Labnet: CfP: Labour in Vietnam, a conference in Canberra, 6-7/11 2008

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From: Labourhistory.net

CfP: Labour in Vietnam, a conference in Canberra 6-7 November 2008
http://labourhistory.net/news/i0804_8.php 

The Australian National University
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Canberra
6-7 November 2008

Call for Papers

Vietnam's transformation into an industrial economy is evidenced by the
rapid growth in foreign industrial investments and the increased share
of GDP occupied by manufacturing. However, as industrial parks multiply
and made-in-Vietnam products proliferate worldwide, so too do labour
disputes.

For three years in a row, Vietnam has been hit by strike waves,
especially immediately before and after Tet. This is an unusual labor
phenomenon at a time when the mobility of global capital has instilled
quiescence in many governments and labour. Yet, the strikes have not
deterred foreign investors. Below the surface, rarely manifested in
overt labour disputes, are diverse concerns about inadequate social
infrastructure for migrant workers, the overall quality of the
workforce, the representation of worker's interests, the unregulated
informal sector and the hard-to-quantify social and cultural costs of
Vietnam's rapid transformation from an agricultural to industrial
economy.

The 2008 Vietnam Update takes up the timely issue of labour in
Vietnam.It will explore the theme of labour broadly, including Vietnam's
position in regional labour markets; the socialist legacy in the
globalised workplace; everyday working conditions and experiences; the
regulatory framework; the changing industrial relations system; the
politics of labour; the protection of labour rights; and the
internationalisation of labour standards. It aims to understand a
breadth of perspectives, including the views of domestic and foreign
company managers, labour activists, state regulators and workers.Vietnam
Update organisers are calling for research-based papers that address the
following sets of questions relating to this theme:

* As Vietnam integrates into global labour markets, it faces new
opportunities and constraints. At the macro level over the last two
decades, in what ways have sectoral changes and changes in industrial
structure and ownership (equitisation, privatisation, state-enterprise
restructuring, and the emergence of new private and foreign sectors)
affected the country's labour market, employment, human resources, the
social welfare system, standards of living, social equality, etc.? How
do working conditions, labour capacities and the regulatory framework in
Vietnam compare with those of other countries in the region? What are
the prospects for Vietnam's workers in this globalised economy? How are
these macro economic changes played out in the changing nature of work,
and policies, politics, and practical solutions relating to labour
markets?
* What is the nature of work in Vietnam today? What can be learnt about
the spectrum of present day work experiences and how might this differ
from the past? What does work mean to people, how is it
conceptualised?What kinds of new challenges and problems do workers
experience? What do job-seekers expect in terms of working conditions
and terms? What adjustments have people made to gain employment in the
changing economic conditions, and how have their choices shaped the
economic landscape?
The experiences of migrant labourers are of particular interest as we
seek to understand the motives and conditions of the hundreds of
thousands of Vietnamese who migrate domestically and overseas to find
work. Why have they migrated to seek work elsewhere? How have they
fared? What is known about the practices of labour recruitment? Answers
to these questions are sought in papers that may investigate work in a
wide range of sectors, jobs and localities, including manufacturing,
agriculture, the service sector and state employment 
* Labour protests have been on the rise year on year. Where have they
occurred, and what forms have they taken? What are the instigating
conditions and what are the demands? How are the protests organised? How
does a work force that is so young develop a capacity for strike action?
Do these labour disruptions portend a new stage in Vietnam's labour
movement? What role has the media, which is generally pro-labour, played
to nurture workers' consciousness? How do employers, the Vietnamese
state and the official trade union react to these protests?
* As private and foreign capital expands in Vietnam, commodification and
feminisation of labour has become a reality. Of particular interest are
Taiwanese and Korean businesses, the two biggest investors in Vietnam,
whose factories are most prone to strike actions. What are the labour
regimes and labour standards like in these East Asian enterprises? How
do the workers, who are mostly female migrants from the poorer parts of
the country, adjust mentally, physically and socially to such regimes?
Papers are sought that capture the voices and analyse the conditions of
the workers in the East Asian business sector in Vietnam. Papers that
examine management cultures and working conditions in other
foreign-invested enterprises or in Vietnamese-owned companies are also
welcome.
* What is the situation vis-a-vis Vietnam's state enterprises and
workers? What restructuring and management regime changes have taken
place in the state sector? How have state workers adjusted? What have
been their attitudes to such changes? What conditions are they
encountering? Are they doing better or worse than workers in the other
sectors? Why have they been rarely involved in labour protests? The
private sector boom is draining people away from the state sector. In
the eyes of job-seekers, employees and others, what are the pros and
cons of employment in the state sector versus the private sector in
terms of conditions, status or other considerations?
* What type of regulatory regime for labor is in place in Vietnam? Has
the regulatory system been effective? From what sources does pressure to
change the regulatory framework come? What is the relationship between
the state, the Vietnamese trade union and the workers? Can one speak of
a monolithic state policy vis-a-vis labour, or is there a multiplicity
of bureaucratic interests? Does the official trade union represent
workers' interests at all? Are there any signs that the official union
is behaving more like a trade union and what possibility is there of the
emergence of independent trade unions? Is there a vision about where the
labour movement should be moving? As foreign trade unions and
international organizations such as the International Labour
Organization (ILO) establish contacts and even offices in Vietnam, what
influence have they had on Vietnam's industrial relations system?
* As Vietnam increasingly integrates with the global supply chain and as
it increases its exports, labour rights violations have been drawing
attention from the outside world. The corporate social
responsibility(CSR) initiative has penetrated Vietnam for more than a
decade. What has been its impact? What other perspectives influence the
setting of labour standards in Vietnam, including expectations that may
have emerged under socialism, the social and cultural expectations of
workers, or the expectations of foreign employers? Does the government
enforce a particular perspective or act effectively as a mediator?
* What kinds of debates regarding labour take place in the public
sphere? Can one detect differences of opinion, including divergent
opinions within the state apparatus? How effective have debates or
campaigns run in the media been in bringing about changes in policy?
What influential representations of labour issues can be found in the
news media, television dramas, films and literature? The conference also
welcomes the showing of documentaries and/or film critiques that bring
labour in Vietnam to life on screen.Interested writers are invited to
submit paper proposals on the above themes. We do not expect each paper
to address all the sets of questions noted above. We would like,
however, each paper to take up issues from more than one of these sets.
Papers can approach the issues in different ways; we expect variety in
this regard. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged Contributions
should endeavour to put the discussion in comparative perspective.

Proposal Submission
Contributors should send their proposals and a one page CV to Dr Anita
Chan by 17 May 2008. Email: anita.chan at anu.edu.au

Each proposal should be no longer than 600 words. The proposal should
outline how the paper relates to the issues highlighted in the above set
of questions and the kind of research the paper will be based on. 

The conference organizers will then decide which proposals to accept. We
will then extend invitations to the authors of the selected proposals to
prepare and present their papers to the conference. The organizers also
reserve the right to reject papers presented and also to solicit papers,
if necessary, from individuals who did not submit proposals. 

Some funding for travel and accommodation is available and details will
be discussed later with each paper presenter.

Paper Specifications
The paper itself should be submitted 30 days before the date of the
conference.

The paper should not exceed 10,000 words and it should include
appropriate bibliography and citations. Each paper should include an
abstract of 200 words.

Presentation and Publication
We envisage about ten paper presentations during a one and a half day
workshop in Canberra on 6-7 November 2008. The conference will also have
two presentations about recent political and economic developments in
Vietnam.

At the Update each author will have approximately 40 minutes to
summarise what her/his paper argues and the evidence used. The full text
of the paper may be included, subject to any necessary revisions to meet
publication requirements, in a refereed book that we hope will be
published within a year after the conference.

Conference Organizers
For further information, please contact any of the following organizers:

Convenor: Anita Chan, Contemporary China Centre, Research School of
Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.
Email: anita.chan at anu.edu.au 

Philip Taylor, Dept. of Anthropology, RSPAS, The Australian National
University.
Email: philip.taylor at anu.edu.au 

David Koh, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
Email: davidkoh at iseas.edu.sg

David Marr, Division of Pacific and Asian History, RSPAS, The Australian
National University.
Email: dgm405 at coombs.anu.edu.au

Li Tana, Division of Pacific and Asian History, RSPAS, The Australian
National University.
Email: tana.li at anu.edu.au

Ashley Carruthers, School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Faculty of
Arts.
Email: ashley.carruthers at anu.edu.au

Ben Kerkvliet, Dept. of Political and Social Change, RSPAS, The
Australian National University.
Email: ben.kerkvliet at anu.edu.au

Thai Duy Bao, Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National
University. Email: bao.thai at anu.edu.au



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