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MA, Faculty of Humanities, Univesrity of the Witwatersrand, 2001

PhD, Faculty of Humanities, 1988

MA (Labour Policies and Globalisation), Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / South African pension fund assets are estimated at ZAR 1 924 billion. This is a large pool of funds that is collected from workers. However, the contention is that workers, whose savings make up the assets of pension funds have little influence on how these funds are used. As a result, most of the funds are invested in corporations, which do not reflect the aspirations of the labour movement. The argument is that if these funds were under the control and direction of the working class, enormous contributions would be made towards economic growth, socially useful investments, community development, employment creation and growth in retirement benefits. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which trade unions have been able to promote the interest of members and direct pension fund investment in sectors that will have a positive impact on working families and their communities in South Africa. This study adopted a qualitative method, using purposive sampling and a semi-structured outline to conduct face-to-face interviews with union unions and fund managers. Collected data were analyzed using content analysis. Results were categorized into two distinct parts. The first part looked at pension fund investment regulation and management, asset allocation, investment practices and composition of the pension board. The second part described trade unions’ role in promoting the interest of pension fund members; the extent of their influence in pension fund investments; their contribution to strengthening pension fund governance and how to enhance their influence and control of pension fund investments. The study suggests that trade unions have a critical role to play in pension fund management through their representation on the pension boards. However, the success can only be achieved if trade unions have a clear policy that spells out labour’s agenda on pension issues. Additionally, union trustees should be supported to getting involved in understanding their plans and develop capacities in capital market strategies, investment and economic development.

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This thesis examines the theoretical and empirical predictions of the effects of reductions in hours of work on wages and employment, the economic efficiency arguments for such reductions and the related issue of the determination of hours of work in a bargaining framework. The conventional approach, assumes that workers will want to maintain their incomes in the face of reductions in hours of work per period. This is difficult to justify theoretically, when hours and union/worker utility are taken properly into account. Rather, unions and workers that desire reductions in hours of work are likely to opt for the same or even a reduced hourly wage, leading to a significant employment effect of any such measure. We show that this result is true in labour markets and economies where unions determine or bargain over the wage and in models where firms set the wage because it affects their workers' productivity. It is also true when firms demand positive overtime, when such models account properly for the long-run movement of hours of work. The thesis examines also the determination of hours, employment and wages in a bargaining framework and shows that the employment effects of unionism are likely to be overestimated when no account is taken of the hours determination procedure. This allows us also to provide an economic rationale for union behaviour regarding reductions in hours of work and maximum hours legislation and determine the conditions under which reductions in standard hours of work can increase union utility and firm profits. Finally, empirical evidence is provided with a test of the relationship between the hourly wage and weekly hours of work, using aggregate data. We use a large number of variables and different estimation techniques to avoid simultaneity. Our results suggest, in line with the theoretical predictions, that changes in hours of work have no effect on the hourly wage.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This study selects two segments of American society, church and labor, within which to examine official pronouncements of specific agencies for the purpose of setting forth the image of labor organization contained therein. The study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the nature of labor organization by examining the image of organized labor held by national levels of church and labor organizations, and to test the hypothesis that the disparaties in image between church and labor groups has led to ambiguity in the church-labor relationship and to confusion with respect to church strategy concerning labor organization. The source material for this study is made up of the official pronouncements of the selected groups consisting of the national agencies of the American Federation of Labor, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Within each group the study is confined to the highest level of national organization and the verbalizations which issue from that source. The method used in handling the data represents a median between statistical procedures of content analysis and purely qualitative procedures. The investigation is set forth in the form of a preliminary historical survey of labor organization in America and is followed by an analysis of the pronouncements of the agencies selected for study. The images of labor organization which emerge from this study can be summarized as follows: 1) The A. F. of L. sees itself during this period as the defender of the kind of labor organization that protects the basic economic welfare of the workingman by preserving his "freedom" to bargain collectively with the employer without government intervention. Laissez-faire collective bargaining is looked upon as the crucial means by which greater material prosperity can be won and is often identified with the essence of "freedom" itself. 2) The C. I. 0. image of itself relates labor organization more positively to government and shows less tendency to worry about government intervention. C. I. O. pronouncements emphasize collective bargaining as an obligation as well as a right and see it as a contribution to industrial democracy and democracy in general. 3) The image of labor organization revealed in the major Protestant agency during the period under study reveals an increasing tendency to see labor organizations as "big labor" and coordinate in power with management. 4) The image of labor organization revealed in the pronouncements of the National Catholic Welfare Conference displays a more frankly sympathetic acceptance of labor organizations as they are, with some concrete suggestions as to how they might be improved in line with Catholic social policy. Church policy shows a tendency to react to past forms of labor organization rather than to witness to present forms of labor organization. D1e Industry Council Plan promoted by the Roman Catholic church gives a frame of reference and a goal for Catholic policy not apparent in Protestant statements. The social justice ideals of earlier Protestant efforts served to relate the Protestant churches meaningfully to the emerging "labor movementn in the struggle for "rights," but at the same time unwittingly encouraged a materialism within labor organization. The pronouncements of the National Council during the ten year period following the close of World War II fail to disclose either a comparable crusade for the goals of organized labor or a comprehensive framework for the understanding of the nature and role of labor organization. It would seem that both the idea of "community" and the Protestant idea of the "calling" might serve as possible starting points for the development of a meaningful Protestant witness to organized labor.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Administration in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / The study used collective service delivery violence to appraise President Zuma in the opinions of the eThekwini-based trade union collective’s leadership. In justification of trade union choice for this purpose, credentials were tabled by portraying the crucial role trade union played in the political process and employment of collective action in South Africa, in pursuing important national issues and championing popular collective objectives like freedom. The trade union collective’s leadership selection was motivated by trade union collective’s historic leadership of collective action in South Africa, influence on the ANC and government. It was shown that collective service delivery violence became a national problem by giving statistical evidence of the proportions to which it grew, since it started as peaceful protests and turned violent in 2007. Collective action theory was employed to understand collective action in general, different types of collective action and to explain collective action phenomena in South Africa. Collective service delivery violence in particular was explained as social movement type of collective action. After reviewing service delivery legal framework and 2007 service delivery status quo, the study investigated perceptions of the eThekwini-based trade union collective’s leadership on collective service delivery violence, under the Zuma presidency. A qualitative method was used to determine trade union collective leadership’s awareness of collective service delivery violence and a quantitative method was used for data analysis. The study determined what the trade union collective’s leadership thought were the causes, consequences, solutions to collective delivery violence and the impact of collective service delivery violence on trade union collective leadership’s opinion of president Zuma, support and his performance.