Key themes in global industrial relations : minimum wages and relocation of production

This report examines two topical issues - minimum wages and the crossborder relocation of production - from the perspective of industrial relations. Drawing on comparative analysis from the European Industrial Relation Observatory (EIRO), it looks at the situation in the 25 EU Member States, in two 'developed' countries - Japan and the USA - and two 'developing' countries - Brazil and China. Minimum wages, while essentially a national issue, plays a part in areas such as the relative labour-cost position of countries. The report highlights the differences and points of similarities between different countries, in such areas as the respective roles of law and collective bargaining and the input of the social partners. Relocation is more 'transnational', involving the transfer by companies of all or part of their operations from one country to another two or more countries, and hence lending itself to a direct comparison between industrial relations systems and the outcomes of these systems. The report looks at the way in which globalisation is most directly and immediately felt by workers and employers, especially in those countries that lose production and jobs through outward relocation.