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The retention of human resources is a challenge faced by modern organizations. The organization and personal cost for an organization is high. Employee retention is therefore important and failure to address retention issues is likely to have a negative long term impact of organizational performance. This study focused on the addition of mission attachment as a component construct of the job embeddedness construct. The main sample included the trade union sector of South Africa together with a control group from the for profit sector. The results showed that mission attachment was positively linked to organizational job embeddedness in terms of organizational fit and sacrifice. The statistical results for this relationship between the variables were consistent for each level of mission attachment. The results for the control group showed an inconsistent relationship between the different construct with the conception of the ‘mission’ as the financial mission of the organization. The results were supported by the theoretical literature on the subjects of mission attachment and organizational job embeddedness. The study concludes that mission attachment can be included as a component of organizational job embeddedness for social and nonprofit organizations. Recommendations for future research include the testing of mission attachment across other different sectors of organizations in the social and nonprofit sphere. Other recommendation for organizational embeddedness is the inclusion of other variables like socio-political factors that have an influence on an employee’s attachment levels. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This dissertation is a report of the study that was conducted in rural schools of Tsolo district in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study was about the relationship between union representatives and school management teams. The study was conducted because the researcher is a site steward in the present school where the researcher working and is always dealing with conflicts that usually occur between the S.M.T and Union members and has to address these issues regularly. This problem made the researcher to be interested and want to know further from other schools of what is the situation. This was done through focus group interviews and the study was qualitative research paradigm. There were questions that were drafted and participants were asked to respond according to the questions. The participants were as follows 11 SMT members and 18 union representatives. The study findings highlighted the role that SMT could play in the smooth running of the school and in addressing tensions to enhance effective work. The study also illuminated the issue of being bias among the SMT in some unions and dictatorship by S.M.T members. The study findings highlight the role the S.M.T should play and the issue of consultation before any decision should be taken as an integral part. The study also showed that there was a need for schools to know the South African legislation so as to go along with correct rules and regulations when addressing different issues.

Transnational production arrangements have been widely argued to lessen the organising capacities of industrial workers, none more so than in the case of women workers in ‘export’ or ‘world market’ factories in developing countries. This thesis contests this assertion by showing that women workers’ ability to form enterprise unions in the Philippine garments industry are enhanced by transnational production arrangements involving an overseas market. Specifically, the thesis demonstrates that, in order to meet the quality and delivery requirements of overseas buyers and contractors, local owners and/or production managers are forced to routinely keep more production in-house in order to exert more direct controls over the work processes of their women sewers. By thereby limiting the amount of local subcontracting which is done, women workers are agglomerated in larger numbers in the one place and, consequently, their capacities to engage in collective action – as indicated by the establishment of enterprise unions – is markedly increased. Empirically, the argument of the thesis draws on a ‘multiple-case’ study of sixty-five garment-making establishments located in and around Manila. The study involved interviews with owners, production managers and/or trade union officials about the local subcontracting practices of their establishments. The conclusions drawn about the links between export production and enhanced labour organising capacities at the enterprise level are corroborated by the ‘commodity chain’ literature on industrial deepening in the international garments industry and the status of the Philippine industry in this regard. But rather than think simply in terms of industrial deepening, this thesis is concerned with the impacts of exporting on class processes. Theoretically, the thesis thus draws on the Marxist view that capitalist development entails changes in the social form of labour, through the real subsumption of labour. But, whereas Marx linked the real subsumption of labour to greater capitalist controls over the labour process, in this thesis the real subsumption of labour is also tied to concomitant changes in the spatial form of the labour process. From this standpoint, the thesis engages with labour process theory after Braverman (accusing it of often failing to link capitalist control to class processes) and with theories of class (which often ignore the social and spatial form of the labour process). In tying organising capacities of women workers at the enterprise level to changes in social and spatial form of the labour process, it is nevertheless argued that these capacities are also shaped at the national level by the legal framework for legitimate organising and by ‘political space’ in which the law in fact operates. In this regard, it is argued that, whilst the state often passes laws to protect labour standards, it does not grant workers the means to ensure such standards are actually enforced. The thesis also challenges the view that the recruitment of women is a strategy which employers deliberately use in the Philippine garments industry to limit industrial conflict. Against this assertion of a rational economic basis to women’s employment, the thesis argues that women are employed for sewing jobs as a result of the sex-typing of such jobs; but that this is also more an effect than a cause as the feminisation of sewing in the modern garments industry is embedded in class processes in the nineteenth century in Europe and the United States. Gender is a dimension of labour control, but women workers in the garments industry are not employed to limit enterprise unionism.

Trade unions in South Africa are a growing force. The discussion that follows and the accompanying tables describe this in some detail. Finding accurate and consistent statistics is not always easy, but everyone in industrial relations relies on good information when making decisions. This analysis attempts to provide the best available information on trade unions today. There have been considerable legislative changes in industrial relations since 1979, but the growth of unions preceded that, and, indeed, caused it. Africans were "entering" unions several years before the Wiehahn Commission reported - often by forming new ones. Since Wiehahn, and the adaptations made by existing unions, the stream has become a torrent. Most new members are African workers; but 'Coloured' and Asian and White membership has also increased significantly.Yet at least 3 out of every 4 "organizeable" workers remain to be unionised. Plainly, the South African trade union movement has only begun its greatest period of growth.

The threat of HIV/AIDS on humanity still remains one of the most challenging issues of our time. In South Africa, labour unions play a significant role in the economy. Their role in the fight against HIV/AIDS is therefore vital in workplace HIV/AIDS programmes. The research objective was to identify the impact that the partnership between business and labour unions is having in these programmes. The role that labour unions play is also assessed.The first phase of the interviews entailed conducting face to face semistructured interviews with fifteen large companies based in Gauteng province employing a minimum of 1000 employees. All the companies were and had to have union representation amongst their staff members. Phase two of the interviews involved interviewing representatives from the three largest labour unions in South Africa. The findings clearly show that labour unions have a role to play in the fight against the pandemic. It is evident that they are to a large extent being successful in their identified roles. The impact of the partnership between labour unions and business has resulted in the objectives of the HIV/AIDS programmes being met. Areas for improvement are also suggested as the battle is yet to be won. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

One purpose of labour unions is to promote equal outcomes for workers. However, immigration causes the labour force to become more heterogeneous. As a result, the promotion of equal outcomes may have unintended effects. This paper develops a search and matching model to investigate the effect of labour unions on the labour market opportunities of immigrants. The model is calibrated and then tested by running simulations. It is found that labour unions cause the unemployment rate of immigrants to be higher than that of natives, both with and without discrimination. The difference in unemploymentrate is greater when the difference between immigrants and natives is greater. In most cases, discrimination only has a small effect. To see large effects of discrimination, we have to consider extreme situations, such as when the difference between immigrants and natives is large, and, at the same time, immigrants make up a large fraction of the labour force. The results suggest that integration of immigrants may be ineffective when there is a labour union controlling wages.

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The thesis analyses how telecommunications unions in Australia and Taiwan struggled for their members ' interests in response to privatisation during 1996 - 2004. The thesis makes an argument that union effectiveness is based on its responses rather than external environments ; and although unions ' strategic choices are influenced by institutions, what is significant is to trace out the reciprocal interconnections between the two. The thesis highlights the significance of union leaders ' decisions and membership participation during privatisation. In its early chapters the thesis explores the historical background, and relevant theory about union strategies and effectiveness. In addition the early chapters explore the state of Australian and Taiwan public sector unions, to set the context for a discussion of contemporary Australian and Taiwan telecommunications unions ' responses during privatisation. In later chapters the concept of effective trade unionism ( defined as the capacity of a union to reproduce itself as a collective organization ) is explored in terms of the union responses to privatisation in both countries. Whether the CPSU, the CEPU, and the CTWU protected members ' interests centres around two main questions : ( 1 ) did union strategies delay or stop the progress of privatisation ? ( 2 ) did union leadership improve job security, public servant status, wages and working conditions for their members while partial privatisation was underway ? In order to evaluate effective trade unionism in a comparative perspective, there are two levels of analysis in this thesis. Firstly, there is a comparison of the CPSU, the CEPU, and the CTWU in terms of three aspects ( membership density, financial strength, and the overall structure of the union ). Secondly, there is a comparative analysis of the CPSU, the CEPU, and the CTWU in terms of seven union strategic choices during privatisation. In summary, the responses of two telecommunications unions in Australia and Taiwan to privatisation illustrate the old Chinese old adage : ' If you don ' t fight, you lose ! ' But the way in which unions fought privatisation were many and had to be suited to their circumstances. Importantly, unions in Australia and Taiwan can learn from each other ' s successful experiences in a restructuring environment, such as privatisation. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Social Sciences, 2006.