Study Groups

Industrial Relations Theory

This study group focuses on theories of industrial relations and the employment relationship. Classic works such as John T Dunlop’s (1958) Industrial Relations Systems, Paul Edward’s (1986) ideas on the ‘structured antagonism’ and John Kelly’s (1998) work on mobilisation and collectivism remain important theoretical anchor points for our field. However, industrial relations theory has evolved considerably in the past few decades. Industrial relations scholars are exploring new perspectives and approaches to theorizing that consider gender and race, ideas and ideation, the emergence of actors beyond unions, employer associations, and the state, contemporary issues including climate change and gig work, and institutional experimentation to improve labour standards. The Industrial Relations Theory Study Group will organise sessions at ILERA congresses with the aim to establish a community of practice for debating and advancing theories relating to industrial relations.

Gender and Employment

The Gender and Employment study group meets at ILERA regional and international conferences with the aim of bringing together ILERA members working and researching in the field of advancing gender equality at work. Our aim is to enable members to share policies, practices and research, build international networks of interest, and facilitate a place for exchange of ideas, theories and methodologies. The Gender and Employment study group also has as a main concern the need to ensure that ILERA conference structures, programs and activities reflect equal representation of genders.  The areas of research and practice that the Gender and Employment study group is interested in pursuing include, but are not limited to, polices and actions of governments, employers and unions, labour market patterns and segmentations, occupation and industry studies, discrimination and harassment at work, the crossover of paid work and unpaid work, and the gender division of labour in the home and at work. We have a strong interest in supporting PhD students, early career academics and practitioners, and sharing as widely as possible matters of contemporary relevance to the equality project. In 2021 the theme of our meeting will be ‘Gender, Work and COVID-19’. The Gender and Employment study groups is coordinated by Professors Marian Baird, Anne-Marie Greene and Gill Kirton.

Workers’ Participation

Workers’ Participation is ‘a process which allows employees to exert some influence over their work and the conditions under which they work’ (Strauss 1998).

This concept has various titles, including employee involvement, consultation, industrial democracy and employee voice. The variety of nomenclature indicates subtle differences in emphasis between the main objectives of:

• sharing power between management and workers (industrial citizenship),
• effective cooperation and communication in an organization to improve efficiency, and
• individual employee empowerment, which in turn contributes to efficiency through raising employee morale and commitment (Walker 1976).

The social partners –employers, trade unions and government – have tended to emphasise different objectives, and to prefer different nomenclature. The nomenclature and dominant objectives of workers’ participation has also changed over time. Workers’ Participation includes various forms:

• direct participation, through teamwork, self-managing teams, quality circles, workers’ assemblies consisting of all employees, and individual and collective exercise of job or task discretion or autonomy;
• indirect or representative participation, through trade unions, works councils, joint consultative committees, occupational health and safety committees, and employee representation on boards;
• self-management, including cooperatives and trade union enterprises;
• financial participation, through profit sharing or employee share ownership; and
• various combinations of these forms.

The Study Group is interested in encouraging research in all these forms of Workers’ Participation, and welcomes proposals for collaborative research, and offers of presentations at ILERA Congresses.

Two books have appeared from past collaborative projects, as well as numerous articles and reports. The books are:

• R. Markey, P. Gollan, A. Hodgkinson, A. Chouraqui and U. Veersma (eds) (2001), Models of Participation in a Changing Global Environment: Diversity and Interaction, Ashgate, Aldershot; and
• R. Markey and J. Monat (eds) (1997), Innovation and Employee Participation Through Works Councils: International Case Studies, Avebury, Aldershot.

Public Policy and Industrial Relations

Flexible Work Patterns

The Flexible Work Patterns Study Group  covers all types of flexible working (both flexibility for employees and employers) and includes  part-time, telework, home working, shift work, flexible hours, compressed working week, zero hours contracts, agency and other temporary arrangements. The aim is to bring together scholars at the regional and world congresses with an interest in this area to network, present, and discuss work in progress or recently completed.

When the group started over 25 years ago, flexible working was considered ‘non-standard’ work.  Since then, flexible working practices have proliferated to the extent that they are no longer considered atypical in many economies.  Events such as the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 accelerated the spread of home and reduced hours working and the longer-term economic consequences of it alsc.edwards@kingston.ac.uko have implications for this trend towards flexibility. However, while the context is changing, many issues remain the same, including who benefits from these arrangements, how are they are regulated, the broader social and economic impact, and the role of governments and organisations.

Papers presented at the congresses are theoretical and empirical and address the topic at the macro, organisational or individual level, and in specific national, regional, sector or organisational settings. In common with much research into employment relations, they largely draw on studies carried out in the West. However, research in other regions is growing and we look forward to learning more about this and the insights it gives from a variety of national contexts.  The next few years will be an interesting time for research in this area.

All ILERA participants are welcome to attend and present at meetings. If you would like to receive early notice of the group’s activities,  please email details to Christine c.edwards@kingston.ac.uk

Future of Trade Unionism

The study group on the Future of Trade Unionism began its activities in the liRA European Regional Conference in Helsinki 1994. Since then, the group members have met and presented papers at the liRA Conferences. In the lIRA World Congress in Bologna 1998, the group published then a very actual book on The Impact of EMU on Industrial Relations in European Union. Since that we have been following decentralisation of collective bargaining and lowering union membership numbers in many conferences. In the Sydney 2009 study group started discussion on industrial relations foresight. How industrial relations would look like in 2025? What would be situation in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa, U.S. and in the European Union 27 Member Countries? The purpose of the analysis is to have better tmderstanding on global trends in industrial relations. What will be development in unionisation, collective bargaining content and negotiation levels? How worker participation is developing and what might be the future of industrial conflicts?

Human Resource Management

The HRM Study Group of the ILERA invites expressions of interest to participate in the group’s activities. The HRM study group covers all aspects of human resource management. The objectives of the study group are:

• To provide a forum for exchange for students, academics and practitioners to discuss issues related to human resource management theory and practice;
• To develop a network to discuss issues related to the teaching of human resource management.
• To cooperate with other academic and professional organisations in the field.

The study group intends to meet at all ILERA World congresses and as many regional and national congresses as possible. The study group meetings are in a seminar format and organised around a topical theme. For more information on meetings and on the study group’s activities in general, please visit: ILERA HRM Study Group

Anyone wishing to become a member of the study group is invited to contact one of the coordinators.

Call for papers “Global Value Chains and Labour Standards: Implications for Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management”

Research Methods in Industrial Relations

Those who investigate research methods define their area as that covering the processes and techniques of researching, and the theories and assumptions which underlie our choise of research methods. We are seeking to understand which methods and techniques of research can enable good scholarship in industrial relations. By exploring the nature and effectiveness research methods and techniques we can then begin to find ways of illuminating issues of process and method, and so improve our research.

This Study Group is seeking to develop a regular newsletter, and also to work more closely with other study groups. If you wish to join please contact one of the coordinators

Anyone wishing to become a member of the study group is invited to contact one of the coordinators.

Public Sector Employment Relations

The Public Sector Employment Relations study group brings together researchers, PhD students and practitioners with interests in industrial and employment relations in the public sector and in public services more generally. The study group meets at the ILERA regional and international conferences. The aims of the meetings are to exchange information on planed, ongoing and completed research; establish mutual learning between academics and practitioners on recent trends and practices within public sector IR; and create a room for comparing industrial relations in the public sector across countries.

The study group shows an interest in the work of PhD students and researchers early in their academic carriers. Moreover, the study group will work for the active participation of practitioners from the public sector in the study group in order to facilitate exchange of views between practitioners and academics.

Anyone who is interested in public sector industrial relations and wish to become a member of the study group is invited to contact the study group coordinators.

Call for contribution

Migration, with a specific focus on Labour Migration

The study group primary focus is on joint research and discourse, and the group meets at ILERA World and Regional Congresses. In between, it liaises through online discussion groups and seminars, and may consider joint publications and presentations. It is envisaged that the study group will foster understanding, primarily in the area of labour migration, and will draw on the experience and expertise of a range of specialists from different geographical, disciplinary and background/occupational contexts. It is intended to render a needed contribution to the ongoing and developing migration, and in particular labour migration, discourse in the world.

The scope of research and related activity of the study group is determined by the study group itself, on an ongoing basis. The study group engages with typical challenges, topical developments and specific phenomena associated with labour migration in particular. There is an emphasis on developing and changing contours, critical reflection on trends and fundamental questions, and a study of developments and responses. It is specifically envisaged that critical areas, which are either inadequately addressed, or not addressed at all, by way of scientific analysis and discourse, and engagement with practitioners, will be particularly investigated, including among others:

• Social protection of migrant workers
• Normative basis relating to the protection of migrant workers – for example, in terms of traditional standards and approaches (emanating from the ILO, UN and IOM, among others) vis-à-vis the impact of trade agreement-related obligations imposed on states
• Country-of-origin measures to extend care and protection to their own migrant workers, in the wake of inadequate international standards and developing state practice
• Role of bilateral and multilateral agreements to regulate migration flows and protection, including labour law and social protection of migrant workers and their families
• Diaspora engagement
• Remittance flows, uses and linkages with labour migration
• Changing frameworks in relation to recruitment

The methodology employed primarily involves comparative analysis and discourse, in order to learn from different experiences and approaches, preferably of a multi-disciplinary nature, which would include, for purposes of enhancing comparative work, foundational and country/regional perspectives. This study group is open to any person with an interest or involvement in migration, in particular labour migration, and involvement of interested persons from both the global south and the global north is encouraged.

Social Protection

 The study group plans to explore how different modalities to advance the achievement of social protection are emerging in different parts of the world, including through country studies, regional- and continental-focused work, and by investigating the role of international standards. The study group focuses primarily on joint research and discourse, and meets in person at ILERA World and Regional Congresses. The group also liaises through online discussion groups and seminars, and may consider joint publications and presentations. The study group draws on expertise from a range of different contexts in order to provide a sound platform for future (and ongoing) collaboration and the exchange and publication of innovative research in order to address the significant social protection challenges experienced globally.

Following the approach of various global agencies, countries and regions, issues directly related to the labour market (including matters such as public works programmes, employment guarantee schemes, skills development activities and other matters associated with employability) and to the extension of social security to workers in the informal sector are specifically included as part of the scope. Other possible focus areas include, but are not restricted to, issues of coverage and access, the inter-relationship between social protection and the plight of migrant workers, and social protection in ageing societies.

 Participants’ work may be grounded in a range of disciplines including law, economics, finance, taxation, public administration, human resources, social development, politics and history. It is expected that the activities of the group will contribute in advancing the frontiers of knowledge in areas such as social assistance, social insurance, employment guarantee schemes and public works programmes, and that reforms designed to enhance social protection will be proposed. In this way it is hoped that the work of the study group will address pressing socio-economic challenges such as unemployment and inequality, utilising a variety of approaches and methodologies. Scholars focusing on international, regional, comparative and institutional dimensions of social protection are particularly encouraged to contribute to the work of the study group, as are academics and policy makers from the developing world. 

Labour Adjudication, Arbitration & Mediation

The study group is open to everyone interested and involved in labour and employment dispute resolution, adjudication, arbitration, mediation-arbitration, conciliation and mediation.

For all disputes in the labour and employment field, whether at an international level (over employment standards, over labour agreements as part of trade agreements), at a national level (between confederations of trade unions and employers), at a regional or sectoral level (between trades, trade union federations and employer associations), at an enterprise or plant level (between trade unions and particular employers), or between individual employees and individual employers, there are methods used to resolve those disputes. If the parties cannot resolve the dispute themselves they will be assisted by a third party, either a court, a state agency or an agreed private resolution mechanism. The resolution is either binding and determinative, or advisory, or facilitative. The study group explores all of the different ways, the different institutions, and the different techniques used to achieve effective resolution of such disputes.

The study group is interested in comparative differences in the methods of dispute resolution, and in the varieties of institutions in different countries that are utilized to achieve settlement of labour and employment disputes.

The study group explores how different dispute resolution methods and techniques are utilized to advance expedited dispute resolution, e.g. how mediation and arbitration or adjudication are combined to reduce costs and to achieve optimal settlement of disputes.

The study group aims to bring together labour court judges, labour tribunal adjudicators and labour and employment arbitrators, conciliators and mediators from different countries to engage together on issues of mutual interest: including expedited procedures, substantive jurisprudence in labour and employment, the uses of mediation, mediation-arbitration, human rights adjudication, and remedies, among other topics.

The research carried out on the basis of these themes aims to foster closer relations among colleagues engaged in the field of labour and employment dispute resolution, and to promote comparative understanding of the institutions, structures and mechanisms for dispute resolution in different countries. Through the interaction on the study group, lessons learned from other countries may offer fresh insights into the scope and possibilities of domestic dispute resolution.

Digitalisation of work and employment

The digitization of the labour markets and working life creates changes for both managers and employees and for the organizations that represent them during negotiations of wages and working conditions. Since the mid-2010s, digital platforms within for instance transport, cleaning, and the freelance industries have made it easier for workers to earn an extra income online – often with the status as self-employed rather than as employees, which makes it more difficult to organize workers and negotiate collective agreements. At the same time, algorithmic management is increasingly used – both within traditional industries such as manufacturing, retail trade, logistics, and elder care and within new industries such as fintech, e-commerce, and the platform economy. This questions not only the managerial prerogative at work but also potentially blurs managerial decisions and makes it more difficult to identify an employer’s responsibility. In parallel, we can still observe continued automation of work processes in many industries and both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Today, this development is particularly accelerated using artificial intelligence, which raises new questions about the surveillance of workers, data ownership, and competence needs. These three processes of digitalization – platform work, algorithmic management, and automation by AI – all interact with the increasing use of remote work from home or other places, which accelerated during the corona crisis.

We invite all with an interest in the digitalization of work and employment and how these processes challenge and renew employment relations and labour law. We welcome researchers from all disciplines – sociology, law, economics, etc. – that engage in this topic to allow for interdisciplinary discussions within the field.