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Perceptions of Transnational Employment Relations in Russia: Policy and Practice
Chernyaeva D.
The paper aims at analyzing the role of various legislative and policy sources in delineating the conceptual and regulative frameworks for transnational employment relations. This type of employment relations is still perceived as a novelty in Russia and is not actually reflected in the Russian legislation. However while during the last decades the legislature has not provided for a consistent approach to the understanding of this phenomenon, the perception of it is now being formed - more or less successfully - on the international/interregional and corporate levels, as well as in contemporary research and in everyday practice. The paper offers an outline of recent academic studies defining particular groups and categories of transnational employment relations proposed by the Russian scholars, explaining problems that arise in the legal regulation of this phenomenon and suggesting possible ways of their solution. Apart from this the paper summarizes principles for the transnational employment relations regulation provided in interregional and bilateral treaties (mostly of the Commonwealth of Independent States and of the EuroAsEC levels). The author describes commonalities and variations of approaches that can be found in these documents, makes an effort to explain the reasons that have brought them about and gives some assumptions of their possible effect and productive usage at the national and enterprise levels. These speculations are supplemented with an analysis of enterprise level developments in regard to transnational employment relations – both national and multinational – that embrace introduction of new concepts and instruments, bringing to light new aspects of the phenomenon and spreading good practices on sectorial or inter-sectorial levels. Among other issues discussed in the paper there is an assumption that the time has come to give a more serious recognition of the so called “soft law sources” which can now be found on both international/interregional and enterprise levels. While these sources are widely used in practice they still lack official recognition and any particular status in the Russian legal doctrine. This abundant data demonstrates some clear similarities and differences. Therefore it is argued that the field has been developed to the point where particular generalization and systematization can be performed to make the legislative amendments possible in the nearest future. The author provides several examples of such generalizations and amendments and makes an inference of their effect onto the policy and practice of all the stakeholders involved in transnational employment relations or responsible for their regulation in the Russian context.