programmes, have reduced the demand for services which have been typically
offered by unions. Finally, in the past several decades the federal and most states
governments have increasingly provided for the protection of workers’rights by
passing a variety of legislative actions relating to civil rights, occupational
health and safety, disability, and minimum wages (Katz and Colvin 2011).
Federal minimum wages are established under the Fair Labor Standards Act,
and affect all full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in
federal, state, and local governments. Covered non-exempt workers were
entitled to a minimum wage of no less than $7.25 per hour in 2015, with an
overtime pay rate of 1.5 for work hours in excess of forty for a given week.
Exceptions may apply to certain full-time students, student learners, appren-
tices, and workers with disabilities, where lower wages may be paid under
special certificates issued by the Department of Labor. Some workers are
exempt from minimum wage coverage, including commissioned sales
employees, computer professionals, drivers, farm workers, salesmen, and
those employed infirms that have a turnover of less than $500,000 per year
(USDOL 2015).^3
7.7.4Japan
The industrial relations system in Japan has its origins in the post-war US
occupation (ILO 2015). The Trade Union Law introduced in 1945 guarantees
the rights of unions to organize and take industrial action. The Labour Stand-
ards Law of 1947 prescribes minimum wages and conditions of work. The
Labour Relations Law of 1946 sets out procedures for reconciliation and
arbitration.
The Japanese IR system is characterized by collective bargaining at the
individual enterprise level with a generally non-confrontational attitude by
both employers and workers. The reasons for this have been associated with
the tradition of lifelong, or at least long-term, association most workers have
with enterprises. Many managers will have worked their way up from posi-
tions of the people with whom they are negotiating. Also, relatively long
periods of economic stability have meant that workers andfirms have shared
in economic prosperity (Suzuki 2010). But in the wake of the Global Financial
Crisis, which impacted greatly on Japan’s otherwise highly stable economy,
the industrial landscape has changed somewhat. There has been a rise in the
number of workers now employed in what would have been regarded in non-
traditional arrangements such casual employment (Suzuki 2010).
(^3) Many states also have minimum wage laws. Where an employee is subject to both state and
federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to receive the higher of the two rates.
Phil Lewis