Publications

This paper draws on the results of a third leg of a longitudinal survey of COSATU members run in 2004 by the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) and the Democracy and Governance unit of the Human Science Research Council in South Africa and compares these with results of the first two legs of the survey (1994 and 1998). The study shows a remarkable continuity of the militant union traditions within the union federation.

From 1973 to 2000, the emerging black union movement in South Africa made efforts to construct a collectivist and democratic organizational culture. The development and decline of this culture correspond with three phases in the history of the black trade union movement. Political and economic changes in the past fifteen years have affected this culture, specifically the unions' political engagement and new pressures arising out of globalization.

The advent of democracy in South Africa has brought a number of benefits and opened spaces for union mobilization. It has also set in motion processes that undermine union solidarity. This article takes the most influential trade union in South Africa's history, the National Union of Mineworkers, as a case study to explore this paradox.

This book is published in the Antipode Book Series. Claims have been made on the emergence of a new labour internationalism in response to the growing insecurity created by globalization. However, when persons face conditions of insecurity they often turn inwards. The book contains a warning and a sign of hope. Some workers become fatalistic, even xenophobic. Others are attempting to globalize their own struggles. The book examines the claim that a new labour internationalism is emerging by grounding the book in evidence, rather than assertion.

Chapter published in Buhlungu, S., Daniel, J., Lutchman, B. & Southall, R. 2007. State of the Nation 2007. Pretoria: HSRC Press. The chapter considers the changing context in which South Africa's largest trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers, has to organise solidarity.

Assembling academics, journalists, researchers and analysts, the State of the Nation: South Africa 2007 volume will provide much fuel for debate. It offers 23 diverse angles on contemporary South Africa in one compelling, comprehensive and relevant publication.

The politics section focuses on the outcome of the 2006 local government elections and issues of service delivery. The section on the economy examines the rapidly growing social welfare net, the state of our public hospitals and health delivery systems, issues of water and the environment, and heritage and tourism.

This paper was published in the Journal of International Development in July 2007. It addresses an important but often neglected theme in debates on globalisation - the consequences for workers of engagement in global markets, particularly for those workers who are retrenched in the process. Using the South African textiles industry as a case study, the paper investigates the impact on workers' household livelihoods of industrial restructuring following trade liberalisation in the 1990s.

How responsive are South African corporations to their social and environmental responsibilities? Given the extremes of economic inequality, is business generally proactive in redressing the legacy of apartheid, or does it only respond to regulation?

These are among the questions treated in this new volume, based on research conducted for a UN project. It breaks new ground in emerging from a tradition of applied social sciences rather than industrial sponsorship. It is therefore free to ask and answer questions not usually raised in the debates about corporate behaviour.

For many people, nature means the wilderness and wild animals. It is experienced indirectly through magazines and television programmes or through visiting the highly managed environments of national parks. Nature, however, is not external, separated from the world of people – we live with nature and interact with it daily. The War Against Ourselves compels us to re-examine our relationship with nature, to change our practices and dissolve present binary divisions such as people vs. animals, economic growth vs. environmental protection, ‘nature’ vs. ‘culture’.

This book, co-edited by SWOP associate professor Geoff Wood, provides an overview on the state and nature of industrial relations across Africa, encompassing theoretical and comparative perspectives, and country studies from North, West, East and Southern Africa. It provides insights into the origins of specific national traditions and practices, current issues, and continent-wide trends. To date there have been few studies on the theory and practice of industrial relations in Africa with a continent-wide scope: this study fills an important gap in the literature.