<p>Abstract</p><p>Background:</p><p>Between 1991 and 2001 the number of firms acquired by other firms tripled (Johnson & Scholes, 2005). This trend has led to a huge increase in cross-border acquisitions, where Sweden is no exception. Statistics show that companies with U.S. origin are the ones that acquire most Swedish companies (Nutek, 2007). Hence, acquisitions made by U.S. businesses will presumably influence managerial issues in Sweden in different ways.</p><p>Problem and purpose:</p><p>An industry that is characterized by many merger and acquisitions is the car industry. Ford Motor Company’s acquisition of Volvo Cars is of particular interest to address. Several conditions within the company changed due to the acquisition process, including the type of management. This might have affected Volvo Car’s relation with its labour union IF Metall to some extent, and thus, creating an interesting area of research.</p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to investigate how the relation between a labour union and a company is affected when U.S. and Swedish types of management are mixed as a result of an acquisition.</p><p>Method:</p><p>In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis a qualitative case study approach is used. The primary data is collected through interviews with people connected to Volvo Cars and IF Metall. In addition to this the authors incorporated secondary data which is based on literature, articles and academic publications.</p><p>Conclusions:</p><p>When a U.S. company acquire a Swedish company the relation between the labour union and the acquired company are affected in several ways. The labour union and the members can expect to have less influence in the decision making process, there will be less resources devoted to work related training programs, the competence level of the members will decrease and the working conditions will become worse.</p>

Abstract Background: Between 1991 and 2001 the number of firms acquired by other firms tripled (Johnson &amp; Scholes, 2005). This trend has led to a huge increase in cross-border acquisitions, where Sweden is no exception. Statistics show that companies with U.S. origin are the ones that acquire most Swedish companies (Nutek, 2007). Hence, acquisitions made by U.S. businesses will presumably influence managerial issues in Sweden in different ways. Problem and purpose: An industry that is characterized by many merger and acquisitions is the car industry. Ford Motor Company’s acquisition of Volvo Cars is of particular interest to address. Several conditions within the company changed due to the acquisition process, including the type of management. This might have affected Volvo Car’s relation with its labour union IF Metall to some extent, and thus, creating an interesting area of research. The purpose with this thesis is to investigate how the relation between a labour union and a company is affected when U.S. and Swedish types of management are mixed as a result of an acquisition. Method: In order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis a qualitative case study approach is used. The primary data is collected through interviews with people connected to Volvo Cars and IF Metall. In addition to this the authors incorporated secondary data which is based on literature, articles and academic publications. Conclusions: When a U.S. company acquire a Swedish company the relation between the labour union and the acquired company are affected in several ways. The labour union and the members can expect to have less influence in the decision making process, there will be less resources devoted to work related training programs, the competence level of the members will decrease and the working conditions will become worse.

Bibliography: leaves 192-203. / This thesis has two parallel processes of investigation. Firstly, it is an investigation of the extent to which a trade union can successfully participate in the struggle for working women's rights at work and concerning motherhood and childcare, and in the struggle for the realisation of the political aspirations of women workers within a capitalist society. Secondly, the thesis examines the ideological position of the Food and Canning Workers Union in order to refine the theoretical understanding of the woman question in South Africa. Research methods have relied on use of archival documents, both published and unpublished; oral history; secondary sources on the union being studied and on South African society; as well as classical and contemporary texts on the theory of women's oppression and its interconnection with exploitation. The research has been hindered by the historical repression meted out by the South African state, which has forced people into exile, banned written sources, and removed archival material from South Africa. The recent repression has severely hampered the extent of interviewing and discussion, as well as made the process of research and writing of the thesis a difficult undertaking. The union's organising strategy is examined in terms of the following three issues: 1. Because of their dual responsibilities as worker and mother, and because of their relatively unorganised position, women workers are ultra-exploited. What role can a union play in fighting against the various aspects of this? The specific aspects of ultra-exploitation found in the food and canning industry are temporary employment and periodic unemployment; child labour; piece-work; excessive overtime. 2. The inclusion of women into wage labour faces them with a task of combining motherhood and wage labour. How can a union win demands to assist these women workers with this task? The two ways in which the union confronted this question were maternity rights and childcare facilities. 3. The assault on working class in terms of the right to work, the right to live where one chooses, the right to family life, and the right to a decent standard of living was a burden to working class women in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to study the labour union Försvarsverkens Civila Personals Förbund section 36 in Karlskrona between 1939- 1949, which consisted of men and women who were employees of the naval shipyard. The labour union is studied by investigating their economy, membership number and amount of written rapports to and from the section and which labour questions they worked for. Besides this, the essay seeks to study if there was any development in the working process, for example if there occurred any modernization in the shipyard and if this is visible in the questions driven by the union. Another purpose of this paper is to compare section 36 in Karlskrona with section 41 in Malmö, by comparing which questions they worked for and the working process in the shipyards. The theory used in this paper is the so called conflict- theory, which states that conflict is either moving society forward, or creating chaos in the natural order, by the struggle for material resources. Conflict theory is a multi- faceted theory and therefore one interpretation, made by Bo Stråth, is used for this paper. When it comes to the method used in this paper, the one that is used is a comparative method with both quantitative and qualitative elements. The other aspect of the method comes from the conflict theory, as described by Stråth. The result showed that section 36 had a relatively good development between 1939- 1949: their economy increased and their membership increased overall, even though most factors changed for better or worse between each year. Another result was that section 36 and section 41 were quite alike when it came to the two aspects that were investigated. In both sections the question of wages was the most important and in both shipyards the working process changed to some extent for the employees, which can be seen in the questions driven by both sections. Key words: Shipyard, labor, politics, Karlskrona, Malmö Nyckelord: Varvsindustri, fackförening, Karlskrona, Malmö

Il lavoro, dopo una ricostruzione storica del fenomeno sindacale, è incentrato sull'analisi degli elementi costitutivi della fattispecie sindacale nonchè sull'analisi dello spazio ricoperto dalla contrattazione collettiva alla luce delle più recenti riforme in materia. / The work, further to the historical reconstruction of the trade unions, is focused on the analysis of the constituent elements of a trade union, as well as on the analysis of the position of collective bargaining in the light of the recent law reforms in regard.

This study focuses on the experiences of working-class women spanning the years from 1888 to 1914 - a period of significant economic growth and socio-political change in Victoria. The drift of population into the urban centres after the goldrush marked the beginning of a rapid and continual urban expansion in Melbourne as the city’s industrial and commercial sectors grew and diversified. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, the increasing population provided a larger workforce which also represented a growing consumer market. The rise of the Victorian manufacturing industries in this period also saw the introduction of the modern factory system. With the increasing demand for unskilled labour in factories, it was not only men who entered this new factory workforce. Young women and older children were, for the first time, drawn in appreciable numbers into the industrial workforce as employers keenly sought their services as unskilled and cheap workers. Women were concentrated in specific areas of the labour market, such as the clothing, boot, food and drink industries, which became strictly areas of “women’s work”. In the early twentieth century, the rigid sexual demarcation of work was represented by gender-differentiated wages and employment provisions within industrial awards.

This dissertation explores the dynamics of workers’ collective political engagement through organized labour in an authoritarian environment and a regime in transition. While the literature on social movements and organized labour in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has captured the characteristics and impact of repression and corporatist systems on a union structure and elite strategies, this research contributes to a body of work that position the activities, networks and calculations of unionized workers at the centre of analysis. Using the Tunisian General Labour Union as an in-depth case-study, it will show that to fully comprehend the important role of a labour union as a vehicle for political engagement, one must pay close attention to the networks, strategies, and tactics of its militant base. By adopting a conceptual framework that gives attention to interactions of structures and agents, and therefore not privileging one over the other, it shows how in a region in which unions were conventionally labelled as “inconsequential” and “empty shells,” unionized workers, particularly those belonging to more militant sectors, have repeatedly seized on their personal networks and relationships, while drawing on systems of meaning making and shared collective memory to engage in various forms of activism. By doing so, it underscores the limitations of cooptation as a political strategy for ensuring obedience and compliance. Moreover, to better understand workers’ activism and political engagement in MENA, this dissertation calls for a change in how “successful mobilization” is measured and assessed. In particular, it draws attention to the objectives and goals of workers’ collective action, aims that cannot always be equated with the pursuit of a standardized path to democracy developed largely by institutions located in the West.

This thesis seeks to document the life and work of veteran Durban trade unionist Harriet Bolton, with a particular focus on the years from 1944 to 1974. Harriet Bolton lived and worked through many of the crucial developments in South Africa’s labour history, and her personal history is closely entwined with this broader history. Her recorded memories of her years as a trade unionist offer a unique ‘way in’ to revisiting South Africa’s labour history and particularly the critical period of Durban’s early 1970s. Harriet’s testimony, gathered through a series of interviews, forms a core narrative throughout the thesis. However, archive and newspaper material provide detailed contextualisation for the interviews and opportunity to gain some perspective on questions of memory and of Harriet’s own relationship with history. Her recorded memories of these years substantially concern her experience as a trade unionist, but also as a working woman who was a wife and mother, later a widow as well as an engaged citizen of Durban society through her involvement in community organisations and welfare groups. As such, deeper insight into what it meant to be a working woman of her generation is gained. An important component of the thesis is a consideration of the history and politics of the Garment Workers Industrial Union (Natal) and its workers. The union was founded by Harriet’s husband Jimmy Bolton, and was for forty years closely associated with the name and legacy of the Boltons. I examine Harriet’s leadership of this union in the context of the shifting demographics of the union, and a changed political and economic landscape in South Africa. This thesis is also concerned with the role that the Trade Union Council of South Africa played during the period under consideration. Harriet’s relationship with TUCSA and her experience as a white woman trade unionist organising black trade unions ‘within’ the structures of this organisation provide the historian with a unique perspective on TUCSA’s somewhat under-researched history. Harriet’s role as a trade unionist during the tumultuous and critical period of the early 1970s, and a consideration of her contribution to the emerging non-racial trade union movement, is an important component of the thesis. The years both pre and post the 1973 strike wave are revisited through Harriet’s lens. Insights in to the question of women’s roles and contribution to South Africa’s labour movement are generated through gaining an understanding of Harriet’s perspectives. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009

La globalisation de l’économie a fortement contribué à la constitution de groupes de sociétés dans le cercle national et au-delà. La reconnaissance de l’accord collectif de groupe par le juge, puis par la loi du 4 mai 2004, a permis une adaptation partielle du droit du travail français à cette réalité. Instrument d’harmonisation des normes sociales en vigueur dans les diverses entités composant le groupe, il contribue à forger son identité. Même à ne considérer que les accords conclus dans le cadre national, maintes difficultés subsistent, qu’il s’agisse de la conclusion de l’accord (quel périmètre ? quelles parties ? quel contenu ?...) ou de son régime juridique (quelle force normative ? quelle portée ?...). Au-delà du cercle national, les accords de dimension transnationale emportent un lot d’interrogations plus vives encore, tant font défaut les éléments permettant d’en fixer, de manière sûre, le régime juridique. Des réponses doivent être proposées, dans le respect de la liberté et de l’autonomie des partenaires sociaux. / The globalisation of the economy has greatly contributed to the creation of groups of companies both nationally and internationally. The recognition of the group collective agreement by the judge, followed by the law of May 4th, 2004, has effected a partial adaption of French employment and labour law to its reality. In harmonising the employment standards and methodology enforced in the various entities composing the group, it has contributed to forging its identity. Even in considering only the agreements signed in France, many difficulties remain, whether about the conclusion of the agreement (scope? parties? content?) or its legal framework (enforcement and impact?). More so than strictly-national agreements, transnational ones give rise to complex questions, due to the difficulty in clearly defining their legal framework. Proposals herein are made in respect to the liberty and autonomy of the social partners.

Negli ultimi decenni, l’affermazione del paradigma della società della conoscenza e le recenti politiche di sostegno all’apprendimento lungo tutto l’arco della vita, hanno evidenziato la questione dello skillmismatching tra competenze formate e fabbisogni professionali espressi dal mercato del lavoro. La finalità della ricerca è stata quella di ricostruire il frame culturale, valoriale e normativo entro cui si colloca l’emergenza del fabbisogno formativo dei lavoratori e di tracciare il percorso storico-evolutivo dell’analisi dei fabbisogni formativi (aff) come strumento, come costrutto e come pratica. L’indagine empirica, di tipo qualitativo, ha coinvolto i vari stakeholders che concorrono a definire, direttamente e indirettamente, la dinamica della domanda/offerta di formazione continua e delle politiche formative a sostegno dell’occupazione. Oltre alla ricerca sul campo, il lavoro di ricerca ha prodotto una mappa delle pratiche di analisi dei fabbisogni formativi condotte nell’ultimo decennio (nazionali ed internazionali), una rassegna metodologica delle tecniche di analisi dei fabbisogni formativi e quattro studi di caso sulle pratiche di analisi dei fabbisogni formativi come strumento di policy (Stati Uniti, Canada, Europa, Italia). / In recent decades the success of the paradigm of the knowledge society and the recent policies of support for lifelong learning highlighted the question of skillmismatching between skills and vocational needs expressed by the labor market and also the value of human capital for competitive advantage of the whole society. The aims of the research was to reconstruct the frame of culture, values and normative into which fits the emergency of training trying to trace the historical-evolutionary of training needs analysis (Tna) as a tool, as a constructs and as a practice. The empirical research was qualitative and considered various stakeholders wich to help define, directly and indirectly, the dynamics of supply/demand of continuing training of workers and training policies to support employment. The research has produced a map of the practices of training needs analysis carried out in the last decade (at national and international level), a methodological review of techniques of Tna and four case studies on international practices of training needs analysis Key-words: capability - skillmismatch – human capital - lifelong learning -multistakeholders - human resource – labour union – practices – continuing training of workers – social partners