Trade unions are juristic entities and volitional associations that have, historically and ideologically, represented the aggregate strength of labour to maximise their effectiveness in their endeavour to fulfil their core responsibilities and principal functions. However, Ceronie (2007) postulates that, in South Africa, there has been a loss of ideological support for unions since the dawn of democracy. The establishment of the democracy had the effect that a huge driving gear to belong to a union was lost. The mandate of trade unions is to, inter alia, protect, maintain, and improve the working conditions of their members. They fulfil this mandate by ensuring that they offer services that meet, if not exceed, members' satisfaction levels. Trade unions ultimately exist to protect both the work- and non-work-related interest of their members, whether these be economic, social, political, or environmental (Venter, 2003). Nel et al. (2005) asseverate that trade unions are membership organisations: They exist because of their members, they are made up of members, they serve their members' interest, and they are governed by their members. That is, they derive their authority and mandate from the members. Therefore, trade union are service providers. They must give employees enough reason to become attracted to them as members and to remain members. Simply put, trade unions, as the embodiment of workers' aspirations, owe a duty of care to their members, and thus should at all times, act in their best interests. Thus, the kind and quality of services offered by trade unions should be perceived by members as sufficient and satisfactory. Highly satisfied and committed union members are more likely to support and participate in trade union activities. Trade unions, like any other organisation that provides services, are faced with challenges of membership decline due to perceived poor services or the lack thereof, and are therefore required to devise remedial measures to mitigate the membership decline. Against the backdrop of the foregoing, the aim of the study was to examine if there is a relationship between the quality of services and benefits offered by unions to their members and member satisfaction. The sample comprised members of the three major unions within the public service of South Africa. Using the quantitative paradigm, primary empirical data were collected by distributing 500 questionnaires, which yielded a 48.9% response rate. Data were analysed using the SPSS Statistics 23 software program. The questionnaire was valid and reliable, with an overall scale reliability coefficient of α = .975. The findings revealed moderate levels of member satisfaction (56%) with low dissatisfaction (16%), and a significantly high participation rate in union activities (61%), and union effectiveness (80%). That is, the findings revealed that members were generally satisfied with their unions' performance. The findings affirm union instrumentality, union effectiveness, and member participation as antecedents of union commitment, and also confirm unions' performance and effectiveness as significant determinants of members' satisfaction with a union. Therefore, in a quest to maintain and/or increase their relevance, trade unions must examine their current services and benefits, in order to determine whether they still meet their members' preferences, and, if not, to develop and provide a new service mix that will not only appeal to unionised members, but will also attract non-unionised workers. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Human Resource Management / PhD / Unrestricted

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The emergence of collective bargaining in the public sector is viewed as a product of economic, political, technological and social dynamics regulating the economic relationship between the government as employer and public sector employees. Although public sector employees have been denied the right to organize themselves and to bargain collectively with their respective governments, especially in many African countries, the profound changes during the recent years has dramatically changed labour relations in the public sector. In many African countries, particularly English speaking countries, the process of collective bargaining between the government and public sector employees has gained prominence as the struggle to reconcile the broad interest of the government and its employees has been waged in order to deal effectively with public employment issues. Namibia is one of the many English speaking African countries which is making tremendous efforts to harmonize the employment relationship between the government and the public servants. But these efforts are being hampered by the structural handicaps emanating from the historical legacy of apartheid and its adjunt- authoritarianism (which has found firm roots in the country even after five years of independence).

Some researchers have found that unionized firms are less likely to pursue automation because high wage demands deprive them of the necessary capital required to invest in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). It has also been suggested that stringent work rules and technology agreements can make the substitution of new technology for union labor too expensive. Others have found, however, that the pursuit of high wage policies and the resultant requirement for improved worker and machine productivity can create a positive environment for technological change. This exploratory study examines the relationships between firm-level union status and the adoption and performance of AMT in the discrete parts durable-goods manufacturing industry. Analyses of our sample, which included Chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analyses and multiple linear regression analyses, revealed a union effect on the adoption of just-in-time technology and a moderately positive union effect on performance. Results of analyses of the impact of union status, firm size and several human factor variables on firm performance are also presented and discussed.

The national project of the African National Congress (ANC), the National Democratic Revolution (NDR), guides the post-apartheid state’s work to develop a new African middle class through policies such as Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment. A substantial portion of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) public sector trade union members have been the beneficiaries of this project. COSATU is considered as a working-class organisation with a commitment to socialist politics, whereas the ANC is seen as a party that has emerged out of multi-class interests, dominated by the politics of nationalism. The underlying assumption is that much of the conflict between COSATU and the ANC is connected only to class politics. In the post-apartheid era, there has been a shift to Africanism as the ANC’s hegemonic non-racialism nationalism. This has acquired momentum both inside and outside the ranks of the ANC and its allies, including COSATU. As a result, questions about COSATU’s political traditions and its membership composition have emerged. To address this, my study’s contribution is that there are signs of new worker identity, organic workerism, emerging amongst the membership of the Democratic Nursing Association of South Africa (DENOSA) and to a lesser extent amongst the membership of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), two public sector affiliates of COSATU, in the province of Gauteng. The ANC’s ideology was hegemonic through the NDR in COSATU but as it endeavoured to manage too many contradictions, it has now run its course in post-apartheid South Africa. What is striking about organic workerism is that it is challenging the hegemonic ANC’s NDR within COSATU. The identification of organic workerism emerged through an interrogation of a selection of COSATU’s public sector trade union members’ class location, guided by the notion of contradictory class location, their racial identities and subjectivities and intersections with their gendered identities and subjectivities. My study concludes that COSATU and its public sector trade unions are far more complex and contested in terms of their political traditions and in terms of their membership in post-apartheid South Africa. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Sociology / PhD / Unrestricted

ABSTRACT: Profoundly impactful and enduring, Joan Acker’s framework of gendering processes is among the most influential and highly cited in feminist organization studies. Nonetheless, it has been rarely applied, only partially so in the majority of cases and never operationalised fully in a union. This thesis applies the framework, operating through all five dimensions, to one atypical Australian union, having women in three of the most senior elected positions. It seeks to understand the gendering assumptions and practices that construct, maintain and frame the underlying relations in its structures. Voice centred relational analysis was used to examine life history interviews with women and men and my own in-depth ethnographic account of organizational life. The analysis suggests that the union was infused with a particularly authoritarian hegemonic masculinity but that this was hidden from public view. In this context, having women in senior positions worked to disguise continuing inequalities. The major contribution of this study is the in-depth understanding of gender in the context of an Australian union, through what is a rare and insightful application of Joan Acker’s framework for analysing gendered organizations in its entirety. / The full text will be available at the end of the embargo, 17th July 2024

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No / The enactment of a third statutory union recognition procedure in Britain in 2000 led to a sharp rise and then fall in the number of new, largely voluntary, union recognition agreements being signed. This article examines and explains this trajectory, finding that the interaction of a weak procedure with its wider environment has led to a situation where the outcome of a reflexive law is heavily determined by the external balance of power in employment relations.

No / We propose a fuller synthesis between two relatively disjointed literatures to create synergy. Union commitment research has a long tradition and a relatively rigorous orientation grounded in industrial psychology. Recently, it has been eclipsed by emerging research on union renewal, and specifically that on union organizing. Renewal research has largely ignored union commitment research even though union renewal literature stresses the importance of activism, and this concept is strongly linked to commitment. A critical synthesis of these literatures yields progress in terms of addressing key qualitative and quantitative aspects of the contemporary crisis of labour unionism. A tentative framework is constructed that stipulates the main components and variables, and offers guidance for future research.

Yes / This article revisits the concept of union effectiveness and proposes a conceptual model to inform its study and application. Previous conceptual and empirical work is examined to identify key strengths and weaknesses, and to relate the union effectiveness concept to union renewal and other key concepts. This leads to the proposal of a Goal-System framework that builds and improves on prior research.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-149). Also available via the World Wide Web.