3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The response of the labour movement in South Africa towards the 2008/9 world economic crisis of capitalism: a Marxist critique of the trade union perspectives and strategies in the great recession(2019) Sebei, M.D.This study examines the responses of the South African trade union movement to the impacts of the Great Recession. The Great Recession is used to refer to the world economic crisis of 2008/9. Its impact on South Africa had enormous implications for the South African economy and its workers. The report reflects on and critiques how trade unions in South Africa responded to the impacts of the crisis on workers. The focus of the report is on the three trade union federations, COSATU, FEDUSA and NACTU, which were the main federations and ‘official’ representatives of organised labour at the time. The report studies and critically reflects on the theoretical perspectives of the trade unions and their policy and organisational responses to the impacts of the crisis. In its critical engagement with the trade unions’ perspectives and organisational responses, the report is theoretically grounded in a Marxist perspective. These perspectives and responses are studied against the historical background of the international and South African labour movement. The historical background is used to frame the purpose and role of the trade movement, which provides a basis to evaluate the trade union perspectives and responses to the Great Recession. The fundamental proposition of this report is that the trade unions are elementary organisations of labour whose purpose is to organise and defend interests of the workers and to regulate the terms of the relations of the producers with the employers. The historical context also allows comparative analysis of the trade union responses in the Great Recession with the reactions in the previous crises, and the changes that took place in the trade union politics. To understand the trade union politics and responses, the study focuses on the theoretical analysis, policy declarations, and political and organisational reports of the federations and, in some instances, those of their affiliates. Interviews, archival and participatory research also assisted in collecting data. The main conclusion of the report is that the trade union movement failed the workers. The workers have shown determination to fight, reflected in the number and militancy of their strikes. Unfortunately this will to fight was not matched by the political leadership of the trade union movement with political strategy, perspectives, and campaigns to harness this will to struggle and to unite various contingents of the working class into a mass movement that could defeat the neoliberal austerity measures and provide fighting and revolutionary alternatives, as workers have in previous crises internationally.Item 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, NtembekoThis 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.