Increasing Intervention of Labour in Socio-Political Issues - Coursework Example

Increasing intervention of labor in socio- political issues There has been a paradigm shift of the term labor in the past one and half decade. With the emergence of technology as a major tool in the industrialization, labor relation is also changing substantially. Globalisation, Liberalisation and Privatisation have played a major role in redefining the perception on labor. Today corporates and industry are more keen on optimum use of labor and they are always thinking of new ways to improve efficiency and output. The labor force itself has been divided into skilled and unskilled work force. The increasing global competition has demanded new approach to the labor. On the one hand there has been an increasing demand for skilled labor forces; the job security of unskilled work force is increasing substantially. We would like to discuss on the labor movements in USA, which working on solving socio economic problems. In the new global scenario, working people all over the world are facing new challenges. On the one hand they have to increase their knowledge level and on the other hand they need to increase their skill levels and address growing imparity in the society. Technology is playing a major role in the evolution of industrial organizations working in both manufacturing and service sectors. They have no choice but to undergo drastic changes in the organizational structure. When we talk of adapting changes, it is easy to say it than to practice. For a long time employees have worked in a designed frame work and there would develop an internal inertia against any change. With the advent of new strategies of cost saving there has been a substantial increase of part time jobs. This is because of the changing labor relations in the new world order. Employees have now become mere contract workforce. Companies have been introducing new work concepts to reduce employee cost. With the increase in number of qualified people (graduates), companies have now lot of choice for recruitment. So companies have more flexibility on employee welfare measures. Labor laws were also diluted to suit the expectations of corporate world and their profitability concerns. This has been instrumental in increasing number of part time jobs all over the developed world. The corporates have also resorted to outsourcing jobs from USA to improve their competitive advantage. This has caused major reduction in the employment opportunities. So the existing work force in the country is compelled to improve the work knowledge. The importance of technology and management has made a substantial change in the outlook of the industry worldwide. When technology is developing faster than the speed of the light, basic concepts such as labor, capital, skill and production have also shown change of meaning. The structure of today’s industrial organisation changed to a large extent. Decentralisation is the mode of organization structure and considered as a potential weapon for competitive advantage. Today workforce of an institution has been totally disintegrated, where one part of the organization might be working in United States and other parts were in other parts of the world such as China and India. It is the word “outsourcing”, which conquered industrial hearts in all over the world. Today skill levels of work force have more impact on the economy of a state or a region. At the same time there are remotely controlled management systems to judge the quality of work, which is done in a far away a place. In this context there is large scope to analise and examine the importance of technology in the skill level of labor force. In mid part of 20th century there were large debates and discussions over the impact of technology on the labor force. There were arguments that adaptation of newer technology and management practices would help the capitalist forces to alienate labor forces. But actually in the post liberalization, globalization and privatization period, it is seen that labor got more attention than ever. The salary levels of skilled labors have increased substantially and they are very much in the mainstream society. Their voice has been heard seriously by political class. This change of attitude was visible when some states in United States introduced legislations restricting flow of jobs from USA. There are a number of non profit organizations active in USA for protecting the rights of labor. The unions in USA have undertaken a number of socio political movements for the betterment of the community as a whole and had some impact on the political structure. Through many forums, they have explored the options to achieve gains for the larger society when job security is under attack and pressure was building on to a lower wages. These movements have been thinking of measures to influencing the decision making process. It is a fact that the process of globalization is instrumental in disintegration of the old industrial model of employment in USA. While there is drastic reduction in employment in manufacturing sector, the service sectors offer more employment potential. Traditional public services re replaced by private corporations and involvement of women in labor market increased substantially. Modern information based systems and technologies have given birth to a new economy, which emphasizes flexibility in the labor market and has hastened the change in employment norms. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), globally, during the last two decades of the twentieth century there has been “a general increase in the precarious nature of employment and the reduction of workers’ protection”. This is the context in which unions are trying to bargain greater equity both for and amongst workers. (Judy Fudge, Equity Bargaining in the New Economy, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) In Working with Class: Social Workers and the Politics of Middle-Class Identity, Daniel J. Walkowitz has examined the complexity and "persisting ambiguities" of middle-class identity in the 20th-century United States. He argues that social context, gender, race, and ethnicity, and peoples views about themselves, specifically in relationship to others, shaped and reshaped the meaning of middle-class over time. According to Walkowitz social workers "luminal status"--or their straddling of borderlines between "feminized and proletarianized or professionalized" work, or "between independency and dependency"--provided rich terrain for exposing how people constituted their personal and work identities. From this it is clear that there is clear linkage between class formation and identity politics. In the last one decade there have been a large number of political movements in USA for protecting job. Today the work force of America is more concerned about outsourcing of jobs. It was in this background that there is now increasing awareness among the political class to protect the basic rights to work. The Democratic Party in USA has openly come in support for working class and helped workers to create some grounds for their arguments. This is a clear indication of higher level intervention by labor in the social and political issues of the nation. There are also large number of campaigns by labor unions for protecting the environment, against child labor, for the rights of women and economy at large. More than ever they have now more voice in the political sphere. Global workplace is such a platform which fights for the rights of women, children and environment. It is an online campaign aimed at improving the quality of life of many marginalized class. “War on Want’ as it is known has recently launched a new campaign in association with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) for exposing the appalling conditions workers from developing countries are subjected to on some luxury cruise ships. (http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=2891) “War on want “is a movement in USA in the back drop of new economic scenario. As the world is shrinking to become a village, inequality and attacks on workers are increasing. Global Workforce is aimed at forming a solidarity movement of workers all over the world. They ague that gloablisation is not process which only rich benefit out of it. They say that the benefit of globalization should reach the working class also. (http://www.globalworkplace.org/?lid=68) Reference: Daniel J. Walkowitz, In Working with Class: Social Workers and the Politics of Middle-Class Identity, Judy Fudge, Equity Bargaining in the New Economy, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Penny Simkin, Ruth S. Ancheta, The Labor Progress Handbook: Early Interventions to Prevent and Treat Dystocia, Oxford University Press, North America http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=2891 http://www.globalworkplace.org/?lid=68 Read More