OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Godfrey, Shane"

Browsing by Author "Godfrey, Shane"

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Open Access
Cape Town clothing workers' attitudes towards key aspects of and alternatives to regulation by the Bargaining Council
(2015) Maraire, Wesley; Godfrey, Shane
The South African clothing industry has shed over 70 000 jobs in the last decade. This has given rise to huge debate in the industry and academia about the role of the bargaining council in regulating the industry as well as other factors such as trade liberalisation that are causing the industry to shrink. This study explores attitudes held by formal and informal clothing workers toward the regulatory environment and possible alternatives to current regulation by the bargaining council. The research aimed to explore worker understanding of the regulatory environment, in particular the wages versus job-security trade-off; to find out whether workers are aware of alternatives to the current wage model, such as performance-based incentive pay; to explore the attitudes workers hold toward home-based informal factories; and to assess the attitudes of workers to worker cooperatives. Using semi- structured face-to-face interviews, 24 respondents (ten formal and 14 informal workers) were selected to participate in an attitude survey that explored their feelings across attitudinal classes - cognitive, affective, and behavioural, using the non-probability purposive sampling technique. Research findings show that both sets of workers generally had a very poor understanding of the industry's regulatory environment. After receiving brief explanations of alternatives to regulation by the bargaining council, the workers understood them cognitively and attitudes varied between the two groups. All workers were generally against performance-based incentive pay because it requires them to place too much trust in employers. Informal work was viewed as a viable alternative although formal workers could not conceive joining informal firms. Both sets of workers expressed favour towards worker co-operatives, which have the advantage of changing the working relationship from manager and worker to worker as owner, thus empowering workers. All workers, however, demonstrated overall awareness of the pressures facing the clothing industry, such as those caused by cheap Chinese imports. The evidence is however, not sufficient to arrive at a set of conclusions regarding alternatives to regulation by the bargaining council.
Open Access
Collective bargaining in a globalised era : a change in approach
(2012) Gweshe, Rufaro; Godfrey, Shane
The government in the new democratic South Africa prioritised resolving the problems plaguing the industrial relations system. It did this by enacting a new labour relations Act. This Act repealed the 1956 LRA and enacted the Labour Relations Act of 1995 which established a collective bargaining system combining new elements with elements from the previous legislative dispensation. The new system retained the voluntary duty to bargain. It balanced this by entrenching a protected right to resort to industrial action as well as by creating organisational rights available to unions with ‘sufficient’ and/or majority representivity. The former enabled unions to compel the employer to bargain, whilst the latter assisted unions in bargaining. The Act also promoted centralised bargaining. It did this by retaining, but renaming industrial councils, bargaining councils and by ensuring that bargaining council agreements could be extended where parties to the agreement covered the majority of workers in a sector. Therefore, the effectiveness of trade unions depended, to a substantial extent, ‘on their representativeness and their cohesiveness’. The collective bargaining mechanism established by the 1995 LRA thus became the primary ‘mechanism for setting wages and other terms of employment…a way of managing complex organisations…a form of joint industrial government, and generally…a means of regulating labour-management relations’.
Open Access
Conditions of Employment and Small Business: Coverage, Compliance and Exemptions
(2006-03) Godfrey, Shane; Maree, Johann; Theron, Jan
The research examines the different forms of regulation of conditions of employment (i.e. bargaining council agreements, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), and sectoral determinations) and what sort of accommodation they make for small firms.
Open Access
Conditions of Employment and Small Business: Coverage, Compliance and Exemptions
(2007-04) Godfrey, Shane; Maree, Johann; Theron, Jan
This Policy Brief is based on DPRU Working Paper 06/106, Conditions of Employment and Small Business: Coverage, Compliance and Exemptions by Shane Godfrey, Johann Maree and Jan Theron.
Open Access
Design houses in the Cape Town clothing value chain of production
(2008) Zimba, Machilu; Godfrey, Shane
This exploratory study aimed to investigate the role that design houses play in the Cape Town clothing value chain of production. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants, buyers in clothing retail companies, heads of design rooms in design houses, and homeworkers. Findings reveal that design houses act as intermediaries between retailers and clothing manufacturers or between retailers and homeworkers. In their latter role design houses are forging links between the informal and formal clothing economy. As in buyer-driven chains of production, retailers in the clothing value chain wield a substantial amount of power in determining prices. It was found that design houses are not completely powerless in their relationship with retailers, in fact, they posses knowledge that enables them to bargain over prices. The relationship between design houses and homeworkers was found to be an oppressive one, with homeworkers possessing little to no bargaining power. The increase in the number of design houses in Cape Town has assisted in the survival of the industry in the face of a number of difficulties. The continued presence of design houses creates the potential for development in the industry.
Open Access
Domestic violence and employment: an examination into retail employer's awareness of and responses to the Impacts of domestic violence on the workplace
(2007) Kaunda, Nikiwe J; Godfrey, Shane; Smythe, Dee
There is increased recognition that employees need to maintain a balanced work-home life in order to be successful and productive. One of the major threats to attaining this equilibrium is 'personal' issues such as HIV/AIDS, trauma and domestic violence. Such issues not only have economic impacts on a business' bottom line, but there are _·also social impacts that affect employment relations. The problem is further compounded by the difficulties that employers face in determining first the manner in which social problems become 'workplace' problems, and secondly, in deciding how they can meaningfully intervene. Because of the difficulties employers face in transcending the perceived boundaries between 'public' and 'private' concerns, some of these social problems are not effectively addressed, even though they may have negative impacts on a business. This research provides an expose of the manner in which domestic violence related issues are perceived and dealt with in the South African workplace. The research specifically focuses on establishing whether employers in the clothing, footwear and textile (CFf) retail sector are aware of the impacts of domestic violence on workplace relations. Findings suggest that the first step towards resolving such problems lies first in the ability of employers to identify the manner in which a social problem impacts on a business, and, secondly determining the best way in which employers can utilise existing resources and liaise with social service providers to address these concerns. Domestic violence is a prevalent social problem that requires the intervention of all segments of society. Employers need to start acting now, before the debilitating effects begin to disrupt workplace productivity on a larger scale.
Open Access
Employee relations in the public service of three Southern African countries : South Africa, Namibia and Botswana
(2006) Du Toit, Jacqueline; Maree, Johann; Godfrey, Shane
The aim of this dissertation was to ascertain what type of employee relations system is identifiable in the public services of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and to determine what type of voice regulation is in place in the determination of terms and conditions of employment.
Open Access
The formalisation of informal trade in Cape Town : a case study of Greenmarket Square
(2009) Chilwan, Seraj; Godfrey, Shane
This research report explores whether the rules, regulations and policies set by the City have formalised informal trade at Greenmarket Square. The sample included 14 informal traders from Greenmarket Square, a former "illegal" trader, three formal business owners and three City of Cape Town officials. Semi-structured interviews and the creation and implementation of the Informal/Formal Continuum were the tools used to obtain the necessary data for analysis. The findings suggest that the informal traders at Greenmarket Square are formalised, to some extent, by the City's rules, regulations and policies, but that some traders have been formalised more than others.
Open Access
The politics of regulation and the South African sex industry : an interest group analysis of power and civic participation in public policy on adult commercial sex work
(2010) Mqolomba, Z N; Godfrey, Shane
This dissertation is an interest group analysis of power and civic participation in public consultations on adult commercial sex work1 and legal reforms in South Africa. It determines the interests, the strategies and tactics2 employed, as well as power relations between interest groups in the social policy process as led by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC). The research study solicits answers to the following research question: What is the role of power and civic participation in public policy on adult commercial sex work and how does the distribution of power shape policy outcomes?
Open Access
Reclaiming state power to bridge governance gaps in global trade
(2014) Nickell, Jon Karl; Godfrey, Shane
An astute understanding of history is not required to grasp that global trade is not a new phenomenon. As a very young student in American schools, I still recall learning about the caravans of traders trekking across the Silk Road, about the merchant traveller Marco Polo, about the misplaced aspirations of Christopher Columbus and the resulting Columbian Exchange between Europe and the Americas. This is an oft-mythologized and sometimes flatly fabricated period of history,1 but there are basic truths at the base of it all. There were certainly men embarking on difficult journeys across vast ocean stretches, carrying goods from one continent to another with the hope of striking it rich (or at least making enough to buy themselves a good time at the next harbour). There were certainly people who profited, and plenty more who were exploited. But while global trade is not new, the structure and volume of global trade has changed drastically during recent decades. More money is at stake, and so is a greater swath of humanity. Complex global value chains2 have sprouted, in which a single product may contain fingerprints from dozens of countries when it finally lands on retail shelves. In this dissertation I am concerned with the fate of workers that toil anonymously at the base of these global value chains. But my primary focus is to contest a myth, though it has nothing to do with Christopher Columbus. Rather, the dominant narrative surrounding contemporary global trade suggests that regulation of such is beyond our reach. Due to the evolving structure of global trade, ‘governance gaps’ have emerged. This begs many questions: Who is responsible for achieving a remedy when things go wrong, when a factory collapse kills hundreds of workers or when the makers of high-priced fashion aren’t paid a living wage? Do we turn to the state that shelters the corporation, even if the wrongdoing occurs outside their jurisdiction? What about the state where the operations are based? Can they impose their will on corporations that are sheltered elsewhere? Are the corporations themselves responsible, even when they are not directly involved in outsourced operations? Are local manufacturers at fault if they are acting at the behest of a more powerful entity?
Open Access
The State of Collective Bargaining in South Africa: An Empirical and Conceptual Study of Collective Bargaining
(2007-11) Godfrey, Shane; Theron, Jan; Visser, Margareet
The research examines the current state of collective bargaining, the nature of existing bargaining structures, alternative models that have developed, and the problems being experienced in the current system.
Open Access
The State of Collective Bargaining in South Africa: An Empirical and Conceptual Study of Collective Bargaining
(2008-04) Godfrey, Shane; Theron, Jan; Visser, Margareet
This report was submitted to the Development Policy Research Unit for the Department of Labour and forms part of the Employment Promotion Programme managed by the DPRU.
Open Access
A study of changes and continuities in the organization and regulation of work with an empirical examination of the South African and Lesotho clothing/retail value chain.
(2013) Godfrey, Shane; Maree, Johann
The empirical focus of the thesis is the clothing and retail segments of the local and regional value chains in parts of Southern African that comprise different geographical and regulatory zones. Secondary literature on the clothing and retail sectors was examined, but the main research method was interviews with senior managers of retailers, clothing manufacturers, design houses, cut, make and trim (CMT) operations, as well as key informants. The interviews focused on understanding the relationships that link different stages of clothing production with the retail sector.
Open Access
A study of four key aspects within five bargaining councils over the period 1995 to 2010
(2011) Holtzhausen, M M E; Maree, Johann; Godfrey, Shane
The research focused on bargaining councils in five industries as statutory institutions for centralised collective bargaining. The purpose was to determine how bargaining councils adapted to the changing environment during the 15-year period from 1995 to 2010, with a particular focus on representivity, the main agreement (wages and conditions of service), benefit funds, dispute resolution and other related developments.
Open Access
The legal profession: Transformation and skills
(2009) Godfrey, Shane
It is well known that South Africa has a serious skills shortage. The new skills development dispensation introduced by the government in 1998, underpinned by the Skills Development Act, appears to have made little inroad into the shortage. The latest macroeconomic growth strategy, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (Asgisa), has focused attention on skills, making the elimination of the shortage a priority in order to achieve the 6 per cent economic growth rate that it has set as a target for the country in order to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014.
Open Access
Why are there so few minimum service level agreements? A case study of a metropolitan municipality.
(2019) Ronnie, Roger; Godfrey, Shane
In terms of the South African Constitution, every worker has the right to strike. This right is regulated in the Labour Relations Act. Workers engaged in essential services are prohibited from striking. The prohibition does not apply if a minimum service level agreement, guaranteeing services in the event of a strike, has been concluded between employers and trade unions. The Essential Services Committee, established under the Labour Relations Act ( the Act), must ratify these agreements before they become effective. More than two decades after the LRA was promulgated, very few ratified minimum service level agreements have been concluded in the municipal sector. This study explores the reasons for this and suggests legislative and policy interventions that could be considered on a sector wide basis. The study is by way of a single-case study of a metropolitan municipality. Data were obtained from two sources: 14 semi-structured interviews with participants and from an analysis of documents relevant to the regulation of essential services. The study established that the legislative framework for regulating essential services in South Africa is consistent with the principles and decisions laid down by the International Labour Organisation. It however does not provide guidelines for determining minimum service levels. An apparent unevenness between the representatives of the negotiating counterparts exists in the municipal sector in South Africa. Many of the party representatives negotiating minimum service levels, do not work in designated essential services or possess relevant technical skills. The findings of the study suggest steps that could be taken to strengthen the capacity of the Essential Services Committee to assist parties in the municipal sector to conclude minimum service agreements and build the negotiating capacity of the parties. The study also makes recommendations regarding improved participation by essential service workers and the broader community in the process.
Open Access
Why do employers bargain at particular levels? : a longitudinal case study of Western Cape Clothing Employers' perceptions and behaviour with regard to levels of collective bargaining, 1991-1995
(1997) Godfrey, Shane; Maree, Johann
This dissertation examines a sample of Western Cape' clothing employers' perceptions with regard to different levels of collective bargaining The examination takes place at two points in time: in 1991, when bargaining ;took place at the regional level, and in 1995, when bargaining was taking place at the national level. The change in the level at which bargaining took place between these years allows for a retrospective examination of the reasons why employers agreed to engage in national bargaining. The objective of the research was to determine, from the perspective of employers' preferences, why collective bargaining comes to be situated at a particular level. The study relies primarily on a qualitative research method, namely in-depth interviews with employers. The focus is therefore on the subjective expression of interests and preferences with regard to alternative levels of bargaining, and the way in which employers make decisions about this issue. This approach differs from most other attempts to explain the determination of bargaining levels. Rather than attributing preferences to employers through an examination of the relationship between existing bargaining structures and factors such as industrial structure, trade union density, and the statutory framework for collective bargaining, the methodology used for this dissertation focusses on the role of employers as social actors that mediate between such environmental factors in developing their preferences for a particular level of bargaining. Particular emphasis is placed on the politics of collective decision-making by employers as an explanatory variable in the determination of the level of bargaining.

Browsing by Author "Godfrey, Shane"

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