“We feel that our strength is on the factory floor”: Dualism,shop-floor power,and labor law reform in late apartheid South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article explores the transformation of South African labor relations during the 1980s. In 1979, prompted by new shop-floor militancy, the Wiehahn Commission recommended that black workers, previously excluded from state labor machinery, be permitted to join recognized trade unions. Most discussions of this shift in apartheid labor relations focus on the ensuing debate within the black unions, torn between preserving their independence or securing state legitimation. This article looks instead at the related debate about ‘levels of bargaining’: should emergent black unions demand to negotiate at the factory level, where they had secured shop-floor strength through organizing and democratic practice, or pursue the benefits of the corporatist bargaining structures that had long excluded them and had privileged white workers? The eventual drift towards corporatism, I argue, imprinted the character of the South African labor movement into the post-apartheid era. An understandable desire to wield influence at the level of the national political economy eroded the tradition of workers’ control, shop floor democracy, and struggle unionism that black unions had forged during the 1970s and 1980s.     

Labor conflicts in the Toronto construction industry, 1968–1973. A crossroads of ethnic issues,business innovations,class struggle,and union action

ABSTRACT

This article concerns a case study in labor history which represents an interesting example of union action in a workers’ community characterized by intersections between ethnic and class belonging.

The focus of the article is on labor conflicts in Toronto’s construction industry between 1968 and 1973. In that period, the Torontonian residential sector represented a sort of ethnic niche dominated by Italian immigrants, who populated this industry both as workers and as contractors. At the same time, important economic, technological, and organizational innovations formed part of this niche. In particular, it refers to the new Toronto real estate boom and to the introduction of new building techniques such as the drywall technique, or concrete forming, as well as business innovations such as the flying form or the creation of teamwork. This article tells the story of successful unionization in a peculiar industry dominated by continuous formal and informal bargaining. Moreover, the powerful presence of the phenomenon of mafiosi and widespread racism made the context still more difficult. In this situation, despite the ambiguities, the final result was the unionization of thousands of workers and the successful signing of collective contracts.     

探索理顺集团公司与子公司的工会关系和经费关系

在企业改制过程中 ,新组建的集团公司工会与下属子公司工会的关系及工会经费拨缴问题出现了许多新情况、新问题。因此 ,工会的组织体制和运行机制也必须相应改革。要坚持工会组织的性质不变 ,集团公司工会与子公司工会的隶属关系不变 ,及“把握共性 ,体现个性”的原则。     

推动工会工作高质量发展的重要法治保障——《工会法》修改解读

《工会法》是我国法律体系中一部重要的法律,2021年《工会法》进行了第三次修改。《工会法》的修改是一项重要的政治任务,此次修法坚持“小修”的思路,体现了依法修法、民主修法的原则。《工会法》修改的主要内容包括：进一步明确了中国工会的政治属性,突出坚持党的领导;落实党对工会改革的新要求,为扩大基层工会覆盖面提供法律依据,明确新就业形态劳动者参加和组织工会的权利;将习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想确立为工会工作的指导思想;完善工会基本职责;增加工会推动产业工人队伍建设改革的条款;等等。修改后的《工会法》为新时代工运事业和工会工作的创新发展提供了根本遵循,为坚定不移地走中国特色社会主义工会发展道路提供了法治保障。     

劳动经济学在工会理论上的新发展

劳动经济学对工会问题的研究,自20世纪70年代末以来主要沿着两个方向发展:一是利用经济分析的方法研究工会在工资谈判中的作用;二是利用经济分析的方法研究工会的罢工行为。本文对劳动经济学在这两个方面的发展作出了评述。     

Between Denmark and Detroit: unionized labour at Ford Motor Company,Copenhagen, 1919–1939

In 1919, Ford Motor Company established its first assembly plant on the European mainland in Copenhagen, Denmark. Based on a Fordist productive model, including technology and materials from Detroit, cars were manufactured and exported to most of Northern Europe. It has been claimed that Ford also transferred its principles of industrial relations to Europe, including a ban on trade unions. But as the article demonstrates, the Copenhagen factory was completely unionized, and the unions were able to establish collective bargaining for a period. On the other hand, several factors, including internal splits among the workers caused by the Fordist production methods, worked against the unions over time. The end result was a hybrid between Detroit methods and Danish traditions of industrial relations. The changing character of this hybrid is traced through the shifting relations of power between unions, local management and the Ford Motor Company.     

非公有制企业集体协商 ：问题、困境与对策

在我国劳动关系集体化转向的背景下,集体协商与集体谈判的区别、非公企业集体协商的适用范围、工会组织的角色与作用是推进非公有制企业集体协商亟待思考的深层次问题。当前,我国非公企业集体协商工作面临的主要困境是集体协商尚未成为非公企业劳资双方的强制性法定义务、集体协商尚未成为非公企业工会的核心工作、非公企业工会主席尚未在集体协商中发挥出关键性的作用以及各类主体在非公企业集体协商中所承担的角色亟待厘清。为进一步完善我国非公企业集体协商制度,在观念层面,应正确理解集体协商的实质性内涵及其重要作用;在工会层面,必须切实发挥非公企业工会的关键作用和各级总工会的领导作用：在立法层面,可以在条件成熟时制订修订相关法律法规。     

新时代“工会坚持自觉接受党的领导”再探析

党的十八大以来,习近平同志反复强调：“中国共产党的领导是中国特色社会主义最本质的特征。”“坚持党的领导”作为习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的重要内容之一,有着重要指导意义,为新时代工运事业指明了方向。工会为什么要坚持党的领导,可以从理论、历史和现实三个视角加以考察分析;工会怎样坚持党的领导,则需要辩证地处理好坚持党对工会的领导与工会独立自主地开展工作之间的关系,处理好工会组织“公转”与“自转”的关系。     

“一带一路”视角下的工会问题研究

\"一带一路\"倡仪实施以来,如何与当地工会合作是中资企业在\"一带一路\"沿线国家投资和经营管理中,在劳动关系方面必须面临的重要问题之一。\"一带一路\"沿线国家工会特点明显,差异很大。中东欧国家工会组织率高,集体谈判覆盖率也高;东南亚国家工会组织率相对较低,但组织力量很强。工会与其他非政府组织的各自力量、相互关系也不尽相同,中东欧地区工会组织强大,雇主联合会也强大;西亚北非地区工会组织力量弱,但有其他非政府组织代行部分工会职能。因此,应该从遵守工会相关法律制度,提升对构建和谐劳动关系重要性的认识,找到与东道国工会恰当的合作模式,避免简单移植等方面出发,提高中资企业与当地工会合作的能力。     

关于工资集体协商试点企业的调查与思考

北京市在21家大中型国有企业及国有控股企业开展工资总量决定机制放开的综合配套改革试点,企业可以在工会与行政进行平等协商的基础上自主决定工资。针对试点中发现的问题,我们应该加强工资集体协商的立法工作,完善政策,加大对工资协商的专项培训。     

新时代工会法律援助制度创新发展研究

工会法律援助工作是国家法律援助事业的重要组成部分。创新发展工会法律援助制度既是贯彻中央关于群团改革决策部署的必然要求,也是落实法律规定、加强工会服务职工和维护职工合法权益工作、维护职工队伍和社会稳定的重大举措,具有重要的现实意义。多年来,特别是群团改革以来,工会法律援助制度建设取得了突出成效,但也存在思想认识不到位、队伍建设亟须加强、运行机制有待完善、资金保障仍显不足等问题。研究认为,应从做好顶层设计、完善协作机制、培育人才队伍、创新工作机制、拓宽经费渠道等方面入手,创新发展新时代工会法律援助制度。     

关于对新《集体合同规定》的几点认识

《集体合同规定》的颁布实施是我国劳动法律法规体系进一步健全的重要标志,体现了在原来《集体合同规定》基础上的进步,工会工作者必须坚持依靠党委领导和政府的支持,服务大局,加强学习,建章建制,深入贯彻落实《集体合同规定》,切实维护劳动者和用人单位的合法权益。     

试论工会行使权利的法律保障

修改后的工会法增强了对工会组织、职工群众、工会干部权利保护的力度 ,这对于保护工人阶级的利益 ,最终确立工人阶级在国家政治、经济和社会关系中的主人翁地位 ,落实党的全心全意依靠工人阶级的根本指导方针具有重大现实意义。     

对工会组织建设问题的思考

随着非公有制经济的迅猛发展 ,职工队伍结构发生了明显变化 ,工会组织工作出现了许多诸如工会会员流失、工会主席兼职、新建企业建会难等新情况和新问题。为此 ,必须从实际出发 ,努力研究和探索工会组织建设的新方法和新途径 ,切实加强工会组织建设。     

“HU 理论”在工资集体谈判中的运用构想探析

工资集体谈判制度是职工工资的民主决策方式,也是工会保障职工经济权益的重要手段。作为当前以改善民生为重点的社会建设的一项战略性任务,工资集体谈判在具体的实践过程中起到了一定的积极作用,尤其是在保障职工最低工资等方面成效显著。由于当前工会方的经济非独立性,从而使谈判话语权较弱,以及企业和职工对经营成果分配的不满等,导致谈判质量较低,特别是职工工资增长的谈判不够理想,从而使利益分配成为工资集体谈判的关键点。为此,针对工资谈判中的利益分配问题,本研究试图设计一个既能够满足企业的利益需求,又能够维护职工的正常工资需求的\"工资联合确定模式\",即在工资谈判中运用\"HU理论\",进行操作,实现劳资双赢,从而化解工资集体谈判在实践中的实施难题。     

新世纪初日本工会面临的挑战及其对策

21世纪 ,日本在经济、政治和社会各方面发生的变化和存在的突出问题 ,给工会运动造成了极其严重的环境和条件 ,工会面临诸多新的课题和挑战。下功夫研究面临的问题 ,及时调整工作思路和工作重点 ,采取对策以适应各种变化的需要 ,已成为日本各级工会的共识。