: the influence of the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organisations on the British Trades Union Congress 1995–2005

The influence of the ‘organizing model’ of trade unionism developed in America by the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) on strategies to rebuild British trade unionism is often remarked. Scholars typically distinguish between adversarial organizing and collaborative partnership with employers as competing roads to union revitalization. This article demonstrates that the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) borrowed organizing principles, techniques and animating aphorisms from America, but not a model of trade unionism. The novelty of organizing lay more in its orchestration and recycling of familiar ideas than in its originality. In the hands of conservative leaders, organizing and partnership are not necessarily distinctive approaches. In Britain, as in America, organizing was proposed as a means to achieve partnership, not to prosecute conflict between capital and labour or create more democratic unions. It proved unsuccessful because of lack of resources, employer resistance and New Labour's unwillingness to provide a sufficiently pro-union public policy.     

A nexus between labour movement and labour movement: the Knights of Labor and the financial side of global labour history

The rise of global and transnational labour history has revolutionised the study of working-class movements and individuals and the global forces that shaped them. Some of the more mundane considerations of these movements, however, have so far been neglected in this rapidly growing field. One of the most important of these considerations was money, or in other words the financial affairs of transnational movements such as trade unions and political parties. This article is a call to write the financial side of global labour history. It focuses on a global working-class movement that is itself often neglected in the historical literature, the Knights of Labor, and their outposts in Britain and Ireland. It examines the history of the British and Irish Knights through the prism of their financial history, so far as we can reconstruct it from the scanty sources that are available. This article argues that their financial ties with the United States and a series of embezzlement cases became major causes of their decline and, ultimately, their dissolution. Finally, this article draws conclusions from the financial misadventures of the British and Irish Knights of Labor that are relevant to the study of other international working-class movements and to the writing of global labour history in general.     

对理顺集团公司工会工作的调查与思考

随着国企改革的不断深入 ,集团公司及下属企业的工会和职工群众参与资产运作 ,实行民主管理的职责和任务日益显得重要 ,而集团公司内部却出现了工会组织断层 ,民主管理断档的现象 ,这必须引起我们的高度重视并采取相应的对策。     

论工会在劳动关系中的独立性与代表性——基于企业工会干部职业化的若干思考

企业工会在劳动关系中存在着对企业的依附性,难以实现劳资关系的博弈制衡,有其多方面的社会历史原因.为使企业工会更好地维护劳动者合法权益,构建和谐稳定的劳动关系,以上级工会从社会上招聘、派遣为特征的企业工会干部职业化,是目前探索企业工会成为劳资关系中平等主体的基本思路和主要模式.然而,这种"嵌入式"的企业工会干部职业化模式,虽然强调了企业劳动关系中工会的独立性和专业化,但可能会出现工会代表性的先天不足.符合中国工会性质和职能要求的企业工会干部职业化,应以"内生"于企业的工会代表性为基础,以工会在劳动关系中的独立性为表现形式.     

关于县区建立小行业工会的思考——以大连旅顺口区小行业工会组建工作为例

建设县区小行业工会是推进县区工会工作的重要内容,是上级产业工会组织体制的贯穿、工作机制的延伸、职能范围的扩大,是贯彻落实"组织起来,切实维权"工作方针的有效途径.加强县区小行业工会建设,要围绕行业政策和职工利益需求,加强源头参与,并建立健全相关机制.     

信阳外出务工人员工会联合会组织模式的特点和实践意义

河南信阳外出务工人员工会联合会,是集外出务工人员输出地和输入地工会工作于一体的新型工会组织模式,其主要特点是工会组织实行跨地区双向管理、双向维权,突破了传统的、以当地企业或其他经济组织为依托发展会员的工会建会模式,是创新工会组织形式的有益探索。对于分散在城市、流动性强、以亲缘地缘为主要生活和交往方式的进城务工人员来说,信阳模式不失为一种行之有效的新形式,有利于最大限度地将进城务工人员组织起来,对刚刚起步的进城务工人员工会的组建,具有一定的借鉴作用。     

Capitalism,workers organising and the shifting meanings of workplace democracy

This article explores the limits imposed by a capitalist system of industrial relations on the construction of workplace democracy. It does so by focusing on the experiences of two grass-roots organisations, from both the formal and informal sectors of the economy, in the context of contemporary Argentina. Against one-sided and abstract views of union democracy, the article argues that, for a critical engagement on the issue of democracy, we should go beyond analyses that consider this in isolation from the material, institutional and ideological capitalist context within which unions’ actions are inserted. Democracy permeates the life of unions as collective organisations, but the struggle for control in a context of unbalanced power shapes democracy as a practice. Questions about the right balance between democratic decision-making and delegation and between efficiency and accountability in unions remain open.     

工会组织变革与形象再造

职工群众把工会告上法庭的案例时有发生,反映了工会组织存在着深刻的结构性弊端。消除工会组织的行政化倾向势在必行。建立民主的工会、高效务实的工会既离不开工会理论创新,也需要形象再造。     

组建民营企业工会的几点思考

目前 ,作为我国社会主义市场经济的重要组成部分的非公有制经济迅速发展 ,在这些非公有制企业中组建工会 ,已成当务之急。在这些企业中工会的组织体制 ,运行方式都有新的特点 ,给工会工作带来了新的课题。     

“一带一路”视角下的工会问题研究

"一带一路"倡仪实施以来,如何与当地工会合作是中资企业在"一带一路"沿线国家投资和经营管理中,在劳动关系方面必须面临的重要问题之一。"一带一路"沿线国家工会特点明显,差异很大。中东欧国家工会组织率高,集体谈判覆盖率也高;东南亚国家工会组织率相对较低,但组织力量很强。工会与其他非政府组织的各自力量、相互关系也不尽相同,中东欧地区工会组织强大,雇主联合会也强大;西亚北非地区工会组织力量弱,但有其他非政府组织代行部分工会职能。因此,应该从遵守工会相关法律制度,提升对构建和谐劳动关系重要性的认识,找到与东道国工会恰当的合作模式,避免简单移植等方面出发,提高中资企业与当地工会合作的能力。     

夯实工会工作基础加强基层工会建设

"组织起来,切实维权"是夯实工会工作基础,加强基层工会建设的基础工程.夯实基础要从工会小组入手,小组建设是工会这座大厦的根基.基层工会工作是工会的基础,职工群众在基层,只有做好基层工会工作,工会大厦的基础才牢固,工会才能真正成为职工群众依赖的组织,以激发工会活力,推动全面工作的创新和发展.     

试析工会的社团法人地位

工会具有社团法人资格.这一法律事实并未得到应有的重视.正确把握社团法人的内涵,认识工会社团法人资格的内在要求,理解工会与政府及企事业间平等的法律地位,正确处理工会与相关方的关系,是工会履行维护职能的前提之一.     

新时代工会法律援助制度创新发展研究

工会法律援助工作是国家法律援助事业的重要组成部分。创新发展工会法律援助制度既是贯彻 中央关于群团改革决策部署的必然要求，也是落实法律规定、加强工会服务职工和维护职工合法权益工作、维 护职工队伍和社会稳定的重大举措，具有重要的现实意义。多年来，特别是群团改革以来，工会法律援助制度 建设取得了突出成效，但也存在思想认识不到位、队伍建设亟须加强、运行机制有待完善、资金保障仍显不足 等问题。研究认为，应从做好顶层设计、完善协作机制、培育人才队伍、创新工作机制、拓宽经费渠道等方面 入手，创新发展新时代工会法律援助制度。     

西方工会参与促进就业、维护工人劳动就业权益的基本经验及其启示

失业是当今世界各国普遍面临的社会经济问题。面对严峻的失业问题,西方国家政府、工会、雇主以及社会各界纷纷进行讨论,寻求良策,提出了各种主张、措施和方案。西方国家的工会为了维护工人的劳动就业权利,从本国的实际情况出发,采取了一系列切实可行的措施,并取得了一定的实效。当前和今后一段时期,中国面临着严峻的就业挑战,工会应当借鉴西方工会的成功经验,高度重视参与促进就业、维护职工的劳动就业权益,以此来增强工会的凝聚力和社会影响力。     

国家治理现代化视域下工会治理若干问题论要

工会治理是国家治理的重要组成部分,工会治理现代化也是国家治理现代化的必然要求。本研 究以党的十八届三中全会、十九届四中全会和党的二十大报告提出的国家治理现代化理论为依据,结合工会实际, 对新时代工会治理的若干重要问题进行了探讨和分析。研究认为,工会被治理与工会治理是辩证统一的,工会 治理包括参与治理和工会自身运行治理,工会自身运行治理又包括工会自身组织建设和工会组织的运行。为实 现工会治理体系和治理能力的现代化,应夯实工会治理体系的制度基础,着力提升工会治理能力,强化工会社 会团体法人治理,以发挥我国工会制度的优势与效能,推动中国工运事业的现代化。     

Trade union censorship

This article describes the author's experience of commisioned reseach, outlining its main findings and the response of the funding body to the final report. The research examined the effects of shiftwork on women. It was found that the sexual division of labour within the family in Britain makes it difficult for women to work certain hours, including the ‘normal’ full-time day hours, and so hours of work can discriminate against women with responsibility for young children. Protective legislation is not the cause of inequality in wages and affords some protection to women from certain hours of work in industries that are covered by these laws. Trade union attitudes and practices towards women at local level help to reinforce rather than transform the sexual divisions of labour within the workforce and within the family.The final report contained three pages specifically on trade unions and their attitude towards women and shiftwork. The trade union group at the evaluation colloquium demanded their exclusion from the final report, virtually accusing the researchers of fabrication.     

沃尔玛等跨国公司拒建工会风波中的法律和实践问题

2004年下半年发生的“工会风波”,给我们提出了一系列的问题,这些问题有的是法律层面的问题,有的则是实践层面的问题,如组建工会的权利主体、企业在组建工会中的义务、沃尔玛等跨国公司拒建工会的真正原因等。