ABSTRACT

Recent developments in the world economy, including deindustrialisation and the digital revolution, have led to an increasingly individualistic relationship between workers and employers, which in turn has weakened labour movements and worker representation. However, this process is not universal, including in some countries of Asia, where trade unions are closely aligned with the interests of the dominant political party and the state. This book considers the many challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in a wide range of Asian countries. For each country, full background is given on how trade unions and other forms of worker representation have arisen. Key questions then considered include the challenges facing trade unions and worker representation in each country, the extent to which these are a result of global or local developments and the actions being taken by trade unions and worker representative bodies to cope with the challenges.

 

This book is dedicated to the memory of Professor Keith Thurley, London School of Economics.

part 1|32 pages

Introduction

part 2|260 pages

Country chapters

chapter 3|22 pages

Australian unions

Crisis, strategy, survival

chapter 5|38 pages

Compatibles or incompatibles

Hong Kong unions as one brand of ‘Asian unionism’

chapter 6|20 pages

Trade unions and globalising India

Towards a more inclusive workers’ movement?

chapter 7|17 pages

Bucking the trend

Union renewal in democratic Indonesia

chapter 9|19 pages

Malaysian trade unions in the twenty-first century

Failed revitalisation in a market economy

chapter 11|18 pages

From worker representation to worker empowerment

The case of Singapore 1

chapter 13|16 pages

Still trapped between the state and management

Unions and worker representation in Taiwan in an era of globalisation

chapter 14|18 pages

Unions and labour representation in Thailand

Weakness continued