Magister Commercii - MCom / Workers' right to strike is embedded in the South African Constitution and this right generally reflects a sign of fairness. Strike activities form a vital part of collective bargaining and the supremacy liaison between employers and employees would be severely ruined if workers are not entitled the right to strike. Ever since the right to strike was documented in the South African Constitution, strike actions have been a collective occurrence in the country. Reasons for strikes in South Africa are multi-layered and their effects are harmfully disastrous. Workers are on strikes due to various reasons such as low pay, inequality, and unemployment as a result of union conflicts and the inequitable degree of labour relations. However, strikes would lead to various problems in the economy, such as reduced production, scaring off investors, labour replaced by capital, etc. This study first defines the various key concepts relating to industrial action, before reviewing the theories on strikes as well as the results of past local and empirical studies. The study moves on to use the Department of Labour's 2003-2014 Industrial Action Report data to provide descriptive statistics on strike activities in 1999-2014 by broad industry categories (examining the number of strikes, work hours lost, work days lost, time-loss ratios, principle causes of strikes, most active trade unions involved in strikes), before using a static approach to estimate the value of total production foregone as well as the value foregone as a proportion of gross value added (GVA) by industry in each year as a result of strikes. Finally, the older 1970-1998 strikes data from the International Labour Organization (ILO) is ‘merged’ with the abovementioned 1999-2014 data, to examine the econometric relationship between strikes and business cycles, and it is found that strikes are procyclical.

Arvid Nordquist HAB rostar, maler och packar kaffe i sin fabrik i Solna, Stockholm. Efter installation av ett program för produktions- och driftuppföljning, RS Production, har det uppmärksammats att andelen korta stopp (Mikrostopp, varar upp till två minuter) ibland är hög. Projektets mål var således att undersöka de mest frekventa orsakerna till mikrostopp samt att försöka ta fram förslag på åtgärds- eller handlingsplaner. Ett mål var även att utreda om de stoppkategorier som finns i RS production är relevanta. För att uppfylla målen ställdes följande frågor: Kan operatörerna beskriva verkligheten med de kategorier som finns i RS Production idag? Vilka är de huvudsakliga stopporsakerna för kategorin Mikrostopp? Vilka åtgärder kan vidtas för att minska stopptiden relaterad till stopporsaker ikategorierna Mikrostopp, Felorsak okänd och Orsak Övrigt? Data samlades in från RS Production, observationer samt med hjälp av enkäter och samtal med operatörer och tekniker. De tre främsta orsakerna till stopp är silobyte, paket fastnar och paket välter. Vidare framkom att det inte är någon större skillnad på antal stopp mellan skiften. Helgskiften hade färre stopp totalt, men har också totalt färre timmar. Nattskiften hade flest stopp när antal stopp per arbetad timme beräknades. Eco, Kok och Festivita hade flest stopp per packat ton kaffe. Antalet mikostopp reduceras enklast med en buffert. Utöver mikrostopp studerades även kategorierna Felorsak okänd och Orsak övrigt. Dessa används på ett likartat sätt och det framkom från enkäterna att det rådde delade meningar om hur Felorsak okänd används. Felorsak okänd och Orsak övrigt verkade användas trots att passande kategorier finns i RS Production. En anledning till detta är att stopp inte kategoriseras av operatör på en gång, en annan kan vara att operatör inte känner till eller orka leta fram rätt kategori. Här rekommenderas att dessa två kategorier slås samman till en. / Arvid Nordquist HAB roasts, grinds and package coffee in their factory in Solna, Stockholm. It has come to light, following the installation of software (RS production) for production and operation management, that the number of short stops (“Mikrostopp”, lasting for 2 minutes or less) sometimes is very high. The main goal of this project was therefore to examine what the most frequent causes for stops in the “Mikrostopp” category and to try to produce solutions and action plans. Another goal was to examine if the categories for stops in RS Production are relevant. To reach the goals following questions were asked: Can the operators describe the reality with the categories that are available in RS Production today? What are the main causes for stops in the category “Mikrostopp”? What measures can be taken to reduce the downtime related to causes for stoppages in the categories “Mikrostopp”, “Felorsak okänd” and “Orsak Övrigt”? Data was collected from RS Production, observations, a survey and discussions with operators and technicians. The three most common causes for stops are change of silo and packets getting stuck or falling. The analysis shows that stops are evenly distributed over the working shifts. The weekend shifts had fewer stops when the total number of stops for each type of shift was compared. When number of stops per working hour was calculated, the night shift had the highest number. Eco, Kok and Festivita had the highest number of stops when number of stops per kind and tonne of packaged coffee was analysed. The downtime related to micro stops can be reduced with the help of buffers. In addition to the Mikrostopp category, the categories named Felorsak okänd and Orsak övrigt were studied. These categories were used in an analogous way, and the survey showed that how and when Felorsak okänd were to be used was perceived differently between operators. Both “Felorsak okänd” and “Orsak övrigt” were used even though there were other fitting categories in RS Production for the stop. One reason for this could be that the operator did not categorize the stop until later. Another reason could be that they did not know where to find a more suitable categoryor did not care to look. The solution to this problem is simply to merge these two categories and use as one

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The South African mining industry has become known to be an important contributor to the South African economy. Subsequently, the closure of mines due to various reasons has resulted in major economic losses for mines. This study's aim is to investigate the mine closures caused by the regulatory body, namely the Department of Mineral Resources via the enforcement of the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) by the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate. The Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate has wide discretionary powers that enables them to close a mine or part thereof, often inconsistently or unfounded which may result in economic and other losses. The closure of mines due to compliance issues, known as section 54 stoppages, has caused a fiery debate and controversy within the mining industry due to the inconsistent issuing of such compliance orders. It resulted in the closure of mines for certain periods of times. The South African courts have been approached to interpret section 54, but it appears that there are still challenges remaining. Whilst the legislation in place is based on the duty posed on the employer to provide a workplace that is safe and without risk to the employee, the manner in which the legislative provisions are enforced, specifically the closures of or part of a mine, has to be investigated, the root problem/s identified and addressed. This study compares the enforcement measures of the MHSA with that of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the National Environmental Management Act in order to make recommendations the more effective and efficient enforcement of section 54. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The South African mining industry has become known to be an important contributor to the South African economy. Subsequently, the closure of mines due to various reasons has resulted in major economic losses for mines. This study's aim is to investigate the mine closures caused by the regulatory body, namely the Department of Mineral Resources via the enforcement of the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) by the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate. The Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate has wide discretionary powers that enables them to close a mine or part thereof, often inconsistently or unfounded which may result in economic and other losses. The closure of mines due to compliance issues, known as section 54 stoppages, has caused a fiery debate and controversy within the mining industry due to the inconsistent issuing of such compliance orders. It resulted in the closure of mines for certain periods of times. The South African courts have been approached to interpret section 54, but it appears that there are still challenges remaining. Whilst the legislation in place is based on the duty posed on the employer to provide a workplace that is safe and without risk to the employee, the manner in which the legislative provisions are enforced, specifically the closures of or part of a mine, has to be investigated, the root problem/s identified and addressed. This study compares the enforcement measures of the MHSA with that of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the National Environmental Management Act in order to make recommendations the more effective and efficient enforcement of section 54. / LLM (Environmental Law and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:08:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao - Helio Junio Gomes.pdf: 1556447 bytes, checksum: 1316eb94a42a76a12c1062c722417d10 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-26 / Secondary networks are essential for the process of distributing electrical energy to the final consumer, and their performance is related to their design, the quality of materials and equipment employed, environmental conditions, damage caused by third parties, and maintenance services. In this context, the objective of the present work is to carry out feasibility studies of the compact secondary networks in the distribution system of CELG D, an electric power distribution concessionaire and a crucial element of the electrical system of the state of Goiás, Brazil. The development of this research took into consideration the initial investment, the operational cost and the performance of these networks. It can therefore be concluded that, although the cost of implementation of the compact network is approximately 14% higher than the conventional cost, its installation is extremely viable because, in addition to reducing the preventive maintenance services required for this network, there is an improvement in the continuity of electrical power supply, two factors that are fundamental in an increasingly competitive market. / As redes secundárias são fundamentais no processo de distribuir a energia elétrica ao consumidor final e o seu desempenho está relacionado à sua concepção, às qualidades dos materiais e dos equipamentos empregados, às condições ambientais, aos danos causados por terceiros e aos serviços de manutenção. Este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar estudos de viabilidade das redes secundárias compactas no sistema de distribuição da CELG D, por ser uma concessionária de energia elétrica de grande importância para o sistema elétrico do Estado de Goiás. No desenvolvimento desta pesquisa, consideraram-se o investimento inicial, o custo operacional e o desempenho dessas redes. Conclui-se que, apesar de o custo de implantação da rede compacta ser, aproximadamente, 14% maior do que o custo da convencional, sua instalação torna-se bastante viável, pois além da redução dos serviços de manutenção preventiva necessários para essa rede, há melhoria da continuidade no fornecimento de energia elétrica, fatores esses considerados fundamentais, num mercado cada vez mais competitivo.