3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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    The relationship of labour relations on entrepreneur’s firm’s performance in Gauteng South Africa
    (2019) Lecage, Themba Sebolao
    This study looks at labour unrest at automobile manufacturing plants in Gauteng South Africa. It is a qualitative study whereby management representative’s, workers and trade union representatives were interviewed about their challenges about their relationship in the workplace. Solutions are then discussed amongst the various stakeholders and a futurist view is then given to the researcher about the relationship. The idea of this topic came because of the high labour unrest in South Africa and the worry was its impact on private companies especially in the motor manufacturing industry where global markets play an essential role in terms of demand. Trade unions in South Africa have played a pivotal role in dismantling apartheid injustices in the workplace. Trade unions now in a democracy have to find their new sense of purpose in a democratic South Africa while protecting worker’s rights at the same time. This balance becomes very difficult especially with the current economic climate in South Africa. Entrepreneurs in South Africa are sceptical about hiring large amounts of labour in South Africa due to the threat of trade unions at their workplace. All of this becomes the fear of the unknown and a balance of power then erupts at the workplace and entrepreneurs fear the worst in investing in factories in the country because of this. This study finds the balance between these two powerful forces on how best can they work together so that ultimately more jobs can be created and the economy can benefit in the long run. This study opens the stereotype mind-sets people have of each other as a country and helps us find the common goal in achieving the best results for our companies and country.
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    Analysing the impact of collective bargaining in an industry where workers have low bargaining power: case study of the KZN contract cleaning industry
    (2017) Hlangoti, Nobuhle Dambile
    The aim of this research report is to investigate the impact of collective bargaining in an industry where workers have low bargaining power. It seeks to understand what collective bargaining has been able to achieve for workers in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) contract cleaning industry. Contract cleaning is one of the most precarious and poorly organised sectors in South Africa. Scholars contend that contract cleaning has re-introduced one of the many aspects that characterised the apartheid workplace. In investigating how collective bargaining has impacted contract cleaners and their view of the labour relationship, the history of the industrial relations system and the mechanisms that regulate the contract cleaning sector (sectoral determination and collective bargaining) are considered. Debates surrounding the usefulness of collective bargaining in the current industrial relations system and the operation of this mechanism in a triangular employment relationship are discussed. Though references are made to the sectoral determination for contract cleaning, the focus of the research report is on collective bargaining. The data for this research was collected using both primary and secondary sources. In relation to the former, interviews were conducted with officials of the bargaining council and trade unions. Interviews were also conducted with workers in the KZN contract cleaning industry. In relation to the latter, documentary data that was relevant to the research topic, such as the KZN contract cleaning main agreement, the Decent Work Programme and legislation, was examined. The findings of this study demonstrate that workers in the KZN contract cleaning industry lack voice and cannot have meaningful inputs in the workplace. A representation gap exists that is exacerbated by the division between unions. The implications of this situation are that wages are lower than those prescribed by the sectoral determination, the non-compliance of firms becomes a prevalent issue and strike action becomes inefficient. With the continuous labour unrest in the current industrial relations system in South Africa it is apparent that the current labour legislation has not able to protect precarious workers found in new forms of employment
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    The shifting dynamics of the relations between institutionalisation and strike violence: a case study of Impala Platinum, Rustenburg (1982-2012)
    (2016-03-08) Chinguno, Crispen
    This dissertation explores the shifting patterns of institutionalisation of industrial relations and violence in strikes over a period of thirty years, shaped by the transition from apartheid to democracy. It draws from an ethnographic study of Impala Platinum mine between 1982 and 2012 and some analysis of the Lonmin Platinum strike in 2012. It traces the trajectory of institutionalisation from the period of apartheid despotism, the transition to inclusive and participatory industrial relations system, through to the second decade after the democratic transition. The overriding aim of this study which is informed by theories of institutionalisation of industrial relations is to understand how workplace order is attained, sustained, challenged and change overtime. This dissertation argues that the institutionalisation of industrial relations is highly unstable, precarious and generates new forms of conflict and worker solidarity. It is continuously being (re)configured, and violence is part of this making, remaking and unmaking of order. This cycle informs the nature and repertoires of strike violence. This thesis shows the ambiguity of institutionalisation of industrial relations as a source of power. It simultaneously empowers and dis-empowers. It confers rights and at the same time constrains how the rights may be exercised. The broader context shaping the South African labour relations before the democratic transition was informed by apartheid which produced a despotic labour regime and an insurgent trade unionism characterised by various forms of violence. This resulted in institutionalisation of negotiations and recognition of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at Impala Platinum in Rustenburg. This process of institutionalising industrial relations and bureaucratisation of the union happened in the context of broader national democratic transition and shift to an industrial democracy. The NUM evolved into a dominant and highly institutionalised union at Impala Platinum and nationally. The industrial relations shifted from non-hegemonic to a hegemonic system in which class relations were sustained through consent. Consequently, insurgent trade unionism was institutionalised but ironically crystallised into a class compromise which undermined the attainment of union goals. This simultaneously generated some elements of insurgent trade unionism from below by 2009. The study observed that insurgent trade unionism characterised by informal structures and networks challenging the institutionalisation of industrial relations was renewed or reinvigorated reasserting resistance to the co-option of the union by 2012. The primary contribution of this thesis is that it develops a typology explicating the variations of institutionalisation of industrial relations and violence in strikes over time, capturing different and complex power relations: ‘ideal institutionalisation’, ‘de-institutionalisation’ and ‘re-institutionalisation’. Ideal institutionalisation of industrial relations crystallizes a particular balance of organisational and institutional power and when this is disturbed it may be (re)configured. Ideal institutionalisation is attained and sustained where organisational power commensurate with institutional power. Moreover, if the balance dissipates and or is not sustained, there is bound to be a shift/backlash towards de-institutionalisation or unmaking of institutionalisation of industrial relations. The transition of institutionalisation of industrial relations is a function of power play between capital and labour mediated by the state and tied to worker agency. This thesis sheds light on how worker agency continually changes shaping the industrial relations and how a diverse workforce attempts to overcome divisions and fragmentation through forging solidarity including utilising coercive means, conceptualised as a ‘violent solidarity’. Key words: institutionalisation, strike violence, industrial relations, trade union, insurgent unionism, violence.
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    The perceptions of human resources and industrial relations managers on the impact of the 2012 Marikana incident on industrial relations in South Africa
    (2016-03-07) Nqapela, Ntembeko
    This study conducted a thematic content analysis qualitative methods approach to explore the perceptions of the “Impact of the 2012 Marikana labour unrest on labour and industrial relations in South Africa”. Perceptions of industrial relations stakeholder role efficacy; causes and consequences of labour-management conflict, intra-union conflict and inter-union conflict are discussed. Economic, political, sociological factors as well as the influence of group dynamics are discussed to frame the impact of the 2012 Marikana incident on labour and industrial relations in South Africa.
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