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This article uses union survey data to examine the incidence and work- related consequences of technical change in the Australian printing industry during the mid-1980s. It attempts to explain inter-plant variations in the incidence of technical change and differences in union influence on technical-change issues. The finding that the union has not given technical change a great deal of attention is explained by the incremental and mainly benign effects that new technology has had on existing printing industry employees. However, this approach is questionable and is changing in the light of strategies developed by the Australian union movement in response to emerging problems.

Relationships outside of work impact employee effectiveness at work. But how do we explain this? Our study focuses on the guanxi relationship in China. This is based on close personal ties between supervisors and subordinates initiated outside the workplace. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we develop a model that explains how supervisor–subordinate guanxi constitutes a social resource that spills over into the workplace and impacts subordinates' job resources (including autonomy, support and development at work), job crafting (proactive behaviors aimed at increasing resources and reducing demands) and job performance (task performance and organizational citizenship behavior). Our model was tested on a sample of 406 subordinates and their supervisors from seven manufacturing organizations in China. The results of a multilevel path analysis indicate that high-quality guanxi relations with supervisors facilitate subordinates' job resources, job crafting behaviors and organizational citizenship behavior at work. In addition, job resources mediate the relationship between supervisor–subordinate guanxi and job crafting, and job crafting mediates the relationship between supervisor–subordinate guanxi and subordinate task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Overall, our research highlights the importance of externally-generated guanxi between subordinates and supervisors and the mechanisms that contribute to improving employee performance in the workplace.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how part-time waiters perceive and respond to abusive supervision by the owner-manager of a small restaurant.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic approach was used to collect data. One of the authors worked as a participant observer for three months. In addition, 13 interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted.FindingsData analysis showed how neutral identification based on a primary identity—liu xu sheng(overseas student)—overshadows employees' occupational identity (waiter), which helps waiters to cope with abusive supervision.Originality/valueDevelopment and application of the concept of neutral organizational identification orientation encourages emotional suppression and reframing, leading to waiters' indifference and acquiescence in abusive supervision. Implications are drawn for theory and the practice of managing part-time and temporary workers.

Are internal migrant workers who have contributed so much to contemporary Chinese economic growth forming a distinct, impoverished underclass (Chan, 2010; Solinger, 2006) or are they slowly merging into the Chinese working class? In this article sociological theory is employed to develop the distinction between underclass and working class, including the conditions and criteria that enable these social categories to be distinguished theoretically and empirically. Drawing on a large range of survey data, including our own analysis of a recent Chinese migrant worker survey, we examine relevant aspects of work and city experience in order to assess the underclass thesis. In addition, we evaluate the argument that younger migrant workers are significantly different in work orientation and strategies for work-life improvement compared with their more experienced counterparts. We conclude that evidence for the underclass thesis is less compelling than an interpretation that views most migrant workers as transitioning into the working class. In addition, although younger workers are more intrinsically oriented than older migrants, both groups concur that labor law enforcement is critical for work-life improvement while simultaneously developing their own collective capacity to influence labor relations outcomes.

RésuméEn 2013, la tragédie du Rana Plaza mettait en lumière les défaillances de la réglementation du travail dans les chaînes d'approvisionnement mondiales de l'habillement. Qu'en est‐il aujourd'hui, à l'ère du COVID‐19? Et les travailleurs, comment s'en sortent‐ils? Pour les auteurs, le système de gouvernance du travail (SGT), concept qu'ils définissent précisément, reste insuffisant, malgré le renforcement des règles de sécurité, et, sous l'angle des salaires, du temps de travail et des relations avec l'encadrement, la situation ne s'est guère améliorée. Cependant, la pandémie, facteur aggravant, pourrait jouer un rôle de détonateur en vue d'un renforcement du SGT. Les auteurs font plusieurs recommandations à cet effet.

AbstractThe 2013 Rana Plaza disaster highlighted the failure of labour regulation in global garment value chains. Eight years on, in the midst of the COVID‐19 pandemic, what changes have occurred in labour regulation and with what consequences for workers? Using the concept of a labour governance system (LGS), the authors show that, despite improvements in building and worker safety regulation, the garment LGS remains weak and wages, working hours and the treatment of workers show little improvement. The pandemic appears to have exacerbated these deficiencies but it may also offer an opportunity to strengthen the LGS along lines proposed in this article.