International ConferenceWell-being and the Future of Industrial Relations
1. Organizing:
Group B03
2. Joint Sponsorship:
- Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas “Establishing the Field of Dignity Studies:Toward an Interdisciplinary Paradigm of Social Integration Based on the Concept of Dignity” (Award Number: 23A103)
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) “Implementation of welfare transportation system based on the capability approach and construction of research analysis program” (Award Number: 19H00595)
- Public Interest Incorporated Foundation, The Kambayashi Scholarship Foundation
- Moonshot R&D, “Maximizing well-being and agency on the basis of interpersonal comparison of brain indicators” (Award Number: JPMJMS2294)
- Joint Usage and Research Center Programs at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University
3. Date:
Monday, December 16th, 2024 – Tuesday, December 17th, 2024
4. Venue:
Kasumigaseki Campus, Teikyo University
5. Format:
Face to face only (Language: English only)
6. Program:
Opening remarks by organizer
Session 1: Recent Changes in Industrial Relations: Insights from Statistics and Surveys
-Akie NAKAMURA(RENGO-RIALS)/Susumu KUWAHARA (IER, Hitotsubashi)
Discrepancy in Unionization Rates Between Official and Social Surveys in Japan
-Alex BRYSON (UCL)
Unions, Wages and Hours in the USA: A Half-Century Perspective
-Ryo KAMBAYASHI (Musashi)
Union Membership Dynamics in Japan: Analyzing Demand, Supply, and Satisfaction
-Kyoko SUZUKI (JILPT)/Akie NAKAMURA (RENGO-RIALS)
Job Quality and Union Membership Status
Session 2: Roles and Mechanisms of Industrial Relations: Behind the Scenes
-Tomohiro SHIMONAGA (Doshisha)
Curriculum Design for Vocational Training in Japan in Response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Challenges
-Ikutaro ENATSU (Kobe)
A Case Study on Data-driven Labor Unions in Japan
-Takao KATO (Colgate)
Information and Goal Misalignment, Employee Voice, and Wages: Evidence from Japanese Linked Employer-Employee Data
Session 3: Well-being and the Future of Industrial Relations
-Reiko GOTOH (Teikyo)
An Empirical Challenge of Capability Approach
-Andrew CLARK (Paris School of Economics – CNRS)
Well-being at Work: Japan and the OECD
-Gabriel BURDIN (Siena)
The Impact of Overtime Limits on Firms and Workers: Evidence from Japan’s Work Style Reform
-Mari TANAKA (IER, Hitotsubashi/ Tokyo)
Unions in Developing Countries
Final remarks by the organizer
7. Number of participants:
30 people
8. Overview and review:
Most attempts to introduce ethics into economics have been directed toward extending the rational economic man (self-interest maximization) model with concepts such as altruism, empathy, trust, and social preferences. It is difficult to say that issues such as the work incentive theory, which is a fetter on social redistribution policies, the unitary pecking order principle (productivity) and meritocracy that runs through education and employment, and the conditions for the establishment of freedom of contract have not been adequately addressed.
The International Conference on Individual Welfare and Industrial Relations shed some light on a blind spot in economics by placing the concept of labor unions (collective bargaining agreements) between the individual and the public. The following is a brief summary of the conference.
The class consciousness of labor and capital formed in liberal democratic society after the Versailles regime has faded in recent years, and the one-to-one contractual relationship of employee and employer has come to be emphasized with the “principle of freedom of contract”. For example, the current decline in the rate of labor union organization in developed countries is a clear indication of this.
This trend is also compatible with the assumptions of economics and econometrics, such as the view of society that the individual is directly denounced by the state and methodological individualism since the French Revolution, and it has been taken for granted that well-developed theories and statistical operations can be applied to reality, even when evaluating individual welfare. However, as discussed at this conference, there are a number of controversial aspects to this trend, especially from the standpoint of individual welfare.
First, it should be considered that a clear asymmetry remains in the employee-employer relationship in terms of decision-making opportunities and exercisable authority. The formal application of the “principle of freedom of contract” may mask the violation of rights (welfare damage) suffered by certain individuals.
In addition, in order to assume the evaluation criteria for welfare, it is essential to measure the (objective) function of what one can do and at the same time assume the (subjective) compliant function of what one wants to do/what one should do. Note that in modern society, which directly links the individual to the state, this what-would/should be done is considered to be exclusively determined by the individual (or the state).
In reality, the functions that a particular individual must assume are deeply assumed and shaped by the group with which he or she shares an identity, such as a family or community. If the definition of the compliant function is left entirely to the individual and the compliant function cannot be assumed through unexperienced counterfactuals, then the compliant function assumed by the individual may be overly dependent on his or her own experience.
Essentially, the compliant function should be assumed more normatively endorsable by extending itself into the realm of the unexperienced through counterfactual virtuality and acquiring knowledge. What is useful in this case is the procedure of incorporating the experience of others as one’s own experience (i.e., counterfactual virtuality) under the same identity.
When we call the aggregate unit defined by the same identity an “intermediate group,” the most powerful intermediate group in the employee-employer relationship is the labor union, and it is the collective bargaining agreement that represents the value norms there. It has been pointed out that the recent decline in the labor union organization rates in developed countries may create macro resource allocation inefficiencies in terms of workers’ bargaining power and labor share. The impact of this may ultimately affect the formation of norms in the workplace of those who work.
In this conference, the possibility and reality of “from contract to agreement” were examined from various perspectives, and through various domestic and international data and case studies, valuable suggestions were made regarding the procedures and mechanisms for consensus building based on asymmetrical relationships. In fact, a similar problem lies in the “shift from measures to contracts” promoted in the recent reform of the basic structure of social welfare. The findings obtained through the labor union research will be useful in the reform of the social welfare system.