The aim of this essay is to examine the influence of childcare costs on mother’s employment in European countries. Previous literature indicates that having a child represents a penalty for a woman’s career and integration into the labour market. An empirical analysis has been conducted using the OLS method and cross-national data. We have focused our study on 17 European countries and on data from one particular year.Our findings suggest that a high childcare cost is related to a low maternal employment rate and/or a high share of employed mothers working part-time. As a result, the variations in childcare cost may be partly responsible for the variation in mother’s employment across European countries.The main limitation of this analysis is the small number of observations. Due to the lack of statistical significance of most of the coefficient, we can only suggest a hypothesis that needs to be investigated by further research.

Child labour is a global problem. There have been significant steps to combat the problem from international arena, but its prevalence gives reason for concerns. In this study a comparative case study of two African countries will be examined. The two countries are; Somalia and Namibia, where the first mentioned country are still having child labour and the last mentioned have succeeded in combating child labour. With a theoretical framework I will try to answer what made the Somalia failing and what made Namibia succeeding in the elimination of child labour. The methodology that has been used is a structured focused comparison. In the concluding part I will bring fourth several points of what Somalia can learn from Namibia.

This thesis is concerned with the changing relationship between political parties and civil society, focusing on the turn to community organising by the British Labour Party in the aftermath of its 2010 General Election defeat. It documents the model of community organising developed by Movement for Change (M4C), the application of this model within the Labour Party, and the impact of this model on the Labour Party's relationship to civil society. This thesis finds its theoretical home in debates about the role of political parties in modern democracy, the ability of parties to represent the myriad interests of civil society, and the extent to which parties with strong linkages to place-based forms of civil society associations are capable of bridging the divide between society and the state. Additionally, this thesis contextualises the Labour Party's turn to community organising within a history of the party's relationship to civil society from the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, focusing on the ideas of Eduard Bernstein, Anthony Crosland and those associated with Blue Labour. Empirical material within the thesis was collected during a twelve-month period of participant observation within M4C between September 2012 and September 2013. This provided data on M4C's community organising projects in Southampton and Cardiff. Through the development of these cases the thesis considers the potential for creating a collaborative space beyond the institutional boundaries of the party in which actors from the party and civil society deliberate on issues of common concern, development campaign strategies together, and take action to affect change. The examination of this space allows this thesis to argue that the organisational capacity of a political party is enhanced when it forms strong links to civil society associations engaged in a tradition of place-based political organising, as well as offering a means by which political parties can evolve in response to external challenges they are likely to face in the future.

This paper examines the relationship between national income and child labour. We are particularly interested in evaluating the economic role of children at different stages of development. Our objective is to show that in the aggregate, at a low level of development the direction of the relationship between the incidence of child labour and per capita income is indefinite. Child labour may increase or decrease with income. Forecasts of the child labour force participation rate as well as per capita gross domestic product are made for each country in the sample. We also forecast future levels of the primary net enrollment ratio in an effort to provide empirical support for our policy recommendations. Using panel data methodology, we find evidence of an inverted-U, Kuznets-like relationship between the child labour force participation rate and per capita GDP. Holding all else constant, forecast results suggest that for those countries on upward sloping part of the curve, child labour is a problem that will persist for many years to come. The growth rates of per capita GDP required to reach 10 per cent child labour by the target date, 2029, range from 2 per cent to 15 per cent. Our results highlight the importance of the identification of other aspects of development as determinants of child labour levels, as well as exploring the role of government policy. Further research opportunities are also presented.

This paper examines the relationship between national income and child labour. We are particularly interested in evaluating the economic role of children at different stages of development. Our objective is to show that in the aggregate, at a low level of development the direction of the relationship between the incidence of child labour and per capita income is indefinite. Child labour may increase or decrease with income. Forecasts of the child labour force participation rate as well as per capita gross domestic product are made for each country in the sample. We also forecast future levels of the primary net enrollment ratio in an effort to provide empirical support for our policy recommendations. Using panel data methodology, we find evidence of an inverted-U, Kuznets-like relationship between the child labour force participation rate and per capita GDP. Holding all else constant, forecast results suggest that for those countries on upward sloping part of the curve, child labour is a problem that will persist for many years to come. The growth rates of per capita GDP required to reach 10 per cent child labour by the target date, 2029, range from 2 per cent to 15 per cent. Our results highlight the importance of the identification of other aspects of development as determinants of child labour levels, as well as exploring the role of government policy. Further research opportunities are also presented.

Over the past several decades the business world has witnessed countless corporate mergers of unlimited size and description. The ramifications of these events are profound and the impacts are felt in every walk of life. Canada is not exempt. Consolidation of workforces following corporate mergers has become a complex undertaking which defines the extent and scope of impact on every employee. Employees enjoy varying degrees of control or influence over protection of their working conditions and benefits accrued over their employment service. The extent of an employee's influence over the impact of his corporate merger is governed by his placement in the hierarchy of the corporation. Management employees have the least influence while highly unionized employees have the greatest influence. This thesis will explore the evolution of legal, economic, and industrial relations principles identifiable as governing an employee's ability to carry forward his earned benefits of employment primarily in the Canadian context with some view to the international context.

Over the past several decades the business world has witnessed countless corporate mergers of unlimited size and description. The ramifications of these events are profound and the impacts are felt in every walk of life. Canada is not exempt. Consolidation of workforces following corporate mergers has become a complex undertaking which defines the extent and scope of impact on every employee. Employees enjoy varying degrees of control or influence over protection of their working conditions and benefits accrued over their employment service. The extent of an employee's influence over the impact of his corporate merger is governed by his placement in the hierarchy of the corporation. Management employees have the least influence while highly unionized employees have the greatest influence. This thesis will explore the evolution of legal, economic, and industrial relations principles identifiable as governing an employee's ability to carry forward his earned benefits of employment primarily in the Canadian context with some view to the international context.

Over the past several decades the business world has witnessed countless corporate mergers of unlimited size and description. The ramifications of these events are profound and the impacts are felt in every walk of life. Canada is not exempt. Consolidation of workforces following corporate mergers has become a complex undertaking which defines the extent and scope of impact on every employee. Employees enjoy varying degrees of control or influence over protection of their working conditions and benefits accrued over their employment service. The extent of an employee's influence over the impact of his corporate merger is governed by his placement in the hierarchy of the corporation. Management employees have the least influence while highly unionized employees have the greatest influence. This thesis will explore the evolution of legal, economic, and industrial relations principles identifiable as governing an employee's ability to carry forward his earned benefits of employment primarily in the Canadian context with some view to the international context. / Law, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis examines whether the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (‘LRA’) justifiably limits the constitutional right to employees to freedom of assembly in accordance with s36(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (‘the Constitution’). This question is considered in two broad parts. The first part demonstrates two limitations. First, the inability of s77 of the LRA to provide legislative protection to employees who wish to embark on socioeconomic protest action over a purely political issue. Second, the LRA’s prohibition on off-duty employees utilising the Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993 (‘RGA’) to demonstrate against their employer over a dispute of mutual interest. While no court has yet considered if the LRA prohibits purely political protest action, the Labour Appeal Court in ADT Security v NASUWU 2015 (36) ILJ 152 (LAC) (‘ADT Security’) held that is unlawful for off-duty employees to demonstrate over a dispute of mutual interest under the RGA. The first part begins by establishing how the LRA’s statutory definition of protest action cannot, in its current form, protect purely political protest and how this limits the constitutional right of employees to free assembly. Similarly, it explains how ADT Security clearly establishes that the LRA limits the constitutional right of employees to freedom of assembly by infringing their constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate in compliance with the RGA. The second part tests both limitations against s36(1) of the Constitution, the limitation clause, to assess if either infringement justifiably limits the constitutional right of employees to freedom of assembly, enshrined in s17 of the Bill of Rights. Considering the factors in s36(1)(a)-(e) of the Constitution, and other relevant factors, it examines if the purpose and reasons for either limitation are sufficiently compelling so as to be reasonable and justifiable. It concludes by arguing both limitations unjustifiably limit the constitutional right of employees to free assembly. Two recommendations are made. First, that the LRA be amended to expressly permit employees to demonstrate over disputes of mutual interest, in compliance with the RGA, in certain circumstances. Second, that the LRA be amended to expressly permit purely political protest action, provided the protest action is limited in scope and duration and subject to oversight by the Labour Court.

A Penrose Staircase- an impossible object always ending ascending yet constantly descending and ending as an illusion. This is Employment Equity legislation in South Africa with its purported aim of redressing the disadvantages of its designated groups. It is legislation that aims to promote equal opportunity, fair treatment and eliminate unfair discrimination yet cannot unshackle itself from the very types of racial identifiers that it wishes to have eliminated. This paper is an attempt to give greater content and context to the purpose of Employment Equity than the few sentences provided in the preamble of the Act. In particular, I have focused on the Act's own racial differentiator - 'Blacks' - as a seemingly convenient catch-all rubric which is drenched with the very abhorrent salience of race and thickening of racial classifications which it wishes to escape from. 'Blacks', as Africans, Indians and Coloureds, as I will conclude, have intertwined yet different experiences of apartheid and their emergence from Apartheid and projected future can be so vastly contrasted that Employment Equity measures based on its current simplified Verwoerd an racial descriptors will perpetuate inequality and racial disunity. This paper is a study some of the more than three hundred years of policies, practices, laws and the might of the sophisticated government machinery which aimed at placing Whites at the apex of control over the country's resources and contrast how each of the designated groups have (1) experienced legislated discrimination aimed against them; (2) as a snapshot of 1994, how they have emerged from this history and(3) the predicted trajectory that each group can expect in their share of resources in the future.