NAFTA's Labor Side Agreement and International Labor Solidarity

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its supplemental labor pact, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) reflect the uneven advances of labor rights advocacy in connection with international trade. NAFTA provides extensive rights and protections for multinational firms and investors in such areas as intellectual property rights and investment guarantees. The NAALC only partially addresses labor rights and labor conditions, but within its limits it has shown itself to be a viable tool for cross-border solidarity among key actors in the trade union, human rights, and allied movements. The NAALC's principles and complaint mechanisms create new space for advocates to build coalitions and take concrete action to articulate challenges to the status quo and advance workers' interests. Cooperation, consultation, and collaboration among social actors have brought a qualitative change to transnational labor rights networks in North America.     

Australian Labor and the Socialist Tradition

Amidst the turmoil of the so‐called ‘death of socialism’, both in Australia and elsewhere, there has been renewed debate about what socialism should be taken to mean. This paper attempts to come to terms with the competing claims about, in particular, socialism within the Australian Labor Party and, in general, how better to understand the meaning of socialism. A comparison and contrast between the first principles of liberalism and socialism helps to illuminate some of the inadequacies of Marxist criticisms of parliamentary Labor. In addition, the argument is made that if we are willing to give greater emphasis to questions of means and ends, socialism can be seen to be part of Labor's historic mission. Far from being a defence of the Hawke administration, however, the case is made that there has been, under Hawke, a fundamental break with the democratic socialist tradition; that the difference is in kind, not degree.     

工会志模式述论

工会志是记述工会会情的资料性著述 ,其内容包括工会自身建设活动和社会职能活动两大方面。在编纂形式上有大编式、中编式和小编式三种。中编式工会志同大编式工会志和小编式工会志相比较 ,在解决结构问题及部门工作交叉问题 ,反映工会的本质、活动规律 ,体现会情的联系性、整体性和宏观特色、时代特色 ,增强志书的认识价值和使用价值 ,达到经世致用目的等方面 ,具有明显的优越性 ,因而更具科学性和可行性。     

Murphy's Moral Economy of Labor

Abstract

Throughout its history, the institution of the Catholic Church has been at odds with the social and political changes of modernity. However, many scholars claim that after Vatican II, the Church began to accept modernity's political regnancy, and subsequently embraced doctrines such as separation of Church and State and religious freedom. In fact, some scholars go so far as to claim that in recent decades, the Catholic Church has led political crusades that resulted in the political, economic, and social liberation of many, such as its spearhead movement against Communist countries and the liberation theology movements in Latin America. The purpose of this article is not only to examine such claims but to look more closely at the political implications of the thought of Pope Benedict XVI. I propose that Benedict XVI does not simply embrace modernity, but he challenges it from within and presents political society with an alternative foundation for political liberalism. To this effect, I examine the main tenets of his social thought, including his political anthropology and concept of personhood, his idea of secularity, and his understanding of the role of political institutions. I assess whether his ideas can be universally accepted by liberal, secular societies or whether the character of these ideas will appeal only to those who embrace Christianity.     

论德意志帝国政府对劳工问题的调节

德意志帝国时期,快速工业化进程使得劳工问题日渐突出,德意志帝国政府采取"立法"与"行政"手段对劳工问题进行了全面调节,形成了比较系统的劳工问题调节机制。德意志帝国对劳工问题的调节,缓解了社会矛盾,对德国经济、政治、社会的整体协调发展产生了持久而深刻的影响。     

A China Paradox: Migrant Labor Shortage amidst Rural Labor Supply Abundance

A U.S. geographer and noted authority on China's urbanization seeks to explain the apparent paradox between reported recent shortages of migrant labor in cities in eastern China's export-oriented manufacturing belt and the abundant supply of labor in China's rural areas. He examines important socioeconomic contexts often overlooked in the debate over whether China has reached the Lewis turning point (when dual rural-urban labor markets begin to merge and a labor surplus economy is transformed into a full-employment economy), which make possible the existence of such shortages over the short term and in local areas. These include the special characteristics of China's export industrialization (e.g., preference for workers in the age category 16-30); its immense migrant labor force, constrained under the hukou system; the short-term impacts of China's economic stimulus program launched in early 2009 in the wake of the global economic crisis; and cycles in the global economy that support or impede export production.     

对马克思分工-阶级理论的再解读

长期以来,人们把马克思主义的阶级理论归结为“生产资料所有制决定阶级的划分;阶级斗争推动社会发展”这样一种理论模式。现在,人们发现运用这种理论模式解释历史和现实都遇到众多的困难,于是出现了要求用西方社会学的社会分层理论代替阶级分析理论的呼声。这是对马克思阶级理论作教条式误读引起的不良后果。实际上,马克思主义的阶级理论本是一种“分工—阶级理论”,按照这样的理论,就应把阶级视为在一定生产力发展水平决定的分工体系中处在不同的地位、发挥不同的作用、因而对生产资料和生产成果拥有不同的占有或支配权利、并因而具有不同的思想和行为取向的社会集团。运用这样的分工—阶级理论分析历史和现实社会的阶级、阶层及其相互关系和与之相应的社会变迁,才能看清社会历史演进的规律性和必然趋势。     

过渡时期劳动关系的国家调节

过渡时期是新型企业劳动关系的形成时期。针对不同性质的企业,国家建立新型劳动关系的政策措施各具特色。根据改造社会的需要,政府从劳动争议处理制度入手,把私营企业的劳动关系逐步改造为具有社会主义性质的劳动关系,同时以劳动管理制度的改革为中心实现了国营企业劳动关系的转换。总体上看,这一时期国家调节劳资关系的政策措施是正确的,建立新型劳动管理制度的努力也有合理的成分,主要的失误在于对国营企业发生劳动纠纷的认识有偏差,在加强制度建设上有明显的疏漏。