Labour Dynamics and Social Security in Leather-based Enterprises in Mumbai and ShanghaiA Preliminary Background Study

The advent of Globalization has led to profound transformation in the global economy in terms of policy paradigms, growth trajectories and developmental strategies of governance, in the advanced economies as well as in the developing countries In the late 1980s and early 1990s under the forces of Globalization, Liberalization and Privatization, sustained changes were brought in the patterns of economic production and distribution. These changes guided by the loosening of the command authority of the state in the economic decision-making and giving more expanded role for the forces of market, have also marked shifts in the forms of industrialization with considerable space for diversification, informalization, active encouragement for entrepreneurial skills and increased competition. Synonymous with such changes in production patterns and strategies, was the remodeling and transfiguration of the dynamics of labour. While the labour system had to take into cognizance the reshaping of the larger economic system and production strategies for better adaptation, such reconfiguration was not always a seamless or smooth one. The reorganization of labour relations in this context, and the inherent challenges in seeking smoother processes of negotiations with the industrial managements and in turn the state, also sharpened conflicts; in fact, the relationship between the workers, the managements and the state was ever conflictual even though measures were sought to be undertaken to maintain harmonious relations.