D.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / The primary purpose of this study was to determine various perceptions of a group of Black industrial workers regarding group conflict which arises between management and the workers. A second objective was to establish whether any differences exist between ,the perceptions of this group and those of a similar White group. "Conflict" as a phenomenon was introduced and 'collective bargaining' as a means of resolving labour-management conflict was reviewed. This required examining the history of negotiation and its development from biblical times, the Black man's traditional method of negotiation, and the Black workers' involvement in, the trade union movement in South Africa to-day. A study of the relevant literature revealed various approaches to industrial relations, and frames of reference, and it became clear that a person's approach would largely he determined by the frame of reference adopted. The most popular frame of reference in Western industrialized countries appears to he the pluralist perspective which views conflict as' a natural outcome of human interaction. As such it is found in all labour-management interaction t and has been institutionalized through the process of collective bargaining. The sample used in the study consisted of 1124 Black and 201 White industrial workers employed in East London. The instrument used was a questionnaire designed to measure the attitudes of the two groups on various aspects of collective bargaining...

Submitted in accordance with the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg March 2016 / The principal aim of this study is to analyse how the three (3) labour legislations, namely, (a) the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, (b) the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 and (c) the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 influence the growth, management and governance of small enterprises in Gauteng Province of South Africa. This research also investigates if the complete exclusion, selective exclusion or parallel application of the above three labour legislations will help in the management, growth and good governance of small enterprises in Gauteng Province. In addition to the above issues, this research also investigates how disputes are resolved in small enterprises. Furthermore, this research investigates the issue of organisational rights in small enterprises.To investigate all the above issues, the researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research techniques and both techniques were quite useful in the data analysis.The inference that was drawn from the data analysis is that application of the three (3) labour legislations in terms of complete exclusion, selective exclusion and parallel application of the three labour legislations is very important for the growth, management and good governance of small enterprises and this is fully discussed in the thesis. The analysis of the research data indicates that small enterprises cannot benefit from the organisational rights entrenched in the Labour Relation Act of 1995 and the reasons for this are discussed in the thesis. This research also found that small enterprises cannot resolve their disputes efficiently through the current process of dispute resolution as stipulated in Section 135 of the LRA. The reasons why small enterprises find it difficult to follow the process is discussed in the thesis. The recommendations in this thesis, attempt to offer solutions to the identified problems. / MB2016

This thesis places the work of Dr Richard Beeching as Chairman of the British Railways Board in the context of Government policy towards the nationalised railways 1951-64, and examines the popular myth that Beeching and the Minister who appointed him, Ernest Marples, initiated a policy of railway closures and contraction. The thesis argues that Beeching's appointment and policies need to be seen in the context of the failure of Government policy towards the railways during the 1950s. The background to the Transport Act, 1953 is analysed. It is argued that, through this Act, the Government increased competition in the transport field, but was unwilling to accept, and unprepared for, the logical consequences of this change. The discussion of the Government's subsequent policy towards the railways during the 1950s argues that by intervening in industrial relations and price-setting, Ministers not only forced the railways into the red, but hampered their own efforts to encourage the industry to increase its efficiency. Government involvement in industrial relations, price-setting, investment and the withdrawal of unremunerative services is discussed. The Government's tougher approach to railway finances after 1959 (apparent in the 1962 Transport Act, tighter supervision of investment and the closure programme under Beeching) is placed in two contexts. Firstly, the growing recognition within Whitehall that the rise of road transport would limit the railways' future role. Secondly, the reform of the relationship between government and the nationalised industries in general. This discussion leads to a re-evaluation of Marples' significance, and a rejection of the view that Beeching's closure programme arose from a study of the railways in isolation from transport as a whole. Finally, the presentation and implementation of Beeching's closure programme until the 1964 General Election is discussed. The thesis argues that the social and economic consequences of closures were not ignored.

The thesis focuses on the impact of the EU Directive (2002/14/EC), which was incorporated into UK employment law, with its phased implementation starting on 6th April 2005. The empirical evidence is based on a survey and predominantly on case-study research that involved interviews with: managers, employees and trade union representatives, together with the collection of relevant documentary evidence. The empirical findings, especially for the non-unionised sector, indicate that the reflexive nature of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations has mainly stimulated the development of organisation-specific or tailor-made information and consultation arrangements, which minimally comply with the legislative provisions. Moreover, the development of such arrangements is primarily based on the ad hoc momentum that is generated by business pressures (i.e. collective redundancies, transfer of undertakings etc) and can be viewed as reflecting the conceptual framework of legislatively prompted voluntarism. The ICE Directive is aimed at bringing a consistency to the establishment of basic and standard information and consultation arrangements across the workplaces in Great Britain. Subsequently, it should promote the harmonisation of employee participation practices amongst the UK and other EU countries, as it has the goal of ensuring that there is a minimum floor of rights in relation to information sharing and consultation with employees. Nevertheless, the Europeanisation of British industrial relations cannot instantly take place through the adoption of such EU directives. With regard to this research endeavour, it emerges that the extant national idiosyncrasies cannot be substantially altered, whilst business pressures and employers’ goodwill continue to be key drivers in the development of employee participation and consultation arrangements in Great Britain, albeit within the newly adopted legislative and statutory framework.

China’s achievement of developing a vigorous market economy is based on Chinese communist party (CCP)’s top-down reform and opening-up policies since 1978. Meanwhile, political reform of the second largest economy in today’s world is continuously delayed. Without an agenda of bringing democracy and regulation-making process into workplaces, China’s state-owned enterprises were swiftly transformed to be profit-oriented economic entities with managerial supremacy. As an authoritarian regime still run by communist party, China has to negotiate with its own socialist tradition, which entails not only restructuring labour relations in workplaces but its national ideology. This study explores Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) politics of labour management in China’s local state sector. With use of multiple qualitative inquiring techniques, the study selects two state-owned corporations located in Shanghai region as cases, and provides an in-depth analysis on Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) politics of managing labour force formulation as well as re-shaping employment relationship within those transitioning SOEs. The study is expected to illuminate the diversity within and across regions and industrial sectors in China. Also, these case studies suggest that CCP adopts pragmatic approaches over labour managing matters so as to ensure its sovereign influence. I will argue that the key to understand SOEs’ management rebuilding is CCP’s governing tradition of co-option and elite selection, which is a prolong legacy that has shaped the party’s personnel managing system since revolutionary era. It is also hoped that the findings of my empirical research will lead to theoretical discussion on China’s path of industrial relations in future: if such dynamic managerialism in the state sector is able to guarantee further delays of workplace political liberalisation of labour relation, or not.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 71-72. / by Mary Elizabeth Lucci. / M.C.P.

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 161-165. / by Rebecca Randolph Wallace Black. / M.C.P.

This dissertation focuses on workplace accidents, a chronic problem in Turkey. I conducted my fieldwork in İstanbul’s Tuzla shipyards, where approximately 160 workers have died in work accidents since 1992. The Tuzla shipyards are both a symbol of negative working conditions and chronic work accidents in Turkey, and a site where the definitions, causes, and effects of work accidents are problematized, examined, and contested. In my research, I explore the ways in which various conflicting actors describe, identify, and explain accidents at work in relation to contested understandings, discourses, and practices of development. To be sure, the definition of accidents at work as preventable or inevitable dramatically shape the evaluation of the problem and the ways in which work accidents were acted upon or not by contesting actors. While I examine the ways that work accidents are identified I also investigate how different actors legitimized their positions in relation to contested understandings of development. The enduring nature of workplace injuries in rapidly developing Turkey has caused many activists and academics to question the contemporary obsession with development and the belief that economic growth will inevitably lead to social justice. Following these critical insights, I investigate the relationship between the prioritization of national economic growth and the persistence of workplace injuries in Turkey. Although I analyze the critiques of work accidents as critiques of the obsession with economic development, I also observed a more complicated narrative of class mobility and the aspiration for development amongst the working class themselves. The Tuzla shipyards zone is not only a uniquely dense industrial zone where workplace injuries are common, but also a unique site where a few workers have been able to quickly form their own subcontractor companies and benefit from rapid economic growth in the shipyards. Based on my ethnographic observations I argue that the dominant discourse about development also affects working classes’ aspirations and their desires to have a better life.

A research report submitted to the Political Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts (MA) in Political Studies. March 2015 / Trade unions have always been part of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, whether as a civil society formation mobilizing for better wages and improved working conditions on the shop floor, or in alliance with political formations in a bid to transform society and introduce regime change. In most cases, especially in South Africa, it was the unions that continued the struggle even after political parties were banned. It was also through the mobilization strength and resources of the unions that political parties (National Liberation Movement) emerged as formidable and hegemonic forces in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Thus, the paper argues that, in part, UNIP (and later MMD), ZANU-PF and the ANC owe their political ascendancy to the mass mobilization by the trade unions. Trade unions have often had to resist subordination by the liberation movements. The paper suggests that; the fight for independent and worker-centered trade unions, and the unilateral implementation of structural adjustment programmes, were central to the conflict between trade unions and liberation movements. These are seen as factors that undermined the dominance of National Liberation Movements hegemony. The paper argues that; the contemporary union/party relations in South Africa show similar trajectories to those in Zambia and Zimbabwe. While the literature is explicit on how UNIP and ZANU-PF lost their ideological dominance and hegemony, the continued dominance of the ANC remains an object of ongoing debate.

This thesis explores how and why gender wage inequality persisted in Australia during the period 1990 to 2003. A review of the wage data indicated that Australian inequality persisted during this period and even increased in Western Australia. An analysis of the literature and published tribunal decisions showed that the focus of action relating to gender wage equality was on the formal industrial relations system, through legislation and tribunal decisions. As the literature also indicated that these measures had failed to assist many female-dominated occupations, it was felt useful to examine the views of key stakeholders in the formal industrial relations system. Given the mainly quantitative and aggregate data analysis of previous empirical literature and the theoretical literature’s growing focus on less quantifiable social factors, it was felt that qualitative research would add to the analysis of gender wage determination. This thesis uses in-depth interviews with stakeholders in the federal and Western Australian industrial relations systems to examine the period 1990 to 2003. Their perceptions and observations are triangulated with published wage data from selected occupations. / Interviewees felt that the persistence of gender wage inequality was a complex artifact. An artifact of economic, industrial relations, social and cultural factors, combined with the biological and psychological attributes of all involved in decisions before and in the workplace. While much of the gender wage gap literature has been focused on the economic, industrial relations, or legal aspects of wage inequality, this thesis uniquely demonstrates why and how social and cultural influences also act to create persistent gender wage inequality. As much as action is taken in the legal and political arena to create equality, the players in the industrial relations system, consciously or not, both male and female, say that they have helped to (re)construct the gender wage gap. The implications are that in order to achieve gender wage equality, action cannot be left only to legislation and activity in the courts, but is also needed at the social and cultural level. Such action could be taken within the enterprise as well as in the school, community and home.