Employee Relations System in Singapore and Eire - Essay Example

In fact, both are facing similar issues associated with employment relations such as heavily dependent on foreign workers, have a chronic ageing work force, the country is outsourcing its labor intensive industries to another country, and privatization of public companies. The influx of low wage and low skilled workers causes a differentiation between high and low wages, and skilled and non-skilled labors. As both countries are heavily depending on foreign workers, the government has to decide to impose levy and quota to constraint the growth of the foreign workers and hence to improve the chance of local citizens to obtain employment, and to extend the retirement age decision.

Some people may consider older workers are less productive and cost more to keep them but at the same time, companies are hiring less educated and less skilled workers then send them for retraining and upgrading the non-skillable workers and hence, the notion of cost effectiveness becomes more expensive. Employee relations have an impact on the employees' health. . This may be the result of poor hygiene or personal uncleanliness, as Cabill & Co. report that "where there is toleration, and complacency, instead of disgust for appalling hygienic shortcomings, then in any campaign - such as that which is so urgently necessary to create presentable disease" (p. 326). Both Eire and Singapore's strategic employment relations is based on the industrial model were modernized or transformed to those of the American's in the early 1980s.

however, its strategic choice model that represents a paradigm shift is a strategic quality choice and a choice that is built on system theory of Parson (in Legett) and Dunlop (ibid). They go through different employment strategic methods, which are transformed from colonial administration to regulated pluralism that is started from 1959 to 1967, from regulated pluralism to corporation that last from 1968 to 1978, "economic success had brought Singapore a tight labor market and anxiety about being caught in the low wage trap" (Legett, 2005, p. 380). From corporation to corporate paternalism between 1979 and 1986, and from corporate paternalism to manpower planning - which is currently being applied to the employment system.

Under the colonial regime, trade unions that were actively involved in employee and industrial relations were regulated by the unions. Under regulated pluralism, both industrial and employee relations and their conditions were regulated and bonded by the laws. This change is an effort to cultivate trade unions loyalty toward political parties and at the same time, it reduces the growth of trade unions. Under corporatism, government places legal constraints on collective bargaining and trade unions become partners to political parties in terms of labor negotiation between the