Amid the trend towards decentralized industrial relations, various new and modified systems of employee representation are taking hold in many countries worldwide. In this highly informative examination of this field of international labour law – originally presented as a series of papers for the 11th JILPT Comparative Labor Law Seminar held in Tokyo in February 2012 – twelve distinguished scholars from Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States describe their countries’ current perspectives on this issue, along with their own analysis and commentary. Among the specific questions addressed for each jurisdiction are the following: What is the legal framework for an employee representation system? How is the representative body formed and what are its declared powers? Are there legal mechanisms preventing intervention by the employer? Are non-standard employees involved? What methods of deliberation and decision-making are used? How are the activities of representatives protected? Who bears the costs? What is the relationship with collective bargaining? With labour unions? Each contributor also describes typical ways in which the employee representative system works, offering concrete examples such as dismissal, wage determination, and equal treatment. Some deal with situations in which employee representation is in fact nonexistent or malfunctioning in real workplaces. There is also pervasive attention paid to the fundamental matter of what ‘representation’ is for, and the probable future direction of employee representation. Given the need to secure representation for non-union and non-standard employees at the workplace, these reports on the conditions and new developments in this important field provide ample basis on which to build a better system of employee representation in this era of diversified workforces in the globalized market. Accordingly, this book will prove of inestimable value to practitioners and policymakers in labour and employment law anywhere in the world.

`Provides a wide-ranging and though-provoking analysis of non-union forms of employee-representation. While it will unquestionably be of interest to scholars and students specializing in the burgeoning field of non-union employee relations, there is much useful material that could inform union reponses to membership decline′ - British Journal of Industrial Relations `Paul Gollan′s book is an important contribution to our understanding of the significance of non-union employee representation in Britain and its implications for the future of employment relations. It is highly recommended′ - Russell Lansbury, Professor of Work & Organisational Studies, University of Sydney ′Can employees have effective voice without independent collective organisation? In the UK, unlike most of continental Europe, government and employers typically answer yes. Gollan′s detailed study provides sound reasons for scepticism′ - Richard Hyman, Department of Industrial Relations, LSE ′We know very little about the non-union sector in Britain despite the fact that it now embraces the clear majority of the workforce. The publication of Paul Gollan′s Employee Representation in Non-Union Firms therefore represents a very important addition to the field. Based on extensive and detailed in-depth study of some leading non-union employers, it throws new light on the ways in which employee interests are represented in such firms′ - Prof John Kelly, Birkbeck College ′Are non-union systems of representation (NER) an acceptable alternative to union-based systems or do they infact complement more traditional forms of union representation?′ - Bruce Kaufman, Georgia State University Robinson College of Business This book is the first of its kind to answer this challenging question. It offers a comprehensive overview of NER in the UK and locates UK practice within an international context. Readers are invited to consider the potential implications and limitations of NER arrangements, and to examine how unions respond to these NER arrangements through bargaining, consultation and representation processes. Throughout issues are addressed on both a macro and micro level. The book reviews the literature and examines current practice using survey data and original case analysis. Engaging readers who are studying industrial relations, human resource management, employee involvement and consultation, unions and management strategy, it will also be appeal to practioners working in these areas. Case Study Material available! Go to the Sample Materials and Chapters link on the left navigation bar to access this excellent additional resource.

Although employee-representation systems coexist with a collective-bargaining framework in continental Europe for many years, US labor advocates have looked upon those representations systems with suspicion. The reasons for this suspicion are historical: US employee-representation systems have their roots in company-dominated unions that the National Labor Relations Act was designed to prohibit. The National Labor Relations Board, the independent agency created by the New Deal Congress to administer the NLRA, has interpreted that legislation's prohibition to essentially make unlawful most, if not all, employer-initiated employee-representation systems and many other types of employee-representations systems. While Congress's and the Board's efforts to prohibit employer-dominated employee-representation systems have been noble and are grounded in values designed to preserve employees' right to workplace participation to the greatest extent, these efforts have, in fact, muffled employee voice. The problem arises in part from differences in two competing values: employee voice and employee self-organization. The article, part of a comparative study of systems of employee representation around the world, argues that while at first blush, those values appear to be co-extensive, in reality, employee voice, which focuses on employee participation and industrial democracy, is a broader concept than self-organization, which focuses on employee autonomy. That section of the NLRA that prohibits company-dominated unions values self-organization, or worker autonomy, over employee voice, or participation. Other sections of the NLRA, such as its exclusivity principle, whereby the union that the majority selects or designates is the exclusive employee representative, further serve to stifle employee voice. Against a backdrop of understanding the instrumental and principled rationale for employee-representation systems, the article asks which types of systems function well within the US legal framework, which systems do not fit within this framework, and to what extent the framework needs to change to accommodate greater participation in contemporary markets.

Examines the history, contemporary practice, and policy issues of non-union employee representation in the USA and Canada. The text encompasses many organizational devices that are organized for the purposes of representing employees on a range of production, quality, and employment issues.