Employmentweb_low

EMployMEnt, Work, And hEAlth InEqUAlItIES - a global perspective
11.1 ConClusions
The need to discern employment-related concepts
Employment relations, employment conditions and working
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conditions are different yet interrelated concepts.
Employment relations are the relationships between buyers and
sellers of labour, as well as the practices, outcomes and institutions
that emanate or impinge upon the employment relationship. in
wealthy countries, employment relations are often subject to the
provisions of the law or a hiring contract, while in middle-income and
poor countries most employment agreements are not explicitly
subject to any formal contract, and a high proportion of total
employment is in the informal economy.
At the global level, main employment conditions derived from
employment relations include five main dimensions: unemployment,
precarious employment, informal employment, child labour, and
slavery/bonded labour.
Working conditions can be divided into physical, chemical,
biological and social exposures. simply put, material working
conditions constitute the physical, chemical, biological and ergonomic
work environment, while work organisation involves psychosocial
relations, management and control, satisfaction, the tasks performed
by workers and the technology being used. Working conditions also
include hierarchy and power relations, the participation of workers in
decision-making and social and occupational discrimination.
Power differences are embedded in employment relations
Power relations in negotiation between trans-national corporations,
businesses, employers and workers' associations are unequal. An
important component of employment relations are the power
relations between employers and employees and the level of social
protection that employees can count on. Thus, public efforts at
improving the health inequalities produced by employment relations
must take into account the power differences among employers,
workers and government. Employment relations therefore reflect
the different relations of power over the production, appropriation
and distribution of the fruits of labour by those who hire labour
(employers and managers) and those who sell labour (workers).
Much of the history of employment relations has been characterised
by unequal power and conflict between labour and capital, the former
being represented mainly by unions, who demandhigher wages,
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