The third transformation of Lao industrial relations

This paper provides an account of industrial relations in Laos, in light of the transformation theory from the industrial relations literature. The scope of the paper is limited to employment in the formal, wage-earning sector of the civilian economy. The paper argues that the history of industrial relations in Laos can be divided into four eras: the French colonial era (1890s to 1947); the Royal Lao Government (RLG) era (19471975); the first decade or so of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) following the communist revolution in 1975; and the contemporary reform era under the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) (1986 to the present). Following the transformation literature, the paper argues that these four eras were divided by three transformations: the first of these, from the colonial to RLG regime, was incremental or gradual; the second and third were cases of discontinuous change. The first and third of the transformations, to some extent, are ‘controversial.’