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Browsing Wits Library by Author "Adler, Glen"

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    Bargained liberalisation: the labour movement policy-making and transision in Zambia and South Africa.
    (1994-08-04) Adler, Glen; Webster, Eddie;
    The authors offer a social democratic alternative to neo-liberalism. First, liberalisation must be accompanied by social policies that minimise socialcosts. Second, policies must be designed with a view towards growth, and finally, policies must be formulated and implemented through corporatist-style consultation and negotiation beyond the state and parliament to include unions, employers and other interest groups. "Concertation" is central to their argument: it subjects the reform strategy to the competitive interplay of political forces, improves policy outcomes, builds support for the continuation of reforms, and helps consolidate democratic institutions.
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    The neglected role of labour relations in the South African public service
    (2000-04) Adler, Glen
    Public service workers now enjoy trade union and collective bargaining rights for the first time in the country's history. These changes provide public servants with opportunities to bring their conditions of service into line with industrial relations 'best practice' in the private sector, and for black workers in particular, to redress decades of racism, employment insecurity, and low pay.
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    Of shop floors and rugby fields : the social basis of auto worker solidarity
    (1994-09) Adler, Glen
    Limited choices were available to black workers in the auto plants in the late 1960s. Blacks received poor wages for performing the worst jobs, and faced virtually unbridled supervisorial despotism. For coloureds, the promise of union protection was still some years away, while Africans were to wait another decade. It was only in the years after 1968 that African activists at Volkswagen even dared speak privately about unions. Opting out was not an option; the only alternatives were either the false face of the smiling, minstrellike puppet, or waiting patiently until conditions changed. The 1980 Volkswagen strike was a watershed in the development of the autoworkers' union. Moreover, the Volkswagen workers' mass action was all the more unusual because workers were successful. Most unusual of all was that their solidarity crossed the dividing lines defined by the racial classification system: Africans joined with their coloured co-workers in industrial action.The basis of this solidarity is the subject of this paper.
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    "Render unto Caesar' : the central state, local government and struggles over segregation in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage, 1948-1962
    (1995-09) Adler, Glen
    In early December 1968 the Town Council of Uitenhage began the first forced removals of African people from the inner-city location of Kabah to the new township of Kwanobuhle on the southern Municipal boundary. The removals were the beginning of a comprehensive plan to make Uitenhage conform to apartheid urban policy principles by removing Africans from Kabah, where they had historically lived side-by-side with coloureds, and reproclaiming the old location as part of the growing Coloured Group Area. However, in the two decades that followed these removals, Kabah was never fully conquered by the state. Both central and local governments perennially failed to realise the goal of comprehensive social engineering due to shortages of funds, bureaucratic inefficiency, continued migrations from Cape country districts, and the stubborn efforts of ordinary people to stake a claim to urban space. By contrast, in 1968 Port Elizabeth was well along the path of near-total segregation. A decade earlier Africans had been virtually entirely removed to proclaimed townships, and in the late 1960s the Municipality was embarking on a program of removing Coloureds. The result of these programs was that Port Elizabeth soon became among the most segregated cities in South Africa.
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    Skills, control, and 'careers at work': possibilities for participatory management in the South African motor industry.
    (1992-10) Adler, Glen
    Low levels of skills and high levels of monotomy are associated with work in auto-plants. In South Africa workers develope a wide range of skills and perform a wide variety of jobs. These skills are called 'tacit skills' in this paper. The workers problems are from the injustice of the system of job grading, reward and promotion. Worker's knowledge is not recognised. If this was recognised productivity would improve. Some companies are begining to introduce workplace participation involing workers.