Labour Relations in the Asia-Pacific Countries

Important issues concerning labour and industrial relations necessarily arise as markets among the countries around the Pacific Ocean become more integrated. With economic activity levels as different as that of the United States and that of Papua New Guinea, and with labour forces ranging in size from that of China to that of the Sultanate of Brunei¿not to mention a vast spectrum of diverse cultural standards and customs¿this important regional grouping demands the attention of labour law specialists if trade integration is to proceed amicably and to the benefit of all.

In this valuable book sixteen academics and other professionals in the field present informed and insightful essays on aspects of labour and industrial relations law in ten countries (Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, and the United States) as well as under the ASEAN regime. Among the imperative issues these authors elucidate are the following:

• collaboration within the firm to raise productivity;
• the need for competitiveness among firms;
• the importance of human relations and social responsibility;
• the development of social security policy; and
• reducing the risk and absorbing the benefits of integration under conditions of rapid social and industrial change.

These papers were originally presented in 2001 in a report by the Peruvian labour journal Análisis Laboral, in response to a request by the Regional Office of the International Labour Organisation for a study of employment conditions, labour relations, and social security in the APEC countries as seen from a Latin American perspective. It was immediately apparent that many of the papers in this report were of great value to the international labour law community, and accordingly those papers are collected and reprinted here.