The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the unexplored characteristics of labor relations in Nepal against the backdrop of social exchange theory as it relates to labor…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the unexplored characteristics of labor relations in Nepal against the backdrop of social exchange theory as it relates to labor relations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper considers the psychological contract of promises and expectations from the social exchange theory on the ground in Nepal. To do so, the paper adopts an inductive method of investigation and reviews dispersed and unstructured archival data.
Findings
In terms of the psychological contract of promises and expectations, Nepalese workers and trade unions appear to have constituted a pressure group since they aligned themselves with Nepal's political parties. Consequently, the legal labor framework and behaviors of trade unions have produced highly politicized labor relations; very high and dense union memberships; vocal unions; a labor-supportive legal framework; union-influenced government and union-driven enterprise-level collective bargaining and collective dispute settlement.
Originality/value
The paper claims that although the system framework has flimsy prospects elsewhere in the world, it is strong in Nepal as a result of the recent Labor Act of 2017. For this very reason, the paper argues that Nepal's trade unions are in their sturdiest position ever and, therefore, that the country has evaded the crisis experienced in advanced and emerging economies in other parts of world. In theoretical terms, the article contributes from the social exchange theoretical perspective to the literature on the psychological contract of promises and expectations. It also has a bearing on emerging discourses and debates about the revitalization or reshaping of traditional industrial relations.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the systematic development of trade unions in Nepal. To that end, it considers historical political paradigm shifts and institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the systematic development of trade unions in Nepal. To that end, it considers historical political paradigm shifts and institutional dynamics from the beginning of trade unions to today.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts the background of biological growth theories and tests them with the use of qualitative and quantitative data, official records and historical literature.
Findings
The second juncture of trade unions was vacuum marked by the absence of a legal labor framework. The first stage of trade unionism was prevented from an official take-off as such in terms of unionization and union activities. The major reason for this phenomenon was the complete ban on trade unions placed by the monarchial regime. However, the alliance of trade unions with mother political parties helped them to bounce back in the early 1990s. Thus, the overall biological growth pattern of trade unions in Nepal appears as “discontinuous.”
Originality/value
The paper argues that the discontinuous development of trade unions appeared without undergoing a complete growth course of ferment, take-off and maturity as in the S-curve pattern. Second, the discontinuity of the trade unions led eventually to its formal existence as an institutionalized IR actor. Third, the trend of trade unionism since the 1980s and 1990s is one of gradual decline in developed, recently developed and developing countries, whereas it is on a sharp incline in Nepal.