Inter-union Rivalry Research Articles

Safety and health before and after Marikana: subcontracting, illegal mining and trade union rivalry in the South African mining industry

ABSTRACT Mine and worker Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) remains crucial given the historically dismal record of fatalities and accidents in mining in South Africa. OHS also played a central role in the resurgence of trade unionism of black South African mineworkers in the 1980s. While the OHS literature has the workplace as its predominant focus, this article explores three factors relating to conditions external to and beyond mining production: subcontracting, illegal mining and inter-union rivalry. By drawing on empirical studies conducted over two decades, employing a range of research methodologies, the article shows how these factors impact negatively on the mechanisms regulating safety and occupational health. The article concludes that understanding the OHS environment cannot remain restricted to the underground mining workplace. Instead, it points to a broader conceptualisation of OHS and notes the implications for worker politics and progressive research practice.

From fatalism to mass action to incorporation to neoliberal individualism: worker safety on South African mines, c.1955–2016

ABSTRACTThe article resurfaces ‘tacit knowledge’ to periodise developments in worker safety in South African mines. ‘Tacit knowledge’ evolved over time, is orally transmitted, learned on the job, and is central to worker safety; it lay behind acts of resistance and demands for a safer mining workplace which underpinned unionisation, and which won worker safety representation under apartheid. Under democracy, a modern consultative tripartite legislative safety regime was instituted. With worker representation institutionalised, health and safety legislation enacted and tripartite institutions established, procedural compliance eclipsed workers’ ‘tacit knowledge’. The right to refuse to do dangerous work, state-initiated safety work stoppages and the impact on safety of inter-union rivalry are currently in the spotlight and are noted below. With the state firmly in neoliberal mode post-Fordism, this article concludes by noting the emergence of the individualisation of safety – ironically motivated by a behaviourist construal of ‘tacit beliefs’ underpinning a major industry safety initiative.

Challenges of Trade Union Movement in India

The trade union movement in India is facing many challenges. The finances of the unions are generally in a bad shape. Multiplicity of unions and inter-union rivalry makes it difficult to take a constructive approach to problems and issues. Heterogeneity of membership renders the unions unstable, weak, fragmented, uncoordinated and amorphous. Besides this, majority of unions are managed by professional politicians and lawyers who have no experience of physical work and no commitment to the organization. These outside leaders may give precedence to their personal interests and prejudices than welfare of the workers. Development of internal leadership is also not encouraged by unscrupulous politicians in the garb of union leaders. Keeping in mind all these challenges various scholars and practitioners have suggested certain measures to strengthen trade union movement in India. Developing internal leadership, presenting a united labor front for bargaining, ensuring financial stability of unions, having paid full time union office bearers, extending the boundaries of trade unions to unorganized sector and ensuring strong central legislation for recognition of representative union are some of the measures that can change the face of trade unionism in India.

Challenging ‘umthetho we femu’ (the law of the firm): gender relations and shop-floor battles for union recognition in Natal's textile industry, 1973–85

AbstractAs part of a growing working-class movement that sought full legal status as employees in South Africa, stable urban residence and union recognition, female African factory workers became part of a dynamic new labour movement emanating from the shop floor. At the same time, this new role allowed them to challenge patriarchal structures of authority in the factory, the community and the home. This article examines the gender dimension of a bitter inter-union rivalry that beset Durban's Frame textile complex during the early 1980s. With African unions at last recognized by the apartheid state, Frame sought to bolster the strength of a compliant company union in order to thwart the organizing drive of a more confrontational independent union, an affiliate of the newly established Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU). This union rivalry was fought out in the courts as well as inside the factory, in the streets of Durban's townships, and in an African workers’ hostel in nearby Clermont. The legal dispute generated affidavits by women workers attesting to the pressures they faced to join the company union and their reasons for preferring FOSATU. This evidence shows that African women successfully challenged the patriarchal authority of male managers, security personnel, indunas and male co-workers at Frame in order to join an independent union.

Inter- Union Rivalry, Legitimacy and Union Influence on Shop-Floor Industrial Relations in Zimbabwe’s Urban Councils

The article examines how inter-union rivalry affects shop-floor industrial relations in Zimbabwe’s urban councils. In essence inter union rivalry destroy union solidarity and creates unnecessary competition which end up destroying effective shop-floor worker representation. In an attempt to garner membership and quest to claim legitimacy, the study reveals strategies adopted by unions, which further creates a huge rift among them. This massive competition to enhance trade union density results in unions channelling more energy on fighting each other and in the process abandoning their role of advancing worker interest. Resultantly findings reveal a weakened state of worker representation and an invisible managerial hand in trade union affairs extending the managerial prerogative. Political interference and dominance is equally witnessed. The paper recommends unity of purpose in representing mutual employee interests, as well as minimal political tolerance on union business, unconditional collaboration and willingness to compromise.

Limiting organisational rights of minority unions: POPCRU v Ledwaba 2013 11 BLLR 1137 (LC)

The labour unrest and strike violence that has brutalised the South African labour market in recent times can be attributed, in part, to inter-union rivalry. Minority unions, seeking to stake their claim in a sector or business, have declared turf-war against majority unions - with this often escalating into loss of life, damage to property, and dire economic consequences. This labour unrest have had both local and global repercussions, which is evidenced in a weakened currency, reduced global investment, declining productivity, and increasing unemployment rates in the sectors affected. The condition of the mining sector - ravaged by inter-union rivalry between the minority union Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) and the majority union National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) - bears testament to these effects.

The Growing Incidents of Labour Unrest, Inter-Union Rivalry and Violence: A Case Study of Veicol

Productive labor force plays a significant role in contributing to economy of a country. This case is a study is about labor unrest in a major auto component manufacturing unit in south India VEICOL. Liberalization had its impact on this industry and company which adopted major ways to cut costs by deploying contract labor. For almost over more than 2 years there was resentment among workers and the Unions had protested against management’s strategy to employ contract labor. The workers resorted to work stoppages, vandalized company property and resorted to violence resulting in the death of the executive of HR in 2009. This is not a single isolated incident as such incidents have become quite common and this case study is an attempt to focus on this issue and identify potential responses to prevent such incidents in future. Incidents like this will certainly send wrong signals to investors across the globe, especially at a time, when the economy is showing signs of early revival and the country is trying to attract FDI. This unprecedented scenario demands that stakeholders gain a better understanding of the ground situation and make far-reaching changes.

Industrial Disputes, Causes and Settlement: An Indian Perspective

An industrial dispute is a manifestation of a disagreement and a difference of opinion between the two disputants, namely the employer and the workmen. The potential for conflicts exist in all human situations and organizations. A passive and subdued workforce is not conducive for good relationships. The relationships in the industrial relations system start with cooperation, soon change between the two into conflicts, and after they are resolved, change again into one of cooperation. This changing process is a continuous feature of the industrial relations system. Industrial disputes arise due to various causes, which may be classified into economic, organizational, physical, technical, political, psychological and market-oriented conditions. The workers are especially interested in higher wages, congenial working conditions, and opportunities for career advancement, welfare facilities, job satisfaction and the like. When these are denied to them, the workers are forced to assert their rights, which then lead to industrial disputes. In the present economic scenario, there is a situation of rising input costs and declining output prices. Productivity improvement becomes imperative even to maintain the existing levels of profitability. The resultant squeeze in employment, wages, dearness allowance, bonus and benefits create a sense of helplessness and result in disputes in the industrial setup. The present research paper analyses the causes and settlement of disputes from the perspectives of both - the workers and the management and suggests measures for maintaining good relations between the management and the workmen. The Findings of the study show that bonus, wages and allowances are the major causes responsible for industrial disputes from the perspective of both the workers and the management. Inter-union rivalry is the prime factor which influences disputes, and arbitration is the best way for the settlement of disputes.

Industrial Disputes, Causes and Settlement: An Indian Perspective

An industrial dispute is a manifestation of a disagreement and a difference of opinion between the two disputants, namely the employer and the workmen. The potential for conflicts exist in all human situations and organizations. A passive and subdued workforce is not conducive for good relationships. The relationships in the industrial relations system start with cooperation, soon change between the two into conflicts, and after they are resolved, change again into one of cooperation. This changing process is a continuous feature of the industrial relations system. Industrial disputes arise due to various causes, which may be classified into economic, organizational, physical, technical, political, psychological and market-oriented conditions. The workers are especially interested in higher wages, congenial working conditions, and opportunities for career advancement, welfare facilities, job satisfaction and the like. When these are denied to them, the workers are forced to assert their rights, which then lead to industrial disputes. In the present economic scenario, there is a situation of rising input costs and declining output prices. Productivity improvement becomes imperative even to maintain the existing levels of profitability. The resultant squeeze in employment, wages, dearness allowance, bonus and benefits create a sense of helplessness and result in disputes in the industrial setup. The present research paper analyses the causes and settlement of disputes from the perspectives of both - the workers and the management and suggests measures for maintaining good relations between the management and the workmen. The Findings of the study show that bonus, wages and allowances are the major causes responsible for industrial disputes from the perspective of both the workers and the management. Inter-union rivalry is the prime factor which influences disputes, and arbitration is the best way for the settlement of disputes.

Failure of democracy

FOCUS □ WORKERS'RIGHTSINFORMALANDINFORMALMINING Failure of democracy The mine preceding Rustenburg where days police killings ten shot people at 34 Lonmin's miners were and murdered Marikana inthe minewherepoliceshot34miners andinthe preceding daystenpeople were murdered sent a shudderthroughpost-apartheid South Africa. It exposed how muchof itsdemocracy still rests on cheapblackmigrant labour. Themainactors involved trade unions, Lonmin Pic (a British company)and theState,including thepolice. Tradeunions Initially the spotlight beamed on the majority National UnionofMineworkers ('NUM'),an affiliateoftheCongress ofSouth African TradeUnions ('COSATU'), and the minority Amalgamated Mining Construction Union('AMCU').COSATU, theNUM,thecompany andtheStateblamedthe violenceon inter-union rivalry. AMCUwithlimited rights atLonmin's Kareeshaft was blamedfor using violence inanattempt tosupplant NUMand extenditsmembership to Lonmin's central and eastshafts. Soon however thedissatisfaction ofRockDrill Operators('RDOs'), mainlymigrants fromthe Eastern Cape, at their R4500pm wages emerged. RDOslabourunderground sometimes sevendays a weektoreachproduction targets andbonuses, indangerous, hotdusty conditions buthadbeen neglectedin the bargaining process.This was partly due to Lonmin's outdatedgrading system whichrewards people fortheir decisionmaking rather thantheirhardlaboureven ifcrucialto production. RDOs had overthe pastyearssignalled theirdissatisfaction and were promised theirwages would be revisited but thisnever happened. Theirstrike was influenced by a similar stoppage at ImpalaPlatinum ('Implats')in February when Implatsgrantedan 18 percentwage increaseto scarceblasters. ThisincensedRDOs who formed independent workers'committees, dismissed theNUM,whichtheyfelthad failed them, andstruck. Theylater contacted AMCUand following a three-week strike won increases. In a blunder akinto thatof Implats, Lonmin offered RDOsa R750increase, which mineworkers rejected. On 10August 3000workers marched to management todemand a R1 2,500 basiconlytobe informed that a twoyearagreement was inplace andthey should consult their union. Theymarched totheNUMbranch offices anditwasherethat two oftherockdriller protesters wereshotdead.This unleashed a cycleofviolence. Management refused the3000strikers accessto itsWonderkop Stadium andinconsequencethey assembledon Wonderkop behindthe informal settlement where theyresidedand demanded management meetthem.It refused arguing the strike was unprocedural. On August 15 NUM, AMCU and Lonmin's industrial relationsmanagerdecided jointlyto engagestrikers. HowevertheNUMpresident was forcedto addressthemfrom a police armoured vehicleso great was hisfearofworkers' hostility. Whywas NUM,thechampion ofmineworkers in the 1980s and 1990s, now regardedas the enemy? For some years mineworkers in Rustenburg hadbeencomplaining aboutNUM'spoorservice. Confusion aboutbenefits, taxand otherdeductionson pay slips,bonuses,and fluctuating pay abounded. Workereducationwas weak and recruitment ofnewmembers routine as theNUM havingachieveda majority of 50+1 percentof membership had ineffect a closedshop. Workers witnessedNUM officials residingin comfortable houses,travelling in unioncarsand withtheir higher education levelsworking above groundwithhigher wages. The unionhad also successfully negotiated for full-time stewards tobe housedina company office. Ineffect a unionelite had emerged distanced from underground membership andremoved from subcontracted workers whereitsmembership was weak.Thissocialdistanceled to a senseofbetrayal amongst workers whoquestioned NUM'sability toassistthem. NUMcondemned AMCUfor dividing mineworkersandemploying violence todo so blaming itfor killing twopolice,NUMworkers andtwoLonmin security guards. Thetruth however ismoremurky. Many Lonmin strikers weredisgruntled NUMmembersacting outside oftheunion's mandate andhad notnecessarily joinedAMCU.Suchworkers acted independently and thekillings ofthepoliceand minesecurity mayhavebeena furious response to them dogging theirmovements.So how to describethem:NUMmembers, disaffected NUM members, AMCUmembers orindependents? The NUM had been alertedby the company that itsmajority haddroppedbelow50+1percent and thatithad threemonths to rectify thisso it was desperateto retain membership. The stakes werehighforbothunions.Whatis clearhowever is thatworkersuse violencein disputesno matter theunionandthere is anecdotalevidence thatshop stewards establish'underground' violence committees to 'support' above boardbargaining structures. Ina recent COSATUsurvey 50 percent ofmembers said theybelievedviolence was justified in a strike as a way of rectifying injustice. Allegations ofviolencehave been laid againstall sides in the days leadingup to the massacre, butmostcommonly AMCUis blamed. Thereareconcerns that AMCUmaytooreadily use coerciveformsof recruitment. It is also a smallunionwhichraisesquestions as towhether itwillhavethecapacity to serviceSouthAfrica's largest workplaces. The Rustenburg killingsat Lonmin's Marikana mine sent a shudder throughpostapartheidSouth Africato follow KALLY FORREST isa researcher in the Institute for Society Work and Development atthe University of the Witwatersrand. Page 3Volume 19Issue 3201 2 INTERNATIONAL union rights FOCUS □ WORKERS'RIGHTSINFORMALANDINFORMAL MINING The case has exposed how muchofthe country's democracystill restson cheap black migrant labour Many South Africanswere disturbed by COSATU'sdelayedresponseto themassacre.Its reaction was dictated by NUMwhichhad convinceditthatthekillings weretheresponsibility ofAMCU.ForCOSATOtheissuebecameone of protecting thelabourrelations system in which workers taking independent unprocedural action wereviewedwithdisapproval. A strange position when mostCOSATO affiliates have confronted unprocedural strikes. Formanyworkers anyway unprocedural strikes are management constructs and when undulyprovokedtheysimplytake action. A monthafter themassacreCOSATOheld its 11thNational Congress. TheMarikana discussion centred on a prepareddocument COSATO11th Congress Declarationon theLonminMarikana platinumminetragedy, themining industry, and...

Union Competition and Strikes: The Need for Analysis at the Sector Level

International comparative research has found that strike incidence is higher where two or more unions bargain with an employer (“multi-unionism”), as is common in most European countries, than where only one union does, all else equal. Two proposed explanations for this relationship, both invoking inter-union rivalry as the main dynamic, are that under multi-unionism, unions (a) make propagandistic use of strikes to attract members, or (b) compete with each other by bidding up bargaining demands. To date, the evidence bearing on these hypotheses has been equivocal because, the author argues, researchers have focused on activity at the national level rather than at the lower levels that are more commonly the nexus for strike formation. The author performs empirical tests using industry-sector-level data for seven European countries for the years 1990–2006, and finds evidence clearly favoring the competitive bargaining hypothesis over the propaganda hypothesis.

Gurgaon Branch

Gurgaon Branch was a branch of a leading public sector bank in India. Though the bank was financially sound, there seemed to be a leadership crisis in this branch. The aggregate deposit had been consistently falling over the past three years. The branch had not been able to disburse fresh advances or recover outstanding advances. Moreover, the employees were unhappy with both the branch head and the accountant. This case is concerned with transforming the culture of a public sector bank's branch that has been plagued with officers-staff conflict, inter-union rivalry and bureaucratic culture and consequently, poor financial performance, weak customer orientation and poor customers' satisfaction. This case provides a useful basis for discussing the issues and challenges involved in the process of transforming highly politicized culture to a desirable team-oriented customer-centric performing culture.

Extreme Organising: A Case Study of Hibernia

The article is a first hand account of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) attempt to organise workers on Hibernia's offshore oil drilling platform. Documented are the problems of accessing workers on a worksite in the Atlantic and the challenges of inter-union rivalry to successful union organising campaigns. The paper provides a chronology of the campaign from its beginnings in 1997. Although the CEP won a contested certification in 2001, the struggle at Hibernia continues.

Collective bargaining and state intervention in the Scandinavian countries

The role of the state in collective bargaining in the three Scandinavian countries is strongly rooted in compromises and traditions shaped long ago. While the state has always played a significant role in Denmark and Norway, a doctrine of freedom of the labour market from state intervention has dominated in Sweden. With different changes both in the bargaining structures and among the main labour market parties since the 1970s, the ability to solve coordination problems embedded in centralised collective bargaining now varies considerably. Procedural rules and routines, together with compulsory mediation and different forms of state intervention, have helped to maintain or restore a stable situation in Norway and Denmark. The Swedish development represents the deviant case, where a weak mediation institution, inter-union rivalry, and the withdrawal of the employer's association from bargaining, have led to a fragmented situation. Le rôle de l'Etat dans les négociations collectives menées dans les trois pays scandinaves est profondément ancré dans des compromis et des traditions façonnées depuis longtemps. Alors que l'Etat a toujours joué un rôle significatif au Danemark et en Norvège, la doctrine de la liberté du marché du travail par rapport à l'intervention de l'Etat a prédominé en Suède. Après des changements différents tant au niveau des structures de négociation qu'entre les principaux acteurs du marché du travail depuis les années soixante-dix, la capacité de résoudre des problèmes de coordination incrustés dans les négociations collectives varie actuellement de manière considérable. Les règles et les routines en matière de procédures, de même que la médiation obligatoire et les différentes formes d'intervention de l'Etat, ont contribué à maintenir ou rétablir une situation stable en Norvège et au Danemark. L'évolution suédoise représente le cas déviant où une institution de médiation faible, une rivalité intersyndicale et le retrait de la confédération patronale de la négociation ont conduit à une situation fragmentée. Die Rolle des Staates in den Tarifverhandlungen der drei skandinawischen Länder ist tief verwurzelt in Kompromisshaltungen und Traditionen, die sich schon vor langer Zeit herausbildeten. Während in Dänemark und Norwegen der Staat schon immer eine wichtige Rolle spielte, wurde die Situation in Schweden von einem Ansatz geprägt, der mehr auf Freiheit im Zusammenhang mit den industriellen Beziehungen setzte. Nach 1970 änderte sich allerdings hier die Situation sowohl, was die Tarifverhandlungsstrukturen als auch die Tarifpartner betraf. Dies hatte Auswirkungen auf die Fähigkeit, Koordinierungsprobleme im Rahmen von Tarifverhandlungen zu lösen. Verfahrensregeln und eine entsprechende Routine haben zusammen mit der Pflicht zu einem Vermittlungsverfahren und verschiedenen Formen der Staatsintervention dazu geführt, dass in Norwegen und Dänemark die Situation stabil blieb. In Schweden zeigt sich indessen der umgekehrte Fall, wo schwache Schiedsstrukturen, die Rivalität zwischen den Gewerkschaften und der Rückzug der Arbeitgeber aus den Tarifverhandlungen zu einer fragmentierten Situation geführt haben.

Inter-Union Rivalry in India an Analysis

Inter-Union Rivalry in India an Analysis