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The thesis traces the development of the political protest strike as a new tactic within British trade union practice. This tactic evolved in response to government interference in the internal affairs of trade unions. The main thrust of the work concerns the study of the processes of mobilisation and demobilisation within the formal and informal machinery of union decision making and government. The dissertation contains the first attempt to record systematically response rates to these protests nationally and regionally, and over time. A statistical series has been created which has made it possible to test for relationships between political strike action, general industrial militancy and changing levels of unemployment. The thesis can be regarded as a contribution to the literature on trade union government structure and internal politics, and to that on industrial conflict. It reveals the importance of ideological factions which operate within unions, and suggests that conflict between these factions is the most important source of division in the internal politics of trade unionism. It highlights the importance of activists and lines of argumentation in the process of mobilisation/demobilisation. The thesis focused specifically on the AUEW(E) and on the Clydeside and West ~idland regions to allow for comparative study and to test for the regional impact of factional organisation on response rates

This thesis is an examination of the nature of trade union modernisation policies in the UK based on research largely carried out in the north-east of England. The aim of the research was to identify and assess the ways in which unions - given the substantial diminution of their collective social power in the 1980s and 1990s - have looked to modernise themselves. The research, which is based on semi-structured interviews with union full-time officers, shop stewards and lay representatives, and a questionnaire survey of union members in a local authority, indicates that union modernisation policies - in so far as they are predicated upon an assumption that the revival of the unions is contingent upon their ability to service members as individuals from the centre - are somewhat misplaced. Specifically, the thesis shows, first, that unions have been impelled to adopt a service ethos largely because of their increasing inability to offer collective benefits; second, that the efficacy of more individualised service provision and representation is, however, often dependent upon already-existing strong collective organisation; third, that an alternative approach to modernisation - whereby unions take up some of the issues -flagged up by the new social movements - is fraught with obstacles; and fourth, that 'these modernisation policies - to the extent that they involve a centralisation of power within union hierarchies - might weaken trade unionism where it exists. Although the thesis concludes by questioning the extent to which any kind of modernisation policy can have more than a marginal effect given the hostility of the environment in which the unions have recently been operating, it is argued nonetheless that if they are to survive and thrive in the future unions would be advised to look at how they can best fortify their collective structures.

New work environments bring together physical and social aspects of organisations in ways that create changes unfamiliar to many practitioners, and which are relatively unexplored theoretically and empirically by researchers. This thesis is concerned with increasing understanding of specific new work environments; those piloted within Scottish Enterprise National; and from this, drawing some general inferences on the nature of these environments. Literature from the multiple strands of organisation theory, management and organisation, and built environment literatures, were brought together in this thesis in order to guide the investigation. A single case study approach was adopted, with the researcher embedded in the organisation for the duration of the research. Primary and secondary data was reviewed in an historical manner. A descriptive and analytical form of case study write up was used in explanation and theory building of the thesis. It was established that, to increase understanding of new work environments a, conceptual level of investigation is essential. Elements emerge at this level which are not otherwise present. There is a complex mix of tangible and intangible elements that require careful consideration, to understand how the physical aspects in new work environments can contribute to organisation performance.

The theoretical and policy implications of incorporating labour standards to international trade agreements (LSITA) are studied. The paradigms of the "new international labour studies" and of the international division of labour serve as the main references for the construction of a multidisciplinary theoretical approach for the study of LSITA, devised on four premises: (a) an international horizon of the labour process, patterns of employment and labour relations; (b) the role of trade unions and international labour solidarity; (c) the inadequacy of neoclassical economics and free trade theory; and (d) link of LSITA to a broader development perspective. Arguments from organisations and individuals involved in the debate are investigated and categorised. The global experience of LSITA is reviewed at four levels. (A) unilateral: child and prison labour. (B) Bilateral: the EEC proposal in the Lome II negotiations and the EU and US GSP programmes. (C) Multilateral: attempts in the GATT/WTO and (D) Regional: the Social Charter of the EU and the labour side agreement of NAFTA, under which the case studies of General Electric, Honeywell, Sony and u.S. Sprint are evaluated. For each level an assessment is carried out regarding: (1) the effects on the industrial relations processes in the countries involved; (2) the 2 3 general case for LSITA; and (3) the case for strengthening existing provisions and extending social clauses to a multilateral level. A core of labour standards, based on ILO Conventions is put forward as a minimum IIpackage." It is suggested that mul tilateral approaches, provided they meet certain transparency and accountability criteria, should take precedence over bilateral and unilateral. A list of essential pre-requirements on transparency and accountabili ty is put forward. The principle of the "mostfavoured nation" in terms of labour standards is recommended for introduction at at a multilateral level.

The aim of the thesis is to examine, mainly, how labour market dynamics affect unemployment. We consider labour market models where current decisions - regarding employment, wage setting, and labour supply behaviour - depend on past decisions, and where these lagged adjustment processes interact. These interactions are the centerpiece of the chain reaction theory of unemployment, in which each labour market shock has a chain reaction of unemployment effects. Chapter 1 analyzes two important dynamic influences: (i) the prolonged effects of temporary shocks, called unemployment persistence, and (ii) the delayed effects of permanent shocks, which we call imperfect unemployment responsiveness. Focusing on three countries - Germany, UK, and US - we identify significant labour market lags, and measure the degree to which these lags are responsible for unemployment persistence and imperfect responsiveness. Chapter 2 shows that in multi-equation labour market models containing lagged endogenous variables and exogenous variables with nonzero long-run growth rates the natural rate of unemployment - as conventionally defined for empirical purposes - is not a reference point (a value toward which the equilibrium unemployment rate tends with the passage of time). Chapter 3 evaluates the natural rate and chain reaction theories of unemployment. For an empirical model of the UK labour market, we show that un-employment does not converge to the natural rate, as conventionally defined. Furthermore, we show that the labour market lags account for a substantial part of the UK long-run equilibrium unemployment rate as well as for the movement of UK unemployment over the past one and a half decades. Chapter 4 shows that real inertia (sluggish adjustment of real variables) may have a powerful role to play in generating the real effects of nominal (demand) shocks, and nominal inertia (sluggish adjustment of nominal wages and prices) may be important in propagating real (supply-side) shocks.

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The thesis discusses characteristics of youth unemployment in Zambia and the prospects of absorption of youth labour in the urban informal sector. This is done on the basis of both primary survey and secondary sources. The informal sector given the right support has the potential to generate economic growth. Unemployment is severe among the youth who are newcomers to the labour market. The problem of labour absorption in Zambia is investigated especially since the fall in copper prices and structural adjustment which has not created jobs. A combination of inadequacies of domestic policies and international recession have certainly contributed to the economic decline. The government mismanaged the initial copper boom. The country has relied on a single export commodity, copper. The employment problem has to be crucial in the context of a dual economy. Many variants e.g. population growth, rural urban migration and the paper qualification syndrome explain the supply of labour. The population is skewed in favour of the youth and most migrants are educated in search of an urban job. This helps to explain the high unemployment rate among the youth. The thesis concentrates on formal and informal sectors as evidence of dualism. Formal sector prospects are limited for well known reasons e.g. shortages of resources, fall in copper prices, price distortions, import substitution policies, development patterns and capital intensive technology which restrict employment potential. On the other hand, the informal sector which is labour intensive appear to have employment potential. Lack of minimal skill and capital among the youth, which are prerequisite in the informal sector act entry as barriers. This is in particular substantiated in the thesis on labour demand. The youth's views towards the informal appear to be negative. The mismatch between the youth's education and expectations explain this attitude. The possession of a school certificate raises expectations which make youngsters withhold their labour during their first job search. The youth desire white collar employment. The approach adopted is qualitative rather than quantitative because of nature and limitation of data. For instance, unemployment is not without statistical and definitional problems.

During the 1970s the rapid diffusion of microelectronic technology profoundly and irrevocably altered the international telecommunications (TC) industry. Competition between the major corporations increased dramatically, and the industry began a process of restructuring around the new technology. Digital techniques brought about the merger of TC technology with computing technology, giving rise to a new range of services and products collectively known as the information fechnology (IT) industries. Very little investigation into the impact of these changes on the Third World has yet been undertaken. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explore the economic and technological impact of these changes on one major developing country - Brazil. Part 1 begins by reviewing the current theoretical approaches to technology diffusion and the developing countries, and proposes an amalgamation of two, traditionally separate areas of analysis. By combining the empirical and analytical insights of the 'learning' school, with the neo technology 'diffusion' approach, a conceptual framework for the study is proposed. Using the neo technology perspective, Part 2 analyses the technological and industrial upheavals which currently beset the international TC industry. A set of preliminary arguments are offered regarding the prospects facing Third world countries, both from the point of view of installing modern TC :facilities, and from the perspective of locally manufacturing and developing microelectronic systems. Part 3 examines Brazil's attempt to absorb and diffuse digital TC technology. In the mid 1970s the government introduced a deliberate policy of expanding the domestic TC infrastructure, and building up local technological capabilities. measures were introduced to set up a national R&D facility in digital TC, and a strong effort was made to reduce Brazil's dependence on the multinational corporations as well as to foster the development of indigenous industry. In each of these areas economic and technological indicators of Brazil's performance are presented and analysed, both in the light of the stated policy objectives of the government, and in the broader context of microelectronic diffusion and the developing countries. During the empirical research an effort is made to explore the nature of the accumulation process with digital, information technology, by contrasting this new technological form with previous, electromechanical forms of TC. Using the theoretical concepts developed in Part one, the mechanisms by which Brazil acquired and diffused the technology during the learning process are analysed. By these means the study tries to isolate the ways in which digital technology was accumulated at the levels of R&D, firm, sector, government and macroeconomy. While it is recognised that Brazil is a unusual case among the developing countries, special attention is payed to possible issues of relevance to other Third World nations. In terms of technology policy, it is hoped that Brazil's achievements in managing the technology gap will prove useful to other developing nations currently attempting to efficiently absorb the new technology, and avoid the dangers of a widening technology gap.