Employment relations are the personal and professional legal link between employers and employees. It resembles the fact when a person performs duty or work under certain contains in return for remuneration. The workers have the full right and benefits associated with employment concerning major areas like social security and labour law. The constant effort by the organisation in making a positive relationship with the employees can be stated as healthy employee relations. (Townsend, Wilkinson and Burgess, 2014). The following project compares the employee employment relations between China and Ireland. There is a massive difference between both the countries in terms of economy and population. Both countries have different approaches in describing the relationship between an employer and employees and certain laws that need to be followed while doing business. The law suggested in the employment relationship has been established to cover the protection of workers. ILO has provided certain laws which protect the workers who work in the context of employment relations. The law has also monitored the development in the labour market in order to formulate the implementation of proper steps that need to be taken for measuring the employment relationship. Industrial relation in Ireland is driven by quality customer ethos and has also had a motive of increasing the economy and development of the country at the industrial level. This can only be possible by the industrial and employment relations policy of the state. Both the countries have their criteria of performing the employment relations within their countries with different bodies acting in order to get better outcomes in terms of employee employment relations. (Valizade et al., 2016).
China is a socialist country with a legacy of having an economy done by state-planned has mainly three major roles of its government, an employer, a regulator, and an economic manager. The state has motivated the private to grow due to industrialization. There are certain laws the state has promoted for the security of the workers. In 2011 the Meditation and arbitration law was amended connected with the Labour contract law in 2013. (Cooke, 2008). This legal law has been implemented in order to regulate the market and to increase the employment relationship. (Schipani and Liu, 2017). The following laws were effective in principle but the lack of effective enforcement remains problematic for China. The country laws have also been argued that the laws have been made for the formal employment sector in order to build formal relationships. This has also been demanded that the laws should be enacted to help the informal workers. In the past decade, new development has been seen in employment relations in China. For example, labour shortages, higher labour costs, frequent labour conflicts, and newly performed law regulations have caused to have several changes in the enterprise system in China. (Holmes, 2019).
The Ireland State role on the other hand has a huge difference comparing the Chinese state role. The state’s role in industrial relations in Ireland determines the largely confined to facilitate the process of collective bargaining by establishing a proper legislation institution in order to assist the employees and the employers if any disputes occur providing a proper solution. (Syndicate European Trade Union, 2022). The main dispute mechanisms in Ireland are the Labour Court which provides a formal judgment in any disputes that occur in Ireland. On the other hand, Ireland has a Workplace relations commission for the promotion of good industrial relations between the employer and employee. The Workplace Relations Commission resolves and prevents disputes by the wide range of industrial relation services involving individual workers. Group of workers and employers and their representatives. (Hwang and Wang, 2015). The Workplace Relation Commission review and monitor the development area of industrial relations. The deep consultation is conducted with the social workers and practice of codes are followed relevant to the relation of employees and employers. Conference and seminars are been conducted by the commission to discuss the issues such as human resource management and industrial relations. The Ireland state government has priories the building of a perfectly secure and safe work culture between the employer and employee. (Conway et al., 2016)
The employers association in China are much less developed in terms of other countries. There are two main bodies of associations are the China Enterprise Directors Association and the All-China Federation of industry and commerce. The national employers association in China is working at the national level but the main real problem is the limited real involvement in performing the collective bargaining at the industry or mainly at the enterprise level. The activities and effects of the association have less impact on the welfare of the workers. (Holmes, 2019). The local trade associations of small provinces also play a major role in self-regulating the worker association. Collective bargaining performed by the associations of China took place till 2010 and was effective for a decade. The state is no longer the dominant one in China and but it is a major employer in the urban sector. Private firms and FIEs are the major employers in determining the future of the workers. Employers are having different ownerships forms and operate in different legislative, labour, and economic market. (Wang, 2016). The business strategies and the policies of employment are hugely influenced by the context. Employment relations are shaped mainly at the enterprise level outside the state sector.
Unlike China, in Ireland, The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has a set of rules that define the work-life balance of the employees in the country. The commission monitors the benefits of the employees by investing in the work-life balance of employees in Ireland. The organization has a work-life balance policy which helps in approaching the employees’ work-life balance. The organisation has also developed the programme of work-life which resembles and identifies all the arrangements that are most suitable for the employer and the employees. (Holmes, 2021). The organisation has also performed training for managers and employees. The organisation commission has imported the supports system so the proper arrangements can be made and implemented successfully. In Ireland, the issue of work-life balance states that the individual can get enough time with families and remain loyal to the work performed for the company. as the Irish workforce is changing and in order to get the best of their employees, the employers are introducing new policies that address the work-life balance of the employees. The new policies of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission include annual leave, maternity, and paternity leave as well as flexible hours. (McLaughlin and Wright, 2018).
The radical change in the economy and legislation policies in China has performed a fundamental change in the demographic profile of the workers. In the state-planned economic era, the majority of the workers had been hired by the state most work in the urban areas. The workers under socialist China were given benefits and social welfare. They were treated as the masters of the country. But in the latter half of the era in comparison were seen more deprived. Employment relations in the state sector were been seen as harmonious as workers were participating in production activities through worker representatives and union organisations. In the meantime, the rural workers were migrating to urban areas for work-related purposes when MNCs started to emerge in the market. the rural and urban workers are the two groups of people maintaining the relationship in the Chinese work sector. With the growing number of private firms, the Chinese government has conducted the expansion of graduated students with more than 8.34 million in 2018. (Cooke, 2008). As a greater number of graduates increased the employment has also had huge pressure in China as a student was looking for a job and termed as workers. The Chinese government has also encouraged the student in establishing self-business for easing unemployment through entrepreneurship.
China has a transformation strategy whereas in Ireland the change in the country’s workers was done by The Workers Party. The workers’ party in Ireland was found for the people who were unemployed and low-paid. In order to abolish inequality, widespread exploitation, and poverty the party challenged the rulers in order to provide the proper rights to the workers. The Workers Party has believed that a structural and radical transformation is required for providing equality to the workers. (Zahn, 2017). The party believes in changing the economic system and social policies so that the following changes can be credible for the people in the society, The party’s needs were based on demands in sustainable development and helping the workers in surviving the competitive market. the party has helped the Irish workers in developing a modern, dynamic and socialist economy through democratization in all the economic relations. (Fernández-García and Luengo, 2018). The party has also helped in providing the workers with great power by ensuring the availability of resources to meet the progressive work and also reforming the taxation system while ending all the vestiges of the servant-master relationship in the economy. The main concern of the workers’ party was to eliminate unemployment by making the transition from welfare to wages and also enabling the dignity of the participation of the workers. (Trif, and Paolucci, 2019).
Independent Labour Unions are illegal in China. The Chinese government has endorsed the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). All the other unions are falling other ACFTU. The workers in China don’t see this as a reliable source because of government power authority sometimes the workers are forced to work by the employers also causing a toxic relationship between employee and employer. Even the ACFTU is one of the major bodies in protecting the law of the workers and providing them with security the law has failed to protect the right of the employees. The local governments of China often ignore the employees’ rights in China. (Unsal, 2019). The Chinese workers have protested for their rights. In 2017 more than 600 workers’ strikes have been conducted and reported. The Chinese government has punished the workers for their protests against their rights. The employees were sent to prison as they were protesting against low wages. Xin Gong Yi stand up against the government for providing legal advice to the workers. The establishment of the NGOs has stood up for providing the actual rights to the employees. The NGOs have helped in increasing the legally mandated welfare benefits of the workers. (Howell, 2019).
China had ACFTU and Ireland has The Irish Congress of Trade Unions ( ICTU), which is the single umbrella organisation for trade reunions and is also representing the interest of ICTU members both in Ireland and in Northern Ireland. The trade union body is protecting the rights and interests of its members. The members are the particular employees working in certain sectors. (Citizens Information, 2022). The main duty of the ICTU in Ireland is to provide the employees with all sources of information and also provide the employees with protection and employment issues and at the same time negotiate with the employer in order to provide the employees with better pay and secure conditions. The constitution of Ireland permits the employees to join the trade union and become a member. In order to join the trade union for benefits, the employee has to take a subscription which 0.5% to 1 % of the gross salary of the total pay. In recent years the ICTU and the government is talking about guaranteeing to engage the trade unions in collective bargaining. The trade unions are also planning to commit to 70% collective bargaining coverage for the workers across Ireland in 2022. (Holmes, 2021).
The turbulence of employment relations has always been there in China. In the early era, the workers were treated as masters and mostly used to work in the urban areas. The rapid change in the economy and the Chinese government’s motive of fast-paced innovation has created havoc in the industry as both urban and rural workers were moved to states for job opportunities. More students started to graduate forcing the government to change and establish laws for proving employment in the country. As the government, if China is the main authority in controlling the union the workers are forced to conduct strikes because of forced overtime and minimum wage. (Chung, 2016). The employees are also demanding of changing the terms and conditions of MNE establishments in the cities with various other factors such as poor terms and conditions of sanitation for employees and cumbering the regulations of the local government. This incident has also been referred to as the mass incident. The right to strike is neither accepted nor denied in Chinese laws. This strike in China is caused due to the employer’s ignorance of the initial request and after the strike, the employers are forced to negotiate and settle the dispute. (Cooke, 2020).
Talking about steps in controlling the labour disputes and providing employment the Chinese government has implied the labour deployment strategy. Labour market flexibility in China is achieved by the country through enterprise employment and the platform employment enabled by the digital platform. The primary motive of the government is cost-saving. China has been in transforming its rigid internal market labour to an unprotected labour market since 1990. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will also affect the performance of the graduates in getting job opportunities. (Kataria et al., 2020). The scale of platform business in China cannot be matched by any country in this world. The self-employment of workers has opened the door for providing the absence of social security protection and collective representation but also renders the public to throw them at higher risk. The Chinese government has impacted the workers’ life by ignoring many laws according to the rights of the employees. Due to disputes that are increasing in China day by day has put Chinese government made changes in the terms and standards of the rights for welfare of the employees of China. (Ebisui, Cooney and Fenwick, 2016).
The employment legislation in Ireland has terms and regulations regarding the employees’ employment in the country. The following act and regulation are terms of employment ( Information) Act 1994-2018 that reveals that employers must give certain information to the employees regarding the employment they are providing including the contract of employment, rate of pay, job description, and hours of work. The General Data Protection Regulation 2018 provides employees with much more control over their data. it also states that the companies should adhere to their responsibilities of controlling and processing employee data. The employment ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Act in 2018 bans zero-hour contracts in most suitable situations. The act provides the employees with minimum payment and banded hours. The act also denotes that the employers have to provide the employees with information on 5 core terms within the days of work. (Yadav and Hazarika, 2021). There is also a specific act made for the young people and children in Ireland represented as the Protection of Young Persons ( Employment) Act in 1996 whose main function is to regulate the employment and working conditions of the young people and the young workers. (McLaughlin and Wright, 2018).
The year 2020 was challenging for the Ireland government due to the pandemic but the government has helped the employees as well as employers to maintain a healthy relationship. The employers have started work from home which has helped the employers to manage the pay cuts and wage support scheme. the government has given free democratic rights to its employees and also has a separate working commission to solve the dispute between the employers and employees. (Wrc, 2022). The government of Ireland has initiated a public consultation on paid sick leave for all the employees in Ireland. The statutory sick pay scheme has also helped the employees in getting protection at a reasonable cost. Ireland’s unemployment rate has caused concerns in the country due to pandemics as the rate fell to 7.9 percent in 2021 from 20 percent in 2020. (Marino, Roosblad and Penninx, 2017). The rise of prices and inflation has affected the economy of the country. The fall of the pandemic will help Ireland maintain its employment record and the government is trying to provide ample supporting the citizens for recovering and proving employment through a trade union. (Manley et al., 2011).
Conclusion
The following report describes the employment relationship between the context of two countries, Ireland and China. The report has revealed that China’s early era has the major number of workers working in the urban areas were supported by the state but the rapid transformation and ignorance of the trade union controlled by the government has forced the workers in raising voices against the government and the employers. The employment in China has undergone significant change after the economic reform as in early-stage the urban areas have workers but due to industrialization and digital production the rural areas has started to migrate to urban areas and a greater number of students started to graduate the employment rate has started to decrease because of low wage and dispute. Many workers have tolerated exploitative employment which has also caused job loss for many individuals. The Ireland employment relation on the other hand has been started from the workers’ party trying to provide jobs to the unemployed and the poor people. The transformation of the economy in Ireland by adopting modernization has helped to provide an advantage to the employees. The ICTU is the trade union in Ireland which controls the unions and provides a safe and secure environment for Irish people. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has provided the work-life balance to the employees but providing support systems and a sustainable approach to look after the basic needs of the workers. The Labour Court has control over resolving industrial disputes. The Workplace Relations and Commission have the authority to promote good industrial relations in Ireland by providing a range of industry-related relations in order to prevent disputes and solve problems in the workplace. The Ireland government has strict rules in providing the employees and employers with the proper atmosphere for bringing efficiency to the economy
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