Labor unions in Slovakia and Japan
Introduction “Labor union”, every one of us can often hear this very common word. But not many of us know clearly their structure, status and their differences among countries. Since this academic paper is done for students of the Faculty of management, Comenius University, we can base our cogitation on their common sense. If I ask such a student for giving me labor unions main purposes, the answer would be based on his or her knowledge acquired on HRM lectures. This would probably be an answer according to the reality in the USA, since the literature and sources for study on HRM lectures are based on American authors. However, the reality in Europe, Asia and especially in Slovakia is much different. Therefore we decided to make a study on the status, role and forms of the labor unions in the Slovakia and in the Japan as well, because we believe, that our student should clearly know the Slovak labor unions, and as attendants of Personnel Management – Special Topics, which deals with Japanese approach to management, they should be interested in the situation of labor unions in Japan. For better understanding of the topic we decided on giving a special accent and space for analyzing the cultural and mental specifics of the Japanese compared to Slovaks. We seek to show the interdependence of culture and traditions of each country with its labor unions. Further, we wish to support our hypothesis that the evolution of labor unions and their membership is linked with the social and demographic changes in these two countries. We believe that the decreasing social security and increasing unemployment have a negative effect on unionization of workers and that with the decreasing job security people have the tendency not to unionize. Chapter 1 Japan – Changes in Society
I. History- Economy, Government Since the 1950’s, Japan marked an unprecedented growth of its economy, with which came a period of prosperity. After the WWII, the nation focused on reconstruction to the pre-war state. However, the foreign occupation has affected the Japanese society and government. Japan has been a military dictatorship until the mid-19th century. Instead of returning to its pre-war empire and isolation (held until 1858), in 1947 Japan started experimenting with democracy. After regaining self-governance in 1952, the nation became a constitutional monarchy. The emperor is the head of the state, but after WWII, he had to admit he was no godly being and nowadays has no executive power. The head of the government is the prime minister, who has executive power, along with the legislative power embedded in the House of Representatives and House of Councilors. After WWII, Japan concentrated on textile production, supplying markets in the West. Slowly it changed to heavy and chemical industry, using large amounts of oil. The first major shock to the country came in 1973 with the oil crisis, when astronomic rise in prices of oil rocked the economy. Japan reacted swiftly, moved its heavy industry production to Thailand, Malaysia, or Indonesia, and on domestic market turned back to light industry. From then on, its major concentration in industry was on motor vehicles and electrical machinery like color televisions or precision instruments. Its major trading partner became the United States and European nations. In the latter years, Japanese car manufacturers have started to shift their production facilities to other countries, utilizing their cheap labor. The economy started to shift from primary industry to tertiary, which was dominant since 1970s. [*] II. Society
The nation’s growth was for a long time higher than in any other country. It chose to take the best from other nations, and implement it the Japanese way. Technologies from the developed countries of the West were taken to Japan, thus speeding up the Japanese transformation. However, this transformation took place only on the economic side of Japan. The Japanese traditions were kept in the society. Most of the traditions in Japan have roots in its feudal history. Three major influences can be pointed out. The first is Confucianism 1), which stressed the superiority of men to women, stating "A woman is to obey her father as daughter, her husband as wife, and her son as aged mother." (Source: Women in Japanese Society: Their Changing Roles) Combined with the Samurai code, which was introduced in 1603 and emphasized obedience and unlimited loyalty to the emperor, these codes wrought group mentality deep into the people. During the Samurai era, the country was divided into local disciplinary sub-units, which could be collectively punished for wrongdoing of individual members. Individual thinking and any displays of attitude were inappropriate, and punishable by execution. The third influence on Japanese traditions is Buddhism, which also puts group above individual. In the early stages, this philosophy was highly discriminatory towards women, stating that salvation is not possible for women. From these influences, which created a system of traditions almost unchanged because of the Japanese isolation, the life of people in every generation emerged as set by rules of the society. The emphasis is on the group, and individuality is not shown. Every decision has to be a consensus of the group, and without a group a person will achieve nothing. The society is seniority based, with more stress upon males. From the tradition, older people are more worthy, they deserve respect and humility from the younger. Based on the Confucian-Samurai view, made extreme in the period 1602-1868, women didn’t officially exist, they could not own property and were in all ways subordinate to the man. They did not work and spent their time looking after the household and children, and preparing everything for the husband when he came home. These values, more or less unchanged, are present till the present. They have found their way into the employment environment, making it thus unique for Japan. They can be seen in the older generation, with the younger generation obeying them, but also changing a little. There has been some change from the Western world’s entry into the country, but traditions and customs are kept in families. In the business world, the tradition is kept in the way Japanese view their work. In families, the role of woman is changing, more power comes to her through more control over the family life and money. III. Employment
The traditional employment practice emerged from the feudal system, and remained virtually unchanged. It is based on three main principles: life-time employment, seniority-based system and ringi system. Life-time employment is available to high school and university graduates, who receive one chance to choose a company and work there for all of their productive life. About 35% of Japanese workforce (see Figure 1-1) is employed for life in a company. This employment is based on loyalty to the company and thus better conditions for the employees. The employees identify themselves with the company, and often place their work before their family life. These employees are the key employees of the company, from which the management is chosen, and only they have the chance to enter the highest levels of management in the organization. Seniority based system of rewards and promotion is based on the Japanese traditional approach to older people. This system is applicable only to life-time employees, who enter the company at low level with no or little experience and are gradually moved through the company. They move according to their professional age in the company, and their pay is calculated in relation to this age. As their job-description is not always clear, it would be hard to evaluate these employees on the basis of performance. The employees calculate with the raises in their wage according to the length of service, and this encourages their loyalty to the company. Since they have only one chance in their life to get a life-time employment, they remain with their company. Since they are the key employees, they have a certain degree of job security, which makes them devoted to their company. Influenced by the traditional group mentality, they become a part of the group, in this case the company, and they have no reason to leave this environment. The third feature of Japanese employment practice is the ringi system. It is a system of decision-making, through which lower-level management passes their opinions to their superiors. The decision must be a group one. Even though it is originated by one manager, he has to get the support of all managers at the same level, thus creating a consensus of opinions. Only such ideas will be passed higher and considered by the managers. The group mentality in this process is evident, when a proposal has most managers’ agreement, the others will agree as well. Usually the ones who will stay outside the group will not reach a consensus next time when they try to put through their idea.
All of the above was related to the life-time employment system. There is, of course, the remaining about 65% of the workforce, who do not have an employment for life. These workers constitute the part-time employees and temporary employees. Temporary workers account for some ¼ of Japan’s workforce, and they are hired by almost all Japanese companies. Four in five of there temporary workers are women, who couldn’t take on a lift-time job as they wanted to have children and leave work during that time. These workers are hired for a limited time period, and have more difficulty finding a job when they are closer to their retirement age or in the early stages of their career. Part time employees are hired by companies to fill temporary needs in jobs. These employees can be freely dismissed or hired according to the needs of the companies. Both temporary and part time workers are first affected when their company is in problems and have almost no job security. Retirement is mandatory at the age 65 for life-time employees as from 2002, but they are often encouraged to retire earlier. At their leaving, they receive a bonus equal to several years pay. This is to show the employees that the company is grateful for their life-time service, and is also a valuable tool in attracting new employees. Upon retirement, the people can either decide to work somewhere else, usually in their own business, or they rely on government pension system to provide them their living. There is quite a large difference between the disposable income of working and not-working retirees. Some of the people past their retirement age stay in their companies, and in this age they are able to enter the highest managerial positions if they haven’t already. Many retirees choose the option of creating a small business, a restaurant in cities, and to spend the rest of their life on a second, slower career. Over half of the retired men aged 65-69 choose to work; the figure is lower, 28.1% for women (see Figure 1-3-2). A. View of Work Life Japanese has an interesting composition of the sign for the word “busy” 5). It is made up of the sign for “heart” and “die”, thus giving the word a negative meaning of dead-hearted. This word encompasses the prevailing attitude to working, which is more concerned with the employee than with the productivity. The employees are more relaxed at work that in the Western countries. They spend more time at the office, but they like to take their time. There is a prevailing sense of “nothing doing”. Even though in the manufacturing sector there is strict discipline, dedication and effort, for the white-collar workers the semi-idle atmosphere is ever-present. The employees come to work to be in the company of their coworkers, to socialize and enjoy their day. Thus the employees love to come to work, but in a spirit of recreation, not to work hard. To them, their work is where they live. In this atmosphere, they get their job done, but without stress or hurry. They can react swiftly, but wouldn’t change their way of “living” at work. Thousands of workers are, moreover, employed in jobs that don’t need doing or could be substituted for. Nevertheless, the workers do their jobs with dedication and loyalty unheard of in the West. Another word that can be used to show Japanese attitude to work is sodai gomi- , a word with the meaning "large garbage" 5). It is used to refer to large items of domestic waste. Colloquial meaning, however, is a reference men use for themselves. It expresses the sad identity they have to assume when they leave their beloved workplace and have to return to their home and families. There they have to part from their group, the workers of their company, and then they feel lesser, incomplete and not-belonging. Because of this, the workers like to spend most of their time at work. Even after they leave their office, they spend their time with their colleagues in local pubs, where except for socializing and resting, they discuss their workplace problems and come up with solutions. Here the groups are formed, and a lot of business decisions are made. IV. Recent Changes Since the 1995-1996 collapse of Japanese economy following the burst of the bubble economy, times have been changing in Japan. Not only the economy, but the changes have also affected the traditions of Japan. The most evident changes are in the demographics of the country and its rise in unemployment rate. However, more subtle changes have taken place in the relation between men and women. It can be thoughts of as an influence of the West, or just an inevitable change of the country from inside, unable to hold as it is. A. Aging Population Japan is one of the countries with the highest life expectancy, which stood at 80 years in 1995. There would be nothing wrong with this; however, Japan experienced a baby boom in 1940’s, which generation is now reaching the retirement age. The population growth was much lower than expected and the ratio of retirees per one worker is increasing. The proportion of people aged 65 and over in the total population was 12.5% in 1990, 17.0% in 2000 and is expected to rise to 25.8% in 2025 The retirement age in Japan moved to 65 in 2002, and is expected to move again, close to 70 by 2020 3). Many of Japanese retirees choose to remain in the labor force, either staying in their company or creating their own small businesses. Despite this, the amounts of yen that have to be paid in retirement pensions are much too large for the economy. The situation poses problems to the country, which has a traditional respect for the elder.
The population composition has changed rapidly in the past 50 years, and the future projections are not good for the country. In figure 1-4-1, it can be clearly seen how large was the change in population under 5 years in the 1950’s. The population pyramid for 2000 (figure 1-4-2) shows the aging of this large group of people. They were economically active during the boom period, when the Japanese economy grew at an unprecedented rate. However, they are now reaching the retirement age and are posing a problem to the society. Even though one more higher rise is visible on the pyramid, in the 1970’s, the amount of people entering the work force will not be large enough to offset the first group of retirees. The prospect of population composition for the year 2050 is not very good for Japan, because the pyramid becomes a reverse one, with more older people than young ones (figure 1-4-3). More and more people will live to be over hundred, and fewer children will be born. B. Falling Population Growth Since the first crisis in the Japanese economy, the population growth rate has been decreasing. Even though it is still positive (figure 1-4-4, 1-4-5), the rate is falling below 1%, and is expected to become negative by 2025. The falling growth rate is attributed to falling birth rates, which have fallen from 2.09 million in 1973 to 1.19 million in 2000. More families are now choosing to stay longer without children, or to have just one child. Young people in Japan nowadays are choosing to get married later, and often stop at one child. More women want to have a career 3), and they sacrifice their family life. Based on the traditional Japan, a woman has to choose either to work or to retire and become a housewife, looking after the children and her husband. If the woman had a life-time employment contract, she cannot return once she left to have children. Even when returning to the labor force as a temporary or part-time employee, the woman may experience difficulties in finding a job. According to the custom, once a woman has a family, it is her duty to stay at home, bring up the new generation and create a home for her husband. However, the low population growth means shortages of labor in the economy. So, more women are choosing to have a career, filling the vacant places. Thus the labor force doesn’t have shortages, but this has an effect on the birth rate, which keeps falling. C. Foreign workers The Japanese have one more option in recovering their economy, except for drawing women into the labor force. They have already started to, and will probably increase to let foreigners into the Japanese labor market. Foreign workers can fill in the gaps in the economy, and like most Asian countries, Japan has been admitting only educated skilled workers. These are offered lower wages that Japanese workers and often work more and harder. However, this solution is just temporary. These workers themselves, once accepted into Japan, will become older and retire, and the country will have to care for them. Often they come with families or create a family in Japan, thus keeping the situation almost unchanged. The possibility Japan has been considering is sending the workers back to their home country after they reach their retirement age, thus not having to care for them, but this solution is unacceptable for most countries of the world. Foreign workers as a whole now comprise over 2% of Japan's paid working population, they are most present in manufacturing. The distribution by sectors is as following: 73.2% in manufacturing 14.5% in services 5.2% in retail, wholesale and restaurants 4.2% in transportation and communications 2.9% in other industries Movements have begun to make these foreigners equal with the Japanese. Until now, immigrants had no rights granted to them in their employment, and had close to no rights elsewhere. Unions are creating a swirl in the employment legislature, demanding not an improvement in the conditions for foreigners, but an across-the-board improvement for all workers. D. High Unemployment Ever since the collapse of the bubble economy, the unemployment rate in Japan has been rising. Japan has never known unemployment much higher than 2%, but since the mid 1990s, the unemployment rate keeps rising, above 3%, up to 5.3% in 2002 (figure 1-4-6). The Japanese industry came through a rapid change in the 1990s, when it first experienced a rapid growth with companies able to hire new employees by the bulk, offering them life-time employment, creating new positions and increasing production. At the collapse, many companies were forced to diminish their workforce, if they didn’t go bankrupt. Those who survived aspired to reduce the workforce to a sustainable minimum, replacing unnecessary positions and implementing new technologies. The Japanese had a rigid system of employment, based on seniority, which wasn’t able to provide fast and accurate reaction to the changes in the economic situation. The decision making system failed to save the companies and their employees jobs. These abrupt changes reflected in the people as well. They became more concerned with the government, with its policies and action. Before, when the people were well off, they just went along with the group. With such sudden collapse, they became concerned about their quality of life being in danger. More people became involved in politics, started focusing on themselves instead of on the group. This high unemployment is partially a result of the bubble economy run in the late 1980s and early 1990s; but is also influenced by lowering export into the US, who are loosing their buying power with the falling dollar. The American falling economy has been dragging down the Japanese, which is closely connected to it by means of export-import relations and investment. Chapter 2 Slovakia – Changes in Society
I. History
For over 1000 years, an ethnic group of people, known today as the Slovaks, were under the rule of larger political entities. For the Slovaks, January 1st, 1993, was an extremely historic date. This was the first day since the 10th Century that this relatively small ethnic group of Slavs had their independence. The history of Slovakian interdependence begins around the year 900, when the Magyars conquered the Slovaks. Hungarian rule over this race lasted right up until the end of the First World War. The late 1700's was when the Slovak nationalist movement really begins. After the conclusion of World War I, a nation combining both the Czechs and Slovaks was created. However, the primary focus of Czechoslovakia was on the more numerous Czechs and therefore, the Slovaks were in a situation not too dissimilar to the one they previously had experienced under the Hungarians. This focus remained throughout the majority of Czechoslovakian history including after its reformation after World War II. For a brief time period during the Second World War, the Slovaks were technically an independent state. However, this division of Czechoslovakia was mandated by Hitler. Thence, the Slovaks desire to be a self-governing state was not attained.
Population pyramid for Slovakia, 2002
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The uprising in Czechoslovakia, which led to Soviet troops putting down the nationalistic movement, foreshadows the separation of the Czechs and Slovaks in 1993. The Soviet influence continued on until the late 1980's when the communist regime collapsed. Finally, after almost eleven centuries of foreign rule, the Slovaks achieved independence in 1993. [†] II. Society
The traditional Slovak society was established during the communist era. It focused on family as the centre of the society, and work for both partners. Most people were lead to pass through the educational system, marry and work for the country. Marriage was usually after graduation from high school, or latest after university. The first child in the family came early after the marriage. Women could stay with the child at home for a certain time period, and then they were expected to return to the labor force. There was no unemployment in the country during the communist era. Everyone had a job, even if it was useless and the person wasted his life in the work. Employees didn’t go to work because they liked it, but because they had to. There was almost no possibility to be evaluated according to performance, so the workers didn’t care how they did their work. They always had enough time to do it their way, there was no hurry and no stress. Competition was none, as all enterprises belonged to the government. Everyone in the country was guaranteed equal rights, but there always were those who were “more equal”. The country was thus doomed to little growth, both economic and educational. People had the tendency to accept things as they were and blame the government for everything. They viewed employment as a place to which they have to go, but a place where they don’t want to be, because it doesn’t provide them with what they need. This was a cause for the early marriage of lots of people. In the family circle, they could express their thoughts and opinions, which was unheard of in the public. It was an escape from the oppressive society in the country. III. Changes
After the Velvet Revolution, the country was opened up to the West, which brought in everything that wasn’t allowed to enter during the Communist era. The market opened and was virtually drowned by foreign goods and services, most of which were unavailable before. It was a shock for the people, who were used to slow life governed by the ruling party. Democracy, which became the future of the country, caught the people unprepared for a change. The country suffered from a recession, the unemployment started to rise and there was no one who knew what to do. The industry, previously owned by the state, was gradually being sold to private investors. There was a lot of corruption, starting with the bureaucrats up to the highest levels of the government. Due to the sale of companies and factories to people who couldn’t run them or who weren’t interested in running them, many companies had to close. The unemployment rate rose each year, from zero in the communist era to almost 20% by 2001 (figure 2-3-1). The unemployment wasn’t evenly distributed, but so called “famine valleys” emerged. In some of them unemployment was reported above 30%. In the large cities, unemployment hovered at approximately 5-8%. In the past few years, from 2002 on, the unemployment rate has been slowly falling. It fell below 17% at the beginning of 2004, which is almost the 1999 level. Wages, on the other side, have been rising steadily. In 1988, before the revolution, the average monthly wage was 3020Sk. By the end of 2001, the value stood at 12365Sk. The rise was partially due to inflation, but also due to an improvement in the value of workers. Most of the companies now operating in Slovakia are foreign, and they brought with them their human resources policies. The Slovak workers adjusted to their needs and were rewarded accordingly.
The quality of life, which goes usually hand in hand with wages, has increased as well. Most people report that their life is better than it was 10-15 years earlier. However, the family life has deteriorated. This is mainly due to instability after the revolution and changes in Slovakia. The divorce rate has increased significantly, and more people report that they are either unhappy in their marriage, or that they have severe problems. The change reflected in overall population growth, which decreased rapidly as a result of financial and social instability. (figure 1-4-4) Chapter 3 Comparison of Work in Japan and Slovakia
It is hard to compare two countries which are completely different. Or at least may seem to be. First, let’s take a look at the unemployment rate. As seen in figure 2-3-1 and 1-4-6, the unemployment in both countries has been rising in the past years. As both countries are affected by the development the whole world is going through, namely economic changes, international trade and recessions, the unemployment rate can be ascribed to these factors. Each country has found its unique way in dealing with the problem, and we must admit that Japan was more successful, keeping its unemployment rate at a much lower level than Slovakia. However, Japanese regard even this low level of unemployment as unacceptable. In Slovakia, where there was also no unemployment in the past, the people got used to being in a recession. The working conditions in both countries have been changing. In Japan, the introduction of more women and foreign workers into the labor market has changed the work environment. There has been a change in the conditions of manual workers, where there is a large proportion of foreigners. Women have entered jobs previously held by men, and have started to combine their job and family life. More older people, who are in the age to retire, have returned into the labor force, either as entrepreneurs or part-time workers specialists. The wages have been slowly increasing across all professions, from 372000 yen in 1990, to 401000 in 2000. Slovakian conditions of work have been transforming at a more rapid pace. The abrupt change in employment, which came at the beginning of 1990s forced many employees and employers to look for alternate ways of working. They were forced by the recession in economy and the entry of competition from abroad. Foreign companies wrote the rules and Slovak ones had to play along to survive. Wages and working conditions increased rapidly. In figure 3-1-1 can be seen the proportion of Japanese-Slovak wages. At the beginning of 1990s, the wage in Japan was 35 times higher than the Slovak one; however, by 2000, the proportion fell below 11 times. A certain similarity can be found in the age distribution of the population (figure 3-1-2). Like in Japan, in Slovakia the growth slowed, causing a rising proportion of aged people. Even though the population is a little more evenly distributed in Slovakia, the similarities can be easily seen. There is a small proportion of children under 14 years of age in both countries and even lower of young, potential workers aged 15-24. However, the proportion of the current workforce is half of the population. There is a probability that a large portion of these workers will reach their retirement age without substitution in the work force, as there is too few young people.
Chapter 4 Labor Unions in Slovak Republic
I. Structure of Labor unions in Slovak Republic
We can date the history of the current labor unions in the Slovak Republic from the year 1989, when the Velvet Revolution took place. Although the current labor unions were created independent of labor unions (LU) of the previous regime, the inheritance, especially moral and philosophical cared by the co-founders and the attitudes to and expectations about labor unions in the minds of citizens took their place in the process of a creation of the current LU. Labor unions and their formal status are given from the international and Slovak law; therefore their existence is inevitable and necessary for normal run of business and society. First thing, which impresses a noninvolved spectator is the fact that labor unions in the Slovakia declare that LU might be created as by employees so by unemployed, housewives, retired or students.[3] The primary cell of the LU is a basic labor union organization, which can act individually or can create (or join together) with other labor unions union of labor unions, e.g. for a certain branch of economy. Any of basic labor unions has four main organs, members’ meeting, committee of the labor union organization, revision committee of the labor union organization and commission BOZP (safety and health protection on job) The next step is to establish a country’s labor union central and than is an international labor union organization. In the Slovakia, there are about fifty unions of basic labor unions and three country’s labor union centrals, KOZ, KUK (Confederation of artistic and cultural organizations) and Nezávislé Kresťanské odbory Slovenska (Independent Christian Labor Unions of Slovakia). Slovak country’s labor union centrals are members of international labor union organizations. The last two mentioned are much smaller, with several thousand members, and therefore their status and role in the society is very minor. II. Number of unionized people
Labor unions entered the 1990’s with several million members, because it was typical during the rule of the totalitarian regime that almost everyone had to join LU. As the process of creation and development of the current LU continued, the number of unionized workers has systematically decreased, e.g. in the biggest country’s labor union central in the Slovakia, KOZ (Confederation of the Labor Unions), the number dived from 2 443 977 members in the year 1990 to 751 791 members in the year 1999 and consequently to approximately 600 000 members in the year 2003. The reason for this fact might be seen in several factors, that we can divide into tree main groups: first may be massive lay-offs and series of bankruptcies in the decade after the Velvet Revolution and strong anti-labor union movement among employers, which only supported the feeling of the average people of uselessness and failure of the current LU in Slovakia, as well as the concentration and size of firms is decreasing. Secondly, we could believe, as also some of the LU representatives admit, that the current situation of employees has improved in the terms of their rights and capacity in the employing organizations, partly also through the permanently improving education and assistance of HRM departments or “employee committees”. Finally, the third factor ought to be seen in the mentality and attitudes of the workers, LU activists and the whole society. Most of them are not mature enough as citizens for fighting for their rights trough the LU, and therefore do not understand the role of LU in the conditions of a modern democracy, which Slovakia is trying to become. This is also one of the main facts caused by the, for over forty years ruling, previous regime. III. Labor unions’ goals
On the other side, nobody doubts that the role of current LU is not to support the regime and acting as an artificial and subordinated organization of the regime of one party. So, what are the areas of interest and the goals of the current LU? As a deputy of KOZ for Labor Unions and for communication with nongovernmental institutions Mr. Habšuda said[4] , the primary goals were to improve the social situation, steady increasing of the real wages of the employees and fighting for their rights, e.g. shorter working time, less shifts, better working conditions, more days of paid holiday. To reaching their goals, labor unions use so-called “collective bargaining”. In this point it may seem as if the goal of labor unions are as said at HRM lecture (Stanislava Luptáková, PhD, 27.X.2003): “I. to give workers formal and independent voice in setting terms and conditions of their work, II. To improve job security of the workers, and III. To ensure better financial and non-financial rewards for employees.” However, in Príručka organizátora[5] , it is written, that “” The primary mission of KOZ is to unify basic labor unions and unions of labor unions in order to protect the rights of Labor union members and to struggle for their economical, social, cultural, and other interests and needs, which are created by or co-related with their work.”
Among aims mentioned in the same source are also such issues as: - Implementing democratic principles in the whole society - Development of freedom of all citizens - Forcing prospective state’s economic policy - Measurements against all of the forms of discrimination - Decreasing the rate of unemployment - Creation of new working places and measurements to lower the unemployment rate and creating tools, which can ensure highest possible employment rate - Enforcing “tripartite” system and principles of the social dialogue - Enforcement of the labor unions’ rights and rights of employees in the labor law, in the social insurance and collective bargaining - Enforcement of the safety and heath protection at work, permanent valorization of the labor value We can clearly see that the range of interest of the Slovak labor unions is much wider than in other countries, especially if we compare it with USA. They don’t care a lot about the current economical situation of a company; they are ready to pursue their goals against interest of employer as well as against interests of government and its policy. On the other side, if labor unions are involved in almost all fields of public life and issues, will it not be on the expense of their overall success, lower their flexibility and retard their further development? How can they be successful with so many aims and such a complex program? Well, this is a good question. It seems that most of Slovaks are rather skeptic about the efficiency of labor unions in Slovakia, what we can see on the decreasing number of unionized workers, as mentioned above. Moreover, the social, legal and formal status of current labor unions in Slovakia is strongly affected by their mission, too. The wide range of goals forces them to search for partners and make agreements and compromises with other legal subjects. Therefore, although our labor unions declare themselves as strictly nonpartisan, they formally claim as well that they would support other legal subjects having common goals, especially political parties. “KOZ Slovakia cannot pursue its goals alone in the conditions of plural democracy. It has to look for allies. Allies of labor unions in the campaign for social justice can be such political parties and movements, which have similar program aims. ”[6] Good example might be the recent campaign for early parliamentary election and their official support of SMER as a political party and Ivan Gašparovič for president. Finally, according to claims of their representatives and their political, legal and social acts, we can sum the question of goals of labor unions in Slovakia in the way that Slovak labor unions see themselves as a civilian movement against all dangers in almost all the fields of public life. IV. Effectiveness of the Slovak labor unions
What are the main successes LU have reached in the past fourteen years? Among most important legal institutions belongs Tripartite (Rada hospodárskej a sociálnej dohody = Committee for social and economical agreement), which is an annual summit of equal number of representatives of labor unions, government and employers. A result of such a summit is a General treaty, which encompasses all three subjects and sets formal rules for the next year. Subject of these treatments are issues as minimal wages, social care and Medicare, non-financial rewards, etc. Each June or July there is a plenary meeting of tripartite in Geneva, which deals with EU laws and their implementation in Slovakia. This shows strong correlation between Slovakia and EU, and its real consequences. This topic also concerns European agreements (Európske dohovory). Labor unions evaluate as a significant contribution the fact, that labor unions offer their members legal support (layers) in the case of labor lawsuits (employee vs. employer). This service is available only for LU members. Refunding wages from funds in case of strike is common in most countries, and it is based on the membership payment of 1% from the wage. Aliquot parts of wages are refunded during the strikes from LU funds, which might ensure capability of workers on strike to persevere. However, in our country this case hasn’t happened yet. Labor unions count among their successes also their membership in European Trade Union Confederation (EUK) and International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (International). These organizations help to coordinate international campaigns in order to reach universal goals. It helps to improve the formal voice of our labor unions, too. Collective agreement as a result of collective bargaining is the basic tool of labor unions; however, from the law only labor union can act as a partner for employers in the collective bargaining. This gives them an advantage from “employees committee”, which may be seen as a kind of competition for LU. On the other side, privatization and the role of labor unions, which had a representative in every privatization committee from law, in this process was rather unsuccessful, because unions representatives failed in pursuing goals of labor unions, mostly because of corruption[7] . Among the failures of labor unions we can count cancellation of the lower or free fares for workers, and last unsuccessful referendum as well. Labor unions complain about hard times, because the minimal wage in Slovakia is the lowest among all 25 European Union countries. Retirement support is not very plausible; according to LU it should be at least the same as minimal wage. One of the most important issues concerning our labor unions is high unemployment rate, which is according to them at least 2% higher than declared by government.[8]
Change in the unionization rate in Slovakia
-number of members
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Source: ČIERNY, Ľubomír: Desať rokov KOZ.
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In the future, labor unions count on substantial growth of wages, since Slovakia enters European Union. Although their goals would remain unchanged, the international coordination of labor unions is going to be improved. Chapter 5 Labor Unions in Japan
I. Labor Unions
In Japan, labor unions are enterprise-based, organized on a vertical basis. This is a characteristic feature of Japanese labor unions, which are not occupation or craft-based like labor unions in the USA or Europe. This means that all employees working in a company, either blue-collar or white-collar, belong to a union without consideration their occupation or profession. The relationship with unions relates the entity of Japanese cooperation and the system of life-time employment. Japanese enterprise-based labor unions have contributed to the country´s economic growth. Like other industrial countries, Japan is also facing a decline in the unionization rate. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, total labor union membership was 11,539,000 as of June 2000 (286,000 fewer than the previous year) and the sixth consecutive yearly decline. The estimated unionization rate stands at 21,5%, continuing the downward trend which began in 1982. The advantages of having enterprise-based unions are that they can look after individual members more closely and can present the union´s opinions directly to management. Disadvantages to this system are that the labor unions´ activities are confined to within their companies and they have little social impact. To compensate for these shortcomings, industry-based labor unions were organized. They go beyond activities at the individual enterprise level, establishing policies for their industries and sending representantives to the Diet and local assemblies. The national centers, grouping industry-based labor unions, are another tier in the system. The three major national centers are Rengo, the Nippon Rodo Kumiai Sorengokai (Japanese Trade Union Confederation), Zenkoku Rodo Kumiai Sorengokai (National Confederation of Trade Unions, Zenroren) and Zenkoku Rodo Kumiai Renraku Kyogikai (National Trade Union Council, Zenrokyo). Their role is to represent basic policies for labor union activities and carry out those activities throughout the country. II. Current strength of labor unions
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare´s Basic Survey on Trade Unions, there were 31,185 labor unions as of June, 2000. The estimated unionization rate is dropping in Japan and also in other countries, mainly because of changes in the industrial structure toward a more service-oriented economy. By industry, manufacturing accounts for the largest number of unionized workers, 3,403,000. The estimated unionization rate is a comparatively high 28%, but the number of employees in this sector dropped by 1,060,000 compared to the 1995 survey. The service sector has the third-largest number of labor union members-1,878,000, but the unionization rate is a low 12%. In this sector, the number of employees increased by 1,730, 000 compared to 1995. The drop in the unionization rate is due to the decline in the number of workers in manufacturing, which has relatively high unionization rate, and the rise in the number of people working in services, where the rate of labor union membership is low. Another reason for the lower unionization rate is the change in the employment structure and the growth in the number of part-time workers, a year on year increase of 2.4%. Only 2.6% of part-time workers belong to labor unions, fewer compared to regular employees. III. Laws governing industrial relations
Under Article 28 of the Constitution, workers have the right to organize, conduct collective bargaining and otherwise act collectively. The Trade Union Law protects workers from unfair labor practices and exempts strikers from civil or criminal liability. In addition to legally recognized collective bargaining, a joint consultation system between labor and management exists which is widely used to promote communication. Joint consultation gives the two parties opportunities to discuss a wide range of labor issues and plays a role in averting strikes and other disputes. In contrast to the declining number of collective industrial disputes, individual labor disputes have been increasing because individual workers have tended to make complaints directly and not go through a labor union, as a result of changing employment patterns and diversified worker needs. Legitimate strikes are defined as “work-actions undertaken to improve workers’ economic standing” and strikes undertaken for any other purposes are unlawful. Unfair labor practices include treating employees disadvantageously because they are involved in labor union activities; refusing to negotiate with labor union representatives for unacceptable reasons; obstructing union organizing; unfairly treating the labor union for applying to the Labor Relations Commision for relief, and other practices intended to weaken labor unions. IV. Collective bargaining and labour disputes
Collective bargaining describes negotiations between labor union officials and management concerning working conditions and other matters. Generally speaking, the smaller the company, the more often is collective bargaining used. The usual matters discussed are wages, working hours, employment and personnel related issues. In most cases (88.6%), bargaining is conducted by the unit union on its own; Many companies, mainly large ones, also use the joint consultation system. Under this system, management and worker representatives discuss matters affecting the workplace environment and exchange information and opinions to facilitate mutual understanding and communication. Joint consultation is beneficial for improving working conditions, giving the two sides an opportunity to share information, improving the labor-management relationship and promoting employee participation in management. Labor disputes occur usually when management and labor fail to reach agreement over the matters being discussed at the collective bargaining stage. In 1999, there were 1,102 labor disputes ivolving 1,134,000 workers. Of these disputes, 419 were strikes or lockouts. The main issues were wages and benefits, and management and personnel. V. Shunto
The spring labor offensive is valuable because annual wage negotiations allow wages to be set appropriately reflecting the current economic situation and because companies where management and labor are inexperienced in determining wages can look to the ongoing wage rate for guidance. Shunto is a Japanese term, usually translated as "spring wages offensive", with the word "wages" sometimes substituted with livelihood, labour or similar. It refers to the annual wage negotiations between the enterprise unions and the employers.
The annual offensive emerged in the late 1940s under pressure from workers who were organised mainly in company-based unions. Pay was extremely low and conditions in the factories, especially safety, were shockingly poor. In the steel industry for example, from the 1940s to the mid-1950s at least one worker was killed on the job daily. The exceedingly low level of wages in that period can be judged from the fact that between 1965 and 1995 wages increased by 1,000 percent. The employers in Japan granted concessions to the working class to buy industrial peace. Growing discontentment among workers is reflected in declining union membership. In 1975, the unions covered one-third of the workforce but by 1998 the figure had plummeted to 22.4 percent. This downward trend is gaining momentum as more workers come to view the unions as having little relevance to their struggles. VI. Defenders and opposers of Shunto
Some people object that Shunto focus exclusively on wage hikes and does not allow for any response to the changing times. Shunto should make an effort to tackle the issues of part-time workers, temporary staff, and unemployed, because raising the level of working conditions and wages of these workers is a must. On the other hand, some analysts claim that Shunto ensures that wage and salary inequalities are minimized, a plus in a country that sees itself as a homogeneous society. A number of corporate executives also argue that Shunto sharply reduces the chances that competitors can take advantage of labor strife, since everyone holds talks at the same time. VII. Karoshi
Karoshi, which can be translated quite literally from the Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. The major medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress. The first case of karoshi was reported in 1969 with the death from a stroke of a 29-year-old married male worker in the shipping department of Japan's largest newspaper company. It was not until the latter part of the 1980s, however, when several high-ranking business executives who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness. It was immediately seen as a new and serious menace for people in the work force. In 1987, the Japanese Ministry of Labour began to publish statistics on karoshi. It was recognized that employees cannot work for up to twelve hours a day six or seven days a week, year after year, without suffering physically as well as mentally. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) VIII. Karo-Jisatsu
Karo-jisatsu means a suicide induced by overwork. In 2000, Japan's Supreme Court recognised the karo-jisatsu phenomenon. It found that advertising firm Dentsu had caused the death of one of its young employees Ichiro Oshima by pushing him to work an excessive number of hours, leading to stress and then suicide. The court heard testimony that Oshima worked to 2am at least two out of every five days. On average, he slept two and half-hours a day and had never taken leave since he joined the firm in 1990. The company's code: “See every task through to the end—as though your life depends on it.” Dentsu is not an exception. The National Defence Council for Victims of Karoshi estimates that at least 10,000 deaths each year are “attributable in part to fatigue and stress caused by excessive work”. IX. Unemployment and unions
Unemployment itself is on the increase. The ratio of job offers to applications reveals this: in March 1991 there were 145 offers to 100 applications while by January 1993 there were only 96 offers to 100 applications. Unemployment is also rising among migrant workers. In the 1980s many firms employed illegal immigrants from south and southeast Asia to meet labour shortages, particularly in ``dirty and dangerous'' jobs. Now these jobs are being cut. Young and old workers are particularly vulnerable. Young workers looking for secure jobs with big firms find fewer job vacancies than in previous years, and the terms of employment for some of the jobs that do exist have also changed. The Tokyo office of Northwest Airlines, for instance, in March informed its 81 new recruits that rather than receiving jobs for life, they would only be employed on one-year contracts. Older workers also face a bleaker future. In order both to save money and to be able to promote high-performing younger managers, companies such as Sanyo Electronics are ``offering'' early retirement to managers in their fifties. Sometimes the only alternative is redeployment to a subsidiary or to a lower paid job. (From Asian Labour Update.) Layoffs are also sweeping through Japan's banking and financial institutions. At the end of last month Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Asahi Bank announced they would merge and would slash 10,000 jobs or 26.6 percent of their combined 37,583-strong domestic workforce. The system of lifetime employment, which formed a cornerstone of post-war class relations in Japan, is rapidly coming to an end as the country's major corporations, such as Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi, shed thousands of jobs. The unions have embraced this process. Last year, for example, the Nissan union declared its support for the company's restructuring plans that would cost 21,000 jobs, or 14 percent of the workforce. X. Rengo´s steps
Rengo was successful in getting the government to commit itself to formulating a specific plan for a ´1 trillion employment policy under the emergency economic measures package, and to promoting the creation of employment for one million people as well as job security programs. In addition to demands for wage hikes, major Rengo affiliates have indicated in their policy papers that they will file demands for a cut in annual working hours to 1,800, and an extension of the retirement age of workers up to 65 years. Rengo has argued for the firm establishment of the 40-hour workweek regime, legal restrictions on overtime work, legislation of equal opportunity for employment and labor practices, and the guarantee of rights for part-time workers and temporary staff. At factory shops and working places, we have aggressively taken actions to win labor contracts which contain restrictions on overtime work and guarantees for equal opportunity. Rengo is strongly requesting that these laws include language to stipulate the prohibition of laying off temporary staff in the middle of their contract term, as well as giving temporary staff whose service term for a company has exceeded one year the right to be transferred to regular employee status. Also Rengo intends to work to ensure the adequate protection of private information on job-seekers, the presentation of job opening information to every job-seeker in an equitable manner, and the guarantee of job-seekers' rights. Conclusion The conceptions of the labor unions in Slovakia and in the Japan are very different. As we have seen, one reason of this is the tremendous gap between Japanese and Slovak culture, traditions and values as the result of different origin and history. On the one side, Japanese labor unions created a movement which strongly contributed to the great economical growth after WWII and their position and aims are well adjusted to the Japanese structures. On the other side, Slovak labor unions still struggle with the lack of clear goals and conception, as the inheritance of the past regime. Problem is also the mentality of Slovak people, who don’t understand the role of labor unions in modern society and the fast evolution of the conditions in Slovakia as well. This topic may be concluded with the idea that the institutions are such as the people are. It will always take a lot of time and effort to change it. From the discourse, it is evident that our hypothesis about decreasing number of unionized people with increasing unemployment rate is probably true. The interdependence between these two factors is evident, as is also the increasing job insecurity in both countries. With the increasing unemployment the job security decreases and people, instead of unionizing to seek better working conditions, accept their employment without risking loosing it through union activity. But we also have to acknowledge that there are more factors affecting unionization, such as company unions or procedures, eliminating the need of national unions. These, however, were not the object of our discussion. Bibliography: 1) Friedman, Seth. (December 1992). Women in Japanese Society: Their Changing Roles, 3 pages. 2) Inoue, Reiko. (11 September 1999). Japanese Society Under Sharp Pain of Recession and Globalisation, 2 pages. Retrieved 3/5/2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.info.com.ph/~globalzn/apecrei.htm 3) Sautter, Christian. (June 1997). The painful transformation of Japanese society, 3 pages. Retrieved 3/5/2004 from the World Wide Web: http://mondediplo.com/1997/06/japan 4) Flinders Journal: September 2 - September 15, 2002. Winds of change blowing in over Japan, 7 paragraphs. 5) Deer, Brian. (August 7 1994). The culture essay: Japan feels the squeeze, 6 pages. Retrieved 3/6/2004 from the World Wide Web: http://briandeer.com/japan.htm 6) The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. (2003 edition) Population Statistics of Japan 2003. Retrieved 4/7/2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ipss.go.jp/English/psj2003/PSJ2003.pdf 7) Department of Population Dynamics Research, National Institute of Population and Socal Security Research. Population Projections for Japan:2001-2050. Retrieved 4/7/2004 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ipss.go.jp/English/ppfj02/top.html 8) Various pages on http://www.statistics.sk 9) Pisarova, Martina. (06 November 2001). Slovak Spectator, Vol. 7 Issue 23, p3. Families transforming with Slovak society, 1/3p. 10) Personal interview with Bohumil Habšuda, deputy for Labor Unions and for communication with nongovernmental institutions of KOZ, 5. III. 2004. 11) LUPTÁKOVÁ, Stanislava: HRM lecture. Preparation and Development of HR, 27.X.2003. 12) ČIERNY, Ľubomír: Desať rokov KOZ. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 2000. 13) ONDRUŠKA, Peter: Postavenie odborov v Slovakia a ich význam alebo prečo byť v odboroch. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 1995. 14) Internal material: Príručka organizátora. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 1995. 15) Internal material: Dokumenty II. Zjazdu KOZ Slovakia. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 1993. 16) Internal material Dokumenty III. Zjazdu KOZ Slovakia. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 1996. 17) Internal material: Dokumenty IV. Zjazdu KOZ Slovakia. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 2000. 18) ONDRUŠKA, Peter: Bulletin vydaný pri príležitosti 5. výročia vzniku KOZ Slovakia. Bratislava : KOZ Slovakia – tlačovopropagačné oddelenie, 1995. Retrieved from the World Wide Web:
19) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunto 20) http://www.japan-101.com/business/business_shunto.htm 21) http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/jap-a15.shtml 22) http://www.fpcj.jp/e/shiryo/jb/0210.html 23) http://countrystudies.us/japan/104.htm [*] Source for all charts for Japan: Population Statistics of Japan 2003 [†] Source of all charts for Slovakia: http://www.statistics.sk [3] KONFEDERÁCIA ODBOROVÝCH ZVäZOV SLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY: Príručka organizátora. p. 8 [4] Personal interview with Mr. Habšuda, deputy for Labor Unions and for communication with nongovernmental institutions of KOZ [5] KONFEDERÁCIA ODBOROVÝCH ZVäZOV SLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY: Príručka organizátora. p. 9 [6] KONFEDERÁCIA ODBOROVÝCH ZVäZOV SLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY: Dokumenty III. zjazdu odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky. p. 54 [7] Personal interview with Mr. Habšuda, deputy for Labor Unions and for communication with nongovernmental institutions of KOZ [8] Ibidem
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