Paper Example on Trade Unions in Japan

Introduction

In the early 19th century, the Japanese trade union movements saw a continuous integration of Japan into a global economy. The Japanese trade union Confederation was formed to represent the unionized workers. Significant social, economic, and political changes have taken place since that time in the trade union movements. Compared to other significant industrialized economies in the past, Japan had higher economic growth. The country, however, has suffered a decline in economic growth, as compared to European countries and the United States. Among the prevailing political and social trends, the rise of neo-liberalism is possible, with the Japanese labor relations model getting exposed to newer challenges. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation is the largest trade union in Japan. Some of the trade unions before this included; Japanese Confederation of labor and the general council of trade unions in Japan which played a significant role in bringing together both public and private sector unions.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Characteristics and the Unique Features of Japanese Trade Unions

In the epoch of globalization, Japan and Sweden are the core economic agents. Trade unions and industrial transformations are consequences of influence at the borders. Japanese unions represent companies to which they relate, hence are enterprise based. Their industrial relations can be said to be relatively cooperative, their international relations system is founded on; seniority-based wages, lifetime employment, and enterprise unionism. Unions are established under the limits of a firm and are called company unions (Okamoto, p190). Industry federations are joined by enterprise unions to form national political bodies, an example of which is the Japanese Trade Union Confederation.

The enterprise unions are in charge of negotiating factory matters such as; redundancy, promotion, transfers and retirements, and wage rates. Most enterprises have common aspects of; blue and white-collar employees belonging to a common union, only regular workers receive membership, and regular employees are union officers of the specific firm. Federations, on the other hand, have their primary focus on improving wages across the borders (Visser, p1960). They determine decision making and agendas across industries through enterprise unions. These enterprise unions represent competitive firms in the same industry. Thus, the whole negotiation process is dependent on federations than the enterprise unions. Leagues decide on pay increase after negotiating informally with the unions and management across the firms in the industry. The Japanese Private Sector trade union council and the Japanese Confederation of labor are the chief negotiators with government officials.

Japan union membership is still high and is considered second in the non-communist world. The inability of the unions to attract members from other firms has led to a drop in their unionization. In the era where labor markets have become casual, it is hard for unions to grow with most workers not belonging to company unions. Membership in these unions doe, not guarantee wages, to a point people get tired of just belonging and claiming to be the 'voice' of workers. The Japanese model of industrial relations assumes that a particular trade union is seen as a party, with immense bargaining power, and negotiations are focused on the elimination of strikes. Recent trends have seen unions developing efficient schemes and creating more jobs for post-retrenchment adjustments.

The Consequences for a Foreign Company That Wants To Invest in Japan

The only requirement for an international company that wants to spend in Japan is the submission of an ex-post facto report to relevant ministries. This is to ensure statistical records that do not result in ex-post facto reviews and conduction of investigations by the government. However, certain limited investments must be filled, to the Forex act, which involves certain countries and geographic areas, and specific areas of business. These restrictions are related to; protection of the domestic industry, public infrastructure, public safety, and national security. An investment that falls under these categories will force the party involved to submit a notification of the intended investment to the relevant ministries, before. If the department notices that the investment can: tamper with the protection of the safety of the public can impede public order, and it has adverse effects on the growing economy of Japan, then it might order a suspension or an amendment in the field of investment. It is however rare for these orders to be issued.

Most western companies find it hard to succeed in doing business in Japan because the customers have varied needs and tastes as compared to that of the western customers (Salacuse, p25). They are quite demanding, forcing most western investors to make a new design for their products to meet the needs of Japanese customers. Japan is big, and therefore, there is a huge amount of quality investments. This makes the risks or both losing and winning very high. Japanese companies are not receptive of new competitors and have strong local companies, which keep coming up with strategies to compete with the new entrants (Francisco, p231). Any company willing to invest in Japan has to be ready to compete with these local companies. It is essential to start with a lot of preparation and strategy to avoid some expensive and consuming mistakes, a lot of basic facts, culture and customs have to be also learned.

However, a lot is changing in recent years with foreign investments increasing rapidly. Previously, a small number of Japanese people were able to speak English, this factor isolating them, intellectually from the rest of the world. The sizeable traditional industry was dominated by the Keiretsu and Zaibatsu tribes. Their structure is slowly breaking down as per recent studies. A lot of barriers to restrict entries by newcomers such as certifications, offices, authorities, and procedures have been slowly eased and not as limited as they were. A person can always work in new industries with the help of professionals.

How Is the Day to Day Work and Influence of Europe to Japan?

The EU economic partnership agreement which was published in 2016 was carried out for the European Commission. Negotiations between Japan and the European Union were launched in July 2012 to make an impact on future economic partnerships. The European Union imports motor vehicles, electronic machinery, chemicals and medical instruments from Japan. This trade relationship is characterized by, huge surpluses in favor of Japan. Due to the nature of the Japanese economy, doing business in the country continues to be challenging, but the trade figures with the EU are increasingly becoming balanced (Justin et al., p86).

The cooperation between Japan and the European Union's has been made easier by some dialogues carried out by; the EU-Japan center for industrial collaboration, and the EU-Japanese business roundtable. Some agreements achieved are; the science and technology agreement, the agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance, understanding of cooperation on anti-competitive activities and the EU-Japan mutual recognition agreement. Some of the requirements and rules of trading in Japan are, importing into the EU from Japan and exporting from the EU to Japan.

The economic pressure in Germany, the United States, and Japan have helped in shaping ties between the three countries. There have been aspects of the creation of new partnerships, sharing of burdens and better coordination. The escalating tension between the government of the United States and its allies has worn down governments and has taken a new toll in relations. The economy in the world has encountered danger with Germany and Japan being a part of the problem (Ronald, p86). Failure to correct this situation can lead to the destruction of competitive trade and destabilization in financial markets. Investments in Germany and Japan are booming with America showing less strength. The distinctions between the economies of Germany and Japan are far much blurred that it is in America because the nations depend on the world's economy and due to Tokyo and Bonn abilities to have independent military capabilities, they have learned to make economics, by other means, an extension of politics.

Despite Japan being ranked as the world's second largest economy, the European countries still surpass its FDI rates. Japan has developed a reputation for being resistant to foreign investment, but reports show that these investments can help the country boost its economy. Concerning protected industries by unions in Japan, they still face a bureaucratic red tape. The foreign trade and foreign exchange control laws act to specifically prevent foreign investors from acquiring significant stakes in Japanese companies. Such industries are known to be protected by the public and national security safety and include; telecom, energy, railways, leather processing and petroleum firms. However, as the Japanese government continues being friendly to investors, some foreign capitals will go in, increasingly. The EU and Japan did not agree on how foreign investors should be protected.

Works Cited

Aspinwall, Mark, and Justin Greenwood. Collective action in the European Union: interests and the new politics of associability. Routledge, 2013.

Dore, Ronald. Flexible rigidities: Industrial policy and structural adjustment in the Japanese economy, 1970-1980. A&C Black, 2013.

Garcia, Francisco, Byungchae Jin, and Robert Salomon. "Does inward foreign direct investment improve the innovative performance of local firms?." Research Policy 42.1 (2013): 231-244.

Okamoto, H. "Japan." Towards Industrial Democracy. Routledge, 2017. 190-239.

Salacuse, Jeswald W. "BIT by BIT: The growth of bilateral investment treaties and their impact on foreign investment in developing countries." Globalization and International Investment. Routledge, 2017. 25-45.

Visser, Jelle. "Data base on institutional characteristics of trade unions, wage setting, state intervention and social pacts, 1960-2011 (ictwss)." Amsterdam Institute for Advances Labour Studies (AIAS), University of Amsterdam (2013).