This thesis is an investigation of trade union responses to participatory management in South Africa. In examining the above question, it seeks to establish whether Weber's notion of bureaucracy and Michels' "iron law of oligarchy" provide a useful theoretical framework for understanding these responses by unions. The thesis also explores the possibilities of worker participation in which unions (and their members) benefit without losing the ability to represent worker's collective interests. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version] / MT2017

M.A. (Industrial Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. / The aim role of to 1990. of the this research was to present an overall view of the white worker in the trade union movement from 1948 The events following the coming to power of the National Party in 1948 were scrutinized and it has been clearly indicated that discrimination on the basis of skin colour has been the single most important factor leading to problems in the labour field. Then came the period after 1979. The Wiehahn proposals were accepted by the government and a new era in the field of labour relations was introduced. Racial segregation made way for an integrated and unitary labour relations system. Within the context of this research TUCSA and SACOL were regarded as representative of the white groups in the trade union movement. In the third instance attention was also given to three significant variables in the labour field which militancy and strikes, the role of differentiation and discrimination, and the opinions of white trade union members on politics and the trade union members on politics and the trade union movement. The following conclusions can be drawn from the empirical study: * All the trade union leaders are of the op1n1on that their trade union has an important role to play and that it meets the needs of their members. * The majority of trade union leaders hold the opinion that they are pro-active in protecting the interests of their members. * Some of the trade union leaders feel that militant action in the labour field can be justified...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 548-596). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ59119.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management). / With the advent of democracy, COSATU took a leading role in the contestation of public policy. It soon saw itself caught between the tension of cooperating with a democratic government whilst attempting to resist policies not in line with its socialist vision. The purpose of this study was to critically appraise trade union responses to state asset restructuring and privatisation. COSATU in general accepted the privatisation of non-essential enterprises and services, rejected the privatlsation of essential services like water and electricity and called for the strategic nationalisation of essential services like housing and health. They have shown an appreciation of government's arguments, but government has not taken the concern of unions into consideration. The findings reveal quite a high level of pessimism and uncertainty amongst unions with respect to the pragmatic position of COSATU and the equivocation on the part of government to allow space for the contestation of prlvatisation policy. / Andrew Chakane 2018

This thesis is an examination of the main tendencies in the trade union movement in South Africa during the currency of the Industrial Cenci 1 iation Act from 1924 to 1979, and of state labour policy of direct relevance to worker organisation. It considers in particular the reasons for the predominance of protectionist strategies, frequently amounting to racial monopolies and exclusion, among the unions catering for white artisan and production workers. Attention is given to the deployment of legislative and other policy instruments by the South African state intent on providing support for the prevailing protectionist demands and the exclusionary stance of large sections of the trade union movement. In analysing these developments, reference is made to the history of the trade union federations reflecting the divergent interests of different sections of the South African labour movement during this period. The evolution of trade unions for the workers occupying a subordinate role in the South African "racial order" is also traced. Consideration is given to the barriers to the full development of such trade unions, and to the incipient decline of the era of racial exclusion which the 1970s witnessed. / Sociology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)

M.Phil. (Labour Law and Employment Relations) / South Africa has become an integral part of the ‘global village’ which is characterised inter alia, by industrial and commercial interaction, as well as by substantial competitiveness. Business organisations in South Africa should concomitantly pursue means to become more efficient and productive in order to avoid being overwhelmed by products and services from other countries at competitive prices and better quality. Some of the competitive disadvantages include cooperation in labour-employer relations, scarce skills, skills outflow, hiring and firing practices, employment rules and trade union contributions to productivity. It is also generally understood that the successful integration of these factors is dependant, almost exclusively, on effective leadership. However, it has become clear from a considerable body of scientific knowledge that organisational leaders are the agents that integrate all the forces at play in these organisations, and ultimately ensure its competitiveness, sustainability and survival. Whereas it is obvious that the Solidarity Trade Union is a unique organisation even within a business environment of active trade unionism, it is projected that the application of Hersey and Blanchard’s approach suggests that it will necessarily require a unique form or style of leadership, in order to be successful within the context of its unique strategic imperatives, whilst being a competitive trade union. The main objective of this study was to evaluate Solidarity’s current leadership styles, in order to determine whether it is effective to render the required services to its members. Hence, an evaluation of the readiness levels of Solidarity’s followers was undertaken to establish whether the current leadership styles of the executive management is in accordance with the readiness and requirements of its followers. This study therefore attempted to identify an appropriate leadership model for the evaluation of employees’ readiness within Solidarity. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, known as triangulation, was used to enable the researcher to cross-check the findings and increase the validity and reliability of the findings. Face-to-face semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with respondents and a self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect data from members of the Executive Committee and National Executive of Solidarity. Documents were reviewed, as a source of secondary data, to obtain information regarding the historical background of Solidarity in terms of decisions made within the managerial structure and the nature of the organisation.

M.A. (Industrial Relations) / This study investigates the impact of and the necessity for the Corporate Social Responsibility program of the South African Breweries. The State President's announcements on 2 February 1990 have not only affected the whole of the Republic of South Africa, but also the essence and structure of the SAB. The necessity for sound corporate identity and investment programs, especially as directed towards the creation of better living conditions and a higher qualify of life for all people, is discussed against the background of transformational policy changes as well as contributions by and demands from groupings such as the ANC-COSATU-SACP alliance. The concepts of social co-responsibility and organisational involvement are emphasised and recommendations are made and policy guidelines suggested which would enable SAB to become more dynamic and to function more effectively interculturally in a changed South Africa. Attention is drawn to the value of the social contract between employers and trade unions which can benefit both parties as well as the broader community.

M.Comm. / This chapter has provided the quantitative analysis into the question of trade unions affecting productivity and unit labour costs in a negative manner. We started by making the statement that investing in capital inputs usually requires the company concerned to borrow funds from a bank, against the current lending rate. Should this lending rate increase, we would expect the amount of fixed capital invested to fall and vice versa. The pattern of interest rates and gross fixed capital formation followed this orthodox theory but that of South Africa has not: where interest rates have been rising, so too has the level of fixed investment. One may therefore conclude that industries in South Africa value capital inputs highly and are prepared to pay a higher price in order to have more capital inputs in their production process. We then went on to analyse the South African motor vehicle industry and came to the conclusion that the factor inputs of capital and labour were not optimally allocated and that the industry operated at a less than efficient point. In fact, labour was being over-utilised and capital was being under-utilised. We also noted that labour productivity over the past decade had been declining: labour was more productive in 1984 than in 1993. The only way for the South African motor vehicle industry to become more internationally competitive is for it to operate more efficiently and contain costs. One of the ways in which it could do this would be to move closer to the level of optimum factor input; this will mean that both capital and labour inputs will be better allocated. More capital needs to be utilised and several thousand workers needs to be retrenched; Kleynhans estimates 24 000 to 36 000 workers (1994: 143). It is most likely to be the actions of labour unions that have caused vast numbers of unproductive workers to be employed at high wages. Any past attempt to reduce the size of the workforce has naturally met with strong criticism from the unions and this has led to strike action and work stoppages. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that labour needs to be replaced by capital if the industry is to survive internationally. It was noted in a table comparing the average remuneration of workers in the motor vehicle industry of different countries that the seven other countries discussed all showed higher rates of remuneration than in South Africa. Since these countries all have highly competitive motor vehicle manufacturing industries, one must be led to the conclusion that the higher wages are only paid because of a high rate of labour productivity within that sector. This again sustains the argument that higher wages are not detrimental to an industrial sector, provided productivity is relatively higher than the wage increases. The next industry to be considered was the South African clothing industry. Again the analysis proved that factor inputs were not optimally allocated. It appeared that capital was over-utilised and labour was under-utilised but after testing the significance of the result, Clark (1996: 72) said that this was not necessarily true. The marginal productivity of capital indicated that capital inputs used in the production process are unproductive: this was confirmed by the fact that the marginal product of capital was negative. However, referring to table 5.3 which gave the production, capital and labour data for the industry, usage of the factor input capital seems to have remained constant. One would therefore conclude that as output has been increasing, the contribution of the factor input capital has been decreasing. Clark (1996 : 91) outlines two possible reasons for this phenomenon: firstly, depreciating exchange rates have meant that capital inputs have become more expensive and could have forced the industry to "make do" with less capital inputs and secondly, the imposition of economic sanctions meant that it was difficult to purchase and import such capital goods. A process of sub-contracting out to small and medium concerns then occurred, some of whom could not afford to service or replace existing machinery and so turn to more labour-intensive methods of clothing production. Labour inputs in the production process did make a positive contribution: this was confirmed by labour having a positive output elasticity coefficient but the actual productivity of each individual worker has fallen. In other words the reason for the positive contribution was the addition of extra labour units to production and not by each worker contributing more to the production process. The final industry that was analysed was the mining and quarrying industry. The data illustrates that the real output level is falling, as is the number of persons employed in the sector. The unit labour costs have risen enormously which suggests that fewer workers are being paid more to produce less output. Added to this is the fact that more capital inputs are being used that ten years ago and the capital to labour ratio index has been steadily increasing further suggests that some units of labour input are being replaced by units of extra capital input. Using the data in table 5.8 of the annual average growth rates, the average growth rate of the labour productivity index shows a negative pattern: in other words, labour is becoming less and less productive and consequently workers are being retrenched and more capital is being employed, even though the cost of utilising more capital in the industry is increasing the whole time.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Research in the Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, March 2017 / The massacre of 34 workers in Marikana in August 2012 represented a turning point in labour relations in South Africa. The killings, and the show of force that accompanied it, had a direct impact on trade unionism in the platinum belt, where the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has enjoyed remarkable growth, compared to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). The events of 2012 helped catapult AMCU to lead a historic five-month long strike in 2014 that brought the platinum industry to its knees. The 2014 strike indelibly altered labour relations in the sector. This dissertation aims to understand the character of AMCU on the platinum belt in the aftermath of the Marikana massacre. Tracing AMCU’s rise on the platinum mines from 2012 to 2014, the dissertation concludes with three features that emerge from AMCU’s organising style. These are its insistence on a non-partisan, independent trade union movement, its return to a democratic, workplace-centred struggle and a call for wageled economic growth / XL2018