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1
Majeed, Theresa. "Unpacking the effects of trade union membership on job (dis)satisfaction." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12040.
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This dissertation sets out to explore the roots of trade union members' job dissatisfaction, as a large body of prior quantitative research, spanning more than four decades, indicates that trade union members express higher levels of job dissatisfaction than non-union members. Industrial relations scholars have not been able to agree on an explanation as to why trade union members express comparatively more job dissatisfaction. The ambiguity in establishing a causal relationship between trade union membership and job dissatisfaction is due to the fact that previous works have largely been biased towards the use of quantitative methods. The present study, therefore, uses a unique qualitative approach consisting of grounded theoretical techniques and interviews with 43 trade union members to gather new insights on the topic. Interviews were conducted at two case study organisations, one a manufacturer and the other a public services organisation, in Scotland. Three alternative explanations that have sought to explain trade union members' job dissatisfaction were unpacked. These explanations link trade union members' job dissatisfaction to (i) unmet expectations from trade union membership, (ii) awareness of inequalities and (ii) industrial relations climates. The aim of this dissertation was to develop insights to enable a better understanding of why trade union members appear to express dissatisfaction with their jobs. The grounded theoretical approach has enabled at least three contributions to the industrial relations literatures and, to a lesser extent, to the human resources and job satisfaction literatures. These contributions are: (i) a deep, qualitative approach towards understanding the phenomenon; (ii) a critical evaluation of three alternative explanations of the phenomenon; and (iii) insights towards an initial model explaining the roots of trade union members' job dissatisfaction.
2
Hoell, Robert Craig. "Determinants of Union Member Attitudes Towards Employee Involvement Programs." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30741.
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This study investigates the role social information and personal dispositions play in the development of attitudes of unionized employees towards employee involvement programs. A theoretical model was developed in order to understand how social information and dispositions form union member attitudes towards employee involvement programs. This was designed from models of employee involvement and attitude formation.
Data were collected from employees at electrical power generation facilities. Measures of organizational and union commitment, locus of control, participativeness, social information provided by the company, social information provided by the union, and employee involvement attitudes were gathered through a survey distributed at the facilities. General affect and satisfaction towards four types of employee involvement programs union members are most likely to encounter were measured.
Specific hypotheses were developed in order to test and analyze parts of the theoretical model. While the results were at times contrary to the hypothesized relationships within the model, the data fit with the theorized model well enough to provide support for it. This model effectively demonstrated how employee involvement attitudes are formed from such data, and the relationships between the variables measured.Ph. D.
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Loni, Kholosa Siphe. "Trade union responses to the casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003056.
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This thesis focuses on trade union responses to casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape. In the context of increased globalization, some employers have attempted to achieve high production outputs while saving on operational costs. The ‘flexible firm’ model is used as but one theory to explain increased flexibility in the workplace. In an effort to achieve increasingly flexible firms that may swiftly respond to subsequent challenges such as increased international competition, employers have been seen incorporating more non-standard workers in the form of casual, temporary, part-time, and seasonal workers. This has been a matter of concern for the unions for numerous reasons: some nonstandard workers are subjected to sub-standard working conditions, irregular working hours and little or no benefits; casual work is arranged in such a way that it is virtually impossible for these workers to join a union – a predicament which bears a high possibility of a decline in the typically standard worker–based membership of trade unions; and non-standard workers are often faced with the representation gap predicament which entails that they are not adequately protected by labour legislation. The thesis explores the responses of trade unions to these challenges, and the proposals that they have made in this regard, by focusing on the sectoral dynamics of non-standard labour in the province. It further discusses the regulation of non-standard labour, as poor representation of some non-standard workers bears consequences for the regulation of the practice of non-standard work. The research adopted qualitative research techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews, and used purposive and snowball sampling in accessing relevant data for analysis purposes.
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Loriston, T. D. J. "Workers participation and workplace forums in the South African context." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/70387.
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Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 1998.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was undertaken with the aim to analyse the social significance of the new Labour Relations Act of the Republic of South Africa, Act 66 of 1995, with special emphasis on workers participation and the impact of the introduction of statutory workers participation on the Industrial Relations System. The Act was implemented on 1 November 1995. The Act provides for the establishment of Workplace Forums. The objective of the research is to examine the impact of the statutory introduction of workers' participation on the South African industrial relations system. The first legal infrastructure of South Africa's industrial relations system was created by the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924, later to become The Industrial Conciliation Act (No 28) of 1956, and to evolve into The Labour Relations Act (No. 28) of 1956 in 1980. The New Labour Relations Act (No 66) 1995, came into force at the beginning of 1997 with the final passage of The New Constitution 1996. Whereas the old Act with all its amendments imposed a statutory machinery for the resolution of conflict stemming from an adversarial relationship, the new Act presents machinery to the opposite, namely that of deregulation by the State and the promotion of co-operation. In the drafting of the new Act by a task team over nine months only, strong attention was given to the advice of German experts, i.e. the experience of and from a country that led in this particular area after World War II. In fact, certain principles and mechanisms were literally incorporated into Chapter V. If it is considered that Germany received a New Constitution in 1949 and deduced from its Bill of Rights all worker rights in an attempt to transfer the principles of political democracy into the work situation in the form of "Industrial Democracy" by enshrining these progressively into the legislation to this effect, a comparison with South Africa is illuminating. Similarly to Germany in 1949, South Africa received a new democratic constitution in 1995 in the political sphere with a strong influence on the industrial relations system and made its first attempt of legislating for workers' participation by means of ChapterV.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is onderneem met die doel om die sosiale invloed van die nuwe Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge, Wet 66 van 1995 na te speur, met spesiale klem op werkersdeelname en die impak wat die instelling van statutere werkersdeelname op die arbeidsverhouding sisteem sal he. Die Wet het op 1 November 1995 in werking getree. Die Wet maak voorsiening vir die skepping van Werkplek Forums. Die doelwit van hierdie studie is om die invloed van die statutere instelling van werkplek forums op die Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsverhoudinge sisteem te ondersoek. Die eerste statutere infrastruktuur van die Suid-Afrikaanse arbeidsverhoudinge sisteem is geskep deur die Nywerheidsversoeningswet van 1924, wat later die Nywerheidsversoeningswet (No 28) van 1956 geword het, en as die Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge (No.28) van 1956 in 1980 verander is. Met die totstandkoming van die Nuwe Grondwet in 1996 en die politieke demokrasie wat daaruit voortgespruit het, is die Nuwe Arbeidsverhouding Wet (No 66) 1995 aan die begin van 1997 geimplimenteer. Die ou Wet het voorsiening gemaak vir geskiloplossing in 'n teenstrydige klimaat. Die nuwe Wet, daarenteen, maak voorsiening vir deregulering deur die Staat en die insluiting van 'n kanaal van samewerking in die arbeidsverhoudinge stelsel. Met die opstel van die nuwe Wet is daar sterk gesteun op die raad van Duitse kenners wat die nodige ondervinding op hierdie gebied reeds na die Tweede Wereldoorlog in hulle eie land opgedoen het. Duitsland is immers 'n leier in hierdie veld. Sekere kernbegrippe en meganismes is feitlik net so in hoofstuk V vervat. As ons in ag neem dat Duitsland in 1949 'n Nuwe Grondwet ontvang het en dat hulle van hulle Handves van Menseregte werkersregte afgelei het in 'n poging om die beginsels van politieke demokrasie na die werkplek oor te dra in die vorm van "nywerheidsdemokrasie" en dit progressief deur wetgewing te verskans, is 'n vergelyking met Suid-Afrika insiggewend. Net soos Duitsland in 1949, het Suid-Afrika ook in 1995 'n Demokratiese Grondwet ontvang en daarmee saam in die politieke sowel as die arbeidsverhoudinge veld sy toetrede gemaak tot statutere werkersdeelname deur middel van Hoofstuk V.
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Guisado, González Manuel, and Tato Manuel Guisado. "Estrategia, relaciones laborales y empresas multinacionales." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2016. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/114811.
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In this study, we analyze the main strategies used by multinational companies. In our analysis, we found that companies using a global or transnational strategy usually make vertical foreign direct investments, while those with a multi-domestic strategy make horizontal foreign direct investments. Both structures have strengths and weaknesses for companies and labor unions in terms of confrontation and negotiation. According to the definition of economic globalization, we analyzed the operating margins of both strategies, and we concluded that globalization has greatly favored the interests of multinational corporations.En este estudio, se exponen y describen las principales estrategias de las empresas multinacionales. Sobre este particular, constatamos que las empresas que siguen una estrategia global o transnacional suelen llevar a cabo inversiones directas en el extranjero de naturaleza vertical, mientras que las que siguen una estrategia multidoméstica realizan inversiones directas en el extranjero de naturaleza horizontal. Ambas estructuras ofrecen fortalezas y debilidades a las empresas, ya las fuerzas organizadas del trabajo (sindicatos) en sus procesos de confrontación y negociación. Según lo que se ha venido denominando globalización de la economía, analizamos los márgenes de maniobrabilidad de ambos contendientesy concluimos que la globalización ha favorecido en gran medida los intereses de las empresas multinacionales.
Este estudo analisa as principais estratégias que implementam as empresas multinacionais. Na análise, constatamos que as empresas que seguem uma estratégia global ou multinacional realizam investimentos directos do tipo vertical no estrangeiro, enquanto as que seguem uma estratégia multidoméstica realizam investimentos directos e horizontais no estrangeiro. Ambas estruturas têm pontos fortes e fracos para as empresas e para as forças organizadas em sindicatos, em seus processos de confrontação e negociação. À luz do que se denomina globalização da economia, analisamos as margens de trabalho das partes, e concluímos que a globalização tem favorecido, em grande parte, os interesses das empresas multinacionais.
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Duff, Lenore Carleton University Dissertation Sociology and Anthropology. "The Transformation of the Canadian labour movement from international to national union dominance; tracing the roots of breakaways." Ottawa, 1997.
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Myconos, George 1959. "The globalization(s) of organized labour, 1860-2003." Monash University, School of Political and Social Inquiry, 2003. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9385.
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Cheung, Suet-mui Lilian, and 張雪玫. "Public sector unions in Hong Kong: a study ofthe reorganization of the Medical and Health Department." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1989. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31975732.
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Sloan, Michael. "A misguided quest for legitimacy the Community Relations Department of the Southern Organizing Committee of the CIO During Operation Dixie, 1946-1953 /." unrestricted, 2006. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04252006-222258/.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006.Title from title screen. Michelle Brattain, committee chair; Charles Steffen, committee member. Electronic text (110 p.) ; digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 18, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-110).
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Murphy, David G. "The role of organized labour in the network system of industrial governance." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0014/NQ34597.pdf.
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Gates, Leslie C. "Why Mexican unions lost power: Globalization, intra-elite conflict and shifting state alliances." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279780.
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This study explains why, beginning in 1976 and continuing into the 1980s, unions lost power in Mexico. The recent loss of power in Mexico is consistent with a worldwide convergence towards declining union power. Few would dispute that declining union power is related to globalization. But how does globalization affect union power? This study demonstrates that the prevailing approach to globalization and union power, the market pressures approach, cannot explain why labor unions lost power in Mexico. This suggests that in countries, such as Mexico, where unions rely on political support rather than organizational resources to attain power, increased exposure to market pressures may not explain declining union power. Only unions in advanced industrial societies enjoy the market conditions that make it possible to gain power via their organizational resources. I propose that, in countries where organized labor derives its power from its relationship to the state, globalization affects union power via the domestic instantiations of globalization. The way that global economic shocks and the interests of foreign investors shape the interests of domestic economic elite constitute the domestic instantiations of globalization. My approach builds on the International Political Economy research tradition. This study shows that labor lost power in Mexico for two nested reasons. First, labor lost power because it lost access to decision-making in the state. Second, labor lost access to decision-making because global economic crisis and new foreign investment strategies created a new internationalist elite oriented towards foreign credit and global markets. Disillusioned with the existing political leadership and their "national" economic project, the internationalist elite promoted the rise to power of new political leaders that favored neoliberal economic reforms. Bureaucrats, allied with the internationalists, undermined labor along with other advocates of the "national" project, as part of a struggle for power. This study delineates the aspect of the state-labor alliance in Mexico that granted labor unions power historically and reveals the importance of globalization in determining labor's recent fate in Mexico. It contributes a new model of globalization and union power, raising questions about how sociologists conceptualize globalization and state-society relations more generally.
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Tiley, David Carleton University Dissertation Political Economy. "Post-Fordist 'Ideal type'? - The labour process in the Japanese manufacturing sector, 1967-1990." Ottawa, 1997.
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Carter, Danon R. "The influence of servant leadership on employee engagement| A qualitative phenomenological study of restaurant employees." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3570203.
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Servant leadership is one leadership philosophy, which addresses the concerns of ethics, customer experience, and employee engagement while creating a unique organizational culture where both leaders and followers unite to reach organizational goals without positional or authoritative power. With employees viewed as one of the greatest assets for organizations, maintaining loyal, productive employees while balancing profits becomes a challenge for leaders, and drives the need to understand employee engagement drivers. The experiences of 11 employees and two managers from Celebration Restaurant in Dallas, Texas explored the qualitative phenomenological study of servant leadership and its influence on employee engagement. The modified van Kaam method contributed to data analysis, which examined manager and employee responses for comparison and assessment. The themes that emerged from interviews and focus groups found were:
1. Servant Leader Experience;
2. Why People Stay at Celebration;
3. Servant Leader Traits;
4. Impact of Servant Leadership;
5. Application of Servant Leadership.
The themes revealed servant leadership positively influences employee engagement while contributing to employee loyalty to the workplace. Based on the servant leader experience, participants were more committed, built healthy work relationships, and actively participated in achieving organizational goals.
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Gillespie, Neil. "The legal protection of temporary employees." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1019793.
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This paper is divided into two distinct sections. The first being an analysis of the legal protection of temporary employees as things currently stand. It deals with the various labour laws that currently regulate temporary employment as well as the temporary employment contract and the common-law. The second section summarises and analyses the provisions of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill as they apply to fixed-term employees. Temporary employees are protected by the general protection extended to all employees in terms of section 23(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, guaranteeing all employees the “right to fair labour practice”. The Labour Relations Act has as one of its main objectives to give effect to and regulate the fundamental rights contained in the Constitution. Thus the Labour Relations Act must not only give effect to constitutional rights but it must also ensure that it in no way unreasonably or unjustly denies or limits constitutional rights. Temporary employees have a number of labour laws protecting their interests. Where the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, a Bargaining Council Agreement or a Sectoral Determination do not apply the employee will rely on the terms of the fixed-term employment contract and thereafter the common law for protection. The only protection offered to temporary employees contained in the Labour Relations Act is in section 186(1)(b), where a dismissal is defined to include the non-renewal of temporary contracts of employment where there is a reasonable expectation of renewal on the same or similar terms. This provision has proved to be highly controversial in that it does not expressly cater for temporary employees who harbour reasonable expectations of indefinite employment. An analysis is made of the most important cases relating to section 186(1)(b). The second section unpacks and critically analyses the Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill which have been long in the offing and when they are finally enacted, will bring with them sweeping changes for atypical employment . The amendments will drastically change the way employers make use of fixed-term employees as well as the way in which Temporary Employment Services may conduct business if they are in fact able to keep working at all. There is very little literature of substance written about the Labour Relations Amendment Bill as it applies to atypical employment. The fact that the proposed amendments have changed so many times over such a long period of time might have deterred many writers from investing time and effort in attempts to analyse and summarise the amendments. Articles posted on the internet are in the main short and have very little content. No books were found with any discussion that pertains to the amendments. The amendments divide employees involved in atypical employment into two different categories. These categories consist of employees earning above the threshold in terms of section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and those earning below this threshold. All fixed-term employees may rely on the provisions of section 186 of the Labour Relations Act. Employees earning below the threshold are considered to be the most vulnerable and have been afforded additional protections in terms of sections 198(A), (B) and (C). Issues surrounding Temporary Employment Services and fixed-term employees have been very divisive and have been the topics of heated debate at all levels of Industrial Relations for a long time. Discussions regarding the use of the services of Temporary Employment Services can be highly emotive, with Temporary Employment Services being accused of committing wideThis paper is divided into two distinct sections. The first being an analysis of the legal protection of temporary employees as things currently stand. It deals with the various labour laws that currently regulate temporary employment as well as the temporary employment contract and the common-law. The second section summarises and analyses the provisions of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill as they apply to fixed-term employees. Temporary employees are protected by the general protection extended to all employees in terms of section 23(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, guaranteeing all employees the “right to fair labour practice”. The Labour Relations Act has as one of its main objectives to give effect to and regulate the fundamental rights contained in the Constitution. Thus the Labour Relations Act must not only give effect to constitutional rights but it must also ensure that it in no way unreasonably or unjustly denies or limits constitutional rights. Temporary employees have a number of labour laws protecting their interests. Where the provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, a Bargaining Council Agreement or a Sectoral Determination do not apply the employee will rely on the terms of the fixed-term employment contract and thereafter the common law for protection. The only protection offered to temporary employees contained in the Labour Relations Act is in section 186(1)(b), where a dismissal is defined to include the non-renewal of temporary contracts of employment where there is a reasonable expectation of renewal on the same or similar terms. This provision has proved to be highly controversial in that it does not expressly cater for temporary employees who harbour reasonable expectations of indefinite employment. An analysis is made of the most important cases relating to section 186(1)(b). The second section unpacks and critically analyses the Labour Relations Amendment Bill and the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill which have been long in the offing and when they are finally enacted, will bring with them sweeping changes for atypical employment . The amendments will drastically change the way employers make use of fixed-term employees as well as the way in which Temporary Employment Services may conduct business if they are in fact able to keep working at all. There is very little literature of substance written about the Labour Relations Amendment Bill as it applies to atypical employment. The fact that the proposed amendments have changed so many times over such a long period of time might have deterred many writers from investing time and effort in attempts to analyse and summarise the amendments. Articles posted on the internet are in the main short and have very little content. No books were found with any discussion that pertains to the amendments. The amendments divide employees involved in atypical employment into two different categories. These categories consist of employees earning above the threshold in terms of section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and those earning below this threshold. All fixed-term employees may rely on the provisions of section 186 of the Labour Relations Act. Employees earning below the threshold are considered to be the most vulnerable and have been afforded additional protections in terms of sections 198(A), (B) and (C).
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Nyathi, Mthokozisi. "The right to organise: critiquing the role of trade unions in shaping work relations in post-apartheid South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003205.
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Organised labour continues to play a prominent role in shaping employment relations in South Africa. The individual worker is powerless and in a weaker bargaining position against his employer. The advent of democracy was accompanied by numerous interventions to level the historically uneven bargaining field. The trade union movement has made and consolidated significant gains since the advent of democracy. It however faces a plethora of new challenges, such as the negative forces of globalisation, declining membership (often associated with high levels of unemployment and the changing nature of work from standard to atypical employment), the resurfacing of adversarialism in the bargaining process, and numerous shortcomings inherent in forums established to facilitate corporatism. Business is intensifying its calls for investor-friendly policies, which effectively mean a relaxation of labour policies. The trade union movement faces an enormous task of rebuilding confidence and credibility among its members and at the same time showing some commitment to other social actors, government and business, that it is committed to contribute to economic growth and employment creation. The central focus of this thesis will be to highlight the gains made by the trade union movement, the numerous challenges threatening their existence, and how they have attempted to redefine their role in the face of these challenges. It will attempt to offer advice on how trade unions can continue to play a prominent role in shaping relations of work in South Africa. The study begins with a historical overview of trade unionism in South Africa. It then attempts to establish how trade unions have made use of the institution of collective bargaining, the importance of organisational rights to the trade union movement, the effectiveness of industrial action, and the emerging challenges threatening the vibrancy of trade unions. The overall aim is to assess whether the trade union movement is still a force to be reckoned with and its future role in influencing employment relations in South Africa.
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Mak, Mei-kuen Rebecca, and 麥美娟. "A comparative study of the organization and functions of public sectorunions." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1992. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31964126.
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Chan, Ka-kit Susanna, and 陳嘉潔. "The impact of the civil service trade union movement on labour relations in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1990. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31963742.
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Murhem, Sofia. "Turning to Europe : A New Swedish Industrial Relations Regime in the 1990s." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis : Univ.-bibl. [distributör], 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-3737.
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Sarvanidis, Sofoklis. "The implementation of information and consultation of employees regulations in Great Britain." Thesis, University of Bath, 2010. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.527136.
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The thesis focuses on the impact of the EU Directive (2002/14/EC), which was incorporated into UK employment law, with its phased implementation starting on 6th April 2005. The empirical evidence is based on a survey and predominantly on case-study research that involved interviews with: managers, employees and trade union representatives, together with the collection of relevant documentary evidence. The empirical findings, especially for the non-unionised sector, indicate that the reflexive nature of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations has mainly stimulated the development of organisation-specific or tailor-made information and consultation arrangements, which minimally comply with the legislative provisions. Moreover, the development of such arrangements is primarily based on the ad hoc momentum that is generated by business pressures (i.e. collective redundancies, transfer of undertakings etc) and can be viewed as reflecting the conceptual framework of legislatively prompted voluntarism. The ICE Directive is aimed at bringing a consistency to the establishment of basic and standard information and consultation arrangements across the workplaces in Great Britain. Subsequently, it should promote the harmonisation of employee participation practices amongst the UK and other EU countries, as it has the goal of ensuring that there is a minimum floor of rights in relation to information sharing and consultation with employees. Nevertheless, the Europeanisation of British industrial relations cannot instantly take place through the adoption of such EU directives. With regard to this research endeavour, it emerges that the extant national idiosyncrasies cannot be substantially altered, whilst business pressures and employers’ goodwill continue to be key drivers in the development of employee participation and consultation arrangements in Great Britain, albeit within the newly adopted legislative and statutory framework.
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Hemsley, Michael Norman. "The constitutionality of section 32 of the Labour Relations Act." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11070.
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Collective bargaining is the process whereby employees act as a collective unit whilst negotiating terms and conditions of employment with employers. The collective unit typically takes the form of a trade union, mandated by its members to negotiate on their behalf. By negotiating collectively the inherent imbalance of power between employer and individual employee is seen to be neutralised. The process of collective bargaining enjoys legal status in South Africa and around the world. The Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924 institutionalised collective bargaining for the first time in the form of the Industrial-Council system. This sectoral bargaining system stood firm throughout the pre-democracy period but initially excluded non-white employees. Industrial unrest in the 1970s was the catalyst for the Wiehan commission which ultimately brought all employees into the fold. By the dawn of democracy in South Africa the bargaining system enjoyed wide-spread support and legitimacy. This was particularly so amongst the COSATU-led labour movement which enjoyed a position of political strength. This support and strength were reflected in the contents of both the Labour Relations Act and the Constitution which enshrined the constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining. Possibly the most debated aspect of the Council system has been the question of extending agreements to non-parties. Those in favour argue that the Council system cannot function in the absence of extensions. This is so because what would then effectively be a voluntary system would not attract sufficient volunteers. Those against argue that extensions act as a barrier to economic activity, particularly for small and new businesses. Legislation has, since 1924, facilitated the extension of agreements as long as certain criteria are met. Section 32 of the Labour Relations Act is the current extension vehicle. The extension criteria have vacillated over time and especially so in recent history with section 32 being subject to change in every post-democracy amendment to the Act. Possibly the most serious challenge to the extension status quo has come in the form of a constitutional challenge by the Free-Market Foundation. The Foundation advances old economic arguments but links these to an alleged impingement of constitutional rights. The challenge comes at a time when the country is experiencing the most significant socio-political turbulence since democracy. This includes the most enduring strike in our history, a landmark-employer lock-out and a parliamentary facelift. The Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council oversees the biggest manufacturing sector in the South African economy. This status prompted the Council to submit its own responding papers in the Free-Market case. Particularly fascinating is that an employer party to the Council not only supports the Foundation case but has also lodged its own proceedings against the extension of the 2014 Engineering agreement. Both these cases are still pending and the outcomes have the potential to transform the political and economic landscape of our country.
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Kojola, Erik. "Trade Unions and Green Jobs in the post-Fordist Economy: Just Rhetoric or a Fundamental Shift?" Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1241906474.
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Choi, Inyi. "Organizing negotiation and resistance : the role of Korean union federations as institutional mediators /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC IP addresses, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3161969.
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Rothermel, Jonathan Christopher. "Solidarity Sometimes: Globalization, Transnationalism, and the Labor Movement." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2010. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/70450.
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Political SciencePh.D.
This dissertation investigates the role of global labor in international relations. I argue that global labor is mainly comprised of two parts: national union organizations and Global Unions. Global Unions are transnational labor organizations (TLOs) with a worldwide membership that were created by national union organizations to represent their interests internationally. I contend that Global Unions perform five interrelated functions for national unions. However, due to the inherent structural weaknesses of Global Unions, it is the national unions that, in fact, remain the critical force behind global labor. Therefore, I focus on the transnational activities of national unions. I identify three conditions that result in incentives for unions to choose strategies of labor transnationalism: the shrinking of national political opportunity structures, the increasing availability of international political opportunity structures, and the adoption of a social union or social movement unionism paradigm for union revitalization. Additionally, I identify three factors that inhibit labor transnationalism among national unions: diminishing resources, turf wars, and cultural barriers. I introduce the concept of complex labor transnationalism as an alternative approach to the more limited traditional practice of labor transnationalism. I disaggregate the activities associated with complex labor transnationalism into six types: communicative transnationalism, political transnationalism, steward transnationalism, protest transnationalism, collaborative transnationalism, and steward transnationalism. Furthermore, I conduct a case study on the state of labor transnationalism in the United States concluding that while most unions take a traditional approach towards labor transnationalism there is some evidence of complex labor transnationalism. Finally, I draw several conclusions about the role of global labor in international relations and outline three areas of potential growth.
Temple University--Theses
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Oskarsson, Sven. "The Fate of Organized Labor : Explaining Unionization, Wage Inequality, and Strikes across Time and Space." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala : Department of Government, Uppsala University, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-3804.
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Klerck, Gilton-Georg. "Fractured solidarities: labour regulation, workplace restructuring, and employment 'flexibility' in Namibia." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004898.
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A central concern of this thesis is the expansion, distribution and control of 'non-standard' employment in Namibia since independence. The employment relationship has assumed various historical forms under capitalism, each of which corresponds to a specific mode of regulation with distinct structural dynamics. An attempt is made to extend the regulation approach 'downwards' to account for the problem of order in the workplace and to place the employment relationship within its own regulatory framework. The point of departure in this study of the dynamics of labour regulation is the contradictory nature of labour's incorporation, allocation, control and reproduction within the labour market. The employment relationship is never only an economic exchange, but is also mediated through an institutional framework that connects the processes of production and social reproduction, and regulates conflicting interests inside and outside the workplace. This relationship, as critical realists have pointed out, is a product of the indeterminate intersection of several generative structures. The roots of these generative structures can be traced to three sets of social processes: the processes of production and the structuring of labour demand; the processes of social reproduction and the structuring of labour supply; and the forces of regulation. Non-standard employment is viewed as a particular social and spatio-temporal 'fix' for the various regulatory dilemmas generated by the standard employment relationship. This conception underscores the fact that a national system of labour regulation decisively shapes the conditions under which employers are able to casualise a part of their workforce. The differential experience across national boundaries suggests that analytical space needs to be provided for systems of labour market regulation which may either accentuate or moderate pressures for casualisation. Segmentation on the demand side of the labour market is explored through an analysis of the types of non-standard jobs created in different economic sectors. The various forms of employment 'flexibility' tend to vary in importance according to the specific manner in which a firm chooses to compete. Consequently, non-standard employees are distributed in a complex and uneven manner across industrial sectors and the occupational hierarchy, and face a diverse range of possibilities and liabilities that shape their levels and forms of participation in the labour market. By counteracting the homogenisation effects of labour law and collective bargaining, the mobilisation of cheap and disposable labour through non-standard employment contracts allows employers much greater discretion in constructing the wage-effort bargain. With non-standard employment, social and statutory regulation is weak or underdeveloped and hence managerial control is autocratic, with a significant contractual component. Although the changing social composition of the workforce associated with employment 'flexibility' poses serious challenges to the modes of organisation that have long served the labour movement, trade unions in Namibia and elsewhere have been slow to respond to the threats of casualisation. Of concern here, is the extent to which attempts to promote the security of existing union members is compatible with attempts to organise non-standard employees. This thesis shows that the unions have developed a complex amalgam of strategies in their efforts to regulate non-standard employment relationships.
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Dufresne, Anne. "Les stratégies de l'euro-syndicalisme sectoriel: étude de la coordination salariale et du dialogue social." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210769.
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The main contribution of my thesis is the analysis of substantial empirical material that I have collected from Community trade union actors. My analysis focuses on the institutional strategies of the sectoral European trade union federations and their implications for the Europeanisation of wages policy. I have demonstrated that the development of European coordination processes of national collective bargaining, particularly at sectoral level, has contributed to reviving the concept of collective bargaining and professional relations in the European Area, which until then had been covered in the literature by the social dialogue. I have identified three obstacles to collective negociations at a European level: the “depoliticised” wage in the economic partnership, employers identified as the “lobby partner” in the sectoral social dialogue, and the difficulties encountered in the Europeanisation of trade unions.L’apport majeur de notre thèse est l’analyse d’un matériel empirique conséquent que nous avons collecté auprès des acteurs syndicaux communautaires. Notre analyse se concentre sur les stratégies institutionnelles des fédérations syndicales sectorielles européennes et sur leurs implications en matière d’européanisation de la politique salariale. Nous avons démontré que le développement des processus de coordination européenne des négociations collectives nationales, en particulier au niveau sectoriel, peut contribuer à renouveler la conception de la négociation collective et des relations professionnelles dans l’espace européen jusqu’alors appréhendée dans la littérature par le dialogue social. Nous avons identifié trois obstacles à la négociation collective européenne :le salaire « dépolitisé » dans le partenariat économique, le patronat devenu « partenaire-lobby » dans le dialogue social sectoriel, et la difficile européanisation syndicale.
Doctorat en sciences sociales, Orientation sociologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Peterson, Gigi. "Grassroots good neighbors : connections between Mexican and U.S. labor and civil rights activists, 1936-1945 /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10398.
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Coplen, Amy Katherine Rose. ""Poverty Wages Are Not Fresh, Local, or Sustainable": Building Worker Power by Organizing Around (Re)production in Portland's "Sustainable" Food Industry." PDXScholar, 2019. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/5092.
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Although conscious consumers flock to sustainability-branded restaurants and grocery stores to "vote with their forks" for environmental sustainability and vibrant local economies, workers in these industries face the same poverty wages, discrimination, and exploitative labor practices that plague the food service and retail industries at large. Despite rapid growth and labor degradation, low-wage workers in these industries have largely been left behind by the mainstream labor movement and the alternative food movement. Whereas in the past, progressive social movements worked to alter power relations between labor and capital through collective action, today's mainstream labor movement focuses on servicing its dwindling membership and winning minimum wage increases through local ballot box measures and legislation. For its part, the alternative food movement focuses narrowly on achieving environmental sustainability through market-based mechanisms and consumption politics that do not adequately attend to the struggles of food chain workers. Through research conducted in partnership with the Burgerville Workers Union (BVWU) and the Industrial Workers of the World, I investigate three empirical research questions: 1) How do sustainability-branded institutions deploy values-based discourse and how does this relate to labor practices?, 2) How do worker-organizers understand and expose the contradictions of sustainability branding?, and 3) How do worker-organizers engage with social reproduction as a terrain of political struggle, and to what ends? I attend to these questions through activist scholarship aimed at informing my broad theoretical question: How might social reproduction "as discourse and practice" be marshaled to generate more inclusive organizing strategies, forge more just conceptions of sustainability, and build worker power? Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, content analysis, and interviews with 48 worker-organizers involved in four labor organizing campaigns, I examine their efforts to build worker power through mutual aid programs, political education, and coalition politics. My analysis reveals that these strategies embody an inclusionary intersectional politics that prioritizes the needs of women, parents, and people of color, but that worker-organizers also face significant challenges. I demonstrate that organizing against neoliberal policies and practices requires moving beyond consumption politics and single-issue campaigns and deploying what I term (re)production politics which are fundamentally about how work is organized and how we care for society and the planet. Politicizing the labor, locations, and practices of social reproduction as landscapes of struggle, I conclude, offers an opportunity to build a broad class consciousness across interconnected issues and envision more liberatory ways of organizing social reproduction based on solidarity, mutuality, and interdependence.
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Kafidi, W. "Strategic options for trade unions in the Namibian Police Service." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53600.
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Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Freedom of association is a constitutional fundamental freedom denied the members of the Namibian Police Service. This led to the researcher to conduct a study on current labour practices in the said organisation. The aim thereof was to establish whether the inexistence of unions has a detrimental effect on labour relations, and also to explore possibilities of introducing trade unions in the Police Service. A study was conducted within a qualitative approach with the data obtained from existing literature as well as through interviewing police officers and other public office bearers. It was ultimately found that the entire organisation is fraught with labour related problems, which would have been handled differently within unionism. The study therefore recommends that a union be formed for the Namibian Police members.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vryheid van assosiasie is 'n konsitusionele fundamentele vryheid wat die lede van die Namibiese Polisiediens ontsê is. Dit was aanleidend tot die navorser se ondersoek van bestaande werkspraktyke in die gemelde organisasie. Die studie is daarop gerig om vas te stel of die bestaan van unies nadelig inwerk op werksverhoudings asook om die moontlikheid van die instelling van vakunies in die polisiediens te ondersoek. Die studie is met 'n kwalitatiewe benadering onderneem en data is bekom uit bestaande literatuur asook onderhoudsvoering met polisiebeamptes en ander openbare ampsdraers. Daar is uiteindelik bevind dat die hele organisasie gebuk gaan ander werksverwante probleme wat binne vakunie-verband anders hanteer sou word. Die studie beveel dan ook aan dat 'n unie vir die lede van die Namibiese Polisie ingestel moet word.
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Forsén, Sven Johan Richard. "Investigating Swedish Trade Unions’ Labor Market Preferences: the role of union member labor market risk exposure and the white-collar/blue-collar union divide." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-380569.
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In the literature on the emergence of the welfare state, the strength of trade unions and the organized working class is often touted as the primary driving force behind the welfare state project. Furthermore, much of the previous literature has tended to assume union homogeneity across countries, federations, industries and professions. What is conspicuously lacking from the current political science literature is a systematic analysis of real-world trade unions’ choice of labor market advocacy focus. Using a qualitative approach and studying both published union material as well as conducting a number of elite interviews with high-level union officials, this thesis studies the degree to which Swedish trade unions’ labor market policy preferences are defined by the union members’ labor market risk exposure and whether the union adheres to white-collar or blue-collar unionism. While the conclusions indeed suggest that labor market risk and blue-collar/white-collar unionism do have a systematic impact on cartain aspects of trade unions’ labor market advocacy, future “large N” studies utilizing alternative methodological approaches will be required to draw more easily generalizable conclusions.
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Wisnor, Ryan Thomas. "Workers of the Word Unite!: The Powell's Books Union Organizing Campaign, 1998-2001." PDXScholar, 2017. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4162.
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The labor movement's groundswell in the 1990s accompanied a period of intense competition and conglomeration within the retail book sector. Unexpectedly, the intersection of these two trends produced two dozen union drives across the country between 1996 and 2004 at large retail bookstores, including Borders and Barnes & Noble. Historians have yet to fully examine these retail organizing contests or recount their contributions to the labor movement and its history, including booksellers' pioneering use of the internet as an organizing tool. This thesis focuses on the aspirations, tactics, and contributions of booksellers in their struggles to unionize their workplaces, while also exploring the economic context surrounding bookselling and the labor movement at the end of the twentieth century. While the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) auspiciously announced a national campaign in 1997 to organize thousands of bookstore clerks, the only successfully unionized bookstore from this era that remains today is the Powell's Books chain in Portland, Oregon with over 400 workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 5.
Local 5's successful union campaign at Powell's Books occurring between 1998 and 2000 is at the center of this study and stands out as a point of light against a dark backdrop of failed union attempts in the retail sector during the latter decades of the twentieth century. This inquiry utilizes Local 5's internal document archive and the collection of oral histories gathered by labor historians Edward Beechert and Harvey Schwartz in 2001 and 2002. My analysis of these previously unexamined records demonstrates how Powell's efforts to thwart the ILWU campaign proved a decisive failure and contributed to the polarization of a super majority of the workforce behind Local 5. Equally, my analysis illustrates how the self-organization, initiative, and unrelenting creativity of booksellers transformed a narrow union election victory to overwhelming support for the union's bargaining committee. Paramount to Local 5's contract success was the union's partnership with Portland's social justice community, which induced a social movement around Powell's Books at a time of increased political activity and unity among the nation's labor, environment, and anti-globalization activists. The bonds of solidarity and mutual aid between Local 5 and its community allies were forged during the World Trade Organization (WTO) demonstrations in Seattle in 1999 and Portland's revival of May Day in 2000. Following eleven work stoppages and fifty-three bargaining sessions, the union acquired a first contract that far exceeded any gains made by the UFCW at its unionized bookstores. The Powell's agreement included improvements to existing health and retirement benefits plus an 18 percent wage increase for employees over three years.
This analysis brings to light the formation of a distinct working-class culture and consciousness among Powell's booksellers, communicated through workers' essays, artwork, strikes, and solidarity actions with the social justice community. It provides a detailed account of Local 5's creative street theater tactics and work stoppages that captured the imagination of activists and the attention of the broader community. The conflict forced the news media and community leaders to publicly choose sides in a labor dispute reminiscent of struggles not seen in Portland since the 1950s. Observers of all political walks worried that the Portland cultural and commercial intuition would collapse under the weight of the two-year labor contest. My research illustrates the tension among the city's liberal and progressive populace created by the upstart union's presence at prominent liberal civic leader Michael Powell's iconic store and how the union organized prominent liberal leaders on the side of their cause. It concludes by recognizing that Local 5's complete history remains a work in progress, but that its formation represents an indispensable Portland contribution to the revitalized national labor movement of the late 1990s.
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Hille, Martin. "Gewerkschaften im Wandel : ordnungspolitische Überlegungen zur Neuorientierung der deutschen Arbeitsbeziehungen /." Marburg : Tectum, 2007. http://deposit.d-nb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2923988&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Angotta, Jill E. "The Social Integration of Employees with Disabilities in the Workplace| An Explanatory Case Study of Supervisors' Current Practices." Thesis, University of Bridgeport, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3571022.
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This study is an exploratory case study on supervisors' and front line managers' current practices towards the promotion of the socialization of employees with disabilities with their non-disabled peers. The researcher interviewed eight participants, four men and four women, purposefully selected from Connecticut and Indiana in person or over the phone. Various supporting secondary data documents were located by the researcher on the internet to further explain the work place's role in the promotion of socialization of employees with disabilities with their coworkers. Utilizing the Social Identity (Turner, 1975) and Social Categorization (Tajfel, 1970) theories to further explain the phenomenon of social integration of employees with disabilities as it relates to the under employment of Americans with disabilities when compared to their non-disabled counterparts, the researcher hopes to answers the following research questions: How are supervisors and front line managers in various work place arenas currently promoting social integration of employees with disabilities with their non-disabled coworkers? How are supervisors and front line managers in various work place arenas currently utilizing work place accommodations, when requested, to promote the social integration of employees with disabilities with their non-disabled peers? Once socially integrated, are supervisors and front line managers in various workplace arenas able to retain employees with disabilities for the long term?
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Wood, Geoffrey Thomas. "Comprehending strike action: the South African experience c.1950-1990 and the theoretical implications thereof." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003107.
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Regular strike action has become a central characteristic of the South African industrial relations system. Whilst in the 1950s strikes were mostly isolated outbursts of relatively short duration, strikes in the 1980s were challenges of unprecedented duration and intensity. It is argued that despite this dramatic change, reflecting a series of discontinuities in both the political and economic arenas, strike action in South Africa does follow distinct patterns, and can be ascribed to a combination of identifiable causes. Principal causal factors include wage aspirations, past experiences and the subjective interpretation thereof, and the role of the union movement. Contingent factors include the prevailing political climate, industrial relations legislation, the amount of information opposing sides possess of their adversaries' intentions as well as spatial issues, such as the internal dynamics of individual communities. Partially as a result of South Africa's political transformation, the late 1980s and early 1990s saw further changes in the industrial relations environment. Reflecting these developments, it is argued that a new type of trade unionism has developed, "coterminous unionism" . This will have far-reaching implications for the nature of industrial conflict. However, it falls fully within the theoretical parameters outlined in this thesis. Despite significant developments in social theory in the 1980s and 1990s, there have been few attempts accordingly to update theories of strike action. One of the objectives of this thesis has been to attempt such an update. It is hoped that the constructs developed will shed light on a widely prevalent form of social conflict, assist in the analysis of future outbreaks, and enable the identification of those situations where a high propensity to engage in strike action may exist.
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Myeki, Mfundo. "Dismissal law in the education sector." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1567.
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This treatise will therefore critically discuss fairness requirements in dismissal law within the context of the education sector from: i) the perspective of a dismissed employee; and ii) the perspective of an employer who wishes to dismiss employees fairly; and iii) the perspective of a deemed dismissal. It will be proper to flow this discussion from the premises of what should be considered procedural and substantive fairness in dismissals.
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Balfour, Sebastian Michael. "The remaking of the Spanish labour movement : social change, urban growth and working class militancy, Barcelona, 1939-1976." Thesis, Bucks New University, 1987. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.714455.
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Sloan, Michael Andrew. "A Misguided Quest for Legitimacy: The Community Relations Department of the Southern Organizing Committee of the CIO During Operation Dixie, 1946-1953." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2006. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/history_theses/7.
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This thesis is a study of the Community Relations Department of the Southern Organizing Committee of the Congress of Industrial Organizations during the CIO’s Southern Organizing Drive, often referred to as “Operation Dixie.” The Community Relations Department was primarily interested in improving relations between organized labor and organized religion, in the hopes that improved church-labor relations would produce a situation more conducive to labor organizing, and reduce attacks on the CIO from religious leaders. This thesis examines the methods utilized by the CRD to achieve this end, and presents an analysis both of their efficacy and of their implementation. Specific programs that are explored are the CRD’s compilation, and publication, of various religiously themed pamphlets, the formation of Religion and Labor Fellowship groups, and the CRD’s relations with various anti-labor newspapers that made use of religious arguments to attack the CIO and Operation Dixie.
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Makwembere, Sandra. "Public sector industrial relations in the context of alliance politics : the case of Makana Local Municipality, South Africa (1994-2006) /." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://eprints.ru.ac.za/1175/.
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Santos, Glicia Vieira dos. "Globalização, estrategias gerenciais e trabalhadores : um estudo comparativo da industria brasileira de celulose." [s.n.], 2005. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/279824.
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Orientador: Angela Maria Carneiro AraujoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
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Resumo: Esta tese analisa, a partir do local de trabalho e da percepção dos trabalhadores, os efeitos da globalização e da reestruturação produtiva para a produção, os trabalhadores da indústria de processo contínuo expostas ao comércio internacional e os sindicatos papeleiros. A hipótese central é a de que as mudanças associadas à globalização têm um rebatimento importante no interior das fábricas, modificando a correlação de forças entre os diversos atores envolvidos na produção e tendo na participação da mão-de-obra uma mediadora não-desprezível. A reestruturação na indústria de celulose e papel alcançou um amplo espectro: desde a reestruturação das cadeias produtivas no plano internacional, passando pela redefinição das estratégias gerenciais das empresas, ultrapassando os limites de suas fronteiras com mudanças nas relações com as comunidades locais e as firmas que integram a cadeia de fornecimento de produtos e serviços e, contemplando ainda, a reformulação das estratégias sindicais. Decisões gerenciais ¿técnicas¿ que ocultam uma dimensão ¿política¿ alteraram as relações de poder entre chefes, engenheiros e trabalhadores do chão-de-fábrica. Os procedimentos metodológicos adotados para a elaboração deste trabalho compreenderam: pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa de campo, pesquisa documental, análise de estatísticas sobre o mercado de trabalho, visitas a fábricas e sindicatos e entrevistas
Abstract: This thesis analyzes, from the perspective of the workplace and the frame of reference of employees, the effects of globalization and of productive restructuring on production, on the employees involved in industries that employ continuous processes and on the unions of the pulp and paper sector. The central hypothesis is that the changes linked to globalization have had a significant effect inside the factories, modifying the correlation of the strength of the many diverse players involved in production and they have also had a relevant mediating effect in terms of the participation of labor. The restructuring has reached a broad scope: going from the restructuring of the production chains, on an international scale, to the redefinition of the management strategies of the industries, and reaching beyond the industries internal boundaries through the changes brought on with respect to the communities and the companies that make up the supply chain and, also taking into consideration the reformulation of the strategies taken up by the unions. ¿Technical¿ management decisions that conceal a ¿political¿ dimension have altered the relationships of power among the bosses, engineers and other employees. The methodological procedures adopted include: bibliographical research as well as that of documentation, fieldwork, the analysis of statistics regarding the labor market, visits to factories and unions and interviews
Doutorado
Ciencias Sociais
Doutor em Ciências Sociais
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Mkalipi, Nosivatho Getrude. "Exploring the management-union relationship in an Eastern Cape public sector department." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/18365.
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This study explored the relationship between management and the union in an Eastern Cape Public Sector Department. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research tools to collect information from the respondents, who gave a view on their experiences of what the relationship is, and how it could be improved. The sample consisted of members of management and union executives, across employment levels. Both statistical and thematic analysis were used to analyse data from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The literature review defined the concept of trade unionism, management and trade union relationship in the workplace, and different frames of reference of the labour relations system. From the literature review it is noted that management and union relationships are more of a formal arrangement in the workplace; as such government, has developed tools to assist in this regard. Although that is not the case in the Department it is noted that the informal arrangement in the relationship between management and union is ‘working’ to some extent. Quality and sustainability of that, however, is questionable. The findings indicate that most members of management acknowledge the existence of the relationship between management and the union, but they are dissatisfied, as most members are not part of the engagements with the union. They are also of the view that it is in favour of the union. Unions on the other hand, view the existing relationship as working in favour of one union instead of the union collective. The union which finds favour is satisfied, and the other is not. It is recommended that the management and union engagement be formalized in order for the Department to work with unions in a more structured, professional manner, which would be inclusive of other members of management who feel left out. Not only that, but management would also be able to engage with the union as a collective, and not as an individual union.
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Oladeinde, Olusegun Olurotimi. "Management and the dynamics of labour process: study of workplace relations in an oil refinery, Nigeria." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003087.
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The focus of this thesis is on labour-management relations in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigeria. The study explores current managerial practices in the corporation and their effects on the intensification of work, and how the management sought to control workers and the labour process. The study explores the experiences of workers and their perception of managerial practices. Evidence suggests that managerial practices and their impacts on workplace relations in NNPC have become more subtle, with wider implications for workers’ experience and the labour process. Using primary data obtained through interviews, participant observation, and documentary sources, the thesis assesses how managerial practices are varieties of controls of labour in which workers’ consent is also embedded. This embeddedness of the labour process generates new types of worker subjectivity and identity, with significant implications for labour relations. The study suggests that multiple dimensions of workers’ sense-making reflect the structural and subjective dimensions of the labour process. In NNPC, the consequence of managerial practices has been an emergence of a new type of subjectivity; one that has closely identified with the corporate values and is not overtly disposed towards resistance or dissent. While workers consent at NNPC continues to be an outcome of managerial practices, the thesis examined its implications. The thesis seeks to explain the effects of managerial control mechanisms in shaping workers’ experience and identity. However, the thesis shows that while workers remain susceptible to these forms of managerial influence, an erasure or closure of oppositions or recalcitrance will not adequately account for workers’ identity-formation. The thesis shows that while managerial control remains significant, workers inhabit domains that are ‘unmanaged’ and ‘unmanageable’ where ‘resistance’ and ‘misbehaviour’ reside. Without a conceptual and empirical interrogation, evidence of normative and mutual benefits of managerial practices or a submissive image of workers will produce images of workers that obscure their covert opposition and resistance. Workers ‘collude’ with the ‘hubris’ of management in order to invert and subvert managerial practices and intentions. Through theoretical reconceptualization, the thesis demonstrates the specific dimensions of these inversions and subversions. The thesis therefore seeks to re-insert “worker-agency” back into the analysis of power-relations in the workplace; agency that is not overtly under the absolute grip of managerial control, but with a multiplicity of identities and multilevel manifestations.
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Kigozi, Annet Nakimuli. "A study of a 2010 strike in a sub-directorate of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021229.
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This research adds on to Chaulk & Brown (2008) research on the assessment of employees’ reaction towards management and the union in the pre-strike and post-strike period. Research problem: The study raised two aspects that form part of the statement of the problem. Firstly, strike action has been a major aspect describing the South African industrial relations climate. The high level of strike action prompts the question; “Are South Africans World Class Strikers?” (Anstey, 2006). Secondly, the analysis of strike action has focussed more on the economic and power testing impact analysis rather than psychological and affective impact analysis of the strike such as establishing the impact of the strike on job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, organisational commitment, management satisfaction, and union commitment. Research objectives: To address the research problem, research objectives, research questions and hypotheses were established. The main objective of the study was to examine the causes, processes and the impact of the strike, thereby making a contribution to both theory and practice. Whereas the contribution to theory took a form of building on to the research carried out by Chaulk & Brown (2008), and exploring through the process analysis on how behaviour during the conflict impacts on the ongoing relationships within the organisation, the contribution to practice took a form of highlighting to management and unions the impact of the strike on employees so that necessary interventions to prevent the negative impact of the strike would be created. Research questions: Six research questions were established and these were; what were the causes of the strike; how did the strike unfold; what were the substantive outcomes of the strike; what were the procedural outcomes of the strike; what were the climate outcomes of the strike; is there a relationship between the demographic factors and the affective outcomes of the strike? Research hypotheses; Five research hypotheses were established for the research. These hypotheses were aimed at establishing the impact of the strike on the affective outcomes of the strike. These were; there was a significant change in the level of organizational commitment after the strike; there was a significant change in the level of job satisfaction after the strike; there was a significant change in the level of work climate satisfaction after the strike; there was a significant change in the level of management satisfaction after the strike; and there is was significant change in the level of union commitment after the strike. Research design and methodology: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data. Qualitatively, interviews, media reports and the Municipality records were being used to collect data on the causes, processes and outcomes of the strike. Quantitatively a survey questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was collected from 105 Traffic Officers who had recently been on strike in the NMBM. Measures of organisational and union commitment, employee job satisfaction, and work climate satisfaction were assessed using the Chaulk & Brown (2008) questionnaire. A paired sample t-test, ANOVA test, and Scheffe test and Cronbach’s alpha, were some of the quantitative methods used in data analysis. Henning’s approach was used to analyze qualitative data. Major findings: The results from the questionnaire revealed that job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction and management satisfaction significantly changed in the post-strike period. In addition, impact of demographic factors on affective factors was evident for participation in the strike and the level of union commitment; age and job satisfaction; occupational level and job satisfaction; and service length and union commitment.
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Santos, Adriano Pereira 1981. "A usinagem do capital e o desmonte do trabalho : reestruturação produtiva nos anos 90, o caso da Zanini S/A de Sertãozinho-SP." [s.n.], 2007. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/279283.
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Orientador: Ricardo Luiz Coltro AntunesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
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Resumo: Nas últimas décadas, o modo de produção capitalista vem passando por intensas transformações em sua forma de acumulação, reestruturando seus processos produtivos e relações de trabalho. No Brasil, esse processo de mudança se inicia em meados dos anos de 1980, mas se intensifica somente durante a década de 90, a partir da abertura comercial e internacionalização da economia, exigindo das empresas inovações tecnológicas, novas formas de organização da produção e novos métodos de gestão da força de trabalho. Focalizando essas transformações num estudo de caso acerca da Zanini S/A Equipamentos Pesados de Sertãozinho-SP, objetivou-se nesta dissertação compreender: 1) como se desenvolveu o processo de reestruturação produtiva nessa empresa nos anos de 1990 e a reorganização industrial que ela gerou sobre o setor metalúrgico da cidade; 2) quais os impactos produzidos por esse processo sobre os trabalhadores, e se ele influenciou na postura do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos na década de 90 com relação à postura que essa entidade mantinha nos anos de 1980. Por meio de ampla pesquisa concreta, que contou com levantamento bibliográfico concernente ao tema, captação de dados, pesquisa documental e principalmente entrevistas com trabalhadores, sindicalistas e empresários, constituímos um quadro analítico que busca perceber e revelar os fenômenos e processos sociais desencadeados pela reestruturação produtiva da Zanini sobre os trabalhadores da empresa e o Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos. Os resultados a que chegamos demonstram que a reestruturação produtiva operada na Zanini gerou desemprego em massa e precarização das condições de trabalho no interior da empresa durante o período de crise, fusão e incorporação pela Dedini. Paralelamente a isso, observa-se o processo de reorganização industrial na empresa a partir da introdução de novos processos produtivos e novas formas de gestão e organização da força de trabalho, com a tentativa de cooptar e fragmentar econômica, social e politicamente os trabalhadores metalúrgicos. Verificou-se, ainda, que o Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos ¿ diante de tais transformações do capital para ampliar seu controle sobre o trabalho ¿, encontrou dificuldades para se mobilizar. Assim, percebe-se uma alteração em sua forma de organização e atuação, pois ao se filiar à Força Sindical, sua orientação política se modifica, deixando de ser um Sindicato combativo, como era nos anos 1980, para se constituir num Sindicato de participação e colaboração com o capital na década de 90
Abstract: In the last few decades, the way of capitalist production is passing by an intense transformations in its form of accumulation, reorganizing its productive processes and work relations. In Brazil, this process of change initiates in the middle 80s, but it is intensified only during the decade of the 90s, from the commercial opening and the internationalization of the economy, demanding, from the companies, technological innovations, new forms of organization for the production and new methods of management of the work force. Focusing these transformations in a study concerning Zanini S/A Heavy Equipment, in Sertãozinho-SP, the objective in this dissertation was to understand: 1) how the development of the productive reorganization process happened in this company in the 90s and the industrial reorganization that it generated on the metallurgic sector of the city; 2) which were the impacts produced by this process on the workers, and if it influenced in the position of the Union of Metallurgist in the 90s, regarding the position that this entity kept in the 80s. By means of a wide concrete research, that counted on bibliographical survey about the subject, data survey, documentary research and mainly interviews with workers, syndicalists and entrepreneurs, an analytical picture was constituted trying to perceive and to disclose the phenomena and the social processes which happened because of the productive reorganization of Zanini on its workers and on the Union of Metallurgist. The results demonstrates that the productive reorganization operated at Zanini, generated mass unemployment and bad work conditions in the company during the period of crisis, fusing and incorporation for Dedini. In the meanwhile, the process of industrial reorganization in the company from the introduction of new productive processes isobserved and also, new forms of management and organization of the work force, with the attempt of economically, socially and politically co-opting and breaking up the metallurgic workers. It was also verified, that the Union of Metallurgist - ahead of such transformations of the capital to extend its control on the work-, found difficulties in mobilizing itself. Thus, one perceives an alteration in its form of organization and performance, because to be filiated to the Syndical Force, its political orientation gets modified; stopping being a militant Union, as it was in the 80s, to consist a Union of participation and contribution with the capital in the 90s
Mestrado
Mestre em Sociologia
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Mashonganyika, Oswald. "The relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism : a study of the shop floor workers in a motor manufacturing plant." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007518.
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This research hypothesises a statistical positive significant correlation between job satisfaction and absenteeism among the shop floor workers of a motor manufacturing plant in the impoverished province of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. According to the literature review, two schools of thought exist that argue on the nature of the relationship. One believes that absence from work is in some way a natural consequence of job dissatisfaction, i.e. arguing for a job satisfaction-absenteeism relationship. The second one argues for a no relationship, arguing that absence is a result of habitual behaviour and or behaviours influenced by socioeconomic factors such as poverty that affect the employees' ability and pressure to attend work. A sample of 150 workers was randomly selected from the 2500 shop floor workers. The Job Descriptive Index (lDI) questionnaires were used to measure the satisfaction index of the workers. The absence statistics for the sample workers were gathered from the organisation's Human Resources department and statistical tests for correlation and regression were conducted on the two variables - lDI and absence data. Contrary to the expectations of the study, the results showed that overall job satisfaction and absenteeism were not correlated. It concluded that the job dissatisfaction theory of absenteeism is empirically unsupportable and alternative conceptualisations of absence contributors and potentially fruitful research strategies are discussed.
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Kitchen, Michaelle L. (Michaelle Lynn). "Role of Selected Variables on Organizational Commitment in Selected Organizations in a North Texas Metropolitan Area." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1989. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331255/.
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This study investigated the role of selected variables on organizational commitment in selected organizations in a North Texas metropolitan area. The selected (independent) variables were orientation attendance, unit size, educational level, gender, age, and length of service. Organizational commitment score was the dependent variable. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire were administered to 1,055 employees. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire contained fifteen statements which measured employees' feelings about their organization. Multiple regression was used to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables at the .001 level of significance.
It was determined that gender and length of service showed the strongest significant relationship on organizational commitment. This model shows that the six independent variables account for only 3 percent of the variance in the relationship between organizational commitment and the selected variables. Therefore, approximately 97 percent of the unexplained variance is accountable for the organizational commitment of the employees at the selected organizations used in this study.
Studies using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and other antecedents of organizational commitment are recommended. A follow-up study should also be conducted using the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and race. A follow-up study should be conducted using this questionnaire and a work ethic questionnaire to determine the relationship between organizational commitment and work ethics. An orientation attendance questionnaire should be developed and used with the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to show the relationship between organizational commitment and orientation attendance. Additional research is necessary in other organizations and cultural settings before this study can be generalized to a greater number of employees. Recommendation is made that future researchers administer questionnaires to subjects due to the low reading and comprehension skills of many respondents.
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Bolle, Francine. "La mise en place du syndicalisme contemporain et des relations sociales nouvelles en Belgique, 1910-1937." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209412.
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En dépit de son importance dans la formation de la société contemporaine, le syndicalisme apparaît comme l’un des parents pauvres de l’historiographie en Belgique. Il y a plus de trente ans, Jean Puissant déplorait que l’historiographie syndicale était essentiellement « produite par le milieu syndical lui-même » et que sa fonction était généralement « la commémoration, la légitimation, la contestation ou encore la célébration » (Archivium, vol.XXVII, 1980). Plusieurs auteurs ont, à partir des années 1960 et surtout des années 1980, entamé une approche scientifique de l’histoire syndicale. Mais, en raison du manque cruel d’études systématiques préalables, cette production historique récente, plus riche de perspectives scientifiques, est demeurée largement monographique, ne dépassant que partiellement les clivages sectoriels, régionaux et politiques. « Des synthèses restent à faire, écrivait Antoine Prost en 1997 à propos de la France, [car] aucun de ces travaux ne réussit à lier de façon pleinement satisfaisante l’histoire du travail, celle des travailleurs et celle du mouvement ouvrier. [.] Les nouveaux paradigmes de l’histoire ouvrière continuent à se chercher » (Cahiers d’Histoire, n°66, 1997). Ce constat s’applique incontestablement à l’historiographie syndicale belge.L’ambition de la présente thèse est de pallier l’absence d’étude d’ensemble sur le mouvement syndical belge de l’entre-deux-guerres, période essentielle dans le processus de mise en place du syndicalisme contemporain en Belgique. Cette période est en effet non seulement marquée par l’avènement d’un syndicalisme de masse, par l’intégration des syndicats dans des nouveaux systèmes de relations industrielles (reconnaissance généralisée des syndicats par le patronat et l’État comme interlocuteurs privilégiés dans la négociation du contrat de travail), par leur attribution à l’échelle nationale d’un rôle officiel dans la redistribution des secours étatiques de chômage, mais également par de profondes réformes des structures et des fonctionnements syndicaux (centralisation, concentration et rationalisation accrues).
Notre étude tente d’analyser comment et suivant quelles modalités les diverses composantes du mouvement syndical ont participé à ces transformations sociétales (y compris en ce qui concerne le nouveau rôle qu’elles y acquièrent) en même temps qu’elles se sont trouvées transformées par elles. Globalement, elle propose une évaluation des influences réciproques sur la construction du fait syndical belge :
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Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie
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Msomi, Mzwandile William. "A survey of staff turnover and retention in the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture, Ukhahlamba District." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003846.
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The aim of this research was to understand the main factors that explain turnover and retention at DOA Ukhahlamba District and to recommend to the District and Provincial management the appropriate strategy for retaining staff. To be able to achieve this aim, the following research objectives have been visited, namely: a) turnover trends, b) analysis of primary and external turnover factors and c) primarily retention factors. Data for analysing turnover trends was collected from the 2004 to 2007 DPSA and DOA annual reports. Primary data on labour turnover and retention factors was collected from 41 employees across different sections at DOA Ukhahlamba District by means of a questionnaire survey. The data was analysed using statistical methods, including frequency distribution, chi-square test and Pearson product-moment correlation. The findings have revealed that there is no clear pattern of turnover trends at DOA and DPSA, and DOA percentage turnover figures are low in comparison with those of the DPSA. In terms of organizational-specific factors, the top three primary turnover factors were identified, namely: a) communication within the organisation, b) leadership and the organisation and participation in decision making. The research results further revealed that communication within the organization had a significant impact with regard to race, but division, location, and grades did not. With regard to the external factors, research results identified the following most important external labour turnover factors arranged according to their importance, namely: lack of availability and quality of health care services and infrastructural development; lack of available sport and recreation facilities; crime in the area and people living in the neighbourhood; lack of educational opportunities available for the family, and geographic location of place of employment. The findings further revealed the top three retention factors, were strongly significantly correlated to each other, namely: resource availability, use of discretion in handling customer complaints, and the impact of the job on society. These are positively related to intention to stay. The implications these results to the management would require the review of the organisational Human Resource Management Policy and the introduction of Attraction and Retention Policy because at present its is non existence at DOA Eastern Cape. Research limitations: the study did not fully explore ethnicity when analysing the communication within the organisation as a labour turnover factor despite having an organisation that is diverse in nature, future academic research should focus more on labour turnover at management level and moderating variables to external labour turnover factors as there is little research done in this area. The factors identified for labour turnover and retention should be treated with caution as it may not be applicable to all sector Departments in the Eastern Cape and may be limited to Ukhahlamba District due to its geographic location. This study will contribute to the body of knowledge as it will serve as a guide to Eastern Cape DOA and other sector Departments in choosing factors to consider when designing their retention strategy in order to reduce labour turnover. To the academic researchers, the first three primary retention factors identified in the survey have not been seen before, grouped and rated amongst the top three retention factors which therefore means that the management support becomes more important than looking more on salary package as the first priority factor as revealed by most of the research literature consulted (Gustafson, 2002; Mobley, 1982; Mobley, 1979; Herzberg, 2003). This shows that labour turnover and retention factors will not be the same to all organisations, the location of the business and surrounding environment should be considered carefully when designing the appropriate policy and retention strategy of the organisation.
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Fleming, James. "The Moral Economy of Swedish Labour Market Co-operation and Job Security in the Neoliberal Era." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för kulturantropologi och etnologi, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-447536.
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In the neoliberal era, there has been a global trend towards increased labour market insecurity and inequality, even in countries traditionally emblematic of union strength and socio-economic security such as Sweden. In this study, I present the first ethnographic research conducted in anthropology of negotiations between the central Swedish union and employer peak bodies (known as the ‘labour market partners’). These negotiations were conducted in 2020 against the background of a political crisis and political pressure to modernise and liberalise longstanding and fundamental job security protec- tions in the Employment Protection Act (LAS). Through the lens of these negotiations, I investigate the role of the labour market partners in moderating neoliberal trends and how the partners see their relationship and role in society. I investigate, for example, why Swedish employers support unions and a system that ostensibly curbs their own power. I employ the notions of moral economy and em- bedding to look beyond economic self-interest, to the moral and institutional norms that help explain the partners’ co-operation over time and the role they see themselves as playing as guardians of the social peace. I also incorporate interview material describing diverse workers’ experiences of the current job security protections under LAS. I argue that workers’ voices and experiences reveal a parallel moral economy, where current job security protections are revealed to be important but inadequate, and that job security is a highly nebulous, ambivalent and contextual phenomenon. I argue the moral economy of job security is one of entangled reciprocity between employer, worker and the state, and I consider the proposed reforms in this context. The study shows that even in the context of increasing market- isation of labour and society, reciprocity and cooperation both at the workplace and during the LAS negotiations serve to de-commodify labour and embed the economy in various moral norms. In this way, the research contributes to the anthropological literature on embeddedness and moral economy. It also contributes to both an ethnographic and theoretical understanding of job security.
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Raftery, David Jonathon. "Competition, conflict and cooperation : an ethnographic analysis of an Australian forest industry dispute." Title page, contents and abstract only, 2000. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ARM/09armr139.pdf.
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Bibliography: leaves 135-143. An anthropological analysis of an industrial dispute that occurred within the East Gippsland forest industry, 1997-1998 and how the workers strove to acheive better working conditions for themselves, and to share in the wealth they had created.
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Thomson, Lisa, and FRANCISandLISA@bigpond com. "Clerical Workers, Enterprise Bargaining and Preference Theory: Choice & Constraint." La Trobe University. School of Social Sciences, 2004. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20050801.172053.
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This thesis is a case study about the choices and constraints faced by women clerical workers in a labour market where they have very little autonomy in negotiating their pay and conditions of employment. On the one hand, clerical work has developed as a feminised occupation with a history of being low in status and low paid. On the other hand, it is an ideal occupation for women wanting to combine work and family across their life cycle. How these two phenomena impact upon women clerical workers ability to negotiate enterprise agreements is the subject of this thesis.
From a theoretical perspective this thesis builds upon Catherine Hakim�s preference theory which explores the choices women clerical workers� make in relation to their work and family lives. Where Hakim�s preference theory focuses on the way in which women use their agency to determine their work and life style choices, this thesis gives equal weighting to the impact of agency and the constraints imposed by external structures such as the availability of part-time work and childcare, as well as the impact of organisational culture.
The research data presented was based on face-to-face interviews with forty female clerical workers. The clerical workers ranged in age from 21 to 59 years of age. The respondents were made up of single or partnered women without family responsibilities, women juggling work and family, and women who no longer had dependent children and were approaching retirement. This thesis contends that these clerical workers are ill placed to optimise their conditions of employment under the new industrial regime of enterprise bargaining and individual contracts. Very few of the women were union members and generally they were uninformed about their rights and entitlements.