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This paper aims to discuss how trade union leaders deal with the implementation of Industry 4.0 (I4.0). The study is circumscribed to the Brazilian automotive sector and came from a human-centric (Industry 5.0) concern related to issues such as organisational learning, knowledge, innovation and workplace learning.

Case studies in two truck plants related to union participation during new product and process implementation based on Industry 4.0. Semi-structured interviews with union leaders from both plants were conducted to determine the subtle similarities and differences between the two polar types.

The findings pointed out that human resources and workplace learning must be reviewed to prepare workers to face I4.0. Four themes are explored: modernisation origins; negotiation process; workers’ concerns; and results and lessons learned. The findings highlight concerns about employees and job loss; replacement of workers by technological devices; workplace learning and the trade union perspective; and influence of the country’s economic situation on I4.0 implementation in social systems dependent on worker tacit knowledge.

This paper presents labour union leaders’ perspectives related to the impact of I4.0 and contributes to a better understanding of industry-worker workplace learning.

According to Sen's theoretical framework of capability (1985), individuals reach their full potential once they have the freedom, intended as the set of functionings at their disposal, to do so. However, many critiques have been developed against the lack of embeddedness of the capability approach in social and political relations and structures. In this article, the authors investigate the influence of three institutional contexts (Belgium, the Netherlands and France) on the respective work-related functionings of self-employed and regular workers, with a focus on human capital investment and institutional support offered to them.

Data from the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) are used to highlight similarities and differences in building work-related functionings for regular and self-employed workers. A regression analysis is provided at the country level.

In the three labour markets, the authors find that the building of work-related functionings is more successful for regular employees, especially as regards institutional support. Self-employed workers, on the other hand, need to rely on their individual capability as regards employment protection and human capital investment. However, the authors find interesting differences between the three institutional contexts. In both Belgium and France, self-employed workers are subject to higher instability in terms of changes in salary and hours worked, whereas atypical work is better positioned in the Dutch labour market. The Netherlands is also characterised by a less significant gap between regular and self-employed workers with respect to participation in training.

In this article, the authors contextualise Sen's (1985) theoretical framework by taking into account the institutional differences of labour markets. In particular, the authors provide a novel application of his capability approach to regular and self-employed workers in an economically relevant European area.

Relying on Social Identity Theory (SIT), Relative Deprivation Theory (RDT) and System Justification Theory (SJT), this study aims at examining identity enhancement strategies of blue-collar workers who might be described as members of low-status groups having negative social identity. In the scope of this study, individual and collective strategies for identity enhancement of blue-collar workers have been proposed with the support of above mentioned theories. First of all, factors determining identity enhancement strategies have been described. Then, individual mobility conditions were explained and informal workplace learning was suggested as an individual mobility strategy for blue-collar workers to enhance social identity. In addition, it was argued that high self-monitoring blue collars are more likely than low self-monitoring blue collars to use individual mobility strategy. It was also emphasized that through union membership, high identifier blue collars will adopt a collective identity enhancement strategy. Finally, acceptance of low-status strategy was proposed for blue-collar workers in case they perceive their group’s low status as stable and legitimate.

This study aims to analyze the effect the liberalization of industrial relations in Germany has had on trade unions’ influence on companies’ decisions. Particular attention is given to European measures of flexibilizing company law and how they affect industrial relations in Germany.

After presenting a theoretical basis regarding industrial relations and corporate governance, the paper then demonstrates, via a case study, the effects of the flexible European company law. It examines the strategic avoidance of trade union activity at SAP, a case that ended up before the European Court of Justice.

The flexibility of European company law allows companies to limit the influence of trade unions on company decisions. Limiting trade unions' internal participation weakens their position overall. Precautionary measures to protect employees’ rights help to reduce the dangers of this process.

The influence of European law brings a new perspective to the transformation of the German industrial relations model. The analysis of the strategy of using the legal type of the European company (Societas Europaea) to limit the internal activity of trade unions demonstrates the connection between institutional settings and corporate governance.

The paper aims to explore the role of union strategic influence on the adoption of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) in organisations and examines how the effects of job security and then in turn the industrial relations climate, mediate this relationship in a serial manner.

The research analyses an original quantitative survey of union negotiators and representatives in 382 workplaces in England. The analysis employs structural equation modelling techniques to examine the relationships between union influence, job security, industrial relations climate and HPWS.

Union strategic influence has a positive effect on the take up of HPWS in unionised workplaces. Job security and the industrial relations climate demonstrate a serial mediation effect between union strategic influence and the take up of HPWS: union strategic influence has a positive effect on job security, which in turn positively impacts the industrial relations climate, thereby increasing the likelihood of the adoption of HPWS. The findings for the industrial relations climate are particularly strong.

Findings suggest that organisations will benefit from focussing on the development of positive industrial relations, where unions have genuine strategic influence, because this maximises the likelihood that HPWS can be adopted and sustained.

The paper provides a novel focus on the take up of HPWS within unionised workplaces. It focusses on the role of union strategic influence and the mediating effects of job security and the industrial relations climate, which are contextual factors that have been underexplored in the HPWS literature to date.

This paper aims to gain insight into managers' perspectives on the concept and practice of workers' participation in management (WPM) in Indian organizations. WPM is a critical ingredient in organizational effectiveness. However, the most fundamental aspects of WPM, such as the attitudes, expectations of managers and the factors facilitating or hindering the participation process, are less explored. This paper attempts to answer those questions concerning WPM in the context of Indian organizations.

The study uses data from 138 managers of Indian public and private sector organizations. Data were collected through an online survey as well as through semi-structured interviews. The study explores potential benefits, roadblocks and supporters from the managers' perspective. Further, to test the hypothesis, the author used multiple regression analysis.

The paper demonstrates managers' perception of workers' participation at the board level as the most beneficial and supportive compared to joint consultation and joint decision-making; however, at the same time, it is the one having the most roadblocks in the present Indian Labour laws. Workers, unions and managers' lack of legislative support and intention fuel the fire. The study also found that implementation of WPM is primarily based on statutory norms, and public sector managers are more willing to take the workers on board than managers of private sector organizations.

This research is of practical significance as it extracts new visions for policymakers in India already planning to implement four new labor codes, namely, wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety, health and working conditions. The data from the study will facilitate the Indian labor ministry to lay down policy decisions concerning WPM. Further, the government can acclimatize this analysis to plug the ambiguities in the present WPM system.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to give insights into the manager's perspective regarding the WPM using a scenario-based approach. In addition, this paper offers valuable suggestions for policymakers to restructure and streamline the country's existing and overlapping labor laws.

This study aims to investigate the nature of employee associations (EAs) and whether the EAs function as a collective voice similar to enterprise unions in Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises by clarifying the differences in the determinants and effects between EAs and unions.

The authors analyze 2,440 Japanese small- and medium-sized firms for determinants of unions and EAs. Using the bivariate probit model, the authors examine whether EAs complement (a way station to unionization) or substitute for (dampening the desire for unionization) traditional unionization. Furthermore, the effects of EAs and unions on voluntary employee turnover rates are compared.

The authors' findings regarding EAs are as follows: (1) although owner-managers are averse to both unions and EAs, owner-managers are not as averse to EAs as to unions; (2) EAs reduce the turnover rate to the same extent as unions do and (3) EAs are voice institutions that are less affected by the influence of unions.

The limitations of this study are as follows: (1) the dataset is slightly outdated; (2) due to the absence of panel data, the authors could not capture unobserved time-invariant factors that are the primary sources of endogeneity and (3) to overcome this vulnerability, the authors were able to control for the characteristics of management but not for the characteristics of employees because of a lack of information.

This study clarifies that non-union employee representation (NER) has the unique feature of being neither complementary nor substitutive to unions in Japan's industrial relations. EAs are organized not for union avoidance by employers, but voluntarily by employees without the aim of unionization. The associations have the same function as unions in reducing the turnover rate by resolving employees' grievances as entities independent from management.

The author analyses the strategies developed by workers and unions to obtain representation and the successes and limitations of the strategies, in a context of platform work such as Spanish dominated by labour relations of employee workers.

The empirical material is the result of a series of in-depth interviews conducted between August 2020 and September 2021 with 41 workers, 15 of them union delegates, in addition to 4 union members and a labour lawyer. From these interviews, the author obtains a detailed account of the working conditions and the different phases that unionism has gone through in its objective of obtaining representation in a completely new sector.

The author found that employment in the relationship does not solve all the problems of platform work, especially those related to algorithmic control, but employment in the relationship provides advantages such as the right to representation. Workers play an important role in union strategies.

This study is the first in Spain, where platform work in passenger transport includes the employment relationship as a legal contracting mechanism.

The popular uprising (Aragalaya) combined a protest movement with a movement towards commons or a solidarity economy. The popular uprising from March to August 2022 was a reaction to the authoritarian heteropatriarchal Rajapaksa regime, which drained public revenues instigating an economic crisis. The Aragalaya was based on non-violence, independence from political parties, participatory democracy, collective leadership, politico-aesthetic strategies (art activism) and collective learning. While there were multiple contradictions, along with state repression, the Aragalaya expressed new forms of solidarity, strengthening struggles for democracy and citizenship.