Tripartism
Disagreements are prudent in any relationship. Processes are normally tabulated to protect the occurrence of disagreement in industrial relations. Agreements are the norms which should be administered in the working places to avoid disagreements. Industrial relations normally operate under certain environment and space. The relationship and interrelationship take place in certain grounds defined by social, economic, geographical location, and cultural environment (Slomp, 1996). They can also operate under other certain context such as technological, historical and legal environment of the place and time.
The government plays a major role in creating industrial relation. The government can act as a potential employer. The formulation of national priorities and objectives is a sensitive aspect which is laid in the hands of the government. The government participates in formulating and enforcing laws which are acts as the guidelines in the society. The formulated laws help not only in the matters of labor issues but for the running of a nation. The government is involved in critical issues such as policy making, potential employer, making and enforcing laws.
Tripartism calls for consensus between the involved parties. The rise of disagreements is paramount between parties although this is normally limited. The disagreements which can bring conflicts can be resolved before occurring. The involved parties decides to keep away any disagreements in order to reach agreements to enable them solve certain problems. The absence of consensus makes it difficult to come up with policies which are accommodating all the parties. The tripartite system does not only take into consideration of elite accommodation but also acceptance of decision. Decision making is the key issue in a tripartite system in which the decision is contributed to by both the leaders and the members within the parties. The agreed policies can be passed over to the members by persuading them to accept them. Implementation of policies can be difficult in case the involved parties do not accept on the agreed policies. The three parties should have equal chances in policy making failure to which the tripartite symbol will be inactive (Simpson, 1994). When some of the involved become dominant, the agreed policies will considered overall even they are disadvantageous to some parties.
We can consider Philippines tripartism in order to understand the groups which benefit or the ones which might be disadvantaged by it. The industrial system gives analysis of the tripartism. The issue of collective bargaining was advocated in bringing up the bipartite relation in the Industrial Act. The employees right was covered in this Act which advocated for the formation of trade unions. Labor law and labor practices are dealt with in the industrial relation court. The industrial regulation was brought forth by reviving the wages. The basis for tripartism was introduced by the passage of the industrial peace act in 1953. Labor code enhanced further unions which were beneficial for labor relations. Industrial Peace Act introduced more unions which were after collective bargaining. The contribution to support education was done on collective bargaining. It was also based on labor relation issues. The parties involved may have some weaknesses. Weak unions may come up. Small family business may be incompatible in the tripartite system. The political differences may bring about poor relations in organizations and unions. Unions may be unable to solve such differences. The unions in Philippines were shifted from political orientation to business unions (International Labor Organization, 2009).
Lawyers dominated in the creation of business unions which contributed to the development of labor relations. Stable labor relations were attained after the introduction of minimum wage protection to employees. There were major changes in 1970s and 1980s with the introduction of the martial law. Labor unrest was witnessed with the devaluation of peso which occurred in 1962. Compulsory arbitration was reintroduced and some restrictions were brought forth after the introduction of the martial law. In this declaration employers were not allowed to fire employees until there was government intervention to do so. The restriction of union activity included participation in strikes. Labor code was introduced in 1974 bringing forth some prohibitions. This prohibition was to be exercised on supervisory employees, government employees amongst others in the rank (Fine, 1997). The tripartite conference saw the freezing of wage by the government. These measures which were adopted declined employee strikes. Labor unrest reoccurred with the merger of economic, political and social activities in 1980s. Due to this resurgence of this labor unrest, rampant strikes were reported. This continued even after the introduction of democracy in 1986. Social relationship which handled labor relations was adopted to control the prevailing industrial unrest ( HYPERLINK httpwww.tripartism.sgindex.aspxid9 httpwww.tripartism.sgindex.aspxid9).
The Philippines model was geared towards increasing productivity and at the same time maintaining industrial peace. Originally, tripartism was adapted under the martial law to regulate the union movement. The protection of wages was also covered with the introduction of tripartism in 1974. There has been recent coverage of tripartism in the issue of decision making. Industrial relationship has further been promoted with the introduction of social contracts. Some issues covered during tripartite meetings are social security, productivity incentives and tax exemption. Labor and social policies are usually formulated with the involvement of employer and worker representatives. There are tripartite bodies which have been formed by involving worker and employer representatives. There are various activities which are undertaken by the tripartite bodies (International Labor Organization, 2009). These include determination of minimum wage, settlement of disputes in the work place, compensating of workers due to some unavoidable circumstances such as accidents, training of workers. These bodies also participate in development of skills of both workers and employers. Examples of these tripartite bodies include National Wage Council. These bodies work hand in hand with policy making bodies such as central bank, energy Regulatory Board amongst other international bodies.
Tripartism is covered in the states policies. Tripartite conferences which are normally called by the secretary of labor take on board employer, government and worker representatives. The conferences may be based regionally, nationally or at industrial levels. These conferences are aimed at bringing social relationship amongst employer, workers and the government. The department of Labor and Employment is main government in the conferences. The sections of this government representative are Bureau of Labor relation, National Labor Relations Commission, Labor Inspectorate, National Conciliation and Mediation Board, National Wages and productivity Commission (Slomp, 1996).
The development of tripartite structure has been behind most of the states in Europe. This has been geared by the political systems in these states. Tripartism brings about social bargaining between government, business and labor. The social bargaining of these parties is covered in their policies. Tripartite bodies have occurred in states such as Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech and Slovak Republics. Economic, cultural and social barriers have affected the social inclusion of young people. The inclusion of young in employment has been a major problem in Europe countries due to the economic, cultural and social barriers. The living standard of Bulgaria was affected by the drastic change in its economy
( HYPERLINK httpwww.tripartism.sgindex.aspxid9 httpwww.tripartism.sgindex.aspxid9).
In conclusion, tripartism is the involvement of labor, business and government in social bargaining. The involved parties have to find a way of eliminating any disagreements which might rise since it might lead to difficulties in formulating policies. The agreed solution to specific problems leads to making policies which are acceptable between the involved parties. The government which acts as a significant employer also participates in making laws which are not only for labor relations but help in running the nation.
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