This book takes up a critical and realistic perspective on what is happening in China, India and other Asian countries in comparison with Western countries. It avoids hiding problems and difficulties, but communicates a positive message on the possibility to proceed in achieving a better situation. In this perspective the analysis of the public policies is a key point. These policies, in the Eastern as well as in the Western countries show objective difficulties and social contradictions but also that improvement is possible. The initial chapter is completely devoted to a study of China from within. The other topics analysed in the book are related to the social and natural environment’s sustainability: innovation, research and education on the one side and the life of workers on the other; also including the «invisible» people of the informal employment and the economic migrants, especially in Asia.

Francesco Garibaldo is an industrial sociologist. He was director of the Institute for Labour Foundation (IpL) in Bologna and is now a member of the scientific direction of IRES Istituto Ricerche Economiche e Sociali in Emilia Romagna (Italy). Dinghong Yi is an economist. He is chief editor of and lecturer for Economics, Labor Economics and Game Theory at the School of Labor Relations and Human Resources of Renmin University of China.

Leseprobe

Contents: Francesco Garibaldo/Dinghong Yi: Introduction – Gaofeng Liang: Discussing the labour union’s reform for harmony of the labour relationship in China – Xu Ji-ping: Reconstitution of Chinese Labour Common Joint Action System Based on the Practice – Ding Dajian/Huang Xiaoyu: Professionalization of Employment: Perspectives on Improving the Quality of Employment – Ying Chen/Xianming Yang/Yanping Zhou: The effect of social capital and its localization on the nonfarm employment of rural labor: an empirical study in the western border areas of China – Weimin Zhang/Dinghong Yi: The Analysis of Channels and Possibility On Wage Data Collection in China – Peter Hennicke/Tobias Schleicher: Sustainable Development, Ecological Modernisation and Jobs: How quality of life is interlinked with nature conservation – Béla Galgoczi: Transition to a low carbon economy and its impact on European industrial jobs – Friedrich Fuerstenberg: Regional Policy and Human Resource Development within the EU – Yunus Adeleke Dauda: Technology Innovation & Sustainable Economy: Research & Development Programmes in the ECOWAS Region – Jocelyne Robert: Trade union implication in the sustainable development: global position and contingent situations – Carsten Strøby Jensen: Climate, trade unions and industrial relations – Denis Harrisson: Mutual Aid Network: A form of solidarity at the base of Trade-Union renewal – Maria da Conceição Cerdeira/João Dias: Trade Union Strategies, Precariousness and Sustainable Development: an Analysis of the Portuguese Case – Erduo Liu: From the Urban-Rural-Binary Labour Market to the Urban-Internally Binary Labour Market – Sven Schaller: Sustainable Development in Rural China. The Interrelation of Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Labour Migration – Waman Salve: Labour Rights, Seasonal Migrant Women Workers in Sugar Industry and Sustainable Development in India – Anup Dash: Voluntary Poverty and the Moral Economics of Development: The Gandhian Paradigm – Marian Whitaker/Idaya Husna Mohd: A Minimum Wage for Malaysia: An analysis of the arguments and recent policy – Tanya Chavdarova: The Informal Self-employment and the Perception of Risk of Urban Youth in Sofia – Annamma Varghese/Joseph P. Varghese: Management and Strategies for the sustainable development of the labour Force in the Rubber Plantation Sector in India – João Dias/Ilona Kovács/Maria da Conceição Cerdeira: Quality of employment for older workers and social cohesion in the European Union – Siyan Wu/Yiming Zhang/Jianying Tang/Jiaojiao Qu: The Development of Employee Involvement in China’s State Owned Enterprises – Sabine Gensior/Lothar Lappe: Sustainable measures to stabilise labour markets during the Crisis: The role of Short-Time Work in Germany – Fengqi Yang: Psychological ownership of employees: A perspective from the nature of human capital properties – Birgit Vogelsang: Local Agenda 21 and the Economy in the City of Osnabrück - Opportunities for a sustainable development on a local level - an example – Varghese M. Mathunny: Mobilizing Labour for Sustainable Development and Women Empowerment – Ilona Kovács/Margarida Chagas Lopes: Employment and sustainable development: education, training and R&D in the regulation of the labour market – Maria João Santos/Carla Montefusco de Oliveira: The reality of corporate social responsibility in Brazil and Portugal – György Széll: Conclusion on Labour and Sustainable Development.