Trade Unionism in Colonial Africa

1966 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles A. Orr
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Wage Labour ◽  
Salaried Workers ◽  
Modern Sense

Along with modern technology and modern forms of commerce, Europe has exported wage labour, trade unions, and collective bargaining to Africa. Before the coming of Europeans, various forms of indentured, communal, and customary labour existed, but there was no class of wage and salaried workers in the modern sense. During the nineteenth century, a wage labour class emerged, to one degree or another, in every part of Africa. As in other industrialising areas, this soon led to an organised labour movement.

The Politics of Proletarianization: A Review Article

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Michael Hanagan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Review Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
Political Conditions

The process of proletarianization and its role in the shaping of working class consciousness has captured the attention of French social historians over the last ten years. Until recently, works on French labor history generally neglected the formation of the working class to concentrate on the origins of national working-class parties or trade unions; thus, general histories of the political ‘workers’ movement' abound, to the detriment of occupational or regional studies. As early as 1971, Rolande Trempé's thèse asserted that the transition from godfearing peasant to socialistic proletarian had only just begun when a man put down his hoe and took up a pickaxe. In Les mineurs de Carmaux, Trempé showed the evolving social and political conditions which led coalminers in southwestern France to espouse trade unionism and socialism. The recently published thése of Yves Lequin, Les ouvriers de la region lyonnaise, provides another benchmark in the study of nineteenth-century working class history. Lequin reveals that, for the pre-1914 period in the Lyonnais region of France, the dynamics of proletarianization were more important in promoting worker militancy than its end result, the appearance of an industrial proletariat.

Globalisation and the dilemmas of international trade unionism

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Economic Developments

This article presents the author's reflections on the possibilities of a restructuring of the international trade union movement, on the basis of a collective research project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which seeks to open a debate within the movement over the lessons to be learned from its history as a guide for its future action. The most important question facing the trade union movement today is what is generally called 'globalisation', a phenomenon that goes back many years, both in terms of economic developments and labour struggles. From this perspective, the paper examines the basis for the existing divisions of the international labour movement, before going over the work of the ICFTU and of the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) to achieve the regulation of the multinational corporations and of the international economy, and concluding on the prospects for unity of action in the unions' work around the global economy.

scholarly journals The depletion of narrative resources in the Kenyan trade union movement.

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 704-713
Author(s):  
Collins Ogutu Miruka
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Qualitative Assessment ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Union Leadership ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
Depth Interviews

We discuss in this study the problems of mobilization and effectiveness faced by Kenyan trade unions. In a country with high levels of unemployment and weak labour legislation, it is imperative that the labour movement devise ways of remaining relevant and effective. We combine in-depth interviews with a qualitative assessment of secondary documents on trade unions in Kenya. We do this by looking at topics addressed, characterizations of unions as well as major actors such as union leaders, workers, and political leaders. We argue that labour leaders need to enrich their vocabularies of persuasion in order to neutralize the current discourses around trade unionism in Kenya. Such an approach would enable the union leadership to acquire new repertoires of action to enhance their capacity to mobilize.

scholarly journals Labour in Pre and Post Liberalization

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 22-27
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Working Condition ◽  
Minimum Wages ◽  
Labour Movement

This paper is an attempt to capture an overview about labour movement in pre and post liberalization within India. A critical analysis of secondary available literature is carried out in order to understand various stands by the trade unions and industries over the period of time adopted in order to strengthen each other’s side. Paper projects a view of strengthening collective bargaining between the unions and industries in order to ensure minimum wages and a better working condition. The focus is to energize labour movement within the country for better economy development of the society at large that will contribute towards nation’s development .

scholarly journals The Organizing Model and the Management of Change

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 712-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Carter ◽  
Rae Cooper
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
National Union ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The U.S

Summary Trade unions in nearly all developed countries are facing major difficulties in maintaining membership levels and political influence. The U.S. labour movement has been increasingly attracted to an organizing model of trade unionism and, in turn, this response has caught the imagination of some sections of other Anglo-Saxon movements, most notably in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Despite similarities in the problems that national union movements face, however, the histories and current experiences of trade unions in the various countries show marked differences. This article, based on extensive fieldwork in Britain and Australia, examines attempts to assess the importance of national contexts in the adoption of the organizing model through a comparative study of an Australian and a British union.

The end of revisionism?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Pierson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Trade Unionism

This chapter argues that the starkest of the institutional problems facing social democracy now is a growing inability to win elections. Added to this was the challenge of a long-term decline in the industrial wing of social democracy. Historically, social democracy has been the politics of the labour movement, and a key component of this movement has always been trade unions and their members. While that relationship was not always as close as it was in the British or Swedish cases, trade unionism was almost always the ‘other half’ of social democracy. However, the 1980s were a time of loss for this ‘other side’ of social democracy. Trade unions were becoming increasingly feminised, more focused in the public sector and drawing in increasing numbers of middle-class public service members.

The Limitations of Ideology in the Early Argentine Labour Movement: Anarchism in the Trade Unions, 1890—1920

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The World ◽  
General Studies

The origins of the labour movement in Argentina, which date from a period when the country was developing rapidly and had an important place in the world economy, have received little close attention from historians. Generally, the years before 1930 have been neglected in favour of the study of developments associated with Perón and Peronism. Such secondary literature as does exist consists largely of personal memoirs, whose authors were, understandably, parti pris. The more general studies tend to underestimate the extent, variety and sophistication of trade unionism before 1930, and also to contrast the style and ideology of the unions with that of the Peronist labour movement. Most notably, Argentina is widely quoted, along with Spain, as one of the countries where anarchist and/or anarcho-syndicalist ideology and practice dominated the labour movement.

Movement-oriented labour NGOs in South China: Exit with voice and displaced unionism

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Chen ◽  
Xuehui Yang
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
The Social ◽  
Union Representation

Movement-oriented labour NGOs in China are groups committed to the advancement of workers’ collective interests in a way very similar to that of trade unions in other countries. As the gap between workers’ demands for collective bargaining and their lack of union representation widens, the role of movement-oriented labour NGOs has increased. These NGOs are led and driven by former workers who have a strong consciousness of workers’ rights and who fought in the workplace for their fellow workers’ interests as well as their own. The leadership shown by former workers significantly accounts for the behavioural patterns and strategic choices of movement-oriented labour NGOs. The study reported in this article uses two descriptive concepts to characterize the emergence and role of movement-oriented labour NGOs: exit with voice and displaced unionism. The former refers to the social process by which former workers become activists of movement-oriented labour NGOs, while the latter points to a grass-roots labour movement facilitated from outside the factory gates. This article argues that, while having performed a trade union-like role and promoted worker-led collective bargaining, movement-oriented labour NGOs embody a fundamental predicament of the Chinese labour movement, which is that organized labour activism in the Chinese workplace is largely prohibited.

Labour in Turkey during the 1960s: The Long Hot Decade of the Working Class

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Aziz Çelik
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Critical Moment ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The 1960S

Abstract The 1960s were unique and sui generis years for the labour movement in Turkey. This decade not only witnessed the emergence of industrial capitalism, but also was a critical and intense period of class struggle in which the formation of the country’s working class accelerated. As the working class gained momentum, it proved itself to be a new social class after being dismissed in previous decades. At the beginning of the period, trade unions gained constitutional guarantees, thereby increasing the momentum of the labour movement, even as traditional trade unionism eroded somewhat following a period of dominance in the previous two decades. Ultimately, class-based and independent unionism grew in strength in the 1960s, while the decade also represents a critical moment in the process of working-class politicisation.

scholarly journals Reforming Legislation on Collective Labour Relations Engaging Trade Union as a Party

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 57-72
Author(s):  
Ivan Yatskevych
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Collective Agreement ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Adoption And Implementation

The paper covers problematic issues of reforming the legislation on collective labour relations with the participating trade union representing the interests and defending the rights of employees, consisting in a workers’ collective, during collective bargaining, concluding a collective agreement, holding a social dialogue on the local level. The article contains an analysis of a draft legislation such as draft laws On Labour, On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine (Regarding Certain Issues of Trade Unions’ Activity), On Amending the Law of Ukraine On Collective Agreements and Contracts in order to reveal the main trends of the proposed drafts, their scientific analysis, and producing own conclusions regarding impact of these draft laws upon the efficiency of the trade unions movement in Ukraine.The study of the proposed amendments to certain legislative acts as well as corresponding conclusions are made in observance of the current trends in the development of judicial application of legislative provisions on the preferential right of a unit trade union to represent a collective’s interests during collective bargaining regarding concluding or amending a collective agreement at an enterprise or institution. The paper contains a discussion on problematic (from a perspective of legal exercising and research) issues of the current legislative provisions on the safeguarding implementation of trade unions competence conformity to the Constitution of Ukraine, ILO Convention No. 87, and the recent case-law.The accordance of principles of rule of law and legality, representation, and efficient representing of workers’ collective interests during the in-court dispute resolution regarding representing the collective of workers and accession to an effective collective agreement is highlighted.In the conclusion it is stated that there is a negative trend on further deterioration of the trade unions’ position as representatives of labour collectives empowered with representative and defensive functions in relations with employers. Besides that, it is stressed that adoption and implementation of the argued legislative initiatives will eventually cause deepening the crisis of trade unionism and deteriorating of social standards. It will make a negative impact on a person’s social security in the state. There are grounds to assert forming case-law acknowledging works councils as equally authorized representatives of the workers’ collective in collective bargaining. In the meantime, the practice of rejection of new trade union’s units to join an effective collective agreement within the employer’s enterprise persists. It is concluded with the necessity to improve the system of normative safeguards for the trade unions activity and creating an efficient mechanism for countering abuse of rights, including safeguarding provisions, by parties of collective labour relations.

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