Founded in 1928, Iscor was intended to make South Africa self sufficient in the provision of steel while providing employment for poor whites. Economic considerations prevailed when Iscor began replacing expensive white labour with cheaper black labour. From 1934 to 1948 black labour was employed to curtail costs. While being replaced by black labour, white employees' salaries and fringe benefits remained better than those of their black colleagues. Affordable houses were provided for white employees while blacks were housed in overcrowded compounds. No medical or pension benefits were made available to black employees or their families, while white employees enjoyed both. White employees were provided with what were arguabley the finest sports facilities in the country while black facilities were neglected. With the National Party victory in 1948 more emphasis was placed on the employment of Afrikaans speaking white South Africans at the expense of blacks and English speaking whites. / History / M.A. (History)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the relationship between the state and mining capital in South Africa since the beginning of gold mining. It provides a historical analysis centered around the notion that neither state nor capital have been able to dominate each other wholly but retained their respective relative strength and independence. By applying a qualitative approach, this thesis seeks to determine whether this notion still holds true today, how the relationship between the state and mining capital has evolved over time and by what factors was it determined. I suggest that structurally the nature of the state-capital relationship continues to endure fifteen years after apartheid. Accordingly the thesis is organized in terms of two critical junctures, one in the 1920s and one in the long 1970s when the balance of power between the state and mining capital experienced a number of shifts. Recent developments in post-apartheid South Africa seem, as of now at least, to represent more of a continuation of the shift that materialized in the long 1970s rather than a new conjuncture of its own or one in the making. Contrasting these findings with the adamant calls of the ANCYL for a nationalization of mines indicates that nationalization as the ANCYL foresees it does not seem to be informed by a historical understanding of the mining capital-state relations and that it is ceteris paribus unlikely to materialize. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis ondersoek die verhouding tussen die staat en mynbou kapitaal in Suid-Afrika sedert die begin van die goudwedloop. Op grond van ’n historiese oorsig word daar aan die hand gedoen dat nòg die staat nóg mynbou kapitaal mekaar oorheers het en dat hierdie tendens vyftien jaar na apartheid steeds voortduur. Die magsbalans tussen die staat en kapitaal word egter gekenmerk deur twee uiteenlopende periodes, naamlik die Twintiger jare en die langdurige Sewentigs. Verwikkelinge in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika suggereer ’n voortsetting van die dinamika van die Sewentigs. Volgens onlangse uitlatings deur die ANC Jeugliga blyk dit asof die beweging nie bewus is van die kompleksiteit van hierdie historiese verhouding nie en dat dit dus hoogs onwaarskynlik is dat nasionalisering in terme van ANC Jeugliga beleid die lig sal sien.

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.

Employee engagement has been conceived as one of the “hottest topics in management” (De Cieri, Holmes, Abbott, & Pettit, 2002; Saks, 2006). Therefore, the need to further understand factors that enhance the level of employee engagement is of utmost importance if organisations are to successfully increase their competitive edge. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model of personality traits and work-life balance as determinants of employee engagement among employees in the various industries in South Africa. In particular, the present study investigated relationships between personality traits adapted by Martins (2000) which include five robust factors: agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, resourcefulness and emotional stability and work-life balance as measured by the Survey Work-home Interaction/NijmeGen (SWING) which consists of four dimensions, namely, negative work-home interaction, positive work-home interaction negative home-work interaction and positive home-work interaction. The study utilised Schaufeli’s (2002) Utrecth Work Engagement Scale (UWES) which consists of three interrelated dimensions: vigour, dedication and absorption. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was followed and the data was collected from a population of 1 063 working adults through a Web-based survey. The results revealed significant relationships between the variables. Specifically, the results revealed that positive work-home interaction and positive home-work interaction appeared to be stronger correlated to engagement than the five dimensions of personality traits. For instance, a Pearson correlation analysis revealed that positive work-home interaction (r = .33) and positive home-work interaction (r = .30) had the highest correlation with employee engagement. In the same vein, the canonical correlation analysis revealed that positive work-home interaction, positive home-work interaction, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability exhibited the highest correlation with the canonical employee engagement construct variate. The results of the structural equation modelling further confirmed that the interaction of three personality traits, namely, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability and two of the work-life balance constructs, which are positive work-home interaction and positive home-work interaction, significantly and positively predicted employee engagement. The outcomes can be useful in informing employee engagement strategies, particularly in the recruitment, selection and retaining of highly skilful talents. Specifically, the study provided practical recommendations for employee engagement practices, based on the literature review and empirical results. This study highlighted the manner in which the personality traits and work-life balance variables impacted on employee engagement behavior. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et. Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study focused on constructing a psychological retention profile by investigating the relationship between an individual’s psychological career-related attributes (psychological contract and psychosocial career preoccupations), biographical variables (generational cohorts, gender, race, marital status, job level and employment status) and retention factors (compensation, job characteristics, training and development, supervisor support, career opportunities, work/life balance and commitment) in order to inform retention management practices for diverse groups of employees in the context of higher educational environment in South Africa. A quantitative survey was conducted on a purposively selected sample of academic and support staff (N = 579) at the University of South Africa. The canonical correlation analysis indicated employer obligations and state of the psychological contract as the strongest psychological career-related variables in predicting the retention factor variables of compensation, training and development opportunities, supervisor support, career opportunities and organisational commitment. The canonical correlation data were used to inform the structural equation modelling, which indicated a good fit between employer obligations and compensation and training and development opportunities and between the state of the psychological contract and supervisor support and career opportunities. Hierarchical moderated regression showed that psychosocial career preoccupations significantly moderated the relationship between the psychological contract and training and development opportunities as retention factor. Moderated mediation modelling found that the effect of positive perceptions of employer obligations on high levels of retention factors satisfaction through the state of the psychological contract increased when the scores on psychosocial career preoccupations were high. The results also indicated that the effect of positive perceptions of employer obligations on high levels of retention factors satisfaction through positive state of psychological contract increased when the age group of participants was lower (i.e. younger generations). Tests for significant mean differences revealed significant differences in terms of the biographical variables. On a theoretical level, the study expanded the understanding of the individual and behavioural elements of the hypothesised psychological retention profile. On an empirical level, this study delivered an empirically tested psychological retention profile in terms of the behavioural elements. On a practical level, individual and organisational interventions in terms of the psychological retention profile were recommended. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

This dissertation is a critical analysis of the provisions of sec 64(l)(b) and (c), 66(2)(b) and 77(l)(b) and (d) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 which prescribe notice of industrial action as a requirement of protected industrial action in South Africa. It traces the historical background of the requirement. It also addresses issues such as the purpose(s) of the notices, their scope of application, meaning, implications, who must give notice, to whom must notice be given, timing, computation, their duration, the consequences of failure to comply with them and various potential difficulties in the practical application of the notice requirement as well as the unintended consequences flowing from the provisions. Recommendations are made for the amendment of the Act in certain respects. The dissertation concludes that there is no justification for the inclusion in the Act of this requirement. The law is stated as at 30 September 2005. / Jurisprudence / LL.M.

A study of silences: as a metaphysics of the law, juridification silences the text of the law in order to enable an allegorical reading of the law. This silencing of the legal text can only be avoided through a non-metaphysical archaeological reading. Similarly, the programme of comparative labour law is silent at its most pivotal points, leaving some concerns of the programme indeterminate and indeterminable. As context, the dominant discourses of the labour law systems of the Federal Republic of Germany (Tarifautonomie), Great Britain (collective laizzesfaire) and South Africa (fairness) are identified and the agents of the jurisprudence (the courts) are briefly outlined. The silence operating within the phenomenology of the labour judiciary and the concept of a 'court' is also examined. The study then proceeds to read, in an archaeological manner, the industrial action jurisprudence in Germany, Great Britain and South Africa, such readings again yielding silences within the discourse of the law. The silences occurring throughout (and the resulting normative breaches in the rationality of the legal discourse) are the prerequisites for juridification, a process in terms of which the metajuridical standard is imported into the legal normative system and thereby rendered part of the archival discourse of the law. / LL.D.

Founded in 1928, Iscor was intended to make South Africa self sufficient in the provision of steel while providing employment for poor whites. Economic considerations prevailed when Iscor began replacing expensive white labour with cheaper black labour. From 1934 to 1948 black labour was employed to curtail costs. While being replaced by black labour, white employees' salaries and fringe benefits remained better than those of their black colleagues. Affordable houses were provided for white employees while blacks were housed in overcrowded compounds. No medical or pension benefits were made available to black employees or their families, while white employees enjoyed both. White employees were provided with what were arguabley the finest sports facilities in the country while black facilities were neglected. With the National Party victory in 1948 more emphasis was placed on the employment of Afrikaans speaking white South Africans at the expense of blacks and English speaking whites. / History / M.A. (History)

South Africa’s labour legislation went through significant changes recently, with the changes to section 198 of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 being the most contentious. The purpose of this research was to explore the perceptions of employees in the HR department of an integrated petroleum and chemical company regarding the changes to labour broking and the potential implications of these changes for an integrated petroleum and chemical company and its employees. The qualitative exploratory study was conducted with six employees of a large integrative petroleum and chemical company making use of labour brokers, until data saturation was reached. The data were collected by means of individual interviews and telephonic interviews. The results indicated that the changes to section 198 will have some positive and negative implications. The positive implications for an organisation included more productive employees and the ability to identify high-quality employees more easily. The positive implications for the company's employees are that the lower-income employees will be protected, the new legislation will provide permanent employment and there will be better dispute resolution procedures. The negative implications to the changes to section 198 for the organisation, include for instance higher costs, the drafting of new policies and guidelines and less employment flexibility. Negative implications for the employees include unemployment, negative attitudes towards the organisation, poor employability and a situation where the current and/or permanent employees have to do all the work. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This thesis aims to open up the realm of what counts as political in the context of the Marikana strikes and subsequent massacre. It does primarily by taking into account the social, political and cultural context of Mpondo workers on the mines. Many narrow Marxist and liberal frameworks have circumscribed the conception of the ‘modern’ and the ‘political’ so much so that political organisation which falls outside of this conceptualisation is often regarded as ‘backward’ or ‘archaic’. It will provide an examination of the history, culture and custom of men, who have, for almost a hundred years migrated back and forth between South African mines and Mpondoland. This not only reveals differing modes of organising and engaging in political action, but also that the praxis of democracy takes many forms, some of which are different and opposed to what counts as democratic in Western liberal democracy. By considering what I argue, following some of the insights from the Subaltern Studies collective in India, to be a subaltern sphere of politics and history, it is possible to better understand the way workers organised and acted. The thesis also argues that most labour and nationalist historiography has been silent on the political contributions of women because of how Marxist/liberal analysis frames struggles through disciplined notions of work and resistance. Rather than objectifying workers as representatives of a homogenous and universal class of people devoid of context, the thesis has linked ‘the worker’ to the community from which s/he comes and community specific struggles, which are supported and sustained, often, by the parallel struggles of women in the community.