\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f\f6TH EDITION INTERNATIONAL & COMPARATIVE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS National regulations, global changes Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury, Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright CHAPTER 13 Employment Relations in India Anil Verma and K.R. Shyam Sundar Allen & Unwin, 2015. These slides are support material for International and Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition. Lecturers using the book as a set text may freely use these slides in class, and may distribute them to students in their course only. These slides may not be posted on any university library sites, electronic learning platforms or other channels accessible to other courses, the university at large or the general public. International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Lecture outline Key themes Context The actors Representation in Indian industrial relations Agreement making Economic context for reforms Current issues in employment Labour law reform Conclusions Chapter 13: 2 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Key themes 1 Major economic reforms in the 1990s paved the way for high economic growth in India and involved the considerable liberalisation of the expansive labour laws There is a large 'informal' sector in which unions and collective bargaining are rare Union membership overall is low but membership and collective bargaining coverage is higher in the public sector and medium and large enterprises There is no central law regarding union recognition and representation, while some states have such laws There are many laws and poor enforcement of labour laws and collective agreement provisions Chapter 13: 3 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Key themes 2 Current concerns include: - lack of protection for workers who have been made worse-off by the market-based labour reforms - poor growth prospects in key parts of the labour market - high rates of contract and casual workers - increasing downsizing - a low-value added IT sector Chapter 13: 4 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Context 1 The Indian industrial relations system (IRS) is derived from the colonial period State intervention in IRS, the interface between politics and union development, and social dialogue continued from the colonial period into free India Aspects of state intervention in IRS include labour laws (44 at the central level and 100s at the regional level), the labour judiciary, case laws by judiciary, a strong labour administration, state control of union movement and state domination of social dialogue The primary objective of the IRS is to maintain the industrial peace necessary for economic planning Labour is in the Concurrent List, a list of areas in which both the central (federal) and regional governments are empowered to legislate - hence the numerous labour laws Chapter 13: 5 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Context 2 Most labour laws apply to the organised sector (i.e. businesses which employ more than 9 workers) and do not much cover the unorganised sector The unionisation rate is low at 5% of the total workforce due in part to large rural and informal sectors, which are not unionised Most unions are concentrated in medium and large enterprises and government-related sectors After slow development during most of the 20th century, economic growth has been high since the mid-1990s and especially in the 2000s Chapter 13: 6 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 1 Unions emerged between 1850-1870 with the emergence of early manufacturing in textiles, jute and light engineering The first national federation of unions, All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), was established in 1920 to fight colonial rule and capitalism The movement split into three major federations around the time of independence from Britain in 1947: AITUC, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) Unions are closely affiliated with political parties. The number of unions proliferated as more regional political parties emerged after general election in 1967, some of which set up their own union wing Chapter 13: 7 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 2 One of the largest unions to have developed from a regional political party is the Labour Progressive Front (LPF) which is aligned with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (which ruled Tamil Nadu for a significant period) By the mid-2000s, there were over a dozen federations of unions at the national level There may be over 100 000 unions in India, but accurate figures are not known because the government's data on unions suffers from several shortcomings Enterprise unions developed as an alternative to political unions Some maverick leaders like Dr. Datta Samant dominated union movement in certain areas The emergence of unions and workers' organisations in the informal sector is an important trend in the post-reform period Chapter 13: 8 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 3 The Indian Constitution and freedom of association The right to belong or not to belong to a union is guaranteed in the Indian Constitution (Article 19(c)) It is not compulsory for a worker to join a union, but it is unconstitutional to prevent them from joining one Union registration and recognition are not compulsory In order to stop the proliferation of unions, the Trade Union Act 1926 was amended in 2001 to require that 10% of workers or 100 workers (whichever is less) at an establishment be members before a union can be registered The law is silent on whether unions are formed along craft, employment category or other lines Unions can pursue economic, political, social and welfare objectives and can raise and maintain political funds Chapter 13: 9 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Unions and politics Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 4 The union movement is closely linked with political parties, as historically unions played a major role in the struggle against colonial rule. Some leaders of the freedom struggle were also leaders of the union movement Following independence, this association resulted in welfare-state and socialist policies involving the nationalisation of critical industries combined with investments in large-scale public enterprises The close association between unions and political parties has assured politicians of votes from the working classes and enabled unions to better defend their members' interests. But the association also creates problems: divisions in political parties lead to divisions in unions; industrial relations issues become political issues in conflicts between state and central governments of different persuasions; and recently, unions have also struggled with their associated political parties adopting neoliberal policies in order to encourage investment and competition, as these policies tend to be detrimental for workers Chapter 13: 10 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 5 National union centres Any union with a minimum of 500,000 members spread over at least four industries and four states will be recognised as a national union centre There are five centres in India which fulfil this criterion: - the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) - Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) - Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) - the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) - the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) There are at least 7 other national unions which the government consults with Chapter 13: 11 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 6 Enterprise-level unions There are two kinds of enterprise-level unions: those affiliated to national centres and those without any affiliation to political parties In some large organisations/enterprises, there are over a hundred unions Unions based on craft, occupational or employment category, and caste are not uncommon in India Within an enterprise there can be separate unions for workers (on the shopfloor), staff (attendants, drivers, clerks, typists etc), supervisory staff and executives/officers Chapter 13: 12 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 7 Unions/cooperative organisations, networks, national confederations, self-help groups and labour NGOs are some of the forms of labour organisations seeking to organise workers in the informal sector Self-Employed Working Women's Organisation (SEWA) founded in 1971 is the most popular one Some others working in the informal sector include the National Alliance of Street Vendors of India (NASVI, 1998), the National Centre for Labour (NCL), and the National Domestic Workers' Movement Chapter 13: 13 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Unions in India 8 Unions have not been able to penetrate the emerging and modern sectors which arose in the post-reform period such as the information technology sector (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITES), Special Economic Zones (SEZs), modern retail outlets and so on Conventional unions, others like UNITES India, and the Forum for IT Employees are trying to organise IT employees There is almost no union presence in SEZs Chapter 13: 14 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Management and employers' organisations 1 The earliest employer associations were formed primarily in industries such as jute, textiles and engineering in response to labour laws enacted after independence from British rule The principal umbrella organisation for Indian employers is the Council of Indian Employers (CIE) Employer organisations proliferated after independence, and then their structure was consolidated. CIE was formed when the Employers' Federation of India (EFI) amalgamated with the All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE) in 1956 Chapter 13: 15 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Management and employers' organisations 2 Public employers at both national and international levels originally had a separate representative body called the Standing Conference on Public Enterprises (SCOPE). SCOPE joined CIE in 1973 Chambers of commerce, industry associations and representative organisations of the public sector are all members of these organisations CIE represents the interests of large-scale industry and represents Indian employers at the International Council of Employers and at the International Labour Organization Chapter 13: 16 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 1 Employers' organisations in India play two representative roles: 1. They nominate representatives of employers in voluntary or statutory bodies set up to determine wages and conditions of employment in a particular industry or sector and for consultation on social and labour matters in the national and global context 2. They seek to redress the grievances of employers against legislative or other measures by making submissions to the authorities concerned Employers' associations also represent interests of employers in various committees and institutions, bipartite and tripartite fora, and serve as a forum for information sharing, policy formulation and consensus building on strategic issues Chapter 13: 17 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Non-union firms Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 2 In contrast to the past, it has been increasingly common since the 1990s to find establishments with no union presence, for instance, in software companies and in several car manufacturers Employers have adopted union-avoidance tactics such as the use of greenfield sites (which have high capital investment and technology and lower labour intensity), offering above-average wages and conditions, and asking employees to participate in anti-union activities Collective bargaining Only about 2% of the total workforce, but over 30% of the workers in the formal (organised) sector, participates in collective bargaining In the public sector and the largest public and private sector enterprises the figure is 70% or more Legislation encourages government adjudication of disputes Chapter 13: 18 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 3 Historical context for industrial relations At the time of independence, the British gave India a legal framework aimed primarily at dispute resolution After independence, the Indian government adopted the Soviet model of planned economic development and sought to achieve a socialist society Industrial harmony was considered a necessity for state-led development Several industries were nationalised in the early 1970s, and, during the Emergency (1975-77), labour law changes restricted employers' ability to sack workers and close operations that were no longer viable. Workers' participation in management was adopted as a directive principle of state policy Prior to the 1990s reforms, two national commissions on labour had recommended comprehensive reforms to labour laws Chapter 13: 19 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 4 Freedom of association The constitution guarantees the fundamental right to freedom of association The right of collective bargaining is not extended to industrial workers in government undertakings (e.g. railways, post, telecommunications). Compensation for these workers is based on the recommendations of pay commissions appointed periodically by the government National labour laws do not mandate employers to either recognise unions or engage in collective bargaining, but some states have provisions recognising unions India has not ratified some ILO conventions concerning Right of Association Determination of a collective bargaining agent Determining a collective bargaining agent has been a controversial issue historically Some states have measures for recognising unions as agents in bargaining, for example: a Code of Discipline which is common in the public sector; secret ballots; a check-off system; and membership verification Chapter 13: 20 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 5 Collective agreements and disputes An agreement with one union is not binding on members of other unions unless arrived at during conciliation proceedings This means that even if one union has an agreement, other unions can raise an industrial dispute with an employer A collective agreement is binding only for the workers who have negotiated and signed the agreement, but a written settlement arrived at in the course of conciliation proceedings is binding not only on the actual parties to the industrial dispute but also on the heirs, successors or assignees of the employer and all the present or future workers in the establishment Under the Industrial Disputes Act, disputes can be settled with or without recourse to the government conciliation machinery. Arbitration or adjudication follows failed conciliation An 'award' can be an interim or final determination of an industrial dispute by a Labour Court, Industrial Tribunal, National Industrial Tribunal or an arbitrator. Awards are legally enforceable instruments Collective bargaining is rare in the informal sector Chapter 13: 21 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Representation 6 Unfair labour practices The Industrial Disputes Act defines the following as unfair labour practices: - refusal by the employer to bargain collectively in good faith with recognised unions - refusal by a union to bargain in good faith with the employer - workers and unions engaging in coercive activities against certification of a bargaining representative Breaching an industrial 'settlement' is punishable under law Employers use many tactics to undermine unions, actions which are illegal but go largely unprosecuted Chapter 13: 22 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Levels of bargaining and agreements 1 National-level agreements Prior to the 1970s, wage boards appointed periodically by the government set wages and conditions in some industries From the 1970s, sectoral bargaining at the national level was prevalent mainly in government-dominated industries (e.g. banking and coal) as well as steel, ports and docks. This is largely still the case today In pay determination, civil servants' pay provides the benchmark for the rest of the public sector, and public sector pay is then the benchmark for unionised private sector workers where collective bargaining tends to be more adversarial and contentious Chapter 13: 23 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Levels of bargaining and agreements 2 Firm/plant-level agreements While employers generally prefer bargaining at the plant level, unions press for bargaining at higher levels to increase their bargaining power Duration of agreements Duration of collective agreements increased during the 1970s and 80s, and again in the 1990s in the public sector. Since 1997, the duration of public sector agreements has been ten years, though recent negotiations with the government give the option of 5 yearly settlement Most private sector collective agreements typically last for three years. Public sector agreements can have a much longer duration However, increasingly companies in the private sector, for reasons of predictability and stability, prefer long term settlement (LTA) Chapter 13: 24 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Levels of bargaining and agreements 3 Emergence of productivity bargaining Globalisation has intensified competition and employers have been exerting pressure on the unions to move away from 'distributive bargaining' to 'productivity bargaining' Unions, though reluctant, are agreeable for productivity bargaining under certain conditions such as: no loss of employment, prior consultation with unions, share of productivity gains with workers and so on The channels for improving productivity have been: higher utilisation of resources, increase in productive hours, work reorganisation, waste reduction and quality improvement Chapter 13: 25 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Levels of bargaining and agreements 4 Collective bargaining in practice In practice, most unions are highly politicised and the government wields enormous discretionary power without the commensurate responsibility This leads to poor enforcement of the law and collective agreement provisions, and frequently unions are co-opted into the collective bargaining crisis by the government or by management As a result, union members do not have confidence in their union or its ideology and do not hesitate to change unions. Workers can choose a union to represent them without belonging to it, can enjoy the benefit of collective bargaining without joining a union, and unions can have collective bargaining rights without workers' support Chapter 13: 26 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Labour-management conflict The economic reforms were expected to depress industrial conflict thanks to the rise in bargaining power of employers vis--vis workers The government often claimed that industrial conflict has declined significantly However, the tensions arising out of implementing new economic policies and the efforts to introduce labour flexibility and anti-union policies often resulted in tensions and industrial conflicts, some even bloody The rise in industrial violence in recent years reveal the frustrations of workers 15 national strikes have been launched protesting against various aspects of reforms The incidence of lockouts has also risen Chapter 13: 27 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Policy shift towards informal sector in the postreform period 1 The informal economy accounts for nearly 93% of the total workforce The Government appointed a special Committee, the National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) to recommend measures for social security and other aspects In response to the Commission's report, the government enacted the Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act in 2008 The Government also introduced National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under a law in 2006 to ensure 100 days of work for a family in rural areas Chapter 13: 28 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Policy shift towards informal sector in the postreform period 2 Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojana, a free medical insurance for Below Poverty Level families was introduced in 2008 The National Food Security Act was enacted in 2013 to provide food grains at subsidised prices to 2/3rds of India's population Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 was enacted to regulate street vendors in public areas and protect their rights Chapter 13: 29 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Economic context for reforms There has been a paradigm shift to neo-liberalism since the 1990s, with emphasis on economic growth and foreign investment over labour protection In the last two decades, India has integrated significantly with the global economy The country has achieved unprecedented GDP growth rates since the emergence of 21st Century and is improving its standing in global economic, competitiveness and investment-attractiveness rankings, but marred by little or no job creation Though absolute poverty levels are high, the proportions of people below poverty line have been declining Further inequality has risen at various levels, intra-workers, employees and managerial cadre, and so on Chapter 13: 30 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Current issues in employment 1 A large majority of the workforce has suffered under the neoliberal reforms, hence the need for a more interventionist labour policy There is over-dependence on agriculture and low prospects of growth in manufacturing and in the organised sector There is high incidence of contract and casual staff, who form over half to three-quarters of the total workforce in some large factories There is much less employment in the public sector, which historically has been an engine of economic growth There is hope for increasing employment levels in the service sector, but concerns over the low value that is added by IT professionals compared with other countries Chapter 13: 31 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Current issues in employment 2 Search for flexibility One of the catchcries of the reform movement since the 1990s has been for greater flexibility in the labour market Labour laws were made during the command economy period and suited the goals of that system The post-1990 economic environment has changed and the old and archaic labour laws are seen as restrictive and labour inspection as highly problematic and greatly discouraging the creation of employment. Thus, reform is sought on these matters The flexibility debate has found both supporters and opponents to labour flexibility and accordingly conflicting research evidence exists Courts and state and national governments have responded to the need for increased flexibility with various policy measures that also attempt (often unsuccessfully) to maintain worker protection Chapter 13: 32 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Current issues in employment 3 The central government has been keen to introduce labour law and governance reforms but refrained owing to political costs involved in introducing them The strategy of the central government has been to shift the reform strategy onus to the state governments The state governments have introduced 'hard' reforms (like reforms to rewrite the critical labour laws) and 'soft' reforms (which keeps the formal legal framework intact but allow the employers to introduce labour flexibility ('reforms by stealth') Chapter 13: 33 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Agenda for labour law reform Most commentators believe further reforms to labour law are needed to sustain the high growth rate necessary to pull large segments of society out of poverty Some of the most significant areas for reform include the need for: - - - - - - - fewer laws with better enforcement the elimination of multiple definitions across different legislations clear rules for termination of employment removing managerial functions from the scope of bargaining independent industrial relations dispute-settlement machinery skills development funds outside of direct government control a tripartite national wages council Chapter 13: 34 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Implications for IR theory The Varieties of Capitalism (VoC)* framework categorises 2 types of economy with different implications for work, employment and other labour outcomes: - LMEs (liberal market economies) - CMEs (coordinated market economies -----* See Chapter 1 Chapter 13: 35 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright VoC: the case of India Indian developments do not fit neatly into LME or CME categories India is not transitioning from being a CME to an LME Before its economic liberalisation of the early 1990s, India was closer to being a CME Later reforms opened Indian markets, but labour policy is less likely to mimic the economic liberalisation of labour markets in LMEs India more likely to increase workplace flexibility through labour reforms but to strengthen income security and other protections for the most vulnerable, especially in the informal sector Chapter 13: 36 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Implications for IR theory The Indian case is not unique in this regard Other Asian economies such as Japan, South Korea and China have also opted for a bigger role for the state in industrial relations than LMEs Perhaps this is an Asian model that seeks high economic growth by liberalising economic policies, but maintaining a strong role for the state in social policy, including labour policy, aimed at alleviating poverty and maximising employment Chapter 13: 37 ER in India Copyright Allen & Unwin, 2015 International & Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition Edited by Greg J. Bamber, Russell D. Lansbury Nick Wailes and Chris F. Wright Conclusions Labour policy in India has been too narrowly focused on the 7% of the labour force employed in the formal/organised sector The challenge for the government is accommodating all workers and meeting the plurality of needs in the labour market. The government is faced with the paradox of having to moderate the at times excessive protection for workers in the formal sector (forming 7% of the labour force) while enhancing protection for workers in the informal sector (forming 93% of the labour force) Improvements to education and vocational skills training are needed The labour administration and judiciary lack the professional skills and accountability to match their discretionary powers, so there is a need to build a cadre of professionals in these areas Improvements to the dispute resolution system also sorely needed Tripartite negotiations on devising policies which achieve flexibility and job security have stalled, and need to be restarted Allen & Unwin, 2015. These slides are support material for International and Comparative Employment Relations 6th edition. Lecturers using the book as a set text may freely use these slides in class, and may distribute them to students in their course only. These slides may not be posted on any university library sites, electronic learning platforms or other channels accessible to other courses, the university at large or the general public