International and Comparative Employment Relations: National Regulation, Global Changes

"Each of the contributors to the work are world class scholars. The editors are similarly elite at their game. In addition, all parties have had a chance to refine their act to the point (now) where they have created something truly indispensable for the serious student of comparative employment relations." - Anthony Gould, Laval University, Canada


 "The most enduring and valuable book in the field of international and comparative employment relations in the last 30 years, the sixth edition covers advanced and emerging economies with insightful theoretical implications from a comparative perspective." - Dong-One Kim, Korea University; incoming President ILERA  

"This latest edition is another major contribution by a group of eminent scholars in the field. It serves to promote the study of comparative employment relations in the current context of globalisation, which is also of topical interest to the International Labour Organization (ILO)." - Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO

Established as the standard reference for a worldwide readership of students, scholars and practitioners in international agencies, governments, companies and unions, this text offers a systematic overview of international employment relations.  

Chapters cover the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Japan, South Korea, China and India. 
Experts examine the context of employment relations in each country: economic, historical, legal, social and political. They consider the roles of the major players: employers, unions and governments. They outline the processes of employment relations: collective bargaining and arbitration, consultation and employee involvement.

Topical issues are discussed:

• non-unionised workplaces
• novel forms of human resource management
• labour law reform
• multinational enterprises
• networked organisations
• differences between Asian and western companies
• small and medium-sized enterprises
• migrant workers
• technological change
• labour market flexibility
• pay determination

This sixth edition has an emphasis on globalisation and comparative theories, including concepts of convergence. It offers a new framework for varieties of capitalism in the introduction, and concludes with an insightful account of the forces shaping employment relations in the world economy.

Greg J. Bamber is a British-Australian academic, researcher and writer. He is Professor, Department of Management and Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work, Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He was educated at University (U) of Manchester, London School of Economics and Heriot-Watt U, Edinburgh. 

In his early career, he worked on research projects based at Imperial College, London; Oxford; and Warwick, at the UK Government’s former Commission on Industrial Relations and as an arbitrator with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. He was an academic at the Durham U, UK and subsequently an academic in Australia at Queensland U; Queensland U of Technology (Director, Australian Research Council (ARC) Key Centre in Strategic Management); Griffith U (Dean/Director, Graduate School of Management).

The book International & Comparative Employment Relations edited by him and colleagues that was first published in 1987 is seen as "the standard work", which is used around the world. SAGE will publish the 7th edition in 2021. He has more than 200 other publications in leading journals and books such as Up in the Air: How Airlines Can Improve Performance by Engaging their Employees.

He has helped to lead many research projects funded by the ARC and the UK Economic and Social Research Council. International agencies (e.g. International Labour Organization), governments and enterprises have commissioned him to conduct research projects or to be an advisor on work organisation, HR or industrial relations. He has conducted research in many sectors including aviation, agriculture, building, chemicals, education, electronics, engineering, finance, health, hotels, infrastructure, mining, the public sector, railways, restaurants, retailing, tourism, telecommunications, manufacturing and unions as well as a range of enterprises in Australia internationally.

He is President, the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association and has served earlier as President of Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM), International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria (Australia) and the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand. He is Co-Chair: International Section, US Labor & Employment Relations Association (LERA).

He is a Fellow of ANZAM, LERA, Academy of Social Sciences, UK; Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; Australian Human Resources Institute; British Academy of Management; Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK; Chartered Management Institute, UK. He has served also as a Director on several boards in the fields of education, healthcare and sport, as well as on more than 20 editorial boards for international journals.

He has given presentations at many other universities and conferences in many countries including in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, UK, USA.

He is a regular commentator in the electronic and printed mass media in Australia and internationally. For more, see The Conversation, Linkedin, Orcid, Twitter, Who′s Who in Australia, YouTube or ask:gregbamber@gmail.com

Russell D. Lansbury - Emeritus Professor, Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney, Australia

Nick Wailes – Professor; Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Australia

Chris F. Wright is an Associate Professor in Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. Chris’s research focuses on the intersection of employment, globalisation and public policy, with a particular interest in labour immigration, comparative employment relations and sustainable supply chains. He has authored more than 80 scholarly publications, including rcecent articles in British Journal of Industrial Relations, Industrial & Labor Relations Review and Journal of Business Ethics. Chris is an Editor of Journal of Industrial Relations and an Associate Editor of Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society.