Trade unions have been in existence for many years. Although their introduction was generally met with resistance, since their establishment trade unions have been important agents of social change worldwide. Over the years, trade unions have been involved in politics and other societal activities. In South Africa, trade unions for many years not only fought for worker’s rights within the workplace but also beyond the workplace. Trade unions started as friendly societies aimed at assisting their members with various matters, including offering financial help for education purposes and also in cases of illnesses. Although the main purpose of trade unions is to regulate relations between employees and their employers, trade unions perform other functions in society which can be broadly referred to as their social responsibility role. Unlike corporate social responsibility, which is recognised and formalised, trade union social responsibility is not, with the role and importance of social responsibility for trade unions having been largely ignored. This thesis aims at changing this by investigating their core responsibilities and their social responsibilities and subsequently making recommendations on how trade unions could recognise and accommodate their social responsibilities in their activities. It also considers factors that could assist trade unions in fulfilling their social responsibilities. Trade unions generally obtain legislative support for their core responsibilities, but not their social responsibilities; however this should not obstruct trade unions in such endeavours. As modern organisations it is high time that trade unions make a contribution towards sustainable development through their social responsibility role. / Private Law / LLD

The purpose of this essay is to examine wage-earners' investment funds from the ideological point of view. Were they in any way an integrated part of social democratical democratic socialism and reformism? I emphasize Olof Palme´s ideological idea of democratic socialism and reformism, and how he handled the issue. How did the question of these funds correspondent with the basic ideological points of view, and what was the standpoint of Palme in this issue. My method is built upon a deep study and analyses of SAP board of party and the standing committees protocol in the light of Olof Palme´s and SAP's ideology. I even use information from literature, inquiries and dissertations. I will mainly focus on Palme´s standpoint during this time. There are the tree question areas and answers in this essay. There is an obvious tension between the two poles of labour movement, the state socialism represented by the social democratic party with a social outlook from above and the movement socialism, represented by the trade union movement with view from below. How did the wage-earners' investment funds stand to this traditional tension? How did Olof Palme remain to it? The answers to these questions are, that Olof Palme was very aware of this tension and he warned the trade union to be too radical. The proposal had a more reformistic formation when it was transmitted from the movement socialistic pole to the state socialistic pole. How did the wage-earners' investment funds fit in democratic socialism? The proposal of the wage-earners' investment funds meant that the function socialistic line, which traditionally was brought by the social democracy, now was changed to the line of ownership. Was it Palmes intention to implement a socialistic society with the help of the wage-earners' investment funds, to be more an a large public sector? The final proposition was a compromise and had lost its radical characteristics. It was never Olof Palme’s intention to implement a socialistic society with the help of the wage-earners' investment funds. How did the wage-earners' investment funds fit in the reformistic point of view? Were they system changing or system preserving, or both? The answer to this in this essay is, that the origin proposal was radical and system changing. The final proposal was both system preserving and system changing.

Ce mémoire se penche sur la co-construction du rapport au travail et au syndicalisme des enseignant·e·s du secteur scolaire québécois membres d’un syndicat local affilié à la Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE). D’une part, il pose le problème de « l’impasse » du syndicalisme nord-américain (MacDonald 2014) dans l’optique d’une métamorphose de « l’esprit du syndicalisme » (Goldthorpe et al 1972). D’autre part, il opère un dialogue entre les conceptions de la citoyenneté de Christopher McAll (1999, 2009) et la thèse de Rolande Pinard (2000, 2008 ; 2018) quant à la mutation du sens social-politique (ouvrier ou syndical) au profit de l’invention managériale de la catégorie de l’emploi. En mobilisant le concept de rapport au travail et l’approche compréhensive de la perspective des parcours de vie et professionnels (Côté 2013 ; Demazière 2019), il (re)construit les expériences de travail et syndicales de trois des neuf enseignant·e·s rencontré·e·s afin de dégager les significations que ces personnes octroient à leur travail ainsi qu’au syndicalisme. L’analyse des matériaux de recherche confirme partiellement la thèse de Pinard. Elle démontre que la catégorie de l’emploi occupe une place déterminante dans l’appréhension du syndicalisme chez les participant·e·s. Par ailleurs, en se saisissant exclusivement du regard « d’en bas », c’est-à-dire des expériences des membres non-élu·e·s (MNE) et des personnes déléguées (PD), l’analyse déployée dans ce mémoire permet également de saisir la transversalité et la singularité des événements, activités et rencontres interpersonnelles qui façonnent, dans l’espace et dans le temps, le rapport au travail et au syndicalisme des personnes enquêtées, lesquels sont traversés par des rapports de pouvoir (intra et inter syndicaux) ainsi que trois univers sociosémantiques : 1) celui de la famille ; 2) celui de la gestion/pensée experte et 3) de la religion. Trois figures ont été pensées pour illustrer les situations et réalités sociales qui modulent le rapport au syndicalisme des enseignant·e·s interrogé·e·s : 1) celle du syndicat presque-fantôme et la notion d’illusion syndicale ; 2) celle du syndicat-manager et 3) celle du syndicat-taylorisé. / This dissertation examines the co-construction of the relationship to work and unionism among teachers in the Quebec school sector who are members of a local union affiliated with the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE). On the one hand, it poses the problem of the "impasse" of North American unionism (MacDonald 2014) from the perspective of a metamorphosis of the "spirit of unionism" (Goldthorpe et al 1972). On the other hand, it operates a dialogue between Christopher McAll's (1999, 2009) conceptions of citizenship and Rolande Pinard's (2000, 2008; 2018) thesis on the mutation of the social-political meaning (worker or trade union) in favour of the managerial invention of the employment category. By mobilizing the concept of relationship to work and the comprehensive approach of the life-course and career perspective (Côté 2013; Demazière 2019), it (re)constructs the work and union experiences of the teachers met in order to identify the meanings that they attribute to their work and to unionism. The analysis of the research materials partially confirms Pinard's thesis. It shows that the employment category plays a decisive role in the participants understanding of unionism. Moreover, by looking exclusively from "below", i.e. from the experiences of non-elected members (MNEs) and delegates (PDs), the analysis in this dissertation also makes it possible to grasp the transversality and singularity of the events, activities and interpersonal encounters that shape, in space and time, the relationship to work and trade unionism of the persons surveyed, which are traversed by power relationships (inside and between trade union) as well as three socio-semantic universes: 1) related to family; 2) management/expert thought and 3) religion. Three figures have been thought to illustrate the social situations and realities that modulate the relationship to unionism of the teachers interviewed: 1) that of the near-ghost union and the notion of union illusion ; 2) that of the union-manager and 3) that of the taylorized union.

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L’entreprise transnationale s’impose comme un pouvoir économique puissantdans le contexte de mondialisation. Dénuée de personnalité morale, elle n’est appréhendéeque partiellement par les droits internes. En dehors du droit supranational qui présente descarences et n’assure qu’une régulation partielle, les relations de travail dans l’entrepriseglobalisée restent largement appréhendées par les droits nationaux et les paradigmes dudroit du travail n’ont guère évolué pour s’ajuster à leur singularité. La nature du droit quisaisit ces rapports n’est donc pas commensurable à leur réalité transnationale.L’insuffisance du cadre d’analyse actuel oblige alors à dépasser le doublecloisonnement des systèmes juridiques et des personnes morales afin de développer dessolutions globales. Une analyse tant positiviste que prospective du droit révèle l’existenced’un processus d’adaptation en cours, celui-ci devant toutefois être renforcé et étendu.Il s’agit donc de mettre en place un principe d’ajustement du droit à ces relations de travail,lequel révèle l’identité du transnational : la transnationalité est une expression du pluralisme.L’adaptation du droit suppose, d’une part, que l’entreprise soit recomposée en tantqu’organisation et qu’elle soit mise en synergie avec les autres acteurs de la gouvernancemondiale. Le mouvement d’adéquation implique, d’autre part, qu’un droit global, « postmoderne» et pluraliste, reposant sur un socle de droits fondamentaux, voit le jour. Ainsi,c’est au prix de ces évolutions que l’on parviendra à une régulation adaptée des relations detravail dans l’entreprise transnationale ainsi qu’à l’émergence d’un droit social de lamondialisation. / Transnational companies now stand as leading economic powers in aglobalisation context. Stripped of any legal personality, they are only partly bound by thenational laws. Aside from supranational law, which is incomplete provides only partialregulation, labour relations within globalised companies remain largely bound by nationallaws while the paradigms of labour law have barely evolved in order to adjust to theirsingularity. The nature of the law that governs those professional relations is therefore notcommensurate to their transnational reality.The deficiencies of the current framework for analysis thus compel researchers to gobeyond the twofold boundaries of legal systems and legal entities in order to develop suitableglobal solutions. A positivist, forward-looking analysis of the law reveals the existence of anadaptation process that is already underway but which must also be extended andstrengthened.It is therefore a matter of establishing a legal adjustment principle within those labourrelations, which reveals the identity of the transnational: transnationality is an expression ofpluralism. Legal adaptation assumes, on the one hand, that companies be reconstructed asorganisations and that a synergy be established with other players in the field of globalgovernance. The alignment trend implies, on the other hand, the birth of a "post-modern",pluralist global law, resting on a foundation of fundamental rights. It is thus at the cost of suchdevelopments that an adapted regulation of labour relations will be achieved withintransnational companies, together with the emergence of a globalised social law.

Cette thèse a pour objectif principal d’interroger les mécanismes régissant la dynamique corporatiste et les logiques d’action du collectif des instituteurs au Gabon. Cette réflexion a été orientée au départ par deux constats : l’action collective enseignante et les changements statutaires marquant l’évolution de ce groupe professionnel. La démarche méthodologique s’appuie sur l’apport de plusieurs disciplines des sciences sociales et de diverses approches théoriques. L’hypothèse théorique repose sur l’idée de la constitution d’un corps de métier. Cette thèse tente d’appréhender le métier d’instituteur à partir d’un triptyque articulant trois pôles d’analyse : les relations sociales, l’organisation et le contexte social.L’enquête de terrain réalisée auprès des différents acteurs éducatifs, principalement les instituteurs, est centrée sur les conditions de vie et de travail de ces derniers. L’analyse porte à la fois sur les aspects statutaires, les relations entre les instituteurs et les autres acteurs de l’action pédagogique - principalement les élèves, les familles, les pouvoirs publics - et sur la pratique quotidienne de la classe. Elle met en lumière, la pluralité des identités socioprofessionnelles et la variabilité des pratiques professionnelles suivant les configurations relationnelles, les règles organisationnelles et le contexte socioculturel de travail. A titre d’exemple, l’instituteur notable dans un village devient le fonctionnaire mal payé en ville. De même, quand la gestion de la discipline en classe, la multiplicité des activités variées, la recherche des outils didactiques, l’entretien de la classe, rythment une matinée de travail de l’instituteur de l’école publique et de ses élèves, l’exploitation maximale des nombreuses ressources pédagogiques disponibles caractérise une matinée de travail de l’instituteur de l’école conventionnée.L’analyse permet aussi de cerner les mécanismes qui sous-tendent les accords et les désaccords au sein du système scolaire dans sa globalité. Des dispositifs de formation non adaptés aux conditions réelles de travail, la marginalisation de l’instituteur étranger à la province, les attentes des familles vis-à-vis de l’instituteur exerçant dans son village d’origine, la fuite des classes d’examen ou des classes pléthoriques par certains instituteurs, la constitution et la gestion des budgets dans les établissements, la radicalisation ou non de l’action syndicale… sont autant de facteurs sources des oppositions caractérisant les relations des instituteurs entre eux, des instituteurs avec les parents d’élèves ou avec les pouvoirs publics. / This thesis has for objective to examine the mechanisms governing the corporatist dynamics and logics of action of the collective of teachers in Gabon. This reflection has been directed at the outset by two observations: the teacher collective action and statutory changes marking the evolution of this occupational group. The methodological approach relies on the contribution of several disciplines of social sciences and various theoretical approaches. The theoretical assumption rests on the idea of the creation of a corps of business. This thesis attempts to apprehend the profession of schoolmaster from a triptych linking three areas of analysis: social relations, organization and social context.The field survey conducted among different educational actors, mainly teachers, is centered on the life and work of these conditions. The analysis focuses both on the statutory aspects, relations between teachers and other actors of the educational action - mainly students, families, public authorities - and the daily practice of the class. It highlights, the plurality of professional identities and professional practice variability following relational configurations, organizational rules, and, the social and cultural context of work. For example, the significant teacher in a village becomes an employee being poorly paid in the city. Similarly, when the management of discipline in the classroom, the multiplicity of varied activities, looking for teaching tools, maintenance of the class, punctuate a morning's work of public school teacher and of his students, the maximum exploitation of the many educational resources available characterized a morning's work of the partner school teacher.The analysis can also identify the mechanisms underlying the agreements and disagreements within the school system in its entirety. Training devices not adapted to the actual conditions of work, the marginalization of the teacher in the province, the expectations of the families against the teacher in his home village, leakage of exam classes or oversized classes by some teachers, the constitution and the management of budgets in institutions, radicalization or non of Union action... are all factors sources of opposition characterizing the relationships of teachers between them teachers with parents of students or the public authorities.