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First contract arbitration (FCA) provisions are posed as a solution to the difficulties of negotiating a first contract for newly certified bargaining units. FCA is a longstanding, and no longer controversial, element of Canadian labor legislation. FCA provisions now exist in six Canadian jurisdictions and four distinct FCA models have developed (the exceptional remedy or fault model, the automatic access model, the no-fault model, and the mediation intensive model). In the United States the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) included a highly contested proposal to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to include an FCA provision similar to the Canadian automatic access model. This chapter offers a balanced assessment of FCA evidence from Canada addressing the main objections to FCA in the EFCA debates. Individual case level data from jurisdictions representing each of the four FCA models is examined. The evidence demonstrates that although FCA is widely available in Canada, it is an option that is rarely sought and, when sought, rarely granted; that parties involved in FCA are able to establish stable bargaining relationships; and, that this process does not, as critics charge, simply prolong the life of nonviable bargaining units. This chapter concludes by suggesting that the practice under Quebec's “no-fault” model and British Columbia's “mediation intensive” model merit consideration for adoption elsewhere. These models position the FCA process as a mechanism fostering collective bargaining and voluntary agreements, rather than treating it as a remedy for dysfunctional negotiations and as part of the unfair labor practice framework.

Although EU directives were issued quite some time ago, implementation progresses slowly and at an unequal pace in Union member states. Certification of assessors, auditors and verifiers differs widely and is sometimes inordinately complicated; in some instances accountants have stepped into the “vacuum”, in others “certification” documents are issued by private organizations. Uniformity is far from being the rule. This paper takes Belgium as a case study. In opposition to what has developed in the USA where federal authority can be completed, even toughened by US regulations, but remained national (viz. federal), in our example responsibility has nearly entirely been devolved to the next (regional) level of authority. A survey was conducted of EMAS implementation in 11 European States: its results are disclosed and commented on.

This chapter examines the rise and fall of the Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations (Dunlop Commission) in the early 1990s. It uses the events surrounding the Commission to provide an insight into the dynamics of the struggle over federal labor law reform. The inability of the Dunlop Commission to get labor and management representatives to agree on proposals for labor law reform demonstrated, yet again, that employer opposition is the greatest obstacle to the protection of organizing rights and modernization of labor law. For the nation's major management associations, labor law reform is a life and death issue, and nothing is more important to them than defeating revisions to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) intended to strengthen organizing rights. The failure of labor law reform in the 1990s also demonstrated that the labor movement would never win reform by means of an “inside the beltway” legislative campaign – designed to push reform through the US Senate – because the principal employer organizations would always exercise more influence in Congress. Instead, unions must engage with public opinion, and convince union and nonunion members about the importance of reform. Thus far, however, they lack an effective language with which to do this.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) on the grouper fish markets in Taiwan and mainland China.

A stochastic simulation model is developed in such a way that the oligopoly or monopoly power of grouper fish exporters plays a role for having different impacts of the ECFA.

Taiwan's grouper sector benefits considerably from the implementation of the ECFA tariff reductions. Export of the Taiwanese grouper fish to mainland China and the overall gross revenue of the Taiwanese grouper fish farmers are simulated to increase up to 4.04 and 4.54 percent, respectively, due to a 5 percent tariff reduction implemented by the ECFA. The authors further find that a larger degree of grouper fish exporters’ market power would result in the ECFA having a lesser impact on the Taiwanese and mainland Chinese grouper fish markets.

The findings suggest that Taiwan and mainland China should further negotiate reduction in tariffs over other agricultural products and/or other product categories.

This study is the first empirical analysis to examine how the grouper industries on the “Early Harvest List” have responded to the ECFA tariff reductions.

Volume 18 of Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations contains seven chapters that analyze key aspects of employment relationships, ranging from strategic choice and first contract arbitration to worker participation, employee well being and work-life conflict to union engagement in regional economic development and international labor standards enforcement. Preliminary versions of several of these chapters were presented at Advances in Industrial Relations (AILR)/Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) “Best Papers” sessions held at the 2009, 2010, and 2011 meetings of the LERA.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of employee representation systems in the USA from the Ludlow Massacre of 1914 up to the events in 2015 at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The study begins with the strike at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation which led to the deaths of several women and children. In the aftermath of Ludlow, John D. Rockefeller, Jr, visited the mines in 1915 and persuaded workers that an internal employee representation plan would serve their interests better than an outside trade union. Rockefeller’s influence shaped American industrial relations until the passage of the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act in 1935, when company unions were outlawed. The ongoing decline of unions and collective bargaining has prompted academic speculation that a return to internal workplace committees might lead to a rejuvenated labor movement in the USA.

The study uses both archival materials and secondary sources to construct a narrative of one important element of industrial relations. It explains Wagner’s ban on company unions as a component of his economic agenda. Company unions provided a voice for a firm’s workers, but Wagner believed they were powerless to redistribute corporate wealth. The decline of American unions is so profound that they no longer serve an economic role in our capitalist system, but workers’ voice in the workplace remains an important consideration.

The key finding of this paper is that employee representation plans are not merely an industrial relations anachronism but continue to be relevant to today’s workplace. The paper compares an influential representation plan developed in 1914 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr, to current schemes of representation and argues that labor law should be modified to permit modern versions of the older “company unions”.

Works councils play a crucial role in European labor relations, and they could do so in America if labor laws were modified to permit it. An exposition of the deep historical context of representation helps to legitimate the concept. Future research into specific cases, including an international perspective, would add to an understanding of the benefits and costs of representation.

The originality of this paper is its combination of a historical event and a contemporary case study that brings together a theme present in managerial history for over a century. By emphasizing the aims of Rockefeller, Jr. in 1914 and the objectives of the Volkswagen Company in 2014 in establishing a participatory workplace, we gain a long-term framework through which to evaluate a particular managerial technique. The paper also suggests ways to bring our labor laws into conformance with the idea of employee representation.

The main purpose of this research is to know the attitudinal displays of Kazakhstan companies towards corporate social responsibility. Apart from this, the paper also seeks to analyze the opinions of Kazakh employees, customers and the general public about their companies' socially responsible actions.

After a thorough revision of the relevant literature on corporate social responsibility, through well structured questionnaires and informal personal interviews with 50 Kazakh companies from both manufacturing and service sectors' concerned officials, the study analyzed CSR towards Kazakh owners or shareholders, employees, customers, creditors and suppliers, general public or community at large and government. To cross‐validate, the paper also carried out a separate survey to collect the opinions of 100 employees, 100 customers, and 100 members of the general public. These collected data were analyzed by using SPSS and Microsoft Excel software packages.

Kazakhstan companies conveyed a difference of opinion in almost every stakeholder area because of the present day economic crunch. Related to consumers, only 68 percent of companies recognized the provision of effective after‐sales service and 62 percent only promised to extend courteous service. Most importantly, only 58 percent of the Kazakh business community acknowledged following a fair trade policy. Related to the cross‐validation part, a meagre 8.57 percent of employees were not content with companies' policies, 12.86 percent of customers thought they were exploited and another 11.20 percent of the general public were not pleased with the social actions of Kazakh companies.

The study presents required information relating to Kazakhstan companies about the expectations of different stakeholders regarding revising their existing plans, policies, strategies and programs for maintaining healthy and affable relations.

The research paper provides a strong information base for both Kazakh companies and academicians to understand the various expectations of all the key interest groups in general and employees, customers and the general public in particular.

A “new” interpretation of Section 7 in the National Labor Relations Act could serve as the basis of union renewal, in enabling and supporting non-majority, non-exclusive representation as an alternative to the difficulties of union certification. One potential shortcoming of this form of representation is interunion conflict associated with ongoing competition between unions trying to attract each other's members in the same bargaining units. However, interview evidence collected from union executives in New Zealand, where non-majority, non-exclusive representation already exists, suggests that such conflict is normally limited. Focusing representation on areas that make the most sense (for both unions and workers) and following union federation protocols, when conflicts occur, have both contributed to the overall low conflict level. Lessons for US unionism are explored.

Facilities management (FM) plays a key role in the performance of businesses to ensure the comfort of users and the sustainable use of natural resources over operation and maintenance. Nevertheless, reactive maintenance (RM) services are characterised by delays, waste and difficulties in prioritising services and identifying the root causes of failures; this is mostly caused by inefficient asset information and communication management. While linking building information modelling and the Internet of Things through a digital twin has demonstrated potential for improving FM practices, there is a lack of evidence regarding the process requirements involved in their implementation. This paper aims to address this challenge, as it is the first to statistically characterise RM services and processes to identify the most critical RM problems and scenarios for digital twin implementation. The statistical data analytics approach also constitutes a novel practical approach for a holistic analysis of RM occurrences.

The research strategy was based on multiple case studies, which adopted university campuses as objects for investigation. A detailed literature review of work to date and documental analysis assisted in generating data on the FM sector and RM services, where qualitative and statistical analyses were applied to approximately 300,000 individual work requests.

The work provides substantial evidence of a series of patterns across both cases that were not evidenced prior to this study: a concentration of requests within main campuses; a balanced distribution of requests per building, mechanical and electrical service categories; a predominance of low priority level services; a low rate of compliance in attending priority services; a cumulative impact on the overall picture of five problem subcategories (i.e. Building-Door, Mechanical-Plumbing, Electrical-Lighting, Mechanical-Heat/Cool/Ventilation and Electrical-Power); a predominance of problems in student accommodation facilities, circulations and offices; and a concentration of requests related to unlisted buildings. These new patterns form the basis for business cases where maintenance services and FM sectors can benefit from digital twins. It also provides a new methodological approach for assessing the impact of RM on businesses.

The findings provide new insights for owners and FM staff in determining the criticality of RM services, justifying investments and planning the digital transformation of services for a smarter provision.

This study represents a unique approach to FM and provides detailed evidence to identify novel RM patterns of critical service provision and activities within organisations for efficient digitalised data management over a building’s lifecycle.