Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) is a Schedule 3C public entity that is legally mandated by way of the KwaZulu Natal Nature Conservation Management Act 9 of 1997 to conserve indigenous biodiversity within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. During normal operations EKZNW employs unskilled temporary workers. In compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 32 of 1997 EKZNW’s Conservation Board approved the adoption of human resource and labour relations based policies to apply consistency in its dealings with human resource matters. Using International Labour Organisation principles to provide context, this study aims to identify the differences in conditions of employment between unskilled temporary workers and unskilled permanent workers at EKZNW, to understand why these differences exist, and what the implications are for the unskilled temporary workers. The following objectives applied in realising the aim: 1. Review International Labour Organisation conventions to determine internationally accepted employment principles for unskilled permanent workers; 2. Establish to what extent South African Constitution and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act complies with International Labour Organisation employment principles for unskilled permanent workers; 3. Establish to what extent EKZNW complies with International Labour Organisation employment principles, in relation to the South African Constitution and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, with specific reference to unskilled temporary workers; 4. Understand the reasons for the differences in the Condition of Employment between unskilled temporary workers and unskilled permanent workers; 5. Establish the resulting implications for unskilled temporary workers; 6. Suggest recommendations about making working conditions more equitable between unskilled temporary workers and unskilled permanent workers. This study uses a combination of research techniques entailing document examination, semi-structured interviews, personal observations and data evaluation in realising the objectives. Descriptions of the study population, sample and size are presented; whilst describing the data collection instruments, data collection procedures, management and data analysis methods employed in conducting the study. Set against the International Labour Organisations 1988 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, namely; freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; the effective abolition of child labour; and, the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation; Chapter 4 presents the results and discussion in combination against Objective 2, 3, 4 and 5, with Objective 6 being presented in the final Chapter. The study found that whilst EKZNW’s Conservation Board had approved and adopted the 2006 Remuneration Packages Policy and the 2007 Employee Performance Management and Development System to ensure ‘justice’ in its dealings with human resource matters; the policies had not been implemented on unskilled temporary workers. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil

I vår studie har vi utfört en undersökning av de faktorer som påverkar motivationen och engagemanget hos tillfälligt anställda inom förskoleverksamheten. Genom att fokusera på de individuella aspekterna, inklusive ledarskap, har vi strävat efter att belysa vilka faktorer som har en betydande inverkan på de anställdas motivation och engagemang. Vi har gått utifrån teorier inom motivation och engagemang, samt ledarskap för att kunna analysera vår resultat senare i studien. För att genomföra studien har vi använt en kvalitativ metod och intervjuat åtta tillfälligt anställda vid kommunala förskolor som har valts ut i Borlänge och Fagersta. Dessa deltagare har minst ett års erfarenhet som tillfälligt. Vi har använt semistrukturerade intervjuer som möjliggjorde djupare svar. Våra resultat har visat att, även om en positiv arbetsmiljö och social sammanhållning kan påverka motivation och engagemang, så spelar ledarskapet en avgörande roll för att både initiera och upprätthålla en sådan miljö. Studiens bidrag framhäver vikten av att främja en positiv arbetsmiljö, erbjuda stöd och utvecklingsmöjligheter samt utveckla ett stödjande ledarskap på förskolor. Genom att förstå och beakta dessa faktorer kan förskolor skapa en mer engagerande och motiverande arbetsmiljö för sina tillfälliga anställda. / In our study, we conducted an investigation into the factors that influence motivation and engagement among temporary employees in preschool settings. By focusing on the individual aspects, including leadership, we aimed to highlight the factors that significantly impact employee motivation and engagement. We have utilized theories within motivation and engagement, as well as leadership, to be able to analyze our results later in the study. To carry out the study, we employed a qualitative methodology, conducting interviews with eight individuals selected from Borlänge and Fagersta. These participants, each with at least one year of experience as temporary preschool employees, provided valuable insights through semi-structured interviews, which facilitated in-depth responses. Our findings indicate that while a positive work environment and social cohesion can affect motivation and engagement, leadership plays a pivotal role in both initiating and sustaining such an environment. The study's contribution underscores the importance of fostering a positive work environment, offering support and development opportunities, and cultivating supportive leadership within preschools.By comprehending and addressing these factors, preschools can create a more engaging and motivating work environment for their temporary employees.

This thesis focuses on trade union responses to casualisation of labour in the Eastern Cape. In the context of increased globalization, some employers have attempted to achieve high production outputs while saving on operational costs. The ‘flexible firm’ model is used as but one theory to explain increased flexibility in the workplace. In an effort to achieve increasingly flexible firms that may swiftly respond to subsequent challenges such as increased international competition, employers have been seen incorporating more non-standard workers in the form of casual, temporary, part-time, and seasonal workers. This has been a matter of concern for the unions for numerous reasons: some nonstandard workers are subjected to sub-standard working conditions, irregular working hours and little or no benefits; casual work is arranged in such a way that it is virtually impossible for these workers to join a union – a predicament which bears a high possibility of a decline in the typically standard worker–based membership of trade unions; and non-standard workers are often faced with the representation gap predicament which entails that they are not adequately protected by labour legislation. The thesis explores the responses of trade unions to these challenges, and the proposals that they have made in this regard, by focusing on the sectoral dynamics of non-standard labour in the province. It further discusses the regulation of non-standard labour, as poor representation of some non-standard workers bears consequences for the regulation of the practice of non-standard work. The research adopted qualitative research techniques in the form of semi-structured interviews, and used purposive and snowball sampling in accessing relevant data for analysis purposes.

Cette étude dresse un bref historique du concept de la dignité humaine pour observer sa dualité et sa multiplicité à travers les époques. Peu présente dans la littérature, la dignité au travail, tout aussi dichotomique et plurielle, s’inscrit néanmoins dans un cadre singulier, où s’ajoute des paramètres spécifiques à l’organisation du travail. Elle s’avère particulièrement problématique pour les employés atypiques, incluant entre autres les employés à contrats à durée déterminée, les employés saisonniers et les employés temporaires. Effectivement, malgré l’augmentation significative de leur embauche au sein du marché du travail canadien depuis la fin des années 1990, les employés atypiques représentent un groupe peu étudié, vulnérable et plus enclin à subir les répercussions de pratiques contraignantes et nuisibles à la dignité selon la précarité rattachée au statut, d’où la pertinence de s’y intéresser. En ce sens, si la dignité appelle à l’autonomie par la considération de la valeur intrinsèque et inaliénable de l’individu, et que le travail implique qu’il réalise des finalités autres que les siennes, s’interroger sur la dignité au travail, principalement chez un groupe marginalisé par sa présence éphémère, prend tout son sens. La méthodologie de cette étude est basée sur l’analyse interprétative d’entretiens semi-structurés réalisés avec douze employés atypiques. Comparées à la littérature existante et suite à la mise en place d’une typologie du travail spécifique aux employés atypiques et à la dignité, les données recueillies ont montré une réappropriation de la dualité du concept par l’inclusion de l’opposition entre l’être et l’action de la part des participants. Plus encore, ils ont ajouté trois dimensions supplémentaires : l’interaction, les systèmes du travail et le temps. Concept central et pivot, l’interaction permet l’établissement de relations dans l’ensemble des dimensions. L’organisation du travail dans les systèmes et l’éphémérité du statut des employés atypiques, éléments différentiels, banalisent les pratiques nuisibles à la dignité des employés atypiques, où ces derniers finissent par percevoir leur situation comme un rite de passage dans l’attente d’un avenir meilleur. / This study begins with a brief historical overview of the concept of dignity. Despite the multiple meanings given to the notion of dignity over time, a clear duality appears between definitions that privilege the intrinsic, inalienable nature of dignity and those that attribute dignity according to the quality of an individual's actions. While dignity at work has received far less scholarly attention, the emergent literature replicates the same dichotomy that is found in studies of dignity. The question of dignity at work is particularly important for atypical employees who, due to their precarious status, are especially vulnerable to workplace indignity. Surprisingly, atypical workers, a category that includes seasonal workers, temporary workers, workers on short-term contracts, and permanent part-timers, remain on the sidelines of much academic research, despite constant growth in their numbers as a proportion of the Canadian labour market since the late 1990s. The importance of studying dignity at work appears clearly in the following conundrum: how can we understand dignity at work when dignity implies that one recognizes the unique value of every human person based on his/her autonomy to choose his/her own ends, yet the context of work requires that workers commit themselves to attaining objectives imposed by someone else? Using an interpretive methodology to explore the meanings of dignity at work, this study is based on semi-structured interviews with twelve atypical employees. The findings show how participants reconciled the duality between being and doing as a source of dignity. Participants added three other dimensions that are not present in the extant literature: interaction, work systems, and time. These five dimensions are combined to create a typology of dignity at work that is specific to atypical employees. Interaction acts as a core concept that links all of the other dimensions together. The organization of work systems and the ephemeral status of atypical employees work together to trivialize workplace practices that undermine the dignity of atypical employees, who come to perceive their situation as a rite of passage to be endured while waiting for a better future.

The use of temporary employment services as a means to achieve flexibility in die labour market led to various complications due to a lack of proper regulation. The atypical formation of the triangular employment relationship, limited rights and less favourable employment conditions of the temporary employees, multiple authority figures and their liabilities under various circumstances and the impact thereof on such employee’ collective bargaining rights caused legal uncertainty in the absence of sufficient legislation to govern it. Temporary employment agencies developed certain methods in order to evade the restrictive labour legislation and employer duties imposed on them, namely by making use of automatic termination clauses (resolutive conditions) and by categorising the temporary employee as an independent contractor. Last mentioned would effectively exclude the temporary employee from labour legislation and the protection it provides. In reaction to abovementioned problems, trade unions have been objecting to the use of temporary employment agencies and went as far as demanding the total ban thereof. This raised the question in the South African Government whether said agencies should indeed be banned. The other option is a less restrictive approach and entails the attempt to regulate these agencies by amending the current labour legislation in order to accommodate temporary employment services. In light of the fact that various proposals to amend the current South African labour legislation (especially with regard to temporary employment services) have been published in the Government Gazette, it can be deduced that the social partners ultimately chose to regulate temporary employment agencies rather than ban them altogether. From an early stage the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided rules and regulations for the management of employment agencies in general by way of conventions and recommendations. In 1997, in order to give effect to the labour standards identified by it, the ILO brought the Private Employment Agencies Convention into existence. This document could be applied to all temporary employment agencies on an international level. This document provides for administrative regulations, the duties of the agency and the client as well as the rights of the temporary employees concerned. The ILO recommends that all of its member states incorporate the principles contained within this document in their own legislation. Temporary employment services are also used in other legal systems. For purposes of this study, the English law (United Kingdom (UK)) and the Namibian law will be scrutinised. Similar issues to those recognised in the South African law have been identified in these countries. However, each has approached said problems in different ways. The Namibian Government banned the conducting and provision of these services by way of legislation in 2007. The constitutionality of the ban has however been questioned by the Supreme Court of Namibia, after which it had been found to infringe upon the fundamental freedom to carry on any business, trade or occupation. The ban was struck down as unconstitutional. The Namibian Government has since promulgated new legislation in which it removed the ban and replaced it with numerous amendments providing for the regulation of temporary employment services. Since 1973 the UK has been promulgating various instruments for the thorough regulation of temporary employment agencies. These instruments provide for the management of temporary employment agencies and the rights of the employees involved. The relevant legislative instruments have been updated regularly with the purpose of ensuring that the needs of all the parties concerned are met. The UK, as a member state of the European Union (EU), (which has also been providing for the regulation of temporary employment services in various directives), promulgated legislation specifically with the aim to give effect to the principles in the mentioned directives. By way of doctrines and the creation of a third category ―worker‖ the UK has been attempting to prevent any loopholes in their legal system with regard to temporary employment services and the rights of the employees involved. The aim of this study is to investigate all the important complications experienced with temporary employment agencies in order to indicate the impact the atypical circumstances have on the rights of the temporary employees. The degree to which, if at all, the South African law complies with the preferred labour standards identified by the ILO will be pointed out. A comparative study will be conducted, first by ascertaining in detail how the comparable issues in the UK and Namibian law are dealt with, and second by identifying which aspects in these legal systems could be of value to the South African law. Finally the potential effectiveness of the proposed amendments to the South African labour legislation will be analysed, during which recommendations for the unresolved issues will be provided. The recommendations are mainly aimed at achieving sufficient rights and legal certainty for the temporary employees associated with temporary employment agencies. / Thesis (PhD (Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The use of temporary employment services as a means to achieve flexibility in die labour market led to various complications due to a lack of proper regulation. The atypical formation of the triangular employment relationship, limited rights and less favourable employment conditions of the temporary employees, multiple authority figures and their liabilities under various circumstances and the impact thereof on such employee’ collective bargaining rights caused legal uncertainty in the absence of sufficient legislation to govern it. Temporary employment agencies developed certain methods in order to evade the restrictive labour legislation and employer duties imposed on them, namely by making use of automatic termination clauses (resolutive conditions) and by categorising the temporary employee as an independent contractor. Last mentioned would effectively exclude the temporary employee from labour legislation and the protection it provides. In reaction to abovementioned problems, trade unions have been objecting to the use of temporary employment agencies and went as far as demanding the total ban thereof. This raised the question in the South African Government whether said agencies should indeed be banned. The other option is a less restrictive approach and entails the attempt to regulate these agencies by amending the current labour legislation in order to accommodate temporary employment services. In light of the fact that various proposals to amend the current South African labour legislation (especially with regard to temporary employment services) have been published in the Government Gazette, it can be deduced that the social partners ultimately chose to regulate temporary employment agencies rather than ban them altogether. From an early stage the International Labour Organisation (ILO) provided rules and regulations for the management of employment agencies in general by way of conventions and recommendations. In 1997, in order to give effect to the labour standards identified by it, the ILO brought the Private Employment Agencies Convention into existence. This document could be applied to all temporary employment agencies on an international level. This document provides for administrative regulations, the duties of the agency and the client as well as the rights of the temporary employees concerned. The ILO recommends that all of its member states incorporate the principles contained within this document in their own legislation. Temporary employment services are also used in other legal systems. For purposes of this study, the English law (United Kingdom (UK)) and the Namibian law will be scrutinised. Similar issues to those recognised in the South African law have been identified in these countries. However, each has approached said problems in different ways. The Namibian Government banned the conducting and provision of these services by way of legislation in 2007. The constitutionality of the ban has however been questioned by the Supreme Court of Namibia, after which it had been found to infringe upon the fundamental freedom to carry on any business, trade or occupation. The ban was struck down as unconstitutional. The Namibian Government has since promulgated new legislation in which it removed the ban and replaced it with numerous amendments providing for the regulation of temporary employment services. Since 1973 the UK has been promulgating various instruments for the thorough regulation of temporary employment agencies. These instruments provide for the management of temporary employment agencies and the rights of the employees involved. The relevant legislative instruments have been updated regularly with the purpose of ensuring that the needs of all the parties concerned are met. The UK, as a member state of the European Union (EU), (which has also been providing for the regulation of temporary employment services in various directives), promulgated legislation specifically with the aim to give effect to the principles in the mentioned directives. By way of doctrines and the creation of a third category ―worker‖ the UK has been attempting to prevent any loopholes in their legal system with regard to temporary employment services and the rights of the employees involved. The aim of this study is to investigate all the important complications experienced with temporary employment agencies in order to indicate the impact the atypical circumstances have on the rights of the temporary employees. The degree to which, if at all, the South African law complies with the preferred labour standards identified by the ILO will be pointed out. A comparative study will be conducted, first by ascertaining in detail how the comparable issues in the UK and Namibian law are dealt with, and second by identifying which aspects in these legal systems could be of value to the South African law. Finally the potential effectiveness of the proposed amendments to the South African labour legislation will be analysed, during which recommendations for the unresolved issues will be provided. The recommendations are mainly aimed at achieving sufficient rights and legal certainty for the temporary employees associated with temporary employment agencies. / Thesis (PhD (Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.