The main research problem in this study centred around the assessment of the impact of an absenteeism monitoring and management system at Willard Batteries. The main research problem had five sub-problems which were addressed through the following actions: A literature study was conducted to identify the causes and impact of absenteeism in the workplace. The researcher also conducted interviews with the Human Resources Manager, line managers and employees at Willard Batteries to obtain their views of the absenteeism management strategies utilised, as well as the effects of absenteeism in their organisation. The insights gained from these interviews were incorporated into the questionnaire. The absenteeism figures of the organisation for the period 2005 to 2008 were analysed and compared against the internationally accepted absenteeism norm of three percent. An absence rate above three percent is considered as unacceptable and would imply that the current absenteeism management system is not effective. The theoretical study also entailed the reviewing of the legal framework within which absenteeism needs to be managed, as well as the literature that deals with strategies for the effective management of absenteeism. These strategies relate to the recording, calculation, analysis, benchmarking and practical management of absenteeism in the workplace. A survey questionnaire was developed to determine the perceptions of managers, supervisors and employees in relation to the impact of absenteeism on the company as well as the extent to which managers and supervisors were utilising selected absenteeism monitoring and management strategies within the company. The results from the empirical study revealed that management and supervisors were more aware of the impact of absenteeism on the organisation than their employees. It can therefore be concluded that employees perceived their absence from work to have little impact on aspects such as employee morale, cost, production and the customer. This could possibly be due to ineffective communication in terms of the cost and other consequences of absenteeism in the organisation. Employees also felt that managers were effective in taking the necessary disciplinary action with regards to absenteeism-related transgressions, but that they were not diligent in the recording and communication of absence information, as well as comparing absenteeism information inter-departmentally. Absenteeism has proven to be globally pervasive, expensive and extremely disruptive to organisations. Managers and supervisors who employ the various absence monitoring and management strategies, could be more effective in improving employee attendance. Their efforts could be further enhanced if employees are made aware of the negative impact that their absence has on the morale of their fellow employees, the cost to the company, the customer, as well as the achievement of production targets and the quality of outputs.

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Michael R. Langemeier / The objective of this thesis is to examine differences in labor efficiency and to find what is driving those differences among Kansas farms. The results provide a quantified understanding of the variation in labor productivity and labor efficiency relating to three categories of variables: farm characteristics, financial performance, and specialization. This research uses regression estimates from a data set of 1,145 Kansas farms to quantify how farm characteristics are related to labor productivity and labor efficiency. There are two main models. Labor productivity, expressed as value of farm production divided by the number of workers, is regressed on three categories of variables: farm characteristics, financial performance, and specialization. Labor efficiency, expressed as labor costs divided by value of farm production, is also regressed on the same categories of variables. The research found that farm size, managerial ability, and age were the most influential and significant variables in the labor productivity model. Farm size, managerial ability, and land tenure were the most influential and significant variables in the labor efficiency model. Farm size is a variable important to both models, and when evaluated at $100,000 of VFP, labor productivity has a value of 152,122 and a labor efficiency value of 0.271 (all else constant). When evaluated at a VFP of $500,000, labor productivity and labor efficiency improve to values of 217,914 and 0.246, respectively.

Suspension as a form of an unfair labour practice can be of two categories. There could be a situation where an employer suspends an employee as a disciplinary sanction after an employee has committed an act of misconduct. This is often referred to as a punitive suspension. An employer may also suspend an employee pending a disciplinary hearing. In this case the employee has not yet been found guilty because the investigation into the alleged misconduct is still on going. The employee may be suspended as a way of preventing him from interfering with the investigation process into the alleged misconduct. This form of suspension is often referred to as a preventative suspension. It is very important to note the distinction between the two forms of suspension because the processes that are followed when effecting them are different. Failure to acknowledge the difference might result in a situation where an employer might be effecting a preventative suspension but the consequences might be that of a punitive suspension and end-up being an unfair labour practice. Suspension is a disciplinary measure, and it is important to note that in the event that the employer elects to implement a suspension, its conduct must be disciplinary in nature and intent and should be corrective rather than punitive.Unlike dismissals where the Code of Good Practice of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 provides guidance on what constitutes procedural and substantive fairness, there are no guidelines on what constitutes procedural and substantive fairness when it comes to suspensions. This has resulted in a situation where suspension is treated as a minor aspect of disciplinary measures that is frequently abused as it is often on full remuneration. This, however, does not allow an employer to suspend employees at will, without merit and without following proper procedure. Suspension could have severe adverse effects on employees and often affects their reputation, goodwill, human dignity, self-esteem and the right to meaningful association and work. It is for this reason that suspension must be effected in a way that is procedurally and substantively fair.Punitive suspension is implemented as a sanction and is often without pay and is a last resort prior to dismissal. Preventative suspension occurs prior to a disciplinary hearing, with the aim of temporarily removing the employee from the workplace to enable the employer to conduct a proper investigation without interference. Unfortunately preventative suspensions are often abused by employers in that they protract over extended periods of time, making the preventative suspension punitive in nature, to the extent that the courts have been forced to intervene and lay down stringent requirements that must be met in order to prevent such abuse.There are various requirements for suspension which range from the intention of the employer, the audi alteram partem rule, sufficient reasons prior to suspension to period of suspension. Most employment relationships are governed by disciplinary codes or collective agreements, which often place limitations on the concept of suspension. Some codes provide for special leave at the option of the employee, which the employer often abuses instead of utilizing the preventative suspension option. This, however, is more often than not to suit a political agenda.In the event of non-compliance by an employer, an employee is not left remediless. An unfair suspension constitutes an unfair labour practice and an employee has the right to refer such dispute to the relevant labour forums like the CCMA or the relevant bargaining council. Employees are cautioned not to refer their disputes to the Labour Court for final relief, but rather to only approach the courts for urgent interim relief, like interdicts.

Abstract not available.

The study focusses on the phenomenon of 'working-class conservatism', support for right-wing or centre parties on the part of certain segments of the working-class. This mode of voting behaviour is analysed in three West European countries; Great Britain, West Germany and Italy. In the introduction a number of explanations are examined which could conceivably account for the phenomenon. It is suggested that explanations centred around the notion of 'embourgeoisement' of the working-class (the process whereby 'affluent' workers come to identify with the middle-class thus voting 'conservative') contain certain weaknesses. It is argued that immediate subcultural influences such as the family, the church and the work-place are still most important in explaining the working-class vote for 'conservative' parties. An explanatory model is developed which emphasizes the influence of a worker's social environment as the chief determinant of his voting behaviour. Hypotheses derived from this model, as well as alternative hypotheses related to the 'embourgeoisement' argument are tested through secondary analysis of survey data collected in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The results of the study suggest that in all three countries 'working-class conservatism' can be explained largely in terms of the subcultural influences outlined in the model. Level of income attained by workers may have some independent effect in West Germany and Great Britain. In these two countries conservative parties are somewhat more successful in retaining the loyalties of conservative workers in the low and high income categories compared to those in the medium categories. However this does not mean a confirmation of the 'embourgeoisement1 argument. Most 'affluent conservative workers', it is argued, arrived at their conservative voting identity via early parental socialization. There are few defectors from left-wing parties to conservative parties among 'left' workers who attain a high level of income. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the study was to determine if the labour injunction was a necessary recourse for Canadian labour management disputes. It was hypothesized that the use of injunctions is a function of attitudes rather than legislation; that there tends to be an increase in the incidence of injunctions during periods of industrial conflict; and that the injunction must be available to protect the right to private property and the right to private contract. These postulates were substantiated through a review of the injunctive processes of Great Britain, Australia, the United States and Canada (Ontario and British Columbia). It was further hypothesized, that if the injunctive legislation was necessary, then the present process required change, as it is not as efficacious as originally postulated. The alternatives presented are based on data obtained from the analysis of the three previously named countries and Canada. The proposed changes are presented in relation to British Columbia, but are applicable to the other provinces of Canada. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

With the aid of the labor legislation passed during the New Deal era, it would appear that southern labor should have been as well organized proportionately as northern labor. Outwardly it would also appear that southern labor did not enjoy more success in organization because it was still docile and preferred to bargain on an individual basis, an attitude which met with the approval of the southern employer. However, the attitude of the individual southern worker does not explain what occurred in the South under the New Deal. Rather, other important factors retarded unionization: southern community attitudes, regional hostility to anything northern, southern courts, the national aspect of the New Deal and the various unions themselves. To understand the slow but continuous process of unionization in the South during the New Deal period, these factors have to be considered in their setting. Only here can the effect of the New Deal labor legislation be readily discernible.

No description available.

This dissertation develops theoretical and econometric models of investment and labor demand in South Africa in order to shed light on the decline in the rate of fixed investment beginning in the mid 1970s, the nature of business compliance with racebased labor market policies, and the emergence of “jobless growth” in a period of heightened political and social conflict. I develop a model of investment and choice of factor intensity that incorporates roles for both bargained wages and political unrest. Building from this theoretical base, the dissertation investigates the hypothesis that social conflict depresses investment. An index of political unrest in South Africa is created using data on strike activity, prison populations, and detentions under the apartheid security laws. Estimates using a panel data set show significant effects on investment of the after-tax rate of profits, an accelerator term, and the index of political unrest. Increases in political instability explain the largest portion of the decline in the rate of investment in South Africa over this period. The following chapter explores whether political unrest contributes to non-wage “hassle costs” of employing labor that can lead, in a labor surplus/capital-poor economy, to higher levels of capital-intensity. Econometric estimates show significant negative effects of higher average product wages and greater political unrest on the labor-capital ratio. The fifth chapter creates a model of business compliance with apartheid labor market policies—in particular, job reservations and controls over urban influx. Apartheid labor market policies are modeled as a multiple-player prisoner's dilemma in which the incentive to defect on the part of individual firms (by employing more low-wage black workers than apartheid policies allowed) threatens the collective benefits of the racist policies in providing a disciplined labor force at low cost. Renewable contractual relationships and conformist behavior provide the incentives to comply with the apartheid regulations. The model's predictions—that the level of non-compliance climbs as the ability of the state to police the cartel and maintain incentives falls—are shown to be reflected in the historical record.

This study investigates the job dimension of migrant behavior. It presents a model of worker mobility among occupations and employers. It is assumed that workers behave as if they monitor their expected earnings from continued employment in their present positions. Earnings are presumed to be a function of variables that describe the worker's productivity and prospects for future wage growth. Our model consists of six equations. The first two describe decisions to change occupations and employers. The dependent variables are binary, reflecting the dichotomous nature of the decisions. The remaining equations describe wage rates at the end of period. While we employ a common wage specification, we allow the coefficients of the explanatory variables to differ among the four decision regimes. Each of the equations includes a random error term which captures factors that are known to the decision maker but not measured by our data, as well as inherent randomness in the decision process. We permit nonzero correlation among the error terms in the decision equations and wage equations. This framework gives rise to our three principal items of concern. First, we seek evidence on variables that influence mobility decisions. Second, we examine the post-mobility wage profiles, seeking evidence of discrepancies across migrant regimes. Finally, we look for evidence of self selection in the mobility decision process. We estimate the model with the data collected from the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Based on the results from wage-gap calculations, it is found that within the category of occupational migrants, workers enjoy efficient economic returns, although they can be still better off by not changing employers than changing (intrafirm transfers and promotions). However, it is found that workers who end up with the same occupation with different employer suffer from wage discrepancy. The evidence of self selection is detected in occupational nonmigrants.