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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Industrial relations & safety > Industrial relations
Without much fanfare Ahmed Kathrada worked alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other giants in the struggle to end racial discrimination in South Africa. He faced house arrest and many court trials related to his activism until, finally, a trial for sabotage saw him sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Mandela and six others.
Conversations with a Gentle Soul has its origins in a series of discussions between Kathrada and Sahm Venter about his opinions, encounters and experiences. Throughout his life, Kathrada has refused to hang on to negative emotions such as hatred and bitterness. Instead, he radiates contentment and the openness of a man at peace with himself. His wisdom is packaged within layers of optimism, mischievousness and humour, and he provides insights that are of value to all South Africans.
South African higher education students have for the years 2015 and 2016 stood up to demand not only a free education but a decolonised, African-focused education. The calls for decolonisation of knowledge are the ultimate call for freedom. Without the decolonisation of knowledge, Africans may feel their liberation is inchoate and their efforts to shed Western dominance all come to naught.
Over the years various African leaders including Steve Biko wrote about the need to decolonise knowledge. The call for decolonisation is largely being equated with the search for an African identity that looks critically at Western hegemony. Biko sought the black people to understand their origins; to understand black history and affirm black identity. These are all embedded in the struggle to decolonise and search for African values and identities.
The contributors in this book treat several but connected themes that define what Africa and the diaspora require for a society devoid of colonialism and ready for a renewed Africa. “The discussions we develop and the philosophies we adopt on Pan Africanism and decolonisation are due to a bigger vision and for many of us the destination is African renaissance”. Everyone has a role to play in realising African renaissance; government, churches, universities, schools, cultural organisations all have a role to play in this endeavour.
Sociopolitical occurrences in recent years have, if anything,
brought to the fore the close relationship between developments in
the labour market and progress on the socio-econo-political
terrain. The ideological divides in South Africa are especially
apparent in the labour market, and these compound the basic
conflict between the objectives of protecting basic worker rights
on the one hand, and increasing economic growth on the other. The
South African labour market contains an abundance of information
about labour markets in general and the South African labour market
in particular. The South African labour market has a down-to-earth
and practical approach. It considers the evidence and identifies
some urgent discussion points about the sensitivity of employment
to economic growth. Three appendix chapters deal extensively with
the impact of globalisation on the labour market, how other
countries have managed the challenges of globalisation, and
consensus-seeking institutions such as Nedlac. Questions and study
suggestions are included at the end of each chapter. The South
African labour market is aimed at economics students as well as
general readers wanting an overview of the South African labour
market. The late Dr Frans Barker was a senior executive at the
Chamber of Mines. During his career, he was also vice-president of
the Economic Society of South Africa and president of the
Industrial Relations Association of South Africa. He served on
governing structures of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), was a
commissioner for the Commission for Employment Equity and was also
involved in Nedlac in various roles. Dr Barker lectured at a number
of universities and was the author of several publications related
to labour issues. Derek Yu is an associate professor at the
Department of Economics at the University of the Western Cape. He
has a decade of teaching experience in undergraduate and
postgraduate Labour Economics, and has published comprehensively in
this area. He is also the author of the first edition of Basic
mathematics for economics students: theory and applications.
Pietman Roos has a decade's experience in different civil society
organisations including national government, news media and
organised business. He has worked on economic policy formulation,
commentary, negotiation and advocacy, and has lectured
undergraduate economics and jurisprudence.
Understanding the CCMA Rules & Procedure is an explanation of
the Rules for the Conduct of Proceedings before the CCMA, and an
invaluable guide to the various CCMA processes and proceedings.
Understanding the CCMA Rules & Procedure will assist the reader
in understanding a sometimes complicated and confusing set of
rules. Each CCMA rule is explained and summarised. In cases where a
rule has been interpreted by the CCMA or Labour Courts, the
relevant award or judgment is brought to the reader's attention.
Understanding the CCMA Rules & Procedure also contains: The
text of the rules for easy reference; A useful matrix of CCMA forms
and their uses; Templates for rescission and condonation
applications; The CCMA guidelines on misconduct arbitration; The
code of conduct for CCMA commissioners.
Progressive unions flourished in the 1930s by working alongside
federal agencies created during the New Deal. Yet in 1950, few
progressive unions remained. Why? Most scholars point to domestic
anti-communism and southern conservatives in Congress as the forces
that diminished the New Deal state, eliminated progressive unions,
and destroyed the radical potential of American liberalism. Rights
Delayed: The American State and the Defeat of Progressive Unions
argues that anti-communism and Congressional conservatism merely
intensified the main reason for the decline of progressive unions:
the New Deal state's focus on legal procedure. Initially,
progressive unions thrived by embracing the procedural culture of
New Deal agencies and the wartime American state. Between 1935 and
1945, unions mastered the complex rules of the NLRB and other
federal entities by working with government officials. In 1946 and
1947, however, the emphasis on legal procedure made the federal
state too slow to combat potentially illegal cooperation between
employers and the Teamsters. Workers who supported progressive
unions rallied around procedural language to stop what they
considered Teamster collusion, but found themselves dependent on an
ineffective federal state. The state became even less able to
protect employees belonging to left-led unions after the
Taft-Hartley Act's anti-communist provisions-and decisions by union
leaders-limited access to the NLRB's procedures. From 1946 until
1950, progressive unions withered and eventually disappeared from
the Pacific canneries as the unions failed to pay the cost of legal
representation before the NLRB. Workers supporting progressive
unions had embraced procedural language to claim their rights, but
by 1950, those workers discovered that their rights had vanished in
an endless legal discourse.
Contingent Workers' Voice in Southern Europe investigates the
manifold challenges posed by the continued expansion of the
platform economy, the rise of non-standard forms of employment, and
the diversification of work identities. Leading authors explore the
potentialities and barriers for collective protection and
representation of contingent workers in the platform economy, based
on the experiences, needs, and aspirations of workers in Italy and
Spain. Chapters undertake in-depth analyses of a diverse and
innovative variety of initiatives for the protection, organization,
and representation of contingent workers. The book ultimately
constructs a framework to interpret the evolution of contingent
workers' experiences, allowing trade unions, social movements, and
cooperatives to develop organizational and representative practices
that better respond to their needs. This incisive book will be of
interest to researchers and advanced students of sociology,
international relations, political science, and labour law. Its
practical insights will also enable trade unionists, activists, and
policymakers in the field of labour relations to make informed
decisions and identify possible avenues for development.
An account of the assault on the Union at Grangemouth in 2013, when
workers were forced to accept cuts in their pay andconditions by
the owner's threat of closure. Written by the Grangemouth convenor,
The Battle of Grangemouth is a vital storyin trying times, and
demonstrates why, now more than ever, being organised is vital for
the defense of basic right at work. Published in association with
Unite the Union.This book tells the story of the industrial dispute
at Grangemouth in 2013, when the owner threatened to close a large
part of the complex unless the workforce accepted severe cuts to
their wages and conditions. The events at Grangemouth represented,
in very acute form, the disaster of contemporary approaches to
running the economy. What was once a publicly owned and well-run
national asset has been allowed to fall into the hands of a company
controlled by one man - Jim Ratcliffe - who thus has been able to
exert immense power over the future of a vital national
resource.Ratcliffe conducted a relentless campaign against the
union at the site, with the intention of removing its main
organisers, partly through exploiting the row in Falkirk Labour
Party over candidate selection. Through these endeavours he
succeeded in inflicting considerable hardship on a large number of
people, but he did not destroy the strong union organisation at
Grangemouth, which remains committed to defending the workforce and
local community from his depredations.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not
used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad
quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are
images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to
keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the
original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain
imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made
available for future generations to enjoy.
Who were the women who fought back at Grunwick and Gate Gourmet?
Striking Women gives a voice to the women involved as they discuss
their lives, their work and their trade unions. Striking Women is
centred on two industrial disputes, the famous Grunwick strike
(1976-78) and the Gate Gourmet dispute that erupted in 2005.
Focusing on these two events, the book explores the nature of South
Asian women's contribution to the struggles for workers' rights in
the UK labour market. The authors examine histories of migration
and settlement of two different groups of women of South Asian
origin, and how this history, their gendered, classed and
racialised inclusion in the labour market, the context of
industrial relations in the UK in the two periods and the nature of
the trade union movement shaped the trajectories and the outcomes
of the two disputes. This is the first account based on the voices
of the women involved. Drawing on life/work history interviews with
thirty-two women who participated in the two disputes, as well as
interviews with trade union officials, archival material and
employment tribunal proceedings, the authors explore the
motivations, experiences and implications of these events for their
political and social identities.
Winner of the 2021 Sara A. Whaley Prize of the National Women's
Studies Association (NWSA) A first-of-its-kind study of the
working-class culture of resistance on the Honduran North Coast and
the radical organizing that challenged US capital and foreign
intervention at the onset of the Cold War, examining gender, race,
and place. On May 1, 1954, striking banana workers on the North
Coast of Honduras brought the regional economy to a standstill,
invigorating the Honduran labor movement and placing a series of
demands on the US-controlled banana industry. Their actions
ultimately galvanized a broader working-class struggle and
reawakened long-suppressed leftist ideals. The first account of its
kind in English, Roots of Resistance explores contemporary Honduran
labor history through the story of the great banana strike of 1954
and centers the role of women in the narrative of the labor
movement. Drawing on extensive firsthand oral history and archival
research, Suyapa G. Portillo Villeda examines the radical
organizing that challenged US capital and foreign intervention in
Honduras at the onset of the Cold War. She reveals the everyday
acts of resistance that laid the groundwork for the 1954 strike and
argues that these often-overlooked forms of resistance should
inform analyses of present-day labor and community organizing.
Roots of Resistance highlights the complexities of transnational
company hierarchies, gender and race relations, and labor
organizing that led to the banana workers' strike and how these
dynamics continue to reverberate in Honduras today.
This Elgar Introduction provides an overview of some of the key
theories that inform human resource management and employment
relations as a field of study. Leading scholars in the field
explore theories in the context of contemporary debates concerning
policies that affect and regulate work and the management of
employment, as well as the activities and experiences of actors
within the employment relationship. The book is divided into three
sections to capture different theoretical lenses used to reflect on
HRM and ER concerns about work: systems and historical development;
institutions; and people and processes. Expert contributors have
drawn on extensive research experience to present a contemporary
understanding of a range of theories, how they evolved, and how
they might be used in the future. Essential reading for HRM, ER and
management scholars and research students, this book challenges
readers to reassess their thinking about the significance of theory
in research and practice.
This engaging and timely book provides an in-depth analysis of work
and labour relations within global platform capitalism with a
specific focus on digital platforms that organise labour processes,
known as labour platforms. Well-respected contributors thoroughly
examine both online and offline platforms, their distinct
differences and the important roles they play for both large
transnational companies and those with a smaller global reach.
Chapters explore how labour platforms have become controversial and
ambiguous as they increasingly appear to provide important sources
of work and income globally but conversely raise concerns over
exploitation of workers and the lack of legal protection provided
to them. Offering a global perspective and including studies from
different continents, the book covers three key areas: platform
work in the wider context of contemporary capitalism, labour
platforms from an international division of labour perspective, and
labour processes and relations. This informative and
thought-provoking book is an excellent resource for scholars with a
particular interest in political economy, the sociology of work,
labour relations and labour policies. Policymakers and regulators
looking to understand how to effectively apply existing regulations
for platform workers when creating new business models will also
find this an invigorating read.
This cutting-edge book charts the latest ideas and concepts in
employment relations research. Mapping out the intellectual
boundaries of the field, The Future of Work and Employment outlines
the key research and policy outcomes for work and employment in the
age of digitisation and artificial intelligence. Internationally
renowned contributors unpack the implications of the latest
developments in employment relations, from the rise of the gig
economy to the role of platform companies, from perspectives such
as employment (in)security, equity, fairness, wellbeing and voice.
Reviewing the extant literature on the future of work, and
exploring the biggest issues facing the modern workforce, this book
argues for a research base that allows more sober reflections on
the grand claims that dictate the future of work.
Empirically-grounded and incisively-argued, the book forms critical
reading for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of
business and human resource management, featuring insight into the
latest developments in the field. Researchers, policymakers and
practitioners will also benefit from its implications for policy
and its blending of theory and practice.
Focusing on public administration activities in the field of
national labour policy, this timely book provides detailed analyses
of labour administration reforms, innovations and challenges in
different countries, including detailed case studies from Brazil,
Germany, India, Japan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the US.
Combining rigorous research and practical policy recommendations,
the book contains contributions from top scholars in the fields of
economics, employment relations, labour law and public
administration, as well as officials from the International Labour
Organization (ILO). Chapters offer wide-ranging investigations of
topics such as labour inspection, social dialogue involving
employer organizations and trade unions, and the role of
performance management and new technologies in labour
administration. The book further demonstrates the vital role of
labour administration in upholding employment rights and promoting
employment, emphasizing the ways in which it can contribute to good
governance, sustainable development and decent work. This will be a
critical read for employment relations, global labour studies and
public administration scholars. Policy makers and practitioners
working in and around employment policy and labour law will also
find this book beneficial, particularly with its in-depth case
studies.
The Covid, climate and cost of living crises all hang heavy in the
air. It's more obvious than ever that we need radical social and
political change. But in the vacuum left by defeated labour
movements, where should we begin? For longtime workplace activist
Ian Allinson, the answer is clear: organising at work is essential
to rebuild working-class power. The premise is simple: organising
builds confidence, capacity and collective power - and with power
we can win change. Workers Can Win is an essential, practical guide
for rank-and-file workers and union activists. Drawing on more than
20 years of organising experience, Allinson combines practical
techniques with an analysis of the theory and politics of
organising and unions. The book offers insight into tried and
tested methods for effective organising. It deals with tactics and
strategies, and addresses some of the roots of conflict, common
problems with unions and the resistance of management to worker
organising. As a 101 guide to workplace organising with politically
radical horizons, Workers Can Win is destined to become an
essential tool for workplace struggles in the years to come.
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