First Annual Conference of the Association of Indian Labour Historians
CLARA One-Day Seminar 24 April 1998
International Convention of Asia Scholars - Panel on 'Changing Industrial Labour Relations in Asia'
Workshop on 'The Economic Impact of the Crisis on Labour'
EUROSEAS Conference - Panel on 'Changing Labour Relations in South-East Asia'

First Annual Conference of the Association of Indian Labour Historians
16 - 18 March 1998, New Delhi, India

The conference took place in New Delhi at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and at the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. On average more than fifty participants attended the nine sessions in which 29 papers and 3 video films were presented and discussed. Five papers dealt with "The State, Labour and Regulations" between 1780 and 1940 (Prabhu Mohapatra, N. Narita, Ajay Mahurkar, Samita Sen and Radhika Singha), six with "Labour Movement and Other Forms of Resistance" in the twentieth century (Blair Kling, Amal Das, Dilip Simeon, Nasir Tyabji, Rana Belal and Balanchandran). Transitions between aritisanal, industrial and marginal labour were discussed in nine papers covering the period between 1750 until the present (Nandita Khadria, Ravi Ahuja, Jan Breman, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Sanjay Sharma, Madhavan Palat, Meena Radhakrishnan, Jonathan Parry and Chitra Joshi) and in three films (Janaki Nair, Mukul Manglik and Amar Kanwar). International comparisons covering the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries were made in two papers (Jan Lucassen and Jim Hagan); two other papers under the theme "Labour Today" were also prsented (Vrinda Grover and Indu Agnihotri and Indrani Mazumdar). Concluding remarks in the session on "Perspectives" were given by Ranajit Das Gupta, Marcel van der Linden and Andrew Wells.
The Association of Indian Labour Historians has its roots in the Conference "South Indian Labour: Local and Global Linkages" held at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam from 26 to 28 October 1995. At this conference, the idea emerged of establishing a more permanent organization for Indian labour historians; on 15 and 16 December 1996 a meeting at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi resulted in the foundation of the Association of Indian Labour Historians. This association supports a broad interpretation of labour history: while the initial focus will be on wage work in the modern era (i.e. since c. 1750), expansion to include earlier periods, household labour, forms of slavery and the like are also possible. The association values comparative analyses. In addition to promoting research, the association hopes to salvage research.

Contact person : Dr. Dilip Simeon

CLARA One-Day Seminar
24 April 1998 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands;
Convenor: Ratna Saptari, IISH/IIAS.

The One-Day Seminar took place at the International Institute of Social History, in Amsterdam and was attended by PhD students, post-docs, university staff and researchers. The main aim was to bring together labour scholars to exchange information on ongoing research. Since an increasing number of scholars in the Netherlands are studying work processes, industrial relations, labour migration etc. in Asia, past and present and many of them have not had the opportunity to know of the work of others outside their respective research schools, this seminar was meant to serve this function. The second aim was to look at the diversities in labour relations in different Asian countries. Around twenty-five people attended coming from different disciplines although all were interested in or working on labour studies. The areas covered were China, India, Philippines and Indonesia. Since the topics were quite varied, discussions were more of an informative nature rather than focusing on one common issue. However, as a first attempt such a meeting extremely useful for general exchange. Chaired by Marcel van der Linden, Jan Lucassen gave an introduction on the International Institute of Social History and Paul van der Velde on the International Institute for Asian Studies. The keynote speakers were Rajnavaran Chandavarkar (Dept. of History, Cambridge University) on 'Approaches to Labour Historiography' and Jan Breman (CASA) on 'the Informalization of Labour'. Research presentations were given by Miranda Engelshoven (Amsterdam School of Social Science Research, Univ. of Amsterdam) on 'Labour in the Diamond Industry, India'; Cen Huang (International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden) on 'Transnationalism and Labour in China'; Peter Keppy (Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, Amsterdam) on Labour Activism in the 1930s in Java, Indonesia'; and the last speaker was Rosanne Rutten (Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, Amsterdam) talking about 'Claim-making and labour rights in a Philippine plantation region'. No papers were distributed for these presentations although the abstracts were available. The participants of this one day seminar came from various research institutions in the Netherlands and forms were distributed to expand the CLARA database on researchers working on the theme of labour in Asia.

International Convention of Asia Scholars - Panel on 'Changing Industrial Labour Relations in Asia'
26 June 1998 - Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands
Convenor: Ratna Saptari, IISH/IIAS.

This panel consisted of four speakers who highlighted the diversities shaping the varying scenarios for labour relations in Asia. Bernard Thomann (Institut d'Asie Orientale, Lyon) focused on changes in the Japanese style management as a result of economic recession. In the past the Japanese economy was based on a unique form of regulation between the interests of the labor and those of the capital based on a "micro-corporatist" compromise. This Japanese-style "micro-compromise" can be characterized as creating job stability but with flexible labor conditions; promoting identification of workers' interests with those of the employer. Secondly, there is a large peripherical workforce which is excluded from the micro -corporatist compromise and therefore can be easily adjusted to help preserve the job stability of the core workforce. Thirdly, the labor movement has been dominated by entreprise unions which only defended the interest of the core employees and were not able to develop a horizontal solidarity and a class struggle ideology. However with the oil crisis and the more recent monetary crisis, some very careful reforms of the Japanese style management are taking place to adapt the system to those new challenges. The question is what this would mean for labour relations.
Sun Wen-Bin (Centre for Asian Studies, Hongkong) particularly looked at labour disputes in South China. Labour disputes have increased dramatically since the beginning of the economic reform in 1987. According to the data from the Ministry of Labour in China, in 1996 there was a 264 percent increase in labour disputes compared to the previous year's figure. In examining the working conditions in Shenzhen, there should be more disputes on dangerous working conditions, long working hours with extremely low pay and harsh work regulations and punishments. But, these are seldom the causes for the registered labour disputes. Wen Bin discussed this phenomena in the light of institutional constraints (institutional settings), official understanding of economic development as well as worker's choices.
Karin Kapadia (Christian Michelsen Institute, Norway), focused on the changes occurring within the synthetic gem industry when the domestic-oriented gem industry in Tamil Nadu, India became marginalized by the rapidly expanding export-oriented manufacture. These changes were most tangible in the changing composition of the workforce. Bonded labour force consisting of evenly divided men and women aged between six to sixty were replaced by a preponderantly young female workforce aged between fifteen to twenty three and coming largely from lower middle class families. Explanations of this change in the labour force are among others: unstable markets requiring a flexible workforce, new technology and the transformation of caste and kinship relations in the local labour supplying areas.
Ratna Saptari (International Institute of Social History/International Institute for Asian Studies) focused on the dilemmas of resistance in the Javanese cigarette industry and the nature and form collective action which may be coloured by collaboration and accommodation at the same time. This condition reflects the national and workplace level dynamics, as well as the historical background of the industry in the area. Contradictions emerge because of the competition between companies, the local labour markets, and the nature of cigarette employment, which on the one hand is exploitative but on the other hand provides a better source of income than other jobs in the locality. Therefore these structures may serve as constraint for the emergence of regular and continuous collective action, but at the same time they may provide social and political space for women workers. In response to these papers, discussions particularly focused on the nature of capital which constitutes different interests and which in the past tended to be looked upon as homogeneous; and on the nature trade unions that could exist taking into account the fragmented labour force and the flexibility often linked to uncertain markets.

Workshop on 'The Economic Impact of the Crisis on Labour'
Convenors: Indrasari Tjandraningsih (Akatiga); Ratna Saptari (CLARA) and Jan Breman (CASA)
13 - 14 July 1998 - Bandung, Indonesia.

The workshop, which was financially supported by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was held with three aims in mind, namely: a) to bring together concerned scholars and socially committed activists so as to come to a better understanding of the direct and indirect impact of the current economic crisis in East and Southeast Asia. The focus should be on workers social and economic conditions in the various sectors; b) the workshop should serve as a preliminary step towards a more in-depth research on various dimensions of the crisis; c) to think of strategies to improve the bargaining position of workers in the urban and rural areas.
The workshop brought together a good mix of activists and scholars from Indonesia and the region, namely Malaysia and the Philippines. Although initially our plan was to invite not more than 25 activists and researchers, ultimately we ended up with a total of 43 participants from Indonesian NGOs, Universities and Scientific Institutions, from Asian NGOs and Research Centres and from International Agencies. Representatives from the Indonesian, Dutch and United States governments were also present. Seventeen papers were presented in the two-day sessions. Because of the large number of participants and the limited time available, after the introductory and general overviews the sessions were divided into two working groups. The language spoken was Indonesian and English; three translators were available mainly to help those who could not comprehend Indonesian. Whenever possible introductions and summaries were given in English.
The major bulk of the programme was spent to identify the issues and problems faced by the researchers and activists alike, who worked in the urban and rural areas of Java, North Sumatra and Eastern Nusa Tenggara. The presentations showed commonalities but at the same time, differences in experiences and responses of the urban/rural poor in Indonesia; and the organizations facilitating them. Considering the complexity of the issues it was felt that there was too little time to compare notes and to reflect on each other's experiences. The breaking up of the workshop into two groups helped to slightly focus the issues. It was felt that many more discussions were needed to tackle each point raised.
Since the crisis in Indonesia for the working classes is experienced primarily in high food prices and the dramatically high level of unemployment, or underemployment, discussions on workers' situation concentrated on what the crisis has meant for levels of consumption and employment and how workers have reacted to the situation. Studies on labour relations therefore cannot be divorced from studies on strategies of survival. This has also significant implications for organization.
The comparisons with other countries in the region (i.e. Malaysia and the Philippines) showed that the effect of the crisis was not the same. Not only the nature of each country's integration into the global market, but also the internal workings of the state, differed. In the Indonesian case, it could be seen how the higher degree of state corruption and political repression in Indonesia exacerbated the nature of the crisis. This effected also the kind of civil society that has emerged which is quite different from Malaysia and the Philippines. The issue of migrant labour brought up the problem not only of distinct government policies regarding immigration and emigration but also of the commonalities and differences among Asian migrant labour, in this case Philippine and Indonesian. It also brought up the integrated nature of village level dynamics, government policies and international markets. The drastic increase in unemployment raised the issue of return migration and its impact on the village economy; also the extent to which the village economy can support those without an income. Therefore the nature of urban - rural links and how this has developed in the economic crisis was another issue we knew too little about as organizers and as researchers.
Workers' activism varied in the different regions and there was no clear analysis on how and why these variations existed. Should this be linked to the nature of the labour market in the respective areas, the nature of workers' organizations existing prior to the crisis, or the level of repression enacted by the local apparatus ? There was still no knowledge of sectoral differences in industrial workers' plight. Do we know enough of the diverse community structures to formulate appropriate strategies for mobilization or provide recommendations for policy makers ? The discussion on the rural areas brought the same kind of questions. In the rural areas, although protests occurred against village heads, no parallel level of activism could be found. This brought up the question of social institutions available in the village. After 30 years of Suharto's top-down rule, what are left of village institutions that could provide some form of social security for rural people ? From these discussions, the need to bridge the gap between researchers and activists was also felt as activism cannot be well planned and formulated if knowledge of an issue or an area is based on superficial information; on the other hand research cannot be useful enough if not sensitized and put into perspective by political activism.

EUROSEAS Conference - Panel on 'Changing Labour Relations in South-East Asia'
4 - 5 September 1998, Hamburg, Germany.
Convenor: Ratna Saptari (IISH/IIAS)

This panel consisted of 11 speakers coming from Australia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands respectively. Their research covered Java, South Sumatra, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and of South East Asia as a whole. Although there were 11 presentations with diverse foci, four overlapping themes could be discerned. The first focused on the nature of labour.Thus Jonathan Rigg (University of Durham, U.K.) gave a broad picture of changing labour markets where the rural-urban divide became less sharp, where non-farm employment has become much more significant and 'household strategies' put into doubt. Amarjit Kaur (University of New England Armidale) focused on the different conjunctures shaping labour demand in the mining and plantation systems resulting in an ethically and gender-differentiated labour force in these respective systems deriving initially from the colonial system. Daniel Arghiros shows the rapid changes in the labour composition of the brick-making workforce and the export-industries located in Thailand. The changes in the brickmaking industry particularly came about as a response to changes in the local labour supply. Labour at first was composed of local landless and land-poor, this then consisted mainly of migrant workers from the Northeast and later became illegal immigrant workers. Xavier Oudin, looked at the role of the Vietnamese state in shaping labour markets.
The second theme concerned the nature of labour relations itself as found in specific industries or specific localities. Jennifer Alexander and Paul Alexander focusing on the export-oriented furniture industry in Java, Indonesia examined the extent in which the commercial interests of the furniture industry redefined kin-based relations and terms and vice versa, how kin-based relations utilized relations of production. Arghiros examined also changes in systems of labour control in the workplace following the changes that the brick-making industry underwent.
The third theme was on workers politics and the trajectories of trade unions (the two not necessarily analogous to one another). Becky Elmhirst (University of Brighton, UK) referring to the Lampungese women migrants who went to the factories of Tangerang, West Java, showed how relations outside the workplace, rather than in the workplace itself influenced the political behaviour of the Lampungese women workers. The ethnic and kin-based Lampungese social network in exercising its moral supervision over young migrant women in Tangerang also curtailed their possibility for political participation. Ratna Saptari highlighted the contrasting phenomena of labour politics in two diverse industrial cities in East Java. Labour activism in Surabaya and non-activism in Malang in this period of economic crisis should not be explained by modern-traditional dichotomies or by locational differences. Explanations should be sought in the interplay of various factors but particularly of state and NGO intervention, industrial structure, and community-level dynamics. Irene Norlund (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Denmark) looked at the changing perceptions of the Vietnamese state on the definition of workers.
The fourth theme concerns the issue of the construction or categorization of labour. Focusing on child labour, Ben White (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague) pointed out the selective nature of the international discourse on children's work and how this contrasts with the reality of children's work. Since such a discourse is exercised in policy-making circles, it very strongly shapes the legal definition of child labour and children's work and the political positioning of government and non-government organisations regarding this issue - irrespective of whether it reflects children's realities and needs.

CLARA-News (also containing introductions to Labour studies at other Institutes)
- in .pdf format (PDF, 82 Kb.)

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