International homogenization or the persistence of national practices? The remaking of industrial relations in Mozambique.

This paper is the first systematic attempt to provide an overview of industrial relations practices at firm level in Mozambique. Through a nationwide survey of firms, the paper assesses the extent to which specific sets of practices are associated with particular regions, and/or sectors, and explores the relationship between IR practice and national institutional realities. The survey revealed that informalism and autocratic managerialism characterize the practice of employment relations. Bur it would be mistaken to assume a convergence towards a global systematic archetype of low wage/low skill/low security of tenure set of practices. Instead, the authors conclude, contemporary Mozambique employment relations are an example of external market pressures being channelled and moulded by the persistence of national level realities that stretch back to the colonial era. In the absence of effective institutional mechanisms, familiar conventions are likely to persist because people know how these work in practice.

Resumenes

Este documento es el primer intento sistematico de ofrecer una vision global de las relaciones industriales (PI) practicadas a nivel de la firma en Mozambique. A partir de una encuesta de nivel nacional administrada en las firmas, el documento evalua de que manera un conjunto de practicas estan asociadas a regiones o sectores particulares. Se explora tambien la relacion entre las practicas de RI y las realidades institucionales nacionales. La encuesta revela que el informalismo y la gestion autocratica caracterizan la practica de las relaciones de empleo. Pero seria erroneo asumir una convergencia hacia un arquetipo global sistematico de bajos salaxios--poca calificacion--poca seguridad del conjunto de practicas. Los autores concluyen mas bien que las relaciones de empleo en el Mozambique contemporaneo son un ejemplo de las presiones del mercado externo que estan siendo canalizadas y moldeadas por la persistencia de realidades de nivel nacional, sobrevivencias de la era colonial. En ausencia de mecanismos institucionales efectivos, las convenciones familiares parecen persistir porque la gente conoce como ellas trabajan en la practica.

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A central concern of the contemporary literature on industrial relations in Africa is with the exploration of the consequences of intensified global competition and the espousal of neo-liberal policies by national governments.

In most cases, it is assumed that this has exacerbated existing institutional weaknesses, resulting in the proliferation of labour repressive policies (Frynas and Wood, 2006; Moody, 1997; c.f. Hanlon, 1996). However, there is some evidence to suggest that, in certain cases, these pressures have been counterbalanced through the development of more pluralist and inclusivist practices at firm-level (Wood and Els, 2000; Wood and Sela, 2000). This paper evaluates the present state of labour relations in Mozambique, assesses the extent to which specific sets of practices are associated with particular regions and/or sectors, and explores the relationship between IR practice and national institutional realities. Finally, it seeks to highlight the lessons that can be drawn from the Mozambican experience for the analysis and practice of labour relations in other developing societies.

"LOW ROAD" LABOUR REPRESSION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

Global governance perspectives have argued that the growing reach of international organizations has meant that certain issues are governed across national boundaries (Haworth and Hughes, 2003: 669). However, it can be argued that global policy setting has been predominantly neo-liberal in flavour, reflecting the hegemonic influence of the United States (ibid.: 670). Whilst in some cases the latter has been checked by powerful regional blocs such as the EU (Haworth and Hughes, 2003: 670), tropical African nations lack the capacity and resources to defy the prescriptions of global financial institutions such as the World Bank and--above all--the IMF (Hanlon, 1996). Such prescriptions centre on the opening of markets, reduced state interventionism, privatization, and radical labour market deregulation. Whilst the operations of other transnational bodies--such as the ILO--may have had more pluralist effects (c.f. Haworth and Hughes, 2003), their interventions are to a much greater extent based on voluntarism and consent. This makes their impact rather more limited, especially in those contexts where enforcement of even national laws is weak. The opening up of markets to global competition and the weakening of national regulations is likely to make for employment relations practices that are strictly "low road," characterized by union-busting, poor terms of employment and low human capital development (Moody, 1997).

"HIGH ROAD" ALTERNATIVES

Alternatively, it could be argued that, despite undeniable pressures towards a strengthening of the managerial prerogative and a reduction in security of tenure as a result of heightened global competition, and reduced state intervention, in certain instances, many firms have sought to adopt more inclusivist policies in their relations with their employees. The latter may reflect a desire to develop a firm's human capital, to enhance competitiveness through the espousal of functionally flexible forms of work organization, founded on higher levels of interdependence between employers and employees (Whitley, 1999; Schuman, 1998: 21).

The real strategic choices made by firms may be moulded by the uneven consequences of interventions by transnational bodies (see Haworth and Hughes, 2003: 673). Whilst the IMF remains firmly neo-liberal, certain World Bank interventions have accorded a great weight to human capacity development (Pitcher, 2002: 214), whilst, as noted earlier, the ILO has tended to promote inclusivist and pluralist IR policies (ibid.: 674); even voluntary guidelines may have some impact in fluid socio-political environments. Numerous case studies on manufacturing firms in neighbouring South Africa have indicated that a significant number have adopted higher value added production paradigms and union-friendly IR policies (Smith and Wood, 1998; Wood and Sela, 2000; Wood and Els, 2000). Such an approach is characterized by the use of structured workplace training, a specialized people management function, coherent HR planning, with employment relations centring on a recognition agreement with a representative trade union (Wood and Els, 2000). The use of such strategies has, in the South African context, provided an alternative--and more durable--basis of competitiveness to the super-numerical-flexibility / autocratic management paradigm (ibid.; Wood and Sela, 2000).

A variation of the "high road" paradigm is the more sophisticated manifestations of "hard HRM" that combine specific forms of involvement and participation, an emphasis on highly skilled (and externally certified) labour, with low security of tenure and a hostility towards unions (Guest, 2001: 105). Such practices are typically encountered in "high tech" areas of the US economy, but may be gradually diffusing worldwide.

REGIONAL REALITIES AND THE PERSISTENCE OF NATIONAL MODELS

The above two perspectives assume that there are tendencies towards global convergence, whether in the direction of low value added practices, or the somewhat slower diffusion of high value added "best practices", which may or may not be compatible with unions. However, a body of literature on the developing world suggests that the processes at work reflect specific choices moulded by both historical legacies and specific regional realities (Hyden, 1998).

Frenkel and Kuruvilla (2002: 389) argue that the underlying logics of action adopted by different players represent strategies guided by values regarded as important, and help explain the process by which national systems are guided in a specific direction; homogenizing external forces have complex and contingent effects on employment relations. The state is guided by the logic of industrial peace, by the need to ensure stable conditions for economic growth (ibid.). In contemporary Mozambique, the government has very little room to manoeuvre, the ability to access much needed borrowing being contingent on the adoption of neo-liberal structural adjustment policies. The latter policies have resulted not only in the opening up of Mozambican markets to international competition and privatization, but also in dramatic reductions in state expenditure, that have, in turn, weakened the latter's capacity to effectively enforce labour legislation. Labour quiescence has primarily been ensured by the "iron whip of hunger," with the omnipresent threat of repeated rounds of redundancies, in a situation where unemployment is already extremely high.

Employers are guided by the logic of competition, by the desire to maximize profits (Frenkel and Kuruvilla, 2002: 388-389). The influx of manufactured goods from the far East, and agricultural subsidies in advanced societies have resulted in employers generally responding by cost-cutting and down sizing; this has reinforced extremely low value added employment relations policies, characterized by short-termism, and a lack of willingness to invest in plant or human resource development. Whilst unions are guided by the logic of employment-income protection, and seek to maximize income and job security (ibid.), in Mozambique, unions have been forced into a largely defensive role, acceding to the erosion of the gains in terms of real wages and conditions of employment that were made during the years of the socialist experiment, in return for some hope that jobs will be preserved.