Protecting and organising the apartheid and post-apartheid precarious municipal workforce: the Cape Town Municipal Workers Association and the South African Municipal Workers Union in Cape Town
- Authors: Mathekga, Jerry Mmanoko
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: African National Congress , COSATU , South African Municipal Workers Union , Apartheid South Africa , Municipal officials and employees South Africa Cape Town , Neoliberalism , Contracting out , Precarious employment
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467072 , vital:76812 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467072
- Description: The contemporary, global expansion of precarious employment poses key challenges for unions based on workers in full-time, stable employment (i.e. workers in the so-called “Standard Employment Relationship” – SER). South African unions and federations like the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), have resolved to organise these workers for decades. Most unions have, however done little to put these intentions into effect, even though precarity threatens union survival. A notable exception amongst unions in both the state and private sectors is COSATU’s South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). SAMWU has a long history of consistently acting to protect and organise precarious workers. This is the puzzle with which this thesis grapples: why has SAMWU been different? This question is examined through a focus on Cape Town, the city in which the union has the deepest roots: its main, immediate predecessor, the Cape Town Municipal Workers Association (CTMWA), was founded in Cape Town in 1918. Answering the question posed above requires examining the record: how has SAMWU – and before it, the CTMWA – protected and organise precarious workers in the municipal sector over time? And further, why did CTMWA and SAMWU act this way, when many others have not? The answers lie in the distinctive character of the organisation’s trade union identity, drawing on Richard Hyman’s work, which moves beyond broad labels (business unionism, political unionism, etc.) and normative prescriptions (what unions should, ideally, do) to develop a nuanced model of what predisposes, and enables, certain union choices, actions, and responses union. The popular power resources approach (PRA) to unions helps map the resources available to unions but cannot explain why unions use power resources in specific ways. The thesis argues that the evolving union identity of the CTMWA and SAMWU predisposed it to organising workers, and that this evolving identity has been shaped by the distinctive features of the Western Cape and its political traditions, a long history of multiple municipal labour markets in Cape Town, and the specificities of that city, including the black African / Coloured division, its independent left traditions, the relative weakness of the COSATU’s allies, the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), in local government, and the peculiar dynamics of municipal restructuring. This thesis draws on both labour history and industrial Sociology, arguing that a dialogue between these two disciplines enriches labour studies. This thesis draws on a wide range of primary sources, both historical and contemporary, examines historical processes and change, and engages in a dialogue between historical and sociological work. It argues for the need to historicise precarity, avoiding a “year zero” approach that treats it as a novel challenge for unions, and as reducible to neo-liberalism. It insists that labour responses are shaped by place and time, and so, for the need to balance macro-level discussions of trends with local specificities. It argues that notion of a sharp rupture between the surging new wave of unionism that started in South Africa in 1973, from which COSATU emerged, and the older traditions of registered unionism has been overstated. More attention needs to be paid to the imprint of the more radical registered unions, like CTMWA, on the new unionism. Rejecting pessimistic accounts that see unions as doomed by precarity, it draws attention to long histories of relatively successful and sustained union responses, like those of CTMWA/ SAMWU. However, it questions prescriptive approaches that centre on what unions should do, highlighting how evolving union identity shapes what unions can do. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
- Authors: Mathekga, Jerry Mmanoko
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: African National Congress , COSATU , South African Municipal Workers Union , Apartheid South Africa , Municipal officials and employees South Africa Cape Town , Neoliberalism , Contracting out , Precarious employment
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467072 , vital:76812 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467072
- Description: The contemporary, global expansion of precarious employment poses key challenges for unions based on workers in full-time, stable employment (i.e. workers in the so-called “Standard Employment Relationship” – SER). South African unions and federations like the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), have resolved to organise these workers for decades. Most unions have, however done little to put these intentions into effect, even though precarity threatens union survival. A notable exception amongst unions in both the state and private sectors is COSATU’s South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). SAMWU has a long history of consistently acting to protect and organise precarious workers. This is the puzzle with which this thesis grapples: why has SAMWU been different? This question is examined through a focus on Cape Town, the city in which the union has the deepest roots: its main, immediate predecessor, the Cape Town Municipal Workers Association (CTMWA), was founded in Cape Town in 1918. Answering the question posed above requires examining the record: how has SAMWU – and before it, the CTMWA – protected and organise precarious workers in the municipal sector over time? And further, why did CTMWA and SAMWU act this way, when many others have not? The answers lie in the distinctive character of the organisation’s trade union identity, drawing on Richard Hyman’s work, which moves beyond broad labels (business unionism, political unionism, etc.) and normative prescriptions (what unions should, ideally, do) to develop a nuanced model of what predisposes, and enables, certain union choices, actions, and responses union. The popular power resources approach (PRA) to unions helps map the resources available to unions but cannot explain why unions use power resources in specific ways. The thesis argues that the evolving union identity of the CTMWA and SAMWU predisposed it to organising workers, and that this evolving identity has been shaped by the distinctive features of the Western Cape and its political traditions, a long history of multiple municipal labour markets in Cape Town, and the specificities of that city, including the black African / Coloured division, its independent left traditions, the relative weakness of the COSATU’s allies, the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), in local government, and the peculiar dynamics of municipal restructuring. This thesis draws on both labour history and industrial Sociology, arguing that a dialogue between these two disciplines enriches labour studies. This thesis draws on a wide range of primary sources, both historical and contemporary, examines historical processes and change, and engages in a dialogue between historical and sociological work. It argues for the need to historicise precarity, avoiding a “year zero” approach that treats it as a novel challenge for unions, and as reducible to neo-liberalism. It insists that labour responses are shaped by place and time, and so, for the need to balance macro-level discussions of trends with local specificities. It argues that notion of a sharp rupture between the surging new wave of unionism that started in South Africa in 1973, from which COSATU emerged, and the older traditions of registered unionism has been overstated. More attention needs to be paid to the imprint of the more radical registered unions, like CTMWA, on the new unionism. Rejecting pessimistic accounts that see unions as doomed by precarity, it draws attention to long histories of relatively successful and sustained union responses, like those of CTMWA/ SAMWU. However, it questions prescriptive approaches that centre on what unions should do, highlighting how evolving union identity shapes what unions can do. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
The effects of outsourcing practices conducted by organisations in Nairobi
- Authors: Wachira, Wanjungu
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Contracting out , Industrial management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4988 , vital:20775
- Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between outsourcing and development in Nairobi. The key research question for this study is what are the impacts of outsourcing practices conducted by organisations in Nairobi? Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed in December 2010. A total of 85 profit-making firms in Nairobi with a sample of 165 management employees were selected for this study. The empirical findings obtained relate to four outsourcing theories. Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) Theory focuses on the cost savings that result from outsourcing. Agency Outsourcing Theory centres on outsourcing firms hiring agents to achieve productivity. Hiring agents may result in permanent staff being retrenched and additional outsourcing personnel being contracted and job creation and/or job loss results. Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) emphasises the importance of an outsourcing provider conforming to quality management principles. Resource Based Theory (RBT) proposes that organisations need a collection of resources and capabilities to execute outsourcing successfully. Findings further suggested that outsourcing can yield positive and/or negative outcomes depending on risks encountered, the business environment, company policies, function/s to be outsourced, and the competence and commitment of an outsourcing vendor. To further enhance the positive impact of outsourcing three improvements need to be executed: formulation of standard policies, price regulations, and commitment of outsourcing firms in adhering to set contract deadlines. It is suggested that the following would allow organisations to gain more from outsourcing in the future: the adoption of international/offshore outsourcing practices, more commitment by outsourcing consultants, the standardisation of charges for outsourcing contracts, and the use of new technology that would improve how outsourcing is conducted. It is concluded that the positive impacts of outsourcing would foster development to some extent while the possible negative impact of outsourcing would impede development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Wachira, Wanjungu
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Contracting out , Industrial management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4988 , vital:20775
- Description: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between outsourcing and development in Nairobi. The key research question for this study is what are the impacts of outsourcing practices conducted by organisations in Nairobi? Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed in December 2010. A total of 85 profit-making firms in Nairobi with a sample of 165 management employees were selected for this study. The empirical findings obtained relate to four outsourcing theories. Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) Theory focuses on the cost savings that result from outsourcing. Agency Outsourcing Theory centres on outsourcing firms hiring agents to achieve productivity. Hiring agents may result in permanent staff being retrenched and additional outsourcing personnel being contracted and job creation and/or job loss results. Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT) emphasises the importance of an outsourcing provider conforming to quality management principles. Resource Based Theory (RBT) proposes that organisations need a collection of resources and capabilities to execute outsourcing successfully. Findings further suggested that outsourcing can yield positive and/or negative outcomes depending on risks encountered, the business environment, company policies, function/s to be outsourced, and the competence and commitment of an outsourcing vendor. To further enhance the positive impact of outsourcing three improvements need to be executed: formulation of standard policies, price regulations, and commitment of outsourcing firms in adhering to set contract deadlines. It is suggested that the following would allow organisations to gain more from outsourcing in the future: the adoption of international/offshore outsourcing practices, more commitment by outsourcing consultants, the standardisation of charges for outsourcing contracts, and the use of new technology that would improve how outsourcing is conducted. It is concluded that the positive impacts of outsourcing would foster development to some extent while the possible negative impact of outsourcing would impede development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »