Employee Relations: An International Journal

Geoffrey Wood

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879321

Purpose – This introduction aims to review the present state of research on employment relations in Africa, and provide an overview of subsequent papers. Design/methodology/approach – The article provides a brief review on the journal issue. Findings – Despite considerable diversity across the continent, a number of common issues and themes emerge. These would include the sharp divide between formal and informal work, the problems faced by unions in organizing in contexts where formal employment is shrinking, and the often negative effects of liberalization. What all the articles in this special issue point to is that the prospects of enhancing the quality of working life, and imparting greater fairness to the implementation of the employment contract is contingent on both national institution building – allowing for the nurturing of complementarities conducive to the expansion, entrenchment and development of higher value added production paradigms – and fairer terms, more equitable relations with the developed world. Practical implications – Understanding of the practice of employment relations in Africa can be greatly advanced through collaborative initiatives aimed at developing the capacity of emerging scholars and ensuring that the work of more mature scholars of employment based at African universities receives the exposure it deserves. Originality/value – The article introduces the papers in the issue.

Karl von Holdt; Edward Webster

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879330

Purpose – Is labour's decline permanent, or is it merely a temporary weakening, as Beverley Silver suggests in her recent book, as the labour movement is unmade and remade in different locations and at different times? The article aims to examine this question in South Africa, one of the newly industrialised countries of the 1960s and 1970s, now largely bypassed by new manufacturing investment destined for countries such as India and China. Design/methodology/approach – The paper concentrates, through six case studies, on the growing non‐core and peripheral zones of work and examines the impact of the restructuring on labour. Findings – The evidence presented is ambiguous. While there have been significant innovative union organising experiments, it may be that the structural weakening of labour has been too great and that the new sources of power are too limited, to permit effective reorientation. Practical implications – It is concluded that significant progress will only be made if there is a concerted effort to commit resources and above all to develop new associational strategies that recognise the potential for symbolic power as an alternative to the erosion of structural power of workers and the unions that represent them. Unless such a shift is made the crisis of labour movements internationally may be better understood as a permanent crisis than the temporary one Silver suggests. Originality/value – The paper identities the potential for new strategies to develop and sustain associational and symbolic power that might compensate for weakened structural power and facilitate a remaking of the labour movement under new conditions.

Gilton Klerck

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879349

Purpose – The paper seeks to examine the changes and continuities in industrial relations in post‐independence Namibia. In particular, it aims to explore some of the key elements in the process through which the distribution of the costs and rewards of economic and industrial restructuring is institutionalised. Design/methodology/approach – The paper concentrates, through in‐depth interviews with key role players, on how the attempts at sustaining a durable and redistributive trade‐off between economic efficiency and social equality led to a contradictory fusion of neo‐liberal and neo‐corporatist forms of labour market regulation. Findings – The research reveals that changes in the regulation of the labour market since independence have created opportunities for advancement and participation by groups of more skilled and organised employees, while weaker and less skilled groups have generally experienced a decline in employment conditions and the absence of collective representation. These developments reflect and reproduce patterns of racial and gender discrimination, industrial structure, trade union membership and collective bargaining across the various sectors and occupations. Practical implications – The paper shows that a system of low‐skill, low‐wage and low‐trust relations – with an emphasis on cost reduction and employment “flexibility” – is fast becoming embedded in industrial relations in Namibia. Given the prevailing economic policies, industrial strategies and labour market structures, Namibia's integration into the global economy will most likely involve the increasing dislocation and exclusion of vulnerable and “peripheral” workers from the formal economy. Originality/value – The paper highlights the ways in which the transformation of industrial relations in Namibia is shaped by the legacy of apartheid‐colonialism and the pressures of globalisation. Specifically, the conjunction of increasingly deregulated product markets and increasingly regulated labour markets has driven a wedge between the pursuit of short‐term objectives and the attainment of long‐term transformational goals.

Sola Fajana

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879358

Purpose – This paper aims to address the issue of unionisation of the largely non‐unionised informal economic activities as a strategy for achieving decent work and pay as well as promoting national development in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The adopted methods include review of archival information and survey of the perspectives of the stakeholders in Nigeria's industrial relations system. To facilitate the realisation of expected developmental objectives, monitoring, evaluation, capacity building, organising and advocacy roles are recommended jointly and severally for the stakeholders. Findings – It was found that decent work and pay, which would assist poverty minimisation and thus national development, would be furthered by unionisation of the informal sector. At the same time, there are many barriers faced by unions in seeking to organise in the latter area. Research limitations/implications – The research focuses only on aspects of informal working; the informal economy represents a multi‐facetted and spatially diverse phenomenon. Originality/value – This paper provides a detailed review of employment relations in non‐standard work in Africa, an area much neglected in the literature.

Tayo Fashoyin

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879367

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the impact of economic transformation on employment relations and the effect on the role and behaviour of unions and employers' organizations in Zambia. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a review of existing studies on economic and political developments, backed by published and unpublished primary sources, as well as structured interviews with leaders of the tripartite partners. Findings – The transformation of policy from centrally planned to market economy has by design or default undermined the role of trade unions and the employers' associations. This has in turn resulted in weakening the employment relationship. Research limitations/implications – The research has implications for understanding how economic liberalization affects labour market institutions and processes. Many of the findings are of relevance to policy reforms elsewhere in Africa. Therefore, the findings have important implications for work on labour market governance in other African countries. Practical implications – This paper has implications for the tripartite partners in the employment relationship. It presents the critical need for policy review, and particularly strategic reorientation of the organizing strategies of trade unions and employers' associations, and the need to institute meaningful and effective consultative mechanism on social and economic policy making. Originality/value – A substantial part of the information provided in this paper is unpublished, and brings to the fore unanticipated consequences of policy reforms on employment relations. In turn the paper identifies action areas in seeking to reverse the effects of unfavourable economic reform measures on employment relations.

Mohamed Branine; Ahmed Foudil Fekkar; Otmane Fekkar; Kamel Mellahi

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879376

Purpose – The paper seeks to examine the evolution of, and assesses current trajectories of change in, the Algerian employee relations system. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews a range of literature on employee relations in Algeria and draws on the authors' research over the years in the field, including recent interviews with unions' representatives. Findings – The paper provides evidence to suggest that the Algerian system of employee relations is a product of interactions and intersections between historical circumstances and different institutional arrangements and configurations to enable the state to hold together its power and control over unions. The paper shows how the preferential treatment of the UGTA by the government created an uneven playing field favouring the UGTA over independent unions. Research limitations/implications – A major limitation of the paper is lack of strong empirical evidence. Practical implications – The paper suggests that the single most important factor determining unions' ability to manoeuvre is the continuing support they obtain from the government and its institutions. The analysis provides practical suggestions for independent unions. Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper on recent developments in employee relations in Algeria.

Monageng Mogalakwe

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879385

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether expatriate workers in Botswana are a labour aristocracy. Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study based on documentary research methods Findings – The evidence presented supports the case for the existence of a foreign labour aristocracy in Botswana. The labour aristocracy thesis has come under attack for describing the better‐paid workers as labour aristocrats and for its failure to take cognizance of the heterogeneity of the working class. Although it appears that the thesis has now been relegated to the periphery of labour studies debates, evidence from Botswana of a two tier wage structure, one for citizens and another for “expatriates”, resonates with the basic tenets of the labour aristocracy thesis. Research limitations/implications – There is a need to revisit the debate and for more case studies from different Third World countries. Practical implications – The paper highlights the difficulties faced by citizen employees in Botswana in seeking to improve their material conditions. Originality/value – This paper reveals a linkage between a wages policy and the notion of national development in a specific society.

Geoffrey Wood; Keith Glaister

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879394

Purpose – This study aims to assess the relationship between unionization and employee collectivism, and managerial strategies for employee participation and involvement, within an emerging market economy that has prioritized export competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach – This paper centres on a survey of South African employees Findings – The paper reveals the coexistence of high levels of union power, with a range of mechanisms for participation and involvement. Practical implications – The South African experience underscores the extent to which greater regulation of the employment contract (through law and unions) can be complementary to both high value added manufacturing strategies and robust export performance. The South African case further highlights both the bounded and institutionally constrained nature of strategy formulation, yet also the willingness of clusters of firms to experiment with alternative strategies, albeit with mixed results: strategy and action represent a product of both setting and real strategic choices. Originality/value – The paper highlights the extent to which greater collectivism and regulation within the workplace may contribute to economic success within an emerging market context.

Xolani Simelane

2008 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450810879402

Purpose – This article aims to report on the state of employee relations in the Swazi textile industry, based on case study evidence. It focuses on workplace dynamics, employment relations, and the role of the state in shaping and reinforcing these relationships. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on interviews with employees of Texrey identified through a snowball sampling. Further open‐ended questions for supervisors, management, government representatives and trade union leadership were used. The paper also relies on existing literature on the historical character of employment relations. Findings – The institution of the monarchy has since abandoned the outdated tindvuna system but still retains control in the workplace. It still seeks to perpetrate a thinking that trade unionism is a foreign ideology and that Swazi workers are the king's regiments. There is also an existence of apathy and fatalism from workers arising from their desperate situation and poor prospects. Research limitations/implications – The textile industry in Swaziland is quite hostile to researchers and therefore access to employees and some crucial information was denied. Second, the study was conducted in one factory, thus it may not be a true reflection of the whole textile industry. Originality/value – This paper sheds further light on the relationship between political authoritarianism, foreign investment and labour repression in southern Africa.