A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A SUB-DIRECTORATE OF THE ... · A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A...
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A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A SUB-DIRECTORATE OF THE NELSON MANDELA BAY MUNICIPALITY By Annet Nakimuli Kigozi Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Labour Relations and Human Resources) at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University January 2012 Supervisor: Ms J Bowler
Transcript of A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A SUB-DIRECTORATE OF THE ... · A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A...
A STUDY OF A 2010 STRIKE IN A SUB-DIRECTORATE OF THE NELSON MANDELA BAY MUNICIPALITY
By
Annet Nakimuli Kigozi
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts (Labour Relations and Human Resources) at the
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
January 2012
Supervisor: Ms J Bowler
i
DECLARATION
I, Annet Nakimuli Kigozi - 206035900, hereby declare that the treatise/ dissertation/ thesis for
Students qualification to be awarded is my own work and that it has not previously been submitted for
assessment or completion of any postgraduate qualification to another University or for another
qualification.
Annet Nakimuli Kigozi
Official use:
In accordance with Rule G4.6.3,
4.6.3 A treatise/dissertation/thesis must be accompanied by a written declaration on the part of the
candidate to the effect that it is his/her own work and that it has not previously been submitted
for assessment to another University or for another qualification. However, material from
publications by the candidate may be embodied in a treatise/dissertation/thesis
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A special thank you to Ms Jennifer Bowler for her enthusiasm, motivation and opportunity through the
learning process.
To the enthusiastic interview respondents and the cooperative questionnaire respondents for their
warm invitations to learn about the Traffic and Licensing Sub-Directorate.
My master’s colleagues, for Nomonde, Michael and Thandi for their constructive advice and company.
To the entire Kigozi family, Kakembo family and the beloved ones in Uganda, for their financial,
emotional and social support
To my fiancé Alex Kizito for his academic, emotional and financial support.
Most importantly to God, the Almighty, the Provider, the Redeemer, the Beginning and the End.
To my Beloved Partner, Alex Kizito
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ABSTRACT
This research adds on to Chaulk & Brown (2008) research on the assessment of employees’ reaction
towards management and the union in the pre-strike and post-strike period.
Research problem: The study raised two aspects that form part of the statement of the problem.
Firstly, strike action has been a major aspect describing the South African industrial relations climate.
The high level of strike action prompts the question; “Are South Africans World Class Strikers?”
(Anstey, 2006). Secondly, the analysis of strike action has focussed more on the economic and power
testing impact analysis rather than psychological and affective impact analysis of the strike such as
establishing the impact of the strike on job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, organisational
commitment, management satisfaction, and union commitment.
Research objectives: To address the research problem, research objectives, research questions and
hypotheses were established. The main objective of the study was to examine the causes, processes
and the impact of the strike, thereby making a contribution to both theory and practice. Whereas the
contribution to theory took a form of building on to the research carried out by Chaulk & Brown (2008),
and exploring through the process analysis on how behaviour during the conflict impacts on the on-
going relationships within the organisation, the contribution to practice took a form of highlighting to
management and unions the impact of the strike on employees so that necessary interventions to
prevent the negative impact of the strike would be created.
Research questions: Six research questions were established and these were; what were the
causes of the strike; how did the strike unfold; what were the substantive outcomes of the strike; what
were the procedural outcomes of the strike; what were the climate outcomes of the strike; is there a
relationship between the demographic factors and the affective outcomes of the strike?
Research hypotheses; Five research hypotheses were established for the research. These
hypotheses were aimed at establishing the impact of the strike on the affective outcomes of the strike.
These were; there was a significant change in the level of organizational commitment after the strike;
there was a significant change in the level of job satisfaction after the strike; there was a significant
change in the level of work climate satisfaction after the strike; there was a significant change in the
level of management satisfaction after the strike; and there is was significant change in the level of
union commitment after the strike.
Research design and methodology: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect
data. Qualitatively, interviews, media reports and the Municipality records were being used to collect
data on the causes, processes and outcomes of the strike. Quantitatively a survey questionnaire was
used to collect data. Data was collected from 105 Traffic Officers who had recently been on strike in
the NMBM. Measures of organisational and union commitment, employee job satisfaction, and work
climate satisfaction were assessed using the Chaulk & Brown (2008) questionnaire. A paired sample
t-test, ANOVA test, and Scheffe test and Cronbach’s alpha, were some of the quantitative methods
used in data analysis. Henning’s approach was used to analyze qualitative data.
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Major findings: The results from the questionnaire revealed that job satisfaction, work climate
satisfaction and management satisfaction significantly changed in the post-strike period. In addition,
impact of demographic factors on affective factors was evident for participation in the strike and the
level of union commitment; age and job satisfaction; occupational level and job satisfaction; and
service length and union commitment.
Key words
Strikes/Industrial action, Labour Relations, Worker Satisfaction, Work Climate Satisfaction, Union
Loyalty, Organisational Commitment, Trade Unions, Management, Municipality, Disputes/Grievances,
Organisational relationships, Organisational Behaviour, Attitudes.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Declaration by Student ....................................................................................... .i
Acknowledgement .............................................................................................. .ii
Abstract .............................................................................................................. iii
Table of Contents................................................................................................ v
List of Tables ..................................................................................................... xii
List of Figures ................................................................................................... xiv
Definition of Operational Terms ...................................................................... xv
List of Acronyms............................................................................................... xvi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Trends in South African Industrial Action ...............................................1
1.2 Brief Discussion on the Integrated Model of Strike Action ....................2
1.3 Background: The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) and the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate ........................................................ 4
1.3.1 Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality ......................................................................... 4
1.3.2 The Traffic and Licensing Services Sub-directorate ............................................ 4
1.3.3 The wild-cat strike in the Traffic and Licensing Services Sub-directorate ............ 5
1.4 Research Objectives ..................................................................................... 4
1.4.1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................... 4
1.4.2 Objectives ........................................................................................................... 6
1.4.3 Proposed Research Questions ............................................................................ 6
1.4.4 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 6
1.5 Outline of the Treatise Chapters ................................................................. 7
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1.5.1 Chapter Two: Literature Review .......................................................................... 7
1.5.2 Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology ............................................. 7
1.5.2.1 General Approach ............................................................................................... 7
1.5.2.2 Population and Sample ....................................................................................... 7
1.5.2.3 Research Instrument ........................................................................................... 8
1.5.2.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................... 8
1.5.2.5 Data Analysis ...................................................................................................... 8
1.5.3 Chapter Four: Results and Discussion ................................................................ 9
1.5.4 Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................. 9
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 10
2.2 Right to Strike ............................................................................................... 10
2.2.1 The Legislative Framework................................................................................ 11
2.3 Restrictions on the Right to strike ........................................................... 14
2.3.1 Essential, Minimum and Maintenance Services ................................................. 16
2.4 Collective Bargaining .................................................................................. 18
2.4.1 Collective Bargaining in Local Government in South Africa .............................. 20
2.5 Strike Trends in the Public Sector, Local Government and Essential Services in South Africa ............................................................................... 21
2.6 Conflict, Conflict Escalation and De-escalation .................................... 24
2.6.1 Conflict ............................................................................................................. 24
2.6.2 Organisational Conflict...................................................................................... 25
2.6.2.1 Stages of Conflict within an Organisation ....................................................... 26
2.6.4 Conflict Escalation and De-escalation ............................................................... 27
2.6.4.1 Conflict Escalation .......................................................................................... 27
2.6.4.2 Conflict De-escalation ..................................................................................... 28
2.6.4.3 Stages of Conflict Escalation ......................................................................... 29
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2.6.4.4 Facilitators and Inhibitors of Conflict ................................................................ 30
2.7 Integrated Model of Strike Causation, Processes and Outcomes .... 31
2.7.1 Industrial Relations Climate .............................................................................. 32
2.7.2 Strike Causation ................................................................................................ 33
2.7.2.1 Political Model of Strike Causation ................................................................... 33
2.7.2.2 Ideological Model of Strike Causation .............................................................. 34
2.7.2.3 Behavioural Model of Strike Causation ............................................................. 34
2.7.2.4 Private Information Model of Strike Causation ................................................. 36
2.7.2.5 Structural Change Model of Strike Causation ................................................... 37
2.7.2.6 The Legitimacy Model of Strike Causation ........................................................ 37
2.7.2.6 Strike Causation in Local Government- a US Example ....................................... 38
2.7.3 Strike Processes ............................................................................................... 39
2.7.4 Outcomes of the Strike ...................................................................................... 40
2.7.4.1 Affective Outcomes .......................................................................................... 41
2.8 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................ 43
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD AND DESIGN
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 44
3.2 General Approach. ....................................................................................... 45
3.3 Population and Sample Selection. ............................................................ 45
3.3.1 Population. ........................................................................................................ 45
3.3.2 Sample and Sample selection. ........................................................................... 46
3.3.2.1 Interviews. ....................................................................................................... 46
3.3.2.2 Survey Questionnaire. ..................................................................................... 47
3.4 Research instruments. ................................................................................ 47
3.4.1 Describing the strike. ........................................................................................ 47
3.4.1.1 Secondary data. ................................................................................................ 48
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3.4.1.2 Primary Interviews. ........................................................................................... 48
3.4.2 To Determine the Employee Reaction to the Strike. ........................................... 48
3.4.2.1 Survey Questionnaire. ....................................................................................... 48
3.5 Data Collection. ............................................................................................ 49
3.5.1 Mapping the Strike. ........................................................................................... 49
3.5.1.1 Secondary Data. ................................................................................................ 49
3.5.1.2 Interviews.......................................................................................................... 49
3.5.2 Employee Reaction to the Strike........................................................................ 51
3.5.2.1 Pilot Study of the Survey Questionnaire. ........................................................... 51
3.5.2.2 Administration of the Survey Questionnaire. ..................................................... 51
3.6 Data Capture and Data Analysis. ................................................................ 52
3.6.1 Secondary Text Data and Interviews.................................................................. 52
3.6.2 Survey Questionnaire. ....................................................................................... 53
3.7 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................ 53
3.7.1 Voluntary Participation. ..................................................................................... 53
3.7.2 Confidentiality. .................................................................................................. 54
3.7.3 Anonymity of Respondents. .............................................................................. 54
3.7.4 No Harm to participants..................................................................................... 54
3.7.5 Analysis and Reporting. .................................................................................... 54
3.8 Short Comings and Sources of Error. .................................................. 54
3.9 Chapter Summary. ....................................................................................... 55
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction. .................................................................................................. 56
4.2 The Study of the 3rd March 2010 Strike of the Traffic Officers within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. ....................................................... 56
4.2.1 Background and Events that led up to the Strike Action. ................................... 56
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4.2.1.1 The Structure of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate................................ 56
4.2.1.2 Job Evaluation ................................................................................................ 57
4.2.1.3 Confusion and Delays Regarding the Establishment of the Metro Police. ........ 57
4.2.1.4 The Evaluation of the Traffic Officers. ............................................................... 58
4.2.1.5 The Negotiation process. .................................................................................. 60
4.2.2 Triggers of the 3rd of March 2010 Traffic Officers’ Strike. ................................... 62
4.2.3 Demands made by the Traffic Officers. .............................................................. 63
4.2.4 The Strike Process. ........................................................................................... 63
4.2.5 Strike Outcomes................................................................................................ 65
4.2.6 Facilitators and Inhibitors.................................................................................. 67
4.3 Results of the Questionnaire. .................................................................... 67
4.3.1 Sample Demographics. ..................................................................................... 67
4.3.1.1 Gender Distribution. .......................................................................................... 68
4.3.1.2 Racial Category. ................................................................................................ 68
4.3.1.3 Home Language Distribution. ............................................................................ 69
4.3.1.4 Occupational Level Distribution. ....................................................................... 70
4.3.1.5 Union Membership Distribution. ........................................................................ 70
4.3.1.6 Membership Category Distribution. ................................................................... 71
4.3.1.7 Length of Service Category Distribution. ........................................................... 72
4.3.1.8 Age Distribution. ............................................................................................... 73
4.3.1.9 Participation Distribution. ................................................................................. 73
4.3.2 The Reliability of the Affective Factors Pre- and Post-Strike .............................. 74
4.3.3 The Results for the Affective Factors- Pre and Post-strike ................................. 75
4.3.3.1 Organisational Commitment - Pre and Post-strike ........................................... 75
4.3.3.2 Job Satisfaction- Pre and Post-strike ............................................................... 77
4.3.3.3 Work Climate Satisfaction- Pre and Post-strike................................................ 78
4.3.3.4 Management Satisfaction- Pre and Post-strike ................................................ 80
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4.3.3.5 Union Commitment - Pre and Post-strike ......................................................... 82
4.3.4 The Difference in the Affective Factors- Pre and Post-strike .............................. 83
4.3.5 The Impact of Demographic Variables on Change in the Affective Measures Pre and Post-strike ............................................................................................................ 84
4.3.5.1 Results for Gender .......................................................................................... 85
4.3.5.2 Results for Participation in the Strike .............................................................. 86
4.3.5.3 Results for Occupational Level ........................................................................ 87
4.3.5.5 Results for the Length of service .................................................................... 88
4.3.5.6 Results for Age Category ................................................................................ 89
4.4 Discussion of Results ................................................................................... 91
4.4.1 The integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes .................... 91
4.4.1.1 The Causes of the strike .................................................................................... 93
4.4.1.2 How the strike unfolded .................................................................................... 93
4.4.1.3 The Substantive and Procedural Outcomes of the strike ................................... 94
4.4.1.4 The Climate Outcomes of the strike ................................................................... 94
4.4.2 The Climate Outcomes ........................................................................................ 94
4.4.3 The Impact of Demographic Variables on the Affective Measures-Pre and Post-strike ................................................................................................................... 95
4.5 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 96
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 97
5.2 The Major Objectives of the Study ........................................................... 97
5.3 Discussion on the Causes, Processes and Outcomes of the Strike. 97
5.4 Affective Outcomes of the Strike ............................................................ 101
5.4.1 The Impact of the Strike on the Affective Factors ............................................. 102
5.4.2 The Impact of Demographic Variables on the Affective Measures of the Pre and Post-strike ......................................................................................................... 103
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5.5 Short comings of the Research............................................................... 103
5.6 Recommendations ..................................................................................... 104
5.7 Possible Areas for Future Research ...................................................... 105
5.8 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 105
REFERENCE LIST ........................................................................................ 106
APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW GUIDELINE .......................................................... 113
APPENDIX 2: EMPLOYEE QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................ 114
APPENDIX 3: EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTERS AND INFORMED CONSENT FORMS (EMPLOYEE QUESTIONNAIRE) .................................... 118
APPENDIX 4: EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTERS AND INFORMED CONSENT FORMS (INTERVIEW) ................................................................... 112
APPENDIX 5: TIME LINE FOR TRAFFIC OFFICER’S ISSUES ...................... 123
APPENDIX 6: CODE BOOK ............................................................................ 125
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LIST OF TABLES
Table number
Description Page number
Table 3.1 Employees of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 46
Table 3.2 Population of the Traffic Officers within the NMBM 47
Table 3.3 Interview schedule 50
Table 4.1 Job evaluation dates in respect to the PEM system 59
Table 4.2 Gender distribution of the sample
68
Table 4.3 Racial distribution
68
Table 4.4 Home language distribution 69
Table 4.5 Occupational level distribution 70
Table 4.6 Union membership distribution 70
Table 4.7 Membership category distribution 71
Table 4.8 Service category distribution 72
Table 4.9 Age category distribution 72
Table 4.10 Participation distribution 73
Table 4.11 Cronbach’s alpha for affective factors 73
Table 4.12 Organisational commitment for the sample: pre-strike 74
Table 4.13 Organisational commitment for the sample: post-strike 75
Table 4.14 Job satisfaction for sample: pre-strike 76
Table 4.15 Job satisfaction for the sample: post-strike 77
Table 4.16 Work climate for the sample: pre-strike
77
Table 4.17 Work climate for the sample: post-strike
78
Table 4.18 Management satisfaction for the sample: pre-strike
79
Table 4.19 Management satisfaction for the sample: post-strike
80
Table 4.20 Union Commitment for the sample: pre-strike
81
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Table number
Description Page number
Table 4.21 Union Commitment for the sample: post-strike
82
Table 4.22 Differences between the affective measures pre and post strike for the sample
83
Table 4.23 The impact of gender on the change in affective factors pre and post-strike
(Means and Standard Deviations)
84
Table 4.24 The impact of gender on the change in affective factors pre and post-strike
(T-Test analysis)
84
Table 4.25 The impact of participation on the change in affective factors pre and post-strike
(Means and Standard Deviations)
85
Table 4.26 The impact of Participation on the change in affective factors pre and post-strike
(T-Test analysis)
85
Table 4.27 The impact of occupational level on the change in affective factors pre and
post-strike (Means and Standard Deviations)
86
Table 4.28 The impact of occupational level on the change in affective factors pre and
post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
86
Table 4.29 The impact of length of service on the change in affective factors pre and post
Strike (Means and Standard Deviations)
87
Table 4.30 The impact of length of service on the change in affective factors pre and
post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
87
Table 4.31 The impact of age category on the change in affective factors pre and post
Strike (Means and Standard Deviations)
88
Table 4.32 The impact of age category on the change in affective factors pre and
post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
88
Table 4.33 The impact of age category on the change in affective factors pre and
post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
89
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure number Description Page number
Figure 1.1 Integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes 3
Figure 2.1 The determination of Essential Services and Minimum
service agreements
17
Figure 2.2 The impact of environmental features on bargaining outcomes 19
Figure 2.3 Conflict escalation and de-escalation 28
Figure 4.2 Gender distribution 68
Figure 4.3 Racial distribution 68
Figure 4.4 Home language distribution 69
Figure 4.5 Occupational level distribution 70
Figure 4.6 Union membership distribution 70
Figure 4.7 Membership category distribution 71
Figure 4.8 Service category distribution 72
Figure 4.9 Age category distribution 72
Figure 4.10 Participation category distribution 73
Figure 4.11 Traffic Officer’s strike using the integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes
91
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Definition of operational terms
1. Industrial action or strikes:
“The partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of work, by
persons who are or have been employed by the same employer or by different employers, for
the purpose of remedying a grievance or resolving a dispute in respect of any matter of
mutual interest between employer and employee, and every reference to “work” in this
definition includes overtime work, whether it is voluntary or compulsory.” , Section 213 of the
LRA 66 of 1995
2. Affective Factors
2.1 Job Satisfaction: Employee satisfaction is an attitude that employees have about their jobs
and the organizations in which they perform these jobs (Rad & Yarmohammadian, 2006).
2.2 Union Commitment: The affective attachment to the labour organization and is denoted by
(a) positive attitudes toward the union and its values and goals, (b) a sense of pride in being a
member of the union, and (c) a desire to maintain one's membership (Fullagar, & Barling, 1989)
2.3 Organisational Commitment refers to an attitude, where an employee identifies with a
particular organisation and its goals and wants to remain an employee of the organisation in state.
Higher organisational commitment is when an employee identifies with his it or employing
organisation. (Robins & Judge, 2009)
2.4 Work Climate Satisfaction: There is no ground definition of work environment satisfaction.
Chaulk & Brown (2008) note that work environment satisfaction relates to perceptions of a motivating
organizational climate, that in turn results in to improved individual performance, customer satisfaction
and employee retention.
3. Municipality: It is a legally constituted body, which represents government at local level.
The local government represents a community by elected representatives, who take on the
responsibility to improve, while providing essential services to a town or city. (Dali, 1995)
4. Labour Relations: According to Finnemore (2006), ranges from simple interpersonal
processes between the employer and employee, or between groups at the work place, to concessions
among interest groups at national level, and to a global level where concessions and agreements are
concluded between/among international employer organisations, International/local labour
organisations, states and other international bodies
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List of acronyms
ANC African National Congress
CCMA Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration
COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions
FEDUSA Federation of Unions of South Africa
ESC Essential Service Committee
ILO International Labour Organisation
IMATU Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union
LLF Local Labour Forum
LRA Labour Relations Act
NMBM Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
MSA Minimum Service Agreement
PEM Port Elizabeth Municipality
SALGA South African Local Government Association
SALGABC South African Local Government Association Bargaining Council
SAMWU South African Municipal Workers’ Union
PSBC Public Service Bargaining Council
1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
This research describes the 2010 “wild-cat” strike by the Traffic Officers of the Nelson Mandela Bay
Municipality.
1.1 Trends in South African Industrial Action
Industrial action has characterized the South African labour relations environment. A discussion on
the strike trends in South Africa should make a distinction between the legislative and institutional
framework surrounding industrial action in the past racial South Africa and that of a current
democratic South Africa. This is because, although economic reasons to strike may surface in both
contexts, underlying objectives may have been different. For example, whereas protected strikes in
the new South Africa are a continuation of the negotiating process and essential part of the
collective bargaining process, on the other hand, industrial action in the past was aimed at bringing
about political change (Tokiso Review, 2005).
The major events in the South African strike history are briefly outlined below.
The Rand Rebellion, in 1922, was a massive strike, where about 22 000 organised members of the
white labour movement in the mining sector who felt threatened by cheap Black labour, demanded a
statutory colour bar. Although the white trade Unions’ bargaining power was virtually destroyed by
the Smuts government, the aftermath of the strike produced a “conciliation system” through the 1924
Industrial Conciliations Act. Subsequent legislation was aimed at protecting the capitalist interests of
the white workers by formally co-opting them within the government structures thereby promoting
industrial and political peace, while excluding Black employees from any formal political, social and
economic associations. The industrial and political peace, which came with the autocratic dual
system, lasted up to the 1970s (Anstey, 1999; Van der Velden & Visser, 2006).
In the Durban strikes of 1973, for the first time in South African labour history, the real power of the
Black workers was felt, even in the absence of any formal representation (Finnemore, 2006). The
massive Black militancy which involved workers from the brick, textile, chemical, rubber, iron, steel
and electrical services industries, including municipal services employees, rapidly spread to the
nearby areas, with workers expressing their general dissatisfaction over economic, working and living
conditions caused by the political and the labour system. In the later periods, labour militancy in the
1970’s was instrumental in the emergence of more resilient and organised Black Trade Unions,
community protests and timely recommendations made by the 1979 Wiehahn Commission which
resulted in the 1981 Labour Relations Act. Although this Act was meant to give African workers
industrial citizenship, the political, economic and social atmosphere was characterised by divisions. In
2
the mid-1980s Black workers therefore decided to mobilise a national response, against the
government in the form of political stay-aways (Anstey, 1999; Finnemore, 2006; van der Velden &
Visser, 2006). In addition, the mid 1980s also saw a considerable increase in the level of industrial
action as Black workers were determined to act in solidarity with each other, with a patriotic notion of
“an injury to one is an injury to all”. Strike frequency increased from 101 strikes in 1979 to 1148 in
1987 (Tokiso Review, 2005).
The years that immediately followed the 1994 birth of a democratic South Africa and the enactment of
the Labour Relations Act of 1995 with extensive dispute resolution mechanisms saw a substantial
decline in the level of strike activity. This could be attributed to a decline in strike activity in the
manufacturing and mining sectors. However strike activity has increased for the past 10 years. Much
of the industrial action is attributed to the Public Sector. In the Public Sector, the post-1994 Public
Sector reforms, and the recurring wage differentials brought about by settlements during wage
rounds, played a part in the 1999, 2004 and 2007 and the 2010 massive Public Sector strikes (Banjo
& Balkaram, 2009; Tokiso Review, 2007). With reference to the 2007 and 2010 Public Sector strikes,
Ceruti (2010) describes the 2007 Public Strike, as that one in which the African National Congress
Government (under the regime of President Mbeki) side-lined the Congress of South African Trade
Unions (COSATU) as an alliance partner. Whereas in the post Polokwane events, President Zuma
emerged as popular leader fully backed by the alliance partners. The 2010 Public Sector saw Public
Sector workers, teachers and essential service workers (nurses and doctors) take to the streets. The
strike revealed some conflicting interests with the member’s demands on one hand, and the Union
leaders’ overall strategy on the other hand. Union leaders were faced with a challenge of meeting the
members’ unrealistic wage expectations and fostering the alliance between COSATU and the African
National Congress (ANC) Government (as the broad strategy). The consequences of the strike were;
broken relationship between the union leaders and the members (where union members accused
their leaders of selling them out), expulsion of essential service striking workers, negative public
opinion as a result of “demoralized” hospital patients and learners and the suspension of the strike
because of the uncertainty from the union members (Ceruti, 2010).
1.2 Brief Discussion on the Integrated Model of Strike Action
The integrated model of strike action was used to guide this research. Figure 1.1 below illustrates the
above mentioned aspects of the integrated model of strike action. The impact of the strike is
measured using both the economic and the affective outcomes. Affective outcomes may be viewed in
two ways. Firstly, they may refer to good or bad industrial relations among role players. Good
industrial Relations may be associated with improved communication among the industrial relations
role players, high degrees of trust, adherence to workplace agreements. Good relationship between
the Union and Management may result in desirable organizational outcomes such as, organizational
commitment and organizational performance (Hyman, 1984; Dekker, 1985). Secondly,
3
the processes, outcomes and the new power relationships will influence the next round of negotiations and collective bargaining within the organisation. In
other words, experiences during the strike and strike outcomes such as substantive, procedural and affective outcomes will impact on worker oriented outputs
and impact the actors of the system via a feedback loop (Chaulk & Brown, 2008; Kelly & Nicholson, 1980).
Figure 1.1 Integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes (Kelly & Nicholson, 1980; Finnemore, 2006; Chaulk & Brown, 2008)
A full discussion of the integrated model will be provided in the chapter two (literature review).
E c o n o m i c s tr u c tu r e
F r a m e s o f r e f e r e n c e
In te r g r o u p p e r c e p t io n s
P o li ti c a l s tr u c tu r e
P e r c e p ti o n s o f c l im a t e a n d c o n f l i c t
I s s u e s
D e m a n d F o r m u la ti o -n
T r i g g e r s S t r i k e D e m a n d
M a n a g e r i a l p e rs p e c t i v e s C o n c ili a t io n
4 8 h o u r n o ti c e
N e g o ti a ti o n R e f e r e n c e g r o u p s
I n t e r - p a r t y B a r g a i n in g/ p o w e r t e s t in g
S t r ik e m a i n t e n a nc e
In tr a -p a r t y B a r g a in in g
S t r ik e c o n te n t
S t r ik e f a c il it a t o r s a n d i n h i b it o r s
T r a n si ti o n a l O u t p u ts
F in a l O u t p u t s
W o r k c li m a t e s a ti s fa c ti o n
J o b s a t is f a c t io n
C lim a te
P r o c e d u r a l
S u b s t a n t iv e
M a n a g e m e n t s a ti s fa c ti o n
S t r i k e O u t c o m e s S t r i k e P r o c e s s In d u s t r i a l r e l a t i o n s c l i m a t e S t r ik e c a u s a t i o n
U n io n c o m m it m e n t
O r g a n is a ti o n a l c o m m i t m e n t
S t r u c t u r a l f a c i li t a t o r s a n d in h ib i t o r s
P r e v i o u s h i s to r y P la n t s i z e a n d l o c a t io n W o r k p l a c e p ro c e d u r e s U n io n ri v a l r y a n d e f f e c t iv e n e s s L e g i s l a t io n
C o m m u n i t y i n t e r a c t io n U n e m p lo y m e n t P u b li c / m e d i a o p i n io n L a b o u r fo r c e p r o f il e
M a n a g e r ia l p e r s p e c t iv e s In te r n a t io n a l a ff il ia t io n a n d p r e s s u r e s
S t a t e a t t it u d e C o m p a n y p r o fi ta b il it y
4
1.3 Background: The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM)
and the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate.
1.3.1 Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
The Public Sector is the biggest employer in the South African labour market. Employees include
those at the National and Provincial Government, the Local Government, the state-owned enterprises
and Universities. The Local Government operates through Municipal Councils, with the aim of
providing services to their communities. The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality is the largest
Municipality in the Eastern Cape, comprising of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch. Among
other services, water, electricity, sanitation, safety, security and housing are provided by the
Municipality. All negotiations and disputes are coordinated in a National Bargaining Council, the South
African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC). Parties to the Council are South African
Local Government Association (SALGA), Congress of the South African Trade Union (COSATU)
affiliate, South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) and the Federation of Unions of South
Africa (FEDUSA) affiliate, Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) (Finnemore, 2006).
The Municipality Management has to maintain a good relationship with the shop stewards and the
Union due to the fact that most workers within the Municipality tend to join Unions.
The most militant Municipal Union is SAMWU and almost all strikes associated with Municipalities
were initiated by SAMWU or the SAMWU members (Dali, 1995). A discussion on strikes, with a major
emphasis on collective bargaining within the Municipality will be explained in detail in the literature
review.
1.3.2 The Traffic and Licensing Services Sub-directorate
The Traffic and Licensing Services Sub-directorate, with the Disaster Management, Fire and
Emergency Services, and Security Services are all Sub-directorates of the Safety and Security
Directorate of the NMBM.
The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate’s organisational structure comprises of five major functions,
that is; Operations which is involved with law enforcement; the Municipal Court and legal processes
which is involved in processing of tickets or fines for court prosecution; Support services which
includes administration work; Training and Crime Prevention; and Licensing which issues learners
and drivers’ licence, and road worth licensing.. Each function is run by an Assistant Director, who
directly reports to the Director of Traffic and Licensing. The Traffic Officers fall under the Operations
5
function and all employees are affiliated to one of the two major Trade Unions in the Nelson Mandela
Municipality, namely SAMWU and IMATU.
1.3.3 The wild-cat strike in the Traffic and Licensing Services Sub-directorate
On the 3rd of March 2010, Traffic Officers blocked three major highways in the Metropole demanding
job re-grading before being incorporated into the proposed Metro-police force (which has not been
formed to date). Traffic Officers had demanded job re-grading, for the past 10 years. The strike
exposed how troubled the Municipality’s Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was in the aspects of
leadership and employee competence. Cases of irresponsible behaviour as a result of poor
leadership or the absence of proper supervision, such as; illegal strikes, illegal stay-aways and
absenteeism caught media attention in the period that followed the strike. In addition, the lack of
proper supervision was reported to have a negative impact on the motivation of committed
employees. Other issues that came to surface were; irregularities in employment practices coupled
with incompetent personnel occupying high positions (The Herald, 2010: The Weekend Post, 2010).
1.4 Research Objectives
1.4.1 Statement of the Problem
Strike action in South Africa has been used as a tool for both political and economic change. With
specific reference to the periods of 1970 -1990, high levels of strike action were due to the exclusion
of the Black labour force from both political and economic formal institutions. The level of strike
activity during these years was such as to prompt the question “Are South African’s World Class
Strikers?” (Anstey, 2006)
After 1994, institutions were developed to bring about both political and economic fairness. Labour
institutions were introduced to promote cooperation and dampen adversarialism but despite such
institutions, strike action has continued and escalated in the most recent past. This again raises the
question of whether South Africa is a strike prone society.
Strikes have an impact on the macro-economy, investor perceptions and the performance of
organizations whether in the private or public sectors. Usually, an assessment of the impact of a
strike, would entail, a statistical cost analysis in terms of the number employees involved in a strike,
the duration of the strike, workdays lost, indirect cost analysis in terms of inflation and interest rates,
the cost to management in terms of employers’ budgetary adjustments and actual impact of a strike
on service delivery. These measures are restricted to economic and power testing measures rather
than also establishing the psychological and relationship measures, in relation to the impact of the
strike. The relationship between Labour Relations processes such as Industrial action, grievance
6
procedures, collective bargaining, and organizational behavioural concepts such as worker job
satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, organizational trust and employee commitment) are under
researched, or sometimes ignored (Chaulk & Brown, 2008).
1.4.2 Objectives
The main objective of the research was to describe the causes, the process and the economic and
affective outcomes of the strike by the Traffic Officers in the Nelson Mandela Municipality using the
integrated model (Figure 1.1)
By examining the causes and process of the strike and measuring the impact of the strike on job
satisfaction, satisfaction with management, organisational commitment, commitment to the union and
work climate the research aimed to:
Contribute to theory
• Build on the research carried out by Chaulk & Brown (2008)
• Explore how behaviour during the conflict impacted on the on-going relationships within the
organisation.
Contribute to practice
• Highlight to management and unions the impact of the strike on employees so that both
management and the unions can create interventions to reverse the possible negative impact
of strike action
1.4.3 Proposed Research Questions
1. What were the causes of the strike?
2. How did the strike unfold?
3. What were the substantive outcomes of the strike?
4. What were the procedural outcomes of the strike?
5. What were the affective outcomes of the strike?
6. What is the relationship between the demographic factors and the affective outcomes of the
strike?
1.4.4 Hypotheses
Given the above proposed research questions, the following hypotheses will be tested in the current
research.
7
Hypothesis 1: There was a significant change in the level of organizational commitment after the
strike.
Hypothesis 2: There was a significant change in the level of job satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 3: There was a significant change in the level of work climate satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 4: There was a significant change in the level of management satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 5: There is was significant change in the level of union commitment after the strike.
1.5 Outline of the Treatise Chapters
1.5.1 Chapter Two: Literature Review
Chapter two provides a review of strike literature. The South African definition of a strike was provided
with reference to the Labour Relations Act 1995. A discussion on the right to strike and the limitation
to the right to strike was provided. The aspect of collective bargaining was explored in the general
context and the South African context. The trends of strike action in the South African Public Sector
and the essential services were also explored. Further, because strike action is a form of conflict, the
term conflict and the processes of conflict escalation were provided. Lastly, the integrated model of
strike causation, strike processes and strike outcomes was explained. .
1.5.2 Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology
Chapter 3 describes the research approach or method that was used in the study. Qualitative and
quantitative approaches in terms of the whole study, in terms of data collection and analysis of results
are explained. The limitations of the current research are also discussed.
1.5.2.1 General Approach
The nature of the research describes the causes, processes and outcomes of the strike. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data. Qualitatively, interviews, media reports
and the Municipality records were being used to collect data on the causes, processes and outcomes
of the strike. Quantitatively a survey questionnaire was used to collect data.
1.5.2.2 Population and Sample
The whole population of the Traffic Officers within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality was studied.
Among the 187 Traffic Officers of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, 105 were willing to participate
8
in the survey, 16 officers committed themselves to complete the survey at home did not return the
questionnaire, whereas the rest were not willing to participate, and others were off on annual leave.
In addition, five individuals who were closely involved in the negotiation process within the Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate were sampled.
1.5.2.3 Research Instrument
Four research instruments were used to collect data.
Firstly, the survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data on the pre-strike and post-strike
measures of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, work-climate satisfaction, management
satisfaction and union commitment.
Secondly transcribed data was collected from the interviews with the major parties who were involved
in the negotiation process of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality regarding the matter of regarding
the Traffic Officers.
The third instrument used was the media reports that indicate events that led up to the strike, how the
strike unfolded and the outcomes of the strike.
Lastly, the Municipality documents detail the negotiation processes before the strike, during the strike
and after the strike
1.5.2.4 Data Collection
The survey questionnaire which targeted the 187 Traffic Officers was in the English language. These
questionnaires were distributed by the researcher and then completed by the Traffic Officers during
the briefing sessions just before the start of patrolling shifts.
Interviews by the major stakeholders of the negotiation process were captured using a digital
recorder. Media reports were being collected from major national papers for example, “The Herald”
and “The Weekend Post”. Lastly, permission was obtained to get access to some Municipality
records.
1.4.2.5 Data Analysis
Qualitative data from the questionnaires was analyzed using Henning, Van Rensburg & Smit’s (2004)
code level one and code level two analyses and interpretation.
Quantitative data was captured in an excel spreadsheet and analyzed using both descriptive and
inferential data analysis.
9
1.5.3 Chapter Four: Results and Discussion
This chapter details the results from the qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative part of
the research analysed interviews, media reports, and the directorate minutes and maps the strike
action following the integrated model of strike action (that is the strike causation, strike process and
strike outcomes). The quantitative research process surveyed the attitudinal aspect of strike
outcomes and the results were tabulated and interpreted.
1.5.4 Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendations
This chapter summarises the results and links these results by giving reference to previous work on
strikes and to Chaulk and Brown’s work. Shortcomings, recommendations and possible areas for
future research are given.
10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The literature review will discuss a number of aspects such as the right to strike; the legislative
framework of the right to strike; the restrictions on the right to strike; an insight into the collective
bargaining system; strike trends in the South African Public Sector; the concept of conflict and conflict
escalation and de-escalation; different models of strike causation and the integrated model of strike
causation, strike processes and outcomes.
2.2 The Right to Strike
Before we can get into the discussion on the right to strike, the definition of strike action and of a
lockout according the South African Labour Relations Act (LRA) is provided below;
In South Africa, Section 213 of the LRA 66 of 1995 defines a strike as:
“The partial or complete concerted refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of work,
by persons who are or have been employed by the same employer or by different employers,
for the purpose of remedying a grievance or resolving a dispute in respect of any matter of
mutual interest between employer and employee, and every reference to “work” in this
definition includes overtime work, whether it is voluntary or compulsory.”
On the other hand, in South African labour law the employer only has the recourse to lock out in
specific circumstances, such as when the employees have embarked on an illegal strike. A lockout is
only effective where a number of employees are locked out. Therefore, an employer cannot lock out
one employee but a collective of employees (Thompson, 2010). Section 213 of the LRA of 1995
defines a lock out as;
“the exclusion of employees from the employer’s workplace, by an employer, the purpose of
which is to compel employees to accept a demand in respect of any matter of mutual
interest”.
The right to strike is the right to collectively refrain from work and doing so is not tantamount to breach
of contract. Therefore, this right is a privilege given to workers without being liable for the losses
incurred by the employer (Storey, 1922).
11
The right of workers to strike directs towards workers and not just union members. In other words, it
could be the right of workers in the absence of trade unions and a right against the trade union itself
(Macfarlane, 1981).
In comparison to other human rights that govern international law, the right to strike is a
socioeconomic right since it strives towards improving the living conditions or the economic status of
the employees (Chicktay, 2006). Yates (2009, p.132) asserts that the right to strike should be placed
in the context of “union effectiveness and strategic capacity.” Other human rights, such as civil and
political rights should be adhered to by all nations around the world. Socioeconomic rights such as the
right to strike, or to collectively bargain should first be ratified by a state, for such a right to be
enforced in a respective country (Chicktay, 2006). In addition, whereas human rights are universal in
their nature, the right to strike is exclusive to the economic category of persons who work for others,
in other words, a right awarded to “the employed” against “the employer”. Therefore, the right to
strike is awarded to the sectional needs of the working class which is compatible with the ethics of the
market economy (Macfarlane, 1981).
2.2.1 The Legislative Framework
The mother organisation of labour legislation is the International Labour Organisation (ILO). All
member states to the ILO are required to observe in good faith the ILO principles which are embodied
in the Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The principles to be observed are;
freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the prohibition of forced, compulsory and
child labour, the right to equitable and fair remuneration and employment practices (Gernigon, Odero,
& Guido, 1998).
This subject of the freedom of association envisaged in the ILO, gives labour the civil, political, and
social-economic entitlement to defend their interests through collective action (Novitz, 2003, p.3). The
right to strike is envisaged in the South African Constitution under the Bill of Rights and in the South
African Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995, Section 187. In the ILO, the right is envisaged in the
freedom of association charter. Circumstances that apply to the workers right to strike are;
• When the decision to strike is not before negotiations. This means that employees are
protected when a strike is used as a tool to persuade the employer to agree to employees’
requests after negotiations have taken place (Gernigon, Odero, & Guido, 1998).
• When workers strike in solidarity to recognise a collective employment contract over individual
contracts. Workers would prefer a collective employment contract over an individual
employment contract because of the notion that there is more power in numbers (Gernigon,
Odero, & Guido, 1998).
12
With reference to international law, the civil, political and social entitlements are characteristics of a
full democracy. The civil entitlements “consist of the rights necessary for individual freedom”; the
political entitlements refer to those where employees are enabled to exercise some “political power
through a representative democracy”. Social and economic entitlements, on the other hand “promote
the economic welfare in terms of fair wages, reasonable working conditions, and generally acceptable
standards of living (Novitz, 2003, p.39.) The ILO urges the state to engage in tripartite consultation
with organised employers’ organisations and organised labour in trying to create an environment that
supports these entitlements (Novitz, 2003). For the right to strike to be meaningful in a country, the
following political and trade union aspects should exist as mentioned by Macfarlane, (1981).
• Government policy promotes strikes
• The great majority of workers have the legal right to strike
• Independence of the Trade Union movement
• Workers and trade unions are given the freedom to associate or get involved in various kinds
of industrial action
• The government does not promote police violence, in cases where there is breakdown in the
provision of essential services or the collapse of law and order by the strikers
• Government intervention in a strike is aimed at bringing about the settlement of the dispute
rather than breaking the strike.
• Trade Unions are given the right to free speech.
• Government policy allows for secondary strike action
• Trade unions are independent of the employer
• Trade unions are democratic
• Stipulated rules and procedures for a decision to strike exist in the trade union constitution.
To illustrate the relationship between the LRA with the South African Constitution and the ILO, the
objectives of the LRA will briefly be cited.
Section 1 of the LRA of 1995 outlines the objectives or purposes of the Act, which are; “to advance
economic development, social justice, labour peace and the democratisation of the workplace”. The
Act seeks to achieve these objectives by:
• “Giving effect to and regulating the fundamental rights conferred by S 23 of the Constitution.
• Giving effect to obligations incurred by the Republic as a member state of the ILO
• Provision of a framework within which employees and their trade unions, on the one hand,
and employers and employers’ organisations, on the other, can bargain collectively to
determine wages, in terms and conditions of employment and other matters of mutual interest
• Promotion of orderly collective bargaining and
• Effective resolution of labour disputes”
In the spirit of effective bargaining the right to strike may provide partial means for resolving the
conflicting economic interests of management and labour while enhancing the rights and dignity and
13
worth of workers and industrial citizens. For the preservation of collective bargaining, it is essential
that it is properly understood by both the employer or employer collective and the employee collective
(Benjamine, Jacobus, & Albertyn, 1988). South African case law has indicated the Constitutional
Court’s determination to uphold the rights, dignity and worth of the employees. Among the
considerations that the South African Constitutional Court has accounted for in its rulings regarding
the legality of a strike action is the bargaining power of the employer over the employees. The
employer has the power to dismiss, the power to exclude workers from the workplace, the power to
use replacement labour, and the power to change work structures and conditions. To balance the
power between the employment parties (the employer and the employees), employees are awarded
the right to strike (Chicktay, 2006). Because of the power that the employer has over the employees,
the courts have ruled in favour of the employees in cases of illegal strikes. A case in point was in
Betha v BTR Sarmcol (1998 ILJ 459 (A), where some employees were denied time off to take part in
the May Day celebrations. Prior to this occasion, the employer and the union were about to conclude
a recognition agreement after twenty months’ period of negotiations. The employees in solidarity
declared strike action against the employers’ refusal to grant some employees time off. Because the
strike was illegal, the employees were dismissed. The Court ruled in favour of the employees and
ordered for the re-instatement of all those dismissed employees in the spirit of promoting workplace
democracy (Chicktay, 2006).
The courts’ interpretation of the LRA has been broad, where the very purpose of the Act has been
appraised. In another case, the Constitutional Court upheld the right to strike for the purpose of
promoting dignity of workers in the workplace. This purpose is to prohibit instances where employees
are treated as machinery and alienated from their work. To award employees the right to strike in
adverse workplace alienation, is to restore the dignity of the workers. Chicktay (2006) illustrates this
purpose with the case NUMSA v Bader Bop (Pty) Ltd (2003 ILJ 305 (CC), where the LRA was
interpreted by the employer in a restrictive sense when reading section 21 with 65(2). Section 21
gives the right to strike to representative unions to achieve organisational rights, but section 65(2)
restricts non-representative unions to strike for it to achieve organisational rights. The Constitutional
court refused to read these sections together and it rather gave reference to section 20, which gives
the overall right to bargain for organisational rights to non-representative, representative or majority
trade unions. Therefore, the right to bargain includes the right to use industrial action as a bargaining
tool. The LRA allows for workers’ collectives to either strike or to refer to matter for arbitration to
achieve the organisational rights. Therefore the right to use strike action as a tool, recognises the
workers’ collective as relevant stakeholders in the workplace issues, while restoring their dignity
(Chicktay, 2007).
Restrictions on the right to strike will be explained in the following sections.
14
2.3 Restrictions on the Right to Strike
The right to strike is not absolute, as it may have negative effects on citizens and the community at
large. Governments could for instance prohibit those strikes that are purely political as they fall
outside the area of collective bargaining. The ILO’s convention of the freedom of association places a
restriction on the right to strike for the following categories of employees;
• Employees who exercise authority in the name of the state.
• Essential service workers and
• Employees that offer service of “fundamental importance” (Gernigon, et al, 2000; Roskam,
2009).
The ILO explains that employees who exercise authority in the name of the state exclude those who
work in the education sector, those in state owned enterprises in sectors such as transport, education,
and communication, banking, mining and oil sectors. Instead the ILO deems those employees
involved in customs duties and judicial administration or the judicial system at large as those who
exercise authority on behalf of the state.
In addition those Public Sector employees who offer essential services are restricted from embarking
on strike action, for example, Police Officers, Traffic Officers and Amy Officers (Gernigon, et al, 2000;
Roskam, 2009).
In South Africa section 65 of the LRA of 1995 also outlines the circumstances and procedures that
have to be adhered to for a strike to be lawful as indicated below;
(1) No person may take part in a strike or lock-out in any conduct in contemplation or furtherance
of a strike or a lock out if
(a) That person is bound by a collective agreement that prohibits a strike or lockout in
respect of the issue in dispute;
(b) That person is bound by an agreement that requires the issue in dispute to be
referred to arbitration;
(c) The issue in dispute is one that a party has the right to refer to arbitration or to the
Labour Court in terms of this Act
To expand on a, b, c above: the right to strike is restricted in matters envisaged in a collective
agreement. Parties may conclude a collective agreement on matters such as wages. A strike action
would be prohibited in a matter agreed to by the parties as long as the collective agreement is still in
force. In addition, parties may agree that specific disputes that arise in the future should be resolved
by means of arbitration rather than by means of industrial action. The resolution of grievances
concerning the interpretation and application of a collective agreement should be settled objectively
by an arbitration process (Gernigon, Odero, & Guido, 1998). Further, the LRA provides a dispute
resolution process, where some matters should be resolved by means of arbitration. For example
15
disputes regarding alleged unfair dismissal. Section 191 of the LRA notes that unfair dismissals such
as dismissal for incapacity and misconduct should be resolved by means of conciliation and
arbitration at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Other dismissal
cases such as automatically unfair dismissals should be referred to the Labour Court for adjudication
(Basson et al, 2005).
Section 65 continues;
(d) That a person is engaged in
(i) An essential service; or
(ii) A maintenance service.
Essential and maintenance services will be discussed further in 2.3.1.
(2) (a) Despite section 65 (1) (c), a person may take part in a strike or lockout or in any
conduct in contemplation or in furtherance of a strike or lockout if the issue in dispute is
about any matter dealt with in section 12 to 15.
(b) if the registered trade union has given notice of the proposed strike in terms of
section 64 (i) in respect of an issue in dispute referred to in paragraph (a), it may not
exercise the right to refer the dispute to arbitration in terms of section 21 for the period of 12
months from the date of the notice
(3) Subject to a collective bargaining agreement, no person may take part in a strike or lockout or
in any conduct in contemplation or furtherance of a strike or lock out
(a) If that person is bound by-
(i) Any arbitration award or collective agreement that regulates the issue in
dispute; or
(ii) Any determination made in terms of section 44 by the Minister that regulates the
issue in dispute; or
(b) Any determination made in terms of wage Act and regulates the issue in dispute, during
the first year of that determination.
Employees within the private sector would usually give a 48 hour notice for a strike, whereas those in
the public sector would give a seven day notice for a strike. Secondly, an employee collective cannot
strike in the case where a dispute has been dealt with by means of arbitration. In other words, a
union, its members or an employee collective cannot strike in a case where they have reached an
unfavourable outcome from the arbitration process. In the same way, an employer may take recourse
to lockout employees. Lastly, an employer or employees should not resort to a lockout or a strike
respectively should a matter in dispute be dealt with in Sectoral Determination made by the Minister of
Labour.
16
2.3.1 Essential, Minimum and Maintenance Services.
Essential and maintenance services are referred to as either those services that are of vital
importance to the society or play a major role in the future of the employer. Employees who provide
such services on behalf of the employer are prohibited from striking. Likewise employers are
prohibited from locking out employees as a means of compelling them to accept demands (Basson et
al, 2005).
The LRA of 1995, Section 213 defines essential services as;
(a) A service the interruption of which endangers the life, personal safety or health of the whole
or part of the population;
(b) The parliamentary service
(c) The South African Police Services.
In South Africa, those services that have been declared essential services by the Essential Service
Committee are; the regulation and control of air traffic; the Weather Bureau of the Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism as it is a support service for the regulation of air traffic;
MUNICIPAL TRAFFIC SERVICES AND POLICING; municipal health; municipal security; the supply
and distribution of water; the generation, transmission and distribution of power; fire fighting; the
services required for the functioning of courts; correctional services; and blood transfusion services
provided by the South African Blood Transfusion Service (Basson et al, 2005, p.293).
Other non-essential services may be declared maintenance services. These services by definition
may, in time, be declared essential services “if a strike lasts beyond a certain time or extends beyond
a certain scope, thus endangering the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the
population” (ILO, 1996d: para. 541 in Roskam, 2009). The South African LRA of 1995, section 75(1)
defines a maintenance service as a service whose interruption has the effect of material physical
destruction to any working area, plant or machinery. Basson et al (2005: 293) adds that a
maintenance service could include “deep level gold mining, where mining demarcations may become
unsafe and unworkable if they are not regularly maintained during a strike.”
In South Africa, minimum services may be declared in essential service sectors and non-essential
service sectors. That means that those employees who offer a minimum service are prohibited from
embarking on strike action, while other employees within an essential service may strike. On the
other hand, some services that are non-essential may be declared minimum. The goal is to provide
minimum services to the population and avoid the extremely negative effects of a full blown strike.
The process of determining a Minimum Service Agreement is characterised by negotiation between
the employer and the employees/ union representatives with the involvement of the Essential Service
Committee. The Essential Service Committee has the powers to fully investigate and designate part
or a whole service as an essential service and to determine minimum service level agreements. The
process is illustrated in Figure 2.1;
17
Figure 2.1: The determination of Essential Services and Minimum service agreements (Adapted from
Roskam, 2009)
In Figure 2.1 above, in cases where a service is designated as an essential service, the Essential
Service Committee (ESC) may decide whether or not to facilitate the negotiation of the Minimum
ESC Investigates whether or not a service or part of a service is essential
ESC designates service or part of service essential
ESC refuses to designate essential service
Ordinary Service
A service which if interrupted may lead to national crisis
Public service of fundamental importance
MSA may be negotiated but ESC need not ratify
ESC considers whether minimum service appropriate or required
Yes No
Negotiation of the MSA (ESC may facilitate
MSA concluded
MSA not concluded
ESC considers whether or not to ratify MSA
ESC determines MSA
Matter referred back to negotiation
MSA determined Agreement ratified
Agreement not ratified
Matter referred back to negotiation
18
Service Agreement (MSA). On the conclusion of the agreement, the ESC then ratifies the agreement.
When an agreement is not ratified, reasons thereof are given for further negotiation between the
parties (the employer and the employee representatives). In cases where the parties cannot reach
agreement, the ESC may determine the MSA; the matter could be referred back to the parties for
further negotiation (Roskam, 2009).
2.4 Collective Bargaining
In South Africa post 1994, in the effort to democratise the workplace, the LRA provided for joint
consultation and collective bargaining. Thompson (2010) explains the applicability of these two terms.
The author asserts that, whereas the latter is a right given to the union on behalf of the employees,
the former is dependent on the workplace arrangements and the systems and the policies. In addition,
the right to strike could be used in the process of collective bargaining. On the other hand, joint
consultation requires the parties to discuss workplace matters in a peaceful way without resorting to
any form of industrial action.
However, joint consultation could be used as a strategy in collective bargaining. This is because, the
LRA requires the parties to the employment relationship to bargain in good faith. In other words,
parties engage in information sharing to reach an agreement that suits all the parties (Thompson,
2010).
Generally, strike action plays an important role in determining the outcomes of collective bargaining.
This means employees will embark on a strike action, when they believe that this will give them a
higher chance to win concessions with the employer. In addition, the power of labour over the
employer is determined by the labour market conditions, such as the unemployment rates. Research
has shown that when the unemployment rates are higher, labour will be less likely to embark on a
strike action. Another factor to be considered by labour before striking is the extent to which an
employee may incur a big loss in income (such as social welfare benefits, wages, employment
bonuses and incentives, and the real duration in which an employee may be unemployed) should
the strike result in retrenchments (Bowles, 1987).
Chamberlain and Kuhn (1965, p.3 in Gerhart, 1976) propose that the bargaining power of the parties
involved in the employment relationship can be expressed using the following formulas;
Union Power = Cost to Management of Disagreeing to Union demands
Cost to Management of Agreeing to Union demands
Management Power = Cost to Union of Disagreeing to Management Demands
Cost to Union of Agreeing to Management Demands
The union power will be higher if the cost to management of disagreeing to the union demands is
greater than the cost to management in agreeing to the union demands. On the other hand,
19
management’s power will be higher if the cost to union of disagreeing to management’s demands is
greater than the cost to union of agreeing to management’s demands (Gerhart, 1976).
Further, the environment has a role to play in determining the outcomes of collective bargaining. The
bargaining power of the parties will lie in a party’s ability to manipulate the environment to achieve
desirable bargaining outcomes (Gerhart, 1976).
Figure 2.2 illustrates the relationship between environment and the bargaining outcomes. In addition
the aspect of “cost” expressed in the bargaining power equation above will be linked to the
relationship between the environmental features and bargaining outcomes.
Figure 2.2 The Impact of environmental features on bargaining outcomes (Adapted from
Gerhart, 1976)
The paragraph below will demonstrate how an environment affects the cost of disagreeing or
agreeing to a party’s demands.
The word cost expressed in the bargaining power equation refers to economic, psychological and
political costs on a party. For example, management would incur high political costs if it denies the
union a right to strike in the presence of labour legislation that allows such a right. It would be a cost
to management as labour is likely to approach the labour courts for an interdict against the employer
under the guise of unfair labour practices (Gerhart, 1976). The high costs for management could
mean an increase in the bargaining power of the union.
The resultant bargaining power of a party could bring about direct or indirect outcomes given the
different environmental factors. Indirect outcomes are achieved when a party has an interest in
specific issues and direct outcomes are achieved when a party has an interest in general issues. For
indirect outcomes, the bargaining power of a party will increase if there is both a high interest in an
Indirect (specific) effects Direct (general) effects
Environmental features
Relative Bargaining power
Issues raised on Negotiations
Bargaining Outcome
Interests of Both Parties
20
issue and a willingness by a party to engage in activities that will result in the attainment of a goal. As
a result if those activities are effective, the other party will incur large costs if it continuously disagrees
to the party’s demands. For example, a union may strike against organisational restructuring and for
reasons related to job security. Because job security is an issue of high interest for the workers, they
will be willing to engage in industrial action. Further if industrial action is an effective tool,
management’s decision to disagree with such demands will be come at a high cost (Gerhart, 1976).
A direct outcome on the environment will be as a result of general issues such as strike incidence. For
example, when a past strike may alert management of the possible costs it may incur, should it
disagree with demands put forward by the union. Therefore the union’s actions may have won some
credibility, hence a higher bargaining power (Gerhart, 1976).
2.4.1 Collective Bargaining In Local Government in South Africa
When exercising their right to strike, Local Government employees are at a great disadvantage in
comparison to private sector employees. This is because of the political power of the employer and
the enormous political power of the voters and citizens to expect the continuous service delivery.
Giving Local Government employees the right to collective bargaining gives them access to formally
and sufficiently voice their workplace concerns to the Public Officials (Marlin, 1993). Therefore, whilst
the Municipality Management strives for a political agenda in terms of improving service delivery, it
also has to satisfy its employees (Dali, 1995).
Prior to 1994, collective bargaining was hardly used as a negotiation process in the labour relations
affairs of the Public Sector. In the post 1994 period, the Government of National Unity saw the need
to use collective bargaining as a tool in restructuring its governance structure. The governance
structure was to “accommodate the 17 administrations that had made up the balkanized apartheid
South Africa and at the same time generate economic policy that would support the new South Africa.
Over the years, transformations within the public sector have been evident with: the increase of the
minimum wage to R 1500 by 1997, the reduction of wage differentials, development of career paths,
and for the improvement of conditions for women and people with disabilities” (Budlender, 2009, p.25)
Collective bargaining in Local Government has been separated from that in the rest of the Public
sector. The South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGABC) deals with all labour
issues in Local Government whereas the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC) deals with issues
for the rest of the Public Service (Budlender, 2009).
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) which is reported to be the majority trade
union in Local Government with approximately 122, 000 members, represents both white collar and
blue collar workers within Local Government. SAMWU has had a role to play in influencing the
democratic Local Government transition in the post 1994 period, given its efforts to nominate
COSATU representatives at the Nations Local Government Negotiating Forum. The other trade union
21
in Local Government which is IMATU (Independent Municipal and Allied Trade union) was formed as
a result of mergers “of the old South African Municipal Employees Association, two city-based white
unions in Durban and Johannesburg and a union representing black managers from black local
authorities” (Budlender, 2009, p.30).
Bargaining in the SALGBC has been successful over the years though with some challenges.
Concessions between the employee and the employer have been in favour of the union as noted in
the following sentences. The achievements include the increase of the minimum wage from R1000 to
R3500, the data bank which recorded past wages, employment conditions, and allocated budgets in
every Municipality to facilitate open and informed collective bargaining, the establishment of a
standard medical aid subsidy which extended an opportunity for those employees who could not
afford the required member contributions, and the introduction of a 40 hour week, the main agreement
in which among others provided for 15 days- time-off annually for shop steward training, 31
constituency meetings during working hours, full-time shop stewards (by district for smaller
municipalities), additional time-off for office bearers and local labour forums (Budlender, 2009, p.30-
31).
Among the challenges for example was the on-going debate which concerned the inclusion of
commercialised municipal entities, labour brokers and sub-contractors in SALGBC’s bargaining unit.
Secondly, SAMWU and SALGA have had opposite views on the determination of wages. Whereas
SAMWU’s approach has been all inclusive that is to include casual, contract workers and municipal
managers in determining the wage curve, SALGA’s approach is to exclude municipal managers
(Budlender, 2009).
2.5 Strike Trends in the Public Sector, Local Government and Essential Services in South Africa
Writings on South African labour relations have highlighted the use of industrial action as means of
political, economic and social transformations. As discussed in Chapter one of this treatise, South
Africa can be viewed as a strike prone society.
The years that immediately followed the 1994 birth of a democratic South Africa and the enactment of
the Labour Relations Act of 1995 with extensive dispute resolution mechanisms saw a substantial
decline in the level of strike activity. This could be attributed to a decline in strike activity in the
manufacturing and mining sectors. However strike activity has increased for the past 10 years. Much
of the increase in industrial action is attributed to the Public Sector. In the Public Sector, the post-
1994 Public Sector reforms and the recurring wage differentials brought about by settlements during
wage rounds, played a part in the 1999, 2004, 2007 and the 2010 massive Public Sector strikes
(Banjo & Balkaram, 2009; Tokiso Review, 2007).
22
In 1999, 400, 000 Public Servants who were at the time led by twelve Public Service Unions
embarked on strike action. At the negotiation table, whereas the union demanded a 10% wage
increase, the government was prepared to offer 6.5% and 6.3% for teachers and other public
Servants respectively.
On the 16th September 2004, a delegation of 800, 000 Public Servants led by eight Public Sector
Unions took a decision to strike. These employees demanded a wage increase and monthly housing
allowance of 8.4% and R1000 respectively (Azikiwe, 2004).
Contrary to what legislation allows, the 2007 and 2010 Public Sector strikes saw essential service
workers involved in strike action. This is with reference to security workers and nurses and doctors.
During the 2007 Public Sector strike, the unions voiced out that the Government had failed to
conclude Minimum Service Agreements (Roskam, 2009).
With reference to both the 2007 and 2010 Public Sector strikes, Ceruti (2010) describes the 2007
Public Sector strike, as the one in which the African National Congress Government (under the
regime of President Mbeki) sidelined COSATU as an alliance partner. In the post Polokwane events,
President Zuma emerged as popular leader fully backed by the alliance partners. In August 2010
Public Sector workers including teachers and the essential service workers (nurses and doctors) took
to the streets. Whereas the Public Servants demanded an 8.5% and R1000 for wages and housing
allowance respectively, the Government counteracted their demands by giving a final offer of 7% and
R700 for wages and housing allowance respectively. To the Public Servants, a 7% wage offer was
provocation from the Government Officials who had spent extravagantly during the 2010 Soccer
World Cup. In addition, the 2010 strike revealed some conflicting interests- with the member’s
demands on one hand, and the Union leaders’ overall strategy on the other hand. Union leaders were
faced with a challenge of meeting the members’ unrealistic wage expectations and fostering the
alliance between COSATU and the ANC government (as the broad strategy). The consequences of
the strike were; broken relationships between the union leaders and the members (where union
members accused their leaders of selling them out), expulsion of essential service striking workers,
negative public perception as a result of “demoralized” hospital patients and learners, and the
suspension of the strike because of the uncertainty from the union members (Ceruti, 2010). In 2010,
the Tokiso Review attributed 21% of total strikes and 53% of the total the man days lost in South
Africa to the public service (Venter, 2010).
Over the past years, Municipal Employees have embarked on a series of strike action. The major
characteristic of the South African Municipal employees’ strikes has been the abuse of state property
by the empting of refuse bins and littering rubbish all over the streets. In the next section four major
Municipal Workers strikes in South African history (2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011) will be discussed.
On the 27th July 2005, SAMWU started a strike by the Municipal Workers. Whereas the union
demanded a nine percent wage increase, the employer was only willing to offer a six percent wage
23
increase in 2005, inflation plus increase of 0.5 in 2006 and inflation plus increase of 0.4% in 2007.
The unions concerns were:; the increase in apartheid wage gap (where the richer were getting richer
and poor were getting poor); the minimum wage of R2,300 which was offered by SALGA was not a
decent wage; and the high wages of the senior managers and the millions paid to consultants. The
strike which was spearheaded by the city of Johannesburg was supported by other municipal areas
such as in the Boland, in the Garden Route/Karoo and in the West Cost areas (Mail and the
Guardian, 2005).
On the 27th July 2009, SAMWU and IMATU jointly led a nation-wide strike for Municipal Workers.
SAMWU and IMATU decided to take to the streets after rejecting a counter proposal from the
employer of 11.5% increase in wages (Bell, 2009). An agreement was reached on a 13% increase
where all Municipal Employees could get a 10.5% increase in July and an additional 2.5% non-
pensionable allowance which would become pensionable in July 2010 (Fin 24, July 2009).
On the 12th April 2010, Municipal Workers embarked on strike action. Both SAMWU and IMATU
demanded a 60th percentile while the employer offered a 50th percentile. It was predicted that the
negotiated salaries would be comparable to market related salaries. The union had hoped that
management would use current salary and wage level information. Among the demands that SAMWU
made were that firstly job evaluation and wage-curve agreement should have come into effect in 2004
and SAMWU wanted workers to get at least two years’ back-pay and a job evaluation exercise of all
posts including those of top management. Secondly, that disciplinary processes should be handled
internally and not by expensive lawyers, thirdly end the use of labour brokers by the Municipality for
some services mainly waste management and fourthly that there be an extension of the Job
Evaluation Collective Agreement and a wage cap on the salaries of Councillors, Municipal Managers
and Section 57 Employees (Senior Council Officials) (Mafela, 2010, p.2).
On the 15th August 2011, about 200,000 South African Municipal employees embarked on a two
week strike demanding an 18% salary increase or at least a R2000 monthly increase. The employer
on the other hand was offering 6.08%. While the employees were ready to accept at least a 10%
increase, the employer later counteracted with a 6.3% increase. Later the employees declared an end
to the strike on the 31st of August 2011 and were willing to get back to the negotiation table with the
employer (SA Labour News, 2011).
2.6 Conflict, Conflict Escalation and De-escalation.
A discussion on Industrial action would not be complete without an explanation of conflict and conflict
escalation and de-escalation. To help explore the triggers that characterise industrial action, a
discussion on the nature of organisational conflict, the sources of conflict the process of conflict
escalation and de-escalation will follow.
24
2.6.1 Conflict
Conflict emanates from the very nature of the employment contract. The word contract means a
consensual agreement between the parties to a specific setting. In the employment context, the word
employment contract may imply the absence of conflict between the employer and the employee, as
the terms and conditions of employment may have been agreed to. In the real working environment,
the very nature of the imbalanced power relations between the parties is the source of conflict. The
employee is the weaker party in the relationship because the employer in all circumstances
determines the performance outcomes in such a way that their preferences override those of the
employees. The manager acts in the name of a corporation, the employee alone acts on his own
(Novitz, 2003).
Studying conflict helps us to fully understand among other aspects, social structure, organisations,
small groups, and individuals and relationships (Tjosvold, 1998). The concept conflict simply means
“meeting of opposing forces or persons” (Bendix, 2010, p.688). Similarly conflict can refer to
behaviour when two or more individuals or parties are opposed to each other because they feel that
they are deprived by the opposite party (Litterer, 1966).
Opposition to each other may manifest itself in terms of status, power resources and scarce values.
Therefore, conflict involves “purposeful behaviour involving planning as to how to attain scarce values
and overcome resistance.” (Anstey, 1999, p.5) Other elements of conflict as outlined by Anstey,
1999, p.5) are;
• Takes place in social structure which qualifies the situation in various ways
• Involves the use of power to neutralise or remove obstructing groups or resistance
• Is associated with collective action of a strategic nature designed to reduce
resistance by an opponent who is led to understand that relief from pressure can be
achieved only by concessions or capitulation
• Centres on the acquisition of scarce resources and values
It is important to stress that conflict occurs when there is an interaction between two or more
individuals. The nature of the social-being is such that any individual is bound to join a group,
consciously or even unconsciously. There are many reasons as to why an individual would join a
group or an organisation, such as having a sense of being and social security. The most common and
inevitable reason is gaining an identity. An individual would describe his or her identity, reflecting on
his or her values, norms, and culture, given a group(s) to which that individual belongs (Bendix,
2010).
Belonging to a group brings about interdependence both internally and externally. While the former
may produce intra-group conflict, the later is evident with the co-existence of different groups within a
convergent societal and global environment, amidst scarce and limited resources (Bendix, 2010). At
times because individuals may belong to different groups, a role conflict may occur. A role conflict
25
occurs when there is a clash in the roles a person is supposed to perform arising from the different
positions an individual occupies in society.
In the employment relationship, conflict that occurs mainly between the employer and the union,
involves power struggles. These power struggles are part and parcel of the relationship because of
the interdependence and the divergent interests of the parties (Finnemore, 2006). Other conflict may
happen between individuals within the organisation.
The other element entailed in the definition of conflict is to emphasize conflict as a form of behaviour.
This means that conflict is an action. The action is a result of a perception that one party in a
conflicting relationship expresses to the other. The perception which leads to conflict may be caused
by a sense of deprivation (Finnemore, 2006).
Generally conflict may undergo different levels of functionality. In an environment where there is no
conflict, individuals tend not to challenge systems and the status quo of the organisation. Further it is
postulated that such an environment is characterised by dissatisfied and unmotivated workers. In an
environment, where conflict is kept minimal, innovative strategies that challenge the status quo are
not explored widely, hence group functionality and performance remains relatively stable. As conflict
rises to an optimal level, members react to any organisational dysfunctionalities cognitively; hence
meaningful solutions to solve such are sought for. Consequently, the groups’ level of innovativeness
is kept optimal. On the other hand, where conflict in kept high, members tend to shift their focus from
effective problem solving, to attitudes involving emotions (Werner, Bagraim, Cunningham, Potgieter,
& Viedgo, 2007).
2.6.2 Organisational Conflict
Pondy (1967) asserts that organisational conflict could be clearly understood using the concepts
such as bargaining, bureaucratic and systems models of conflict. Firstly, bargaining conflict concerns
itself with union and management relations in organisations. Union initiatives in the bargaining conflict
are meant to balance the power between labour and management and reduce management
prerogatives. Secondly, bureaucratic conflict usually happens between employees of different
hierarchical levels of the organisation as in the case with a shop floor employee and his or her
supervisor. A shop floor employee may be found to have contravened the rules and regulations that
govern the organisation and the supervisor may therefore react by correcting such behaviour. Thirdly,
systems conflict is bound to occur between employees in the same function or between functions
usually at the same hierarchical level.
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2.6.2.1 Stages of Conflict within an Organisation
The following phases of conflict are based on a model proposed by Robbins’ (2006). ;
a). Potential opposition The first phase (potential opposition) could be explained in terms of the causes of conflict. In this
phase, factors that play a role in conflict causation, such as communication, structural causes (the
nature of the work organisation) and personal variables (perceptual differences, value systems, and
relationship incompatibilities), come in to play (Robbins, 2006).
b) Cognition and personalisation In any environment, an event sparks different perceptions from different people. The event will to a
large extent determine the nature of perceptions from the individuals, and in turn determine the extent
of conflict. Any perceptual differences would be personalised by the parties (Robbins, 2006).
c) The behavioural stage The psychological and emotional feelings by the conflicting parties experienced in stage 2 will
determine the behaviours of the parties. Individuals may react by engaging in violence, sabotage,
apathy and/or open aggression. The kind of behaviours expressed in reaction to conflict, may
determine the approach towards resolving that specific conflict. Parties may either choose to engage
in competitive or cooperative behaviours or functional or dysfunctional behaviours. These behaviours
are, collaboration, accommodation, compromise, avoidance and competitive. The first three are both
constructive and functional, while the later are dysfunctional and non-constructive (Robbins, 2006).
d) The last stage is the outcome stage Depending on the strategy used to resolve the conflict, a positive or a negative outcome will emerge.
A positive outcome is that, which concerns effective dispute resolution, and the positive affective
outcomes of the parties. A negative outcome could be a deadlock coupled with negative affective
outcomes (Robbins, 2006).
With reference to the stages of conflict, the events in the social, political and economic environment
could spark off different perceptions from different parties in the system. These perceptions in turn will
determine the behaviours of the parties. The behaviours expressed will be evident by the approach
adopted by the parties to resolve the conflict. Further these approaches to conflict resolution, will
determine the affective outcomes. In a work environment, affective outcomes will include; job and
worker satisfaction, management and union commitment, and work climate satisfaction. These
affective outcomes will have a significant impact on the organisational performance and the
innovativeness of groups in organisations. In addition, relationship variables will have an impact on
27
the group dynamics within the organisation and the extent to which conflict is regulated (Werner,
Bagraim, Cunningham, Potgieter & Viedgo, 2007).
2.6.4 Conflict Escalation and De-escalation
2.6.4.1 Conflict escalation.
Escalation is defined as the increase in “quantity and scope of violence between the parties in
conflict.” It is therefore assumed that confrontational means and violence are used by the parties as
conflict escalates (Bitterman, Lopez, Wright & 2007). In addition, Bui-Wrzosinska, Nowak &
Strawinska, (2010) and Bui-Wrzosinskal, Gelfand, Nowakt, Severance, Strawinska, Formanowic &
Cichockal (2009) assert that the escalation process is a sequential behavioural repertoire of one party
to another party’s aggressiveness and provocative behaviour. This means that these violent
behavioural approaches occur in cycles of attack or counterattack. However, when parties realise that
conflict is doing them more harm than good, they will try to devise means of resolving the conflict
(Bitterman, Lopez & Wright, 2007). In addition the de-escalation process leading to conflict resolution
approaches is not possible without the intervention of a third party (Bitterman, Lopez & Wright, 2007).
There are many processes that define the escalation stages of conflict. This stage is characterized by
the decision by the actors to endure heavy costs in the ongoing conflict and the unhealthy relationship
among or between the parties. Conflict escalation is a dysfunctional element of conflict as it is
uncontrollable, provides unconstructive and few alternatives for action for the parties; parties gain
leverage over the other given their level of violence; integrative and distributive means of resolving
conflict are ignored, as parties become entrenched in their positions and egos therefore making
conflict personal, and finally parties always aim to severely destroy the other party (Agbu, Okeke,
Aiyede & Durojaye, 2006).
Conflict escalation can be both vertical and horizontal. Vertical escalation is related to the extent of
violence, that is, violence which is characterised by massive human and material destruction.
Horizontal escalation refers to the extent of mobilisation and lobbying in violent situations. Mobilisation
that extends across geographical borders may result in low or high escalation depending on the
motivation of the masses (Jaspers, 2010). The less motivated the mass, the lower the escalation.
Individuals may be less motivated to participate in a conflict action when they have less experience in
such as action and have a negative perception towards that conflict action (Jaspers, 2010).
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2.6.4.2 Conflict De-escalation.
The de-escalation process is a gradual process, and it involves three levels. The first level of de-
escalation uses forceful and repressive approaches, as is the case with military sanctions. The
second stage of the de-escalation stage is characterised by improved communication between the
parties in conflict with some third party interventions. A case is illustrated by Jaspers (2010) when the
white South African Intellectuals met with the ANC in 1987 in Dakar. The third stage is aimed at
creating a long lasting peace between the parties. This is possible, if the parties sit down, and re-
asses their core values and missions. Then after, they would seek ways of creating peace and
harmony with the other party, by recognising each as a legitimate party (Jaspers, 2010).
The figure below illustrates the escalation and de-escalation processes of conflict
Figure 2.3: Conflict escalation and de-escalation (Adapted from Jasper, 2010)
From the graph above, latent conflict (that is a form of perception) becomes manifest when a party
takes an action to express his or her perception. The conflict escalation process may involve the
counteraction of words and actions by the parties in a conflicting situation. The conflict would then
reach a point of stalemate where parties reach disagreement on issues to a point of deadlock. The
de-escalation process starts when parties could break a deadlock through an engagement in
meaningful negotiation. Negotiations could therefore lead to an agreement and the maintenance of
peace between parties in conflict.
It should be noted that not all conflicts follow the same sequence, as is the case with minor conflicts.
The graph may be applicable to macro level conflicts. Conflict resolution aims at finding long term
solutions by removing all the traces of the root causes of the conflict (Jaspers, 2010).
29
2.6.4.3 Stages of Conflict Escalation
Agbu, Okeke, Aiyede, Durojaye (2006) cite the nine stages of conflict escalation as outlined below;
a) Calcification
This is psychological in nature. This is where individual parties express their view points, which at
times seem so incompatible with each other. In addition there seems to be unwillingness by the
parties to move. The unwilling movements by the parties will inevitably lead to intense anxiety. This
stage will precipitate if the approaches to bargaining are more competitive. However, if the approach
is more integrative, and distributive, parties could engage in meaningful discussions to allow for
movement.
b) Debate
Because of the different viewpoints, individuals in conflict will move away from rational thinking
activities. In addition, due to the emotional states of the parties, their perceptions will be biased
towards who is superior and who is inferior.
c) Action
The parties in this stage may put barriers to any means of meaningful communication. They start
looking out for the needs of their individual parties over the other party’s at whatever cost. Because
parties stop being empathetic towards each other, misunderstandings and misinterpretations may
arise.
d) Images/Coalitions
Communication dysfunctionalities manifest themselves in this stage. “Rumours spread, stereotypes
and cliché are formed”. Further parties in conflict lobby for support from other stakeholders.
e) Loss of face
Parties in conflict in this stage aim to publically humiliate each other. A war with words usually takes
place. The media in most cases is used as a mode of communication
f) Threat as a strategy
A war with words usually escalates in this stage. Threats in the form of ultimatums are also made.
g) Limited attempts to overthrow the opponent.
Attempts to dehumanize individuals of the opponent party will take place. An opposition party will aim
at forcefully imposing its values on the other party.
h) Dissipation
“The destruction and dissolution of the hostile system is pursued intensively as a goal.”
30
i) Together into the abyss:
Finally, “total confrontation ensues and there is no way back. Extermination of the opponent at the
price of self-extermination is seen as accepted.”
2.6.4.4 Facilitators and Inhibitors of Conflict
Processes that promote conflict escalation or de-escalation are;
a) Setting up traps for the other party
Bargaining in most cases is made costly with the intention of destroying the opposition party. The
would be “stronger party” usually invests unnecessary costs during the conflict to make it impossible
for the party to reciprocate the means of conflict (Carlson, 1998).
b) Reciprocated communication
A party may start a threat towards the other party, and the other party may have decided to
reciprocate the threat thereby initiating conflict. Parties then get entangled in their power positions
forcing the other to give up. Agreements reached are usually on a win-lose basis rather than on a
win-win basis. This is because a party that loses is always forced to give in (Brett, Shapiro & Lytle,
1998).
c) Culture and conflict escalation
Culture determines the level of escalation of conflict. A distinction between honour and dignity
cultures is drawn. External evaluations in honour societies are considered, and on the other hand in
dignity societies, internal evaluations are considered. In Honour societies, a tit for tat tactic is used
where they have been humiliated or provoked, as ones reputation and family is important. (Bui-
Wrzosinskal et al, 2009).
d) Presence of just and fair dispute resolution systems
The extent of conflict escalation and resolution is dependent on the absence or presence of fair and
just dispute resolution. Conflict escalation, will eventually lead to de-escalation, when the parties
equitably have access to dispute resolution systems. Further when processes for such systems treat
all parties with respect, and ensure fair and just processes, conflict resolution is bound to occur. (De
Dreu, 2007).
31
e) Group changes
The fundamental elements of a group are norms, values, sanctions, roles, and status (Bezuidenhout,
2006). Although elements such as norms, and values are shared among the group members, small
disagreements, may push some members to deviate from the generally acceptable social norms. This
process of deviation is referred to as polarisation (Bezuidenhout, 2006). Conflicts that occur between
the union members, and the union and the management, usually centre around delayed
implementation issues on agreements. In such cases, union members may perceive the union as
useless, and they may decide to deviate from the acceptable union strategies and take extreme
measures to make their concerns heard by management. In addition such extreme measures usually
negatively affect adjacent communities. A case in point was with the South African Doctors strike in
2009, which was a result of the delayed implementation of the Occupational Compensation
Dispensation for the Doctors. Not only did the Doctors deviate from the rules and regulations of the
Health Professions body, and the unions’ norms (specifically, the South African medical Association
(SAMA)), but also deprived citizens of health care, and for some, the right to live (Bateman, 2009a;
Bateman, 2009b; de Villiers, 2009).
2.7 The integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes
An integrated model of strike causation processes and outcomes (as illustrated in figure 1.1) will be
used as a tool to clearly guide this research. The original model was developed by Kelly and
Nicholson (1980). The model depicted in figure 1.1 adapts Kelly and Nicholson’s original model by
including firstly the strike process steps for South Africa as added by Finnemore (2006) and secondly
the affective outcomes researched by Chaulk and Brown (2008).
32
Figure 1.1 Integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes (Kelly & Nicholson, 1980; Finnemore, 2006; Chaulk & Brown, 2008)
E c o n o m i c s tr u c tu r e
F r a m e s o f r e f e r e n c e
In te r g r o u p p e r c e p t io n s
P o li ti c a l s tr u c tu r e
P e r c e p ti o n s o f c l im a t e a n d c o n f l i c t
I s s u e s
D e m a n d F o r m u la ti o -n
T r i g g e r s S t r i k e D e m a n d
M a n a g e r i a l p e rs p e c t i v e s C o n c ili a t io n
4 8 h o u r n o ti c e
N e g o ti a ti o n R e f e r e n c e g r o u p s
I n t e r - p a r t y B a r g a i n in g/ p o w e r t e s t in g
S t r ik e m a i n t e n a nc e
In tr a -p a r t y B a r g a in in g
S t r ik e c o n te n t
S t r ik e f a c il it a t o r s a n d i n h i b it o r s
T r a n si ti o n a l O u t p u ts
F in a l O u t p u t s
W o r k c li m a t e s a ti s fa c ti o n
J o b s a t is f a c t io n
C lim a te
P r o c e d u r a l
S u b s t a n t iv e
M a n a g e m e n t s a ti s fa c ti o n
S t r i k e O u t c o m e s S t r i k e P r o c e s s In d u s t r i a l r e l a t i o n s c l i m a t e S t r ik e c a u s a t i o n
U n io n c o m m it m e n t
O r g a n is a ti o n a l c o m m i t m e n t
S t r u c t u r a l f a c i li t a t o r s a n d in h ib i t o r s
P r e v i o u s h i s to r y P la n t s i z e a n d l o c a t io n W o r k p l a c e p ro c e d u r e s U n io n ri v a l r y a n d e f f e c t iv e n e s s L e g i s l a t io n
C o m m u n i t y i n t e r a c t io n U n e m p lo y m e n t P u b li c / m e d i a o p i n io n L a b o u r fo r c e p r o f il e
M a n a g e r ia l p e r s p e c t iv e s In te r n a t io n a l a ff il ia t io n a n d p r e s s u r e s
S t a t e a t t it u d e C o m p a n y p r o fi ta b il it y
33
2.7.1 Industrial Relations Climate
Company and employee performance is influenced by the work structure and employment practices
which in turn shape the industrial relations climate (Pyman, Holland, Teicher, & Cooper, 2010).
Industrial relations climate refers to “the processes, structures, practices outcomes that influence, and
are influenced by daily union-management and employee management interactions at the workplace”
(Pyman, Holland, Teicher & Cooper, 2010, p.463). The term industrial relations climate accounts for
the individual employment relationship and the collective employment relationship. Whereas the
norms, behaviours and attitudes that characterise a collective relationship will result in the industrial
relations affective outcomes, on the other hand the norms, behaviours and attitudes that characterise
an individual employment relationship will result in organisational outcomes. Therefore Pyman,
Holland, Teicher & Cooper (2010) conclude that organisational outcomes could be a subset of the
industrial relations affective outcomes. Moderating factors that may affect the industrial relations
climate are perceptions of the organisational culture at the individual level, departmental level and
organisational level, personality traits of industrial relations actors, perceptions towards supervisors
and customer satisfaction. In addition the mutual gains approach to collective bargaining was reported
to result in to positive industrial relations climate. This is because, employment relations that are
characterised by reciprocal gains elicit cooperation, employee participation and dual commitment
(organisational and union loyalty) (Pyman, Holland, Teicher & Cooper, 2010).
Industrial relations outcomes such as employee commitment, job satisfaction are positive in non-
union settings that have direct employee voice channels (Pyman, Holland, Teicher, & Cooper, 2010)
The perception, the employees may have towards management’s attitude towards the union may
shape the industrial relations climate (Pyman, Holland, Teicher, & Cooper, 2010).
2.7.2 Strike Causation
With reference to the integrated model of strike causation, economic factors, political factors and the
perceptions held by employees are the major causes strike action. These factors are then broken
down to issues specific to employees within a particular workplace. In addition, these issues may
become grievances by the employees. Any improper management practice or failure to resolve
grievances may trigger employees in making demands to management. Demands by employees,
may start a negotiation process, between the worker representatives and management (Kelly &
Nicholson, 1980). Cramton and Tracy (1992) state that the explanatory modes of strike action include
the presence of faulty negotiations, the union’s political interests, and union’s personal growth and
advancement interests.
34
2.7.2.1 Political Model of Strike Causation.
Cramton and Tracy’s (1992) political model explains that a union may decide to embark on strike
action when its wage expectations are beyond that for which the firm is willing to settle. This model
goes further to explain that the union leadership will find it too hard to explain to its members that a
higher wage is difficult to achieve in the absence of a strike action. In addition the union leadership
may be deemed to have failed to effectively represent its constituency if it settled for a lower wage
with the firm in the absence of a strike action. Therefore, the responsibility of the union leadership is
to organise its members for strike action and later be able to convince its members that their
expectations were impossible to be met (Ashenfelter & Johnson, 1969 in Cramton & Tracy, 1992).
Farber (2001) adds that the union will strike, because they view strike action, as an information
revealing process in circumstances where a firm’s profitability is uncertain. The longer the strike goes
on, the more likely the union is likely to accept a lower wage (Ashenfelter & Johnson, 1969 in
Cramton &Tracy, 1992)
Perrone (1983) explains strike behaviour as being caused by the relative power labour has in the
market economy; in other words labour assumes that the power held in the right to strike could
translate into economic results. Schor and Bowles (1987) add that employees will embark on strike
action when they believe that there is a higher chance for them to win concessions with the employer.
In addition, the power of labour over the employer is determined by the labour market conditions,
such as the unemployment rates. When the unemployment rates are higher, labour will be less likely
to embark on a strike action. Another factor to be considered by labour is the extent to which an
employee may incur a big loss in income (such as social welfare benefits, wages, employment
bonuses and incentives, and the real duration in which an employee may be unemployed) should
the strike result in retrenchment (Schor & Bowles, 1987).
2.7.2.2 Ideological Model of Strike Causation.
The ideological aspects of strike action could be explained in terms of perspectives such as unitarist
and pluralist.
Strikes in the unitarist environments are said to have been a result of personality clashes,
inappropriate hiring or poor communication. Organisations that hold a conservative view or unitarist
perspective trust that management’s role is to control the workers impersonally, but collectively and
hold back information in matters of organisational structure, systems and policies as a way of
controlling the workers. Organisations that hold the human resource view believe that unifying forces
are greater that dividing forces. In this view the organisation continuously works towards creating an
environment of cooperation as envisaged in the psychological contract. The psychological contract
refers to the unwritten expectations from both parties of the employment relationship. In other words
the reciprocity of the employment relationship would involve the efforts by the employer to turn B
35
players into A players through training and development opportunities, with the hope that the
employee would be loyal to the company (Abbott, 2006).
Industrial action in the pluralist environment is acceptable as a way through which grievances could
be solved. In addition, the open systems theory of the pluralist ideology acknowledges that there are
three major actors in the industrial relations environment who formulate rules given the environment in
which they operate with a common interest to maintain dispute resolution processes such as
negotiation and collective bargaining. Further the strategic choice theory accounts for the macro-
economic, technological, political and social impact on collective bargaining, human resource policies
and employment relations policies. For example, technological advancements may have an impact on
collective bargaining issues such as re-skilling and training of employees and workforce
retrenchments (Abbott, 2006). Conflict is inevitable in societies that make provision for the pluralist
ideology. This is because of the multiplicity of interests acknowledged in the employment relationship.
In addition, conflict between the parties of the employment relationship is centered on power or
authority relations (Larouche & Audet, 1992). In pluralist societies, the acceptable way of solving
conflict between parties of the employment relationship is through compromise (Larouche & Audet,
1992).
2.7.2.3 Behavioural Model of Strike Causation.
The theory of planned behaviour explains how attitudes largely influence behaviour. Firstly, this theory
assumes that individual think rationally by making use of information available to them before
engaging in certain behaviours. Secondly, the theory assumes that individuals are fully aware of the
consequences of their actions. Strikes are planned actions by the union in its efforts to win
concessions with the employer. An employee collective will be motivated to participate in a strike
action if its outcomes are perceived as positive by the employee collective and the union at large. In
addition, motivation to embark in a strike may be influenced by the perception of how successful an
employee collective may be when it engages in such action (Ajzen & Fishbein, (1980).
Behavioural models of strike causation also account for the employees’ frustrations over issues such
as job security and fairness in the workplace. In addition organisational policies that arouse mistrust
from the employees may cause strike action (Campolieti, Hebdon & Hyatt, 2005) Campolieti, Hebdon
& Hyatt (2005) refer to those models that explain strike causation in terms of behavioural, political and
economic causes as collective voice theory. Another explanation of the attitudinal or behaviour
explanation of strike causation is where employees feel that they do not have control over the work
situation, are dissatisfied with the management style of their superiors and with the promotion
opportunities and pay systems within the organisation.
Factors that facilitate or moderate the action should be considered when discussing job attitudes in
relation to strike action. Such factors include the legitimacy or legality of the action (McClendon &
Klaas, 2001). Attitudes towards the union are also closely related to strike incidence. Employees who
36
are highly committed to the union tend to engage in union activities such as industrial action. Those
employees with modest commitment will only engage in strike action if they expect a positive outcome
on vital issues (McClendon & Klaas, 2001). Work dynamics in the work environment is related to
strike incidence in that close relationships among employees tends to create solidarity among
employees resulting in an engagement in industrial action as a platform to voice their concerns.
Solidarity also results from the conformity of group norms and values. For example if employees have
a high intolerance towards exploitation from the employers, they are more likely to engage in strike
action to avert the employers’ actions (McClendon & Klaas, 2001).
Recurring frustration caused by a perceived sense of deprivation due to ineffective and inefficient
grievance systems may lead to destructive and violent acts by the employees. In such cases violence
associated with industrial action, occurs where societal norms against violence are weakened.
Facilitators for such cases are; authorisation, routinisation and dehumanization (Vogelman, 1991). An
illustration of authorisation is shown where workers lose confidence in management. In such a case,
workers may break the law, or societal norms and values, and at the same time shift their allegiance
from management to another authority believed to be acting in their interests. This authority may be a
trade union, or a fellow employee who emerges as a leader (Vogelman, 1991). Dehumanisation is
also another factor associated with destructive behaviour during strike action as explained by
Vogelman (1991). A case is given with strikers versus non-strikers where a decision not to take part in
industrial action, places non-strikers outside the community or group’s moral ethics and norms of the
strikers. Hence an understanding of the non-strikers’ circumstances is lost (Vogelman (1991). In
addition, these strikers may view non strikers as a threat to the strikers’ interest. Hence these strikes
may resort to acts of dehumanisation towards the non-strikers, such as murder and assault among
others.
The decision to strike may also be based on emotional or psychological reasons. For example
Hammeed (1976) in Barling, Fullagar, Kelloway & McElvie (1991) affirm that strikes allow for the
release of emotions necessary for the continuation of the free collective bargaining system, resulting
in to a better understanding and intergroup communication between parties in the employment
relationship. In addition, during the process of collective bargaining, labour unions could threaten for
strike action to win concessions with management, and sometimes engaging in informal Union
pressures. This is because labour has a belief that they get a “larger shares of economic and
normative benefits because they strike” (Perrone, 1983: 232).
2.7.2.4 Private Information Model of Strike Causation.
Strike causation is also explained in private information theory by the intention to communicate private
information. Those firms with open channels of communication will be willing to meet the expectations
of the union and as a result these firms will do more to prevent strike action. On the other hand those
37
firms willing to settle at a low wage, will endure a strike action by holding back information as they will
be willing to endure strike action (Cramton & Tracy, 1992; McConell, 1986).
Thompson (1979, p10) proposes a model that assumes that information differences are in the nature
of the “demand and supply price of labour, or the ability of the union to carry out a strike threat.” The
strike incidence will be low where there is reduction in information gap between the employers and
the unions. The strike history could provide lessons to the union and the employer and in the end the
information gap could be reduced hence reduction in strike incidence. Lessons could be in form of a
change from a negative attitude to a tolerant and cooperative attitude towards the union by the
employer
2.7.2.5 Structural Change Model of Strike Causation.
Structural change may take a form of organisational change or changes in the society’s settings. This
is discussed in the paragraphs below;
Organisational change is one of the causes of strikes. Change is usually associated with the
technological advancements, organisational leadership, work reorganisation, mergers and
acquisitions or the transfer of business and relocations. These uncertainties usually bring change.
Organisational dynamics are also associated with negative emotions from the employees such as
shock, resistance, fear, and anxiety. In addition, because the change may translate into changes in
interdepartmental or intradepartmental relationships, reorganisation of job duties, redundancy of some
jobs and the adaption of new or emerging skills, strike action may be used as an avenue to express
these negative emotions (Paul-Leigh, 1983).
Strikes have been associated with the levels of urbanisation and industrialisation. Firstly, this is
because as the levels of industrialisation and urbanisation increase, the employer tends to be profit
driven, at the expense of the workers. There, labour will be more likely to organise against
management exploitation. Secondly, further psychological outcomes such as job satisfaction,
management satisfaction, and organisational commitment are likely to decrease; hence
dissatisfaction is expressed through industrial action (Perry & Berkes, 1977). Thirdly urbanisation is
related closely to social factors that may put a strain on employees. Hence labour will embark on
strike action in order to improve their living conditions (Perry & Berkes, 1977).
2.7.2.6 The Legitimacy Model of Strike Causation
The employer to some degree has a bigger influence on individual employees’ behaviour, although at
times employees may challenge managements’ legitimacy. Managements’ illegitimacy may also be
based on the employees’ perceptions of inequity or deprivation. The extent of deprivation may range
from latent to manifest. However manifest deprivation may have adverse effects on the employees’
38
psychological wellbeing, especially in cases where the employee is under-employed, or where the
employee lacks job security (Fowler, Gudmundson & Whicker, 2009). Davis (1986) also adds that the
Union also has a power to establish legitimacy for an issue. In such cases employees may follow
grievance procedures stipulated by a respective organisation. However, these employees may
engage in alternative responses (such as industrial action), if they perceive the grievance system as
ineffective or inefficient in solving their grievances. On the other hand, if employees perceive the
grievance system as procedurally and substantively fair; they would be less likely to engage in
disruptive responses, in case the grievance outcome is not favourable (Klaas, 1989).
In addition Klaas (1989) outlines factors that facilitate grievance opportunity. An employee is likely to
bring a grievance to surface, in situations where management is likely to make frequent changes in
the work environment. In addition, social norms that may be established by informal groups within an
organisation or even trade union representatives are likely to bring about awareness among the
employees, a perception of the legitimacy of some management practices. Further, loyalty to a Union,
on the part of employees may play a part in grievance opportunity. Issues of inequity, also play a part
in grievance opportunities. Of course an employee will bring such issues of inequity to surface, if she
or he expects a positive outcome, to his or her benefit (Klaas, 1989).
2.7.2.67 Strike Causation in Local Government- a US example
Perry and Berkes (1977) writing within the United States context implied that a high incidence of
strikes in local government was associated with the status gap between management and the
employees. Usually the word status would relate to the importance of the position an individual holds.
If there is much importance or value attached to a job, that individual is more likely to empathise with
management, and less likely to engage in the industrial action that may pose a threat service delivery
(Perry & Berkes, 1977).
Perry and Berkes (1977) highlight the importance of the close relationship between local government
and national government, and the causes of strikes. Usually local government heavily relies on local
revenues for the remuneration of its employees. Hence local government may take an inflexible
approach on increasing the salaries of its employees, hence causing the employees to engage in
strike action for better wages. Perry and Berkes (1977) add that municipal employees may embark on
strike action for political reasons. This is because strike action by local government employees
attracts public opinion. Public opinion may shift in the favour of employees and may render a political
regime to be a failure. Because the national government relies on the local government to further its
political agendas, efforts to avoid negative opinions may be embarked upon by engaging in effective
and meaningful negotiations with representatives from labour (Perry & Berkes, 1977).
The level of professionalism by the Municipality Management determines the occurrence of a strike.
In other words, the presence of competent staff and cohesive professional leadership will reduce
turmoil in local government labour relations (Perry & Berkes, 1977, p.522). Local government
39
professional conduct could be evident by its efforts to consult and engage meaningfully in labour
relations matters, rather than merely acting to gain cheap popularity with a political motivation (Perry
& Berkes, 1977).
2.7.3 Strike Processes.
Unions are more disadvantaged as they do not have many avenues to use in case a deadlock is
reached during the negotiation process (Yates, 2009). From an American perspective, Thompson
(1979) illustrates this point in the paragraph below;
“....the fact that the current members of a labour union, in contrast to the owners of a firm are
unable to capture all of the future returns of a distributional victory over business in a contest
to see which is first to establish a viable organisational form capable of making fixed wage
commitments. More directly, the democratic organisational structure imposed on the great
majority of union negotiators puts them at an extreme disadvantage in dealing with business
leaders (who do not have to present union contracts to the stockholders for ratification) in that
the union ,members can easily overturn any attempt at a fixed wage commitment by the union
negotiators (Thompson, 1979:10).
Generally, the dispute resolution process defines expectations from the parties and specific actions
that parties should resort to in the case where no agreement is reached. Matters in dispute are
usually those of mutual interest by the parties of the employment relationship.
In South Africa, the court referred to a matter of mutual interest in Rand Tyres & Accessories v
Industrial Council for the Motor Industry (Transvaal) case as
“Whatever can be fairly and reasonably regarded as calculated to promote the well-being of
the trade concerned must be of mutual interest to them; and there can be no justification for
restricting in any way powers which the Legislature has been at the greatest pains to frame in
the widest possible language.” (Crompton, 2005, p.27).
In addition, the section 213 of the LRA 66 of 1995 defines an issue in dispute in relation to strike or
lockout as
“……the demand, grievance, or dispute that forms the subject matter of the strike or lock-out
and ‘dispute’ includes ‘an alleged dispute’ ”. (Crompton, 2005, p.27).
Deadlocks at the negotiation stage can call for a conciliation process. Mediation or conciliation is a
process where the parties could voluntarily or by law jointly become part of the solution, in efforts of
identifying areas in dispute, addressing those areas by considering different options and then
40
reaching a consensus. In this process, the parties usually use the services of an independent third
person (Thompson, 2010).
In South Africa, Section 64 (1) (a) of the LRA stipulates that disputes may be referred to either the
CCMA, or a Bargaining council or a private dispute resolution service which has jurisdiction. A failure
to reach a resolution between the parties, with the involvement of a third part intervention, calls for the
issuing of the certificate of non-resolution. A period of 30 days from the date of referral should elapse,
before a party could embark on any further action (Finnemore, 2006). The South African collective
labour dispute resolution process allows for strike action, and arbitration as processes to solve a
disputes between unions and management (Farber, 2001). In the former, the party that feels deprived
imposes costs on the other party through strike action. The second process requires both parties to
resolve the dispute through a third party, by means of an arbitration process (Farber, 2001). The LRA
specifically requires the employee collective to give notice, before embarking on strike action. For
cases of disputes of interest, such as wages, employees may either strike given that they issue a 48
hour notice or refer the dispute for arbitration at the CCMA or accredited alternative dispute resolution
system with jurisdiction. The notice period provided for in the Public Sector is 7 days (Finnemore,
2006).
In the event of destruction of property by the strikers, the union has to prove that the actions by the
strikers were not on instructions from the union. If the union could prove this, then it will not be liable
for the damages caused during the strike (Section 79(2) of the LRA, 1998 amendments).
With reference to the integrated model, intra-party bargaining interparty bargaining (power testing)
and strike maintenance forms part of the strike process (Finnemore, 2006)
Another aspect that forms part of the strike process is the strike duration. The strike will be prolonged
if the employees are in solidarity with each other (Camolieti, Hebdon & Hyatt, 2005).
2.7.4 Outcomes of the Strike
Industrial action is associated with outcomes, such as substantive, procedural and climate or affective
outcomes. The possible affective outcomes are job and management satisfaction, work climate,
organization and union commitment (Chaulk & Brown, 2008).
Whereas substantive outcomes are in form of the benefits to the employee in terms of improved
conditions of service, procedural outcomes carry the form of dispute resolution procedures agreed to
by the parties, and other terms and conditions that may govern the collective relationship between the
employer and the employees (Finnemore, 2006).
Farber (2001) asserts a wage increase as a result of a strike has a double effect. This double effect is
evident in the spill-over and threat effects. The former is applicable, where a wage increase in
specific jobs in unionised firms will decrease the employment levels for those specific jobs in such
41
firms, and as a result those employees who may have lost their jobs in unionised firms may be willing
to work for a lower wage which exists in non-unionised firms. The later implies that the increase in
supply of individuals in low paying jobs in non-unionised firms may face a threat of unionisation for
such firms. As a result, those firms may increase the wages of those jobs in an effort to avoid
unionisation. (Farber, 2001)
In South Africa, the LRA outlines outcomes of a strike that has been rendered to be unprotected. An
employer who has been faced with an unprotected strike may forward an application to the Labour
Court for an interdict, requesting for stoppage of the strike. Further an employer could request for
compensation for the losses incurred during the strike. Those employees involved in a strike action
could face disciplinary action by the employer. The outcome of a disciplinary action may take a form
of a dismissal. In other cases, the employer may take recourse to lock out striking employees
(Crompton, 2005).
2.7.4.1 Affective Outcomes
The integrated strike model includes the possible affective outcomes of the strike. This follows the
research work of Chaulk and Brown (2008) that identified the specific affective measures as those
that could be affected by strike action. These are defined below;
• Job satisfaction: Job satisfaction is heavily researched by Industrial psychologists. Robbins
and Judge (2009) and Rad and Yarmohammadian (2006) define job satisfaction as an
organisational attitude held by employees towards their jobs, given its characteristics, and the
organizations in which they perform these jobs. In addition job satisfaction is an affective
attitude.
• Management satisfaction: There is no clear definition of management satisfaction. It could
be defined as an emotional reaction, resulting from ones’ opinion toward his/her supervisor or
management. Management satisfaction could be positive or negative.
• Organizational commitment: Organisational Commitment refers to an attitude where an
employee identifies with a particular organisation and its goals and wants to remain an
employee of the organisation in state (Robins & Judge, 2009).
• Union Commitment: Union Commitment is an “affective attachment to the labour
organization and is denoted by (a) positive attitudes toward the union and its values and
goals, (b) a sense of pride in being a member of the union, and (c) a desire to maintain one's
membership” (Fullagar, & Barling, 1989).
• Work climate satisfaction: There is no agreed definition of work climate environment
satisfaction. Chaulk & Brown (2008) note that work environment satisfaction relates to
perceptions of a motivating organizational climate, that in turn results in improved individual
performance, customer satisfaction and employee retention
42
Further, failed conflict resolution processes leading to strike action may have adverse effects on the
level of trust between or among persons within the organisation. In addition failed conflict resolutions
may strain relationships within the organisation, leading to high levels of hostility, deadlocks and
incompetent decision making. Although the current research is investigating the affective outcomes of
the strike, research by Currall & Judge (1995) focused on the kind of trust-relationship between
management and the union in relation to conflict management. In their research, failed conflict
management was measured in the form of past strikes, with the assumption that past strikes imply
little or no trust behaviour between management and the union. The extent of failed conflict
management was also measured by strike duration, strike occurrence, and strike frequency. The
results indicated that high inefficiencies in conflict management imply that management and union are
less likely to engage in trusting behaviour (Currall & Judge, 1995).
In a study conducted by Fowler et al. (2009), a comparison was made between the psychological
effects of a strike between strikers and non-strikers. In this study strikers, compared with non-strikers
reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and irritation, and lower levels of mental health. In
Johad’s theory of deprivation in employment was explored, when examining the psychological effects
of strike activity in relation to the amount of involvement a union member may have had in the strike
activity. Johad’s theory of deprivation in unemployment confirmed that if latent or psychological
benefits normally associated with work activities are gained through alternative activities while on
strike, psychological well-being may not be negatively affected (Fowler, 2009).
a) Affective Outcomes: findings from Chaulk and Brown (2008).
With reference to Craig’s open system’s model, Chaulk & Brown (2008) suggested that strikes have a
psychological or emotional effect on employees’ performance within an organisation. Chaulk & Brown
(2008) assessed the workers reaction towards their organizational commitment, job satisfaction, work
climate satisfaction, management satisfaction and union commitment in the pre-strike period and
post-strike period. Findings from Chaulk & Brown’s (2008, p.232) reported that “the measures of
organizational commitment, management satisfaction, and work-climate satisfaction were generally
correlated significantly with another.” In addition, Chaulk and Brown (2008) found that the affective
outcomes mentioned above deteriorated after the strike, which meant that the worker’s reactions were
negative after the strike. Further, the authors established a link between gender and the affective
outcomes. The authors asserted that affective outcomes towards the company (such as organization
commitment, management satisfaction, job satisfaction and work climate satisfaction) were positive
for the males whereas females were associated with positive union commitment. Further, Chaulk and
Brown (2008) concluded that length of service was negatively associated with company affective
outcomes and positively with union commitment.
43
2.8 Chapter Summary
The discussion above has covered aspects such as the legislative framework of strike action,
collective bargaining, strike trends in South Africa, conflict processes, and the strike model (the
causes, processes and outcomes of the strike). The South African Labour legislation allows for the
right to strike. This right is however limited , in some situations such as where there is a collective
agreement prohibiting strike action for specific matters, in essential and maintenance services, and
in matters where the Labour Relations Act stipulates that a specific matter should be resolved by
means of arbitration. Since strike action is an outcome of the collective bargaining process between
the parties of the employment relationship, the Labour Relations Act encourages the parties to
bargain in good faith for the resolution of disputes of interest. A discussion on South African industrial
action trends in the public sector and essential services was given. In addition, a discussion on
conflict process was meant to enlist an understanding that strike action is form of a conflict, and also
strike triggers. The integrated model, with an emphasis on the causes, processes and outcomes of
the strike was also discussed.
44
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD AND DESIGN
3.1 Introduction
This study was aimed at describing the causes, processes and the outcomes of the strike of the 3rd
March 2010 by the Traffic Officers within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. In terms of the
outcomes, political, economic, social and psychological outcomes of the strike have been analysed.
The psychological outcomes analysed quantitatively include; job satisfaction, satisfaction with
management, organisational commitment, commitment to the union and work climate satisfaction.
The study contributes to theory by building on the research carried out by Chaulk and Brown (2008)
by exploring how behaviour during the conflict impacts on the ongoing relationships within the
organization. Secondly, the research contributes to practice by highlighting to management and
unions the impact of the strike on employees. To achieve these objectives, research questions and
hypotheses were formulated as indicated below;
Research questions were;
1. What were the causes of the strike?
2. How did the strike unfold?
3. What were the substantive outcomes of the strike?
4. What were the procedural outcomes of the strike?
5. What were the affective outcomes of the strike?
6. What is the relationship between the demographic factors and the affective outcomes of the
strike?
Hypotheses were;
Hypothesis 1: There was a significant change in the level of organizational commitment after the
strike
Hypothesis 2: There was a significant change in the level of job satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 3: There was a significant change in the level of work climate satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 4: There was a significant change in the level of management satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 5: There was a significant change in the level of union commitment after the strike.
45
3.2 General approach
The nature of the research is a descriptive study on the causes, processes and outcomes of the
strike. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect data. Qualitatively, interviews,
media reports and the Municipality records were used to collect data on the causes, processes and
outcomes of the strike. Quantitatively a survey questionnaire was being used to collect information
regarding the affective outcomes of the strike.
3.3 Population and Sample Selection
3.3.1 Population
The study was conducted in the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate of the Nelson Mandela Bay
Municipality located in the Eastern Cape of the Republic of South Africa. The Traffic and Licensing
services sub-directorate, together with Disaster Management, Fire and Emergency Services, and the
Security Services fall under the Directorate of Safety and Security of the Nelson Mandela Bay
Municipality.
The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate organisational structure comprises of five major functions,
employing 341 employees at the time of the commencement of the study (27th October 2010). The
five major functions are Operations which are involved with law enforcement; the Municipal Court and
legal processes which are involved in the processing of tickets or fines for court prosecution; Support
Services which include administration work; Training and Crime Prevention, and Licensing which
issues learners and drivers’ licences, and roadworthy licensing. Each function is run by an Assistant
Director, who directly reports to the Director of Traffic and Licensing. These employees are affiliated
to either of the two major Trade Unions in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, SAMWU and IMATU.
Below is Table3.1 showing the number of employees working in each functional area.
46
Table 3.1: Employees of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
FUNCTIONS Number of employees
Management 4
Operations
Senior Superintendent 3
Superintendent 14
Assistant Superintendent 17
Sub-total Operations management 34
Traffic/Senior Traffic Officers 153
Senior/traffic wardens 21
Control officer Radio and Technical services 0
Assistant Superintendent communication services 0
Control room operators 0
Total Operations 208
Municipal Court and legal processes 47
Support Services 39
Training and crime prevention 3 Licensing 40
TOTALS 341
3.3.2 Sample and Sample Selection
3.3.2.1 Interviews
The purpose of the interviews was to understand the causes, processes and the outcomes of the
strike from the perspective of the key role-players. Judgemental or purposive sampling was used to
determine eight persons to participate in the one-on-one interviews. The persons identified were; Mr
Hendrick Viviers, the Labour Relations Manager of the NMBM; Prof Adriaan Van Der Walt, third party
facilitator of negotiations between the management and the trade union; Mr Owen Camagu, the
SAMWU spokesperson; Mr Gerald Fundani, SAMWU chairperson; Mr Nangu, SAMWU shop steward
directly involved in the facilitation on the strike; Mr Ludic, a senior employee at the Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate ; The Director: Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate , Mr Tutoyi;, and
Assistant Director: Traffic Operations, Mr Visage.
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3.3.2.2 Survey Questionnaire
In addition to understanding the substantive and procedural outcomes of the strike, the study
measured the key constructs of employee job satisfaction, satisfaction with management,
organisational commitment, union commitment and work climate before and after the strike. The
whole population of the 187 Traffic Officers in the NMBM (as indicated in Table 3.2), were
approached to complete the questionnaire. Traffic Officers in the Nelson Mandela Metro comprised of
those based in the Port Elizabeth area and those based in Uitenhage. Among the 187 Traffic Officers
of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, 105 were willing to participate in the survey, 16 officers
committed themselves to complete the survey at home but did not return the questionnaire, whereas
the rest were not willing to participate, and others were off on annual leave. In the Port Elizabeth area,
a total of 71 completed questionnaires was achieved, whereas in Uitenhage a total of 34 was
achieved. Therefore the total number of responses amounted to 105. All the 105 completed
questionnaires were usable.
Table 3.2: Population of Traffic Officers with in the NMBM
Job position Number of employees
Senior Superintendent 3
Superintendent 14
Assistant Superintendent 17
Traffic/Senior Traffic Officers 153
Total 187
3.4 Research instruments
3.4.1 Describing the Strike To map the causes of the strike, processes that unfolded during the strike, and the outcomes of the
strike, primary and secondary data was sourced.
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3.4.1.1 Secondary data
Information from databases, media reports and Union websites was sourced and reviewed. Key
informants were approached for additional records to assist in the accurate description of the events,
process and outcomes of the strike.
3.4.1.2 Primary Data: Interviews
The generic interview guideline is attached as Appendix A. This was used to guide the interviews with
the key role players. In-depth interviews were conducted in the English language by the researcher.
The interview guide was developed from the integrated strike model to address the following
information areas; strike causation, strike processes, transitional outcomes and final outcomes of the
strike.
3.4.2 To Determine the Employee Reaction to the Strike
To determine the employee reaction to the strike a survey questionnaire was used to collect primary
data.
3.4.2.1 Survey Questionnaire
The questionnaires were administered in English, because one of the minimum job requirements for
the respondents is an academic qualification of Matriculation. The questionnaire is attached as
Appendix B.
The questionnaire used was adapted from that which was used by Chaulk and Brown (2008).
Permission was obtained from Brown to make use of the questionnaire. The Canadian questionnaire
measured five constructs using four different scales some of which were five and some seven point
scales. A seven point scale was considered undesirable for South African purposes as the convention
is to use a five point Likert scale (Harzing, 2009).
The Questionnaire was divided in to three sections; the pre-test measurements in section A, the post
measurements in section B, and biographical details in section C.
Five constructs measured the organizational behavioural attitudes which established the extent to
which workers were affected by the strike. It was to specifically investigate the extent to which the
strike impacted how workers perceived their organizational commitment, job satisfaction,
management satisfaction, work climate satisfaction and union commitment before and after the strike.
The biographical details of gender, race, language, occupational level and union membership, were
determined in Section C.
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3.5 Data Collection
3.5.1 Mapping the Strike
To describe the causes, processes and outcomes of the strike, secondary data (information from data
bases, Municipality website and union websites) and primary data (from the interviews) were collected
3.5.1.1 Secondary Data
A data base search was conducted for information regarding the strike. For instance, from the SA
media database, the researcher was able to retrieve articles on the Nelson Mandela Bay Traffic
Officers’ strike from the South African major newspapers. National newspapers such as “The Herald”,
and “The Weekend Post” were identified as the major source of information. In addition, the Nelson
Mandela Bay website also provided some insight on the events that led up to the strike, the strike
processes and the outcomes. Key informants were also asked for any pertinent documentation during
the course of the interview. Information that was obtained was in form of the agreements reached in
all facilitation and negotiation processes before the strike, during the strike and after the strike, and
minutes for all the facilitation and negotiation processes before the strike, during the strike and after
the strike.
3.5.1.2 Interviews
Appointments to conduct confidential interviews with the role players were set up in advance. At the
time of making the appointment, it was explained that these interviews were voluntary and any
information would be kept confidential. At the interview, participants were asked to sign a consent
letter (see attached Appendix C). In order to maintain accuracy for the recorded information, the
interviews were tape recorded with the consent of the interviewees. The physical equipment that was
used in the research study included a digital voice recorder (to accurately capture information
recorded during the interview), computer, and ear phones to transcribe all information from the voice
recorder. Before the interview, respondents were informed of the fact that the interview was to be tape
recorded for accuracy purposes and that they should consent to the tape recording and indicate that
they fully understood the research.
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Table 3.3: Interview schedule
Name Job Title Date Time Venue
Mr Fundani Regional SAMWU
Chairperson
27th September 2010 13:00hrs NMBM Office
Mr Nagu Shop steward and Senior
Traffic Officer
28th September 2010 11:00hrs SAMWU Branch office
Mr Camagu SAMWU Chief Negotiator
and Superintendant
8th October 2010 9:00hrs NMBM Traffic and
Licensing Sub-
directorate - Law
Enforcement and
Licensing Office
Mr Viviers NMBM Labour Relations
Director
8th October 2010 14:30hrs NMBM Office
Mr Visage Assistant Director: Traffic
Operations
18th January 2011 9:00hrs NMBM Traffic and
Licensing Sub-
directorate - Law
Enforcement and
Licensing Office
Mr Ludic Traffic Superintendant 18th January 2011 12:00hrs NMBM Traffic and
Licensing Sub-
directorate - Law
Enforcement and
Licensing Office
Eight people were purposely selected and contacted, of which six interviews were scheduled between
the researcher and the respondents. The other two respondents were Executive Director: Safety and
Security and the Facilitator for the negotiation processes that preceded the industrial action and an
interview time slot could not be arranged because of the respondents busy work schedules.
All the interview respondents indicated with a signature to a full understanding of the nature of the
research and why it was being done, to a voluntary consent to participate in the study, to their
willingness to have the interview tape recorded, and their willingness to have their role identified in the
published document. Because these interviews were carried out in an office environment, the
interviews were interrupted now and again.
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3.5.2 Employee Reaction to the Strike
3.5.2.1 Pilot Study of the Survey Questionnaire
The reliability and validity of the questionnaire items were tested in the previous study by Chaulk and
Brown (2008). However, some of the questions and the scales of questionnaire were adjusted to five
points to fit the study. Because of the fact that the South African sample reflected a diversity of
second language English speakers, the questionnaire was given to a group of Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University’s Honours students to test if the questionnaire items were clear and to also
test the average time it would take to complete the questionnaire. For all the students who completed
the questionnaire English was their second language. It was concluded that the average time to
complete the questionnaire would be 10-15 minutes and no questions were considered unclear. After
the questionnaire was finalised, it was sent to a SAMWU official, to check its appropriateness. A
SAMWU Official was chosen because he represented the majority of the employees within the Traffic
and Licensing Sub-directorate.
3.5.2.2 Administration of the Survey Questionnaire
Before a questionnaire was handed out to any respondent or group of respondents with the help of
union officials and/or the management, the researcher explained to the participants who were filling
out the questionnaire, that the survey was fully approved by both management and the union and
that it is was voluntary. Ethical considerations were also communicated to the participants. The
respondents were made aware that the questionnaire did not require the respondents to give their
name, employment number or any means of identification as to who completed the questionnaire, and
that responses would be dealt with by only the researcher and her supervisor. Participants were
asked to read and sign the consent form Appendix 3. Two copies of the employee consent letter were
distributed to the respondents, to make them aware about the research. After reading the consent
letter, respondents who wished to participate in the study were asked to sign the letter, give back the
signed form and retain one copy for themselves. Thereafter, the questionnaires were distributed to the
willing respondents.
Due to the fact that the employees to be interviewed work according to the shift system, the
researcher used the following strategies to efficiently and effectively administer the questionnaire.
The researcher made arrangements with a trade union official to administer the questionnaire at the
beginning of a union meeting. Since the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate conducts a
constituency meeting (a union meeting) on a monthly basis where respective union members are
52
required to be present, the researcher took this opportunity to administer the questionnaire. For the
meeting that took place on the 22nd October 2010, the Researcher was afforded the first 15 minutes to
explain to the respondents what the research was all about, and then after distribute the
questionnaires. This initial meeting was not successful as most members did not attend the meeting
or arrived late and as a result only five questionnaires were completed. To avoid a second failed
attempt, the researcher decided to make an alternative arrangement for the distribution of the survey
questionnaires. The researcher decided to make arrangements with management. A briefing about
the research was set up with the Senior Superintendent in charge of traffic operations, who later
informed his subordinates about the researcher’s intentions. Thereafter, the researcher was to meet
the Traffic Officers according to their shift groups of five to seven members over the period of two
weeks. The questionnaire was administered in the 20 minutes before the Traffic Officers could go out
for patrol duties.
Questionnaires were filled out in a briefing room on the 4th, 5th 6th, 7th, and 11th of January 2011 at the
Port Elizabeth Traffic and Licensing Offices. In February 2011, the dates were 26th, 27th, and 28th,
where the questionnaires were filled out in the briefing room at the Uitenhage Traffic and Licensing
Offices. All respondents consented with a signature, their names, and the date to a full understanding
of the nature of the research study and why it was being done.
3.6 Data Capture and Data Analysis
Different methods of data analysis were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The following
section briefly discusses the different methods used for the different data collected.
3.6.1 Secondary Text Data and Interviews
Henning’s method of content analysis was used to analyse newspaper articles, minutes from third
party facilitation meetings and one-on-one interviews with the role players.
The researcher analysed the newspaper articles first, followed by minutes of the negotiations, then
the transcribed interview guidelines. The tape recorded interviews were transcribed, and then coded
using Henning and Van Rensburg (2004) qualitative analysis and interpretation method as outlined
below;
• The researcher read through all the transcriptions.
• General notes were made in interpreting the meaning of the transcripts.
• The process of coding was then conducted. Coding involved the following.
• First level coding- which extracted the relevant quotations from the transcripts.
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• Second level coding-which attached meaning to a quotation in trying to make sense of the data.
• The development of categories.
• The development of themes.
• The development of patterns, relationships and trends.
Validity and reliability of qualitative data was achieved by using an independent researcher to check
the qualitative analysis.
3.6.2 Survey Questionnaire
The survey questionnaire data was captured and analysed in MS Excel. Descriptive statistics included
frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Where appropriate group characteristics
such as Race, Home Language, Occupational Level, Union Membership, Length of Membership, Age
Category, Length of Service, and Participation in the strike have been used. For Inferential statistics
a t-test analysis for the post and prestrike scores and Cohen’s d rule were applied to the results. T-
tests and ANOVA were used to determine statistical difference for the impact of each group
characteristic on the affective measures. The level of statistical significance was set at α=0.05 and the
level of practical significance was determined using Cohen’s d where intervals of 0.0 <d<0.5,
0.5<d<0.8, d<0.8 are small, moderate and large respectively.
The reliability of each affective measure scale was determined using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha. A
coefficient alpha of 0.7 was considered reliable. .
3.7 Ethical Considerations
Due to the fact that social research is a form of human conduct, and it aims at the search for the truth,
the conduct of such research should conform to generally accepted norms and values. Therefore a
researcher should not carry out any research at the expense of individuals’ rights in society. (Mouton,
2001)
Ethical issues regarding research in the social sciences that were considered by the researcher are
summarised as below.
3.7.1 Voluntary Participation
Each major role player was approached in person by appointment by the researcher. The researcher
was in possession of authorisation letters about the research from the University which were given to
each role player. After introducing herself, and informing each role player about the aims and
objectives of the research, the researcher scheduled a formal interview with the full consent and
agreement with each role player will schedule formal interviews.
54
Respondents to the survey questionnaires were notified that filling out the questionnaire was
completely voluntary. Hence questionnaires were handed out to the willing respondents.
3.7.2 Confidentiality
Babbie (2007: 65) affirms that a research project guarantees confidentiality when the researcher can
identify a given person’s response but promises not to do it publicly.
All respondents from the survey questionnaire were notified that only the researcher and her
supervisor would be handling the data collected.
3.7.3 Anonymity of Respondents
In addition, anonymity from the administration of the questionnaire was be guaranteed, as the
questionnaire would not require the respondents to give their name, employment number or any
means of identification as to who completed the questionnaire.
3.7.4 No Harm to Participants
For any research that may involve obtaining information based on a mutual trust, the rights, interests
and the sensitivities of the respondents must be protected (Mouton, 2001, p.243).
The qualitative data collection methods involved the recording of personal, physiological and
psychological data (Mouton, 2001). To ensure that no harm (psychological or physical) is subjected to
the respondents in the formal interviews and the focus group interviews, revelation of any information
with reference to a particular participant was be avoided. Any information that was provided was tied
to research questions, rather than form a particular respondent.
Since no personal details (like employee number, name of participant) were required from
respondents filling in the survey questionnaire, the safety of respondents was ensured.
3.7.5 Analysis and Reporting
Due to the fact that rigorous studies allow for the researcher to be more familiar with technical
limitations and failures of the study, the researcher has an obligation to make any finding and
methodological constraint that determines the validity of such findings known to the readers (Babbie,
2007; Mouton, 2001).
Therefore, the researcher aimed at reporting all findings (positive, negative, and unexpected findings).
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3.8 Short Comings and sources of Error
There were interruptions during the interviews because they were carried out in an office environment
during working hours. The distractions may have affected the responses to the interview questions.
Secondly, because the researcher could not secure two interviews from two key players, some
information on the causes, process and outcomes of the strike may not have been obtained. The two
respondents could not avail themselves for the interview because of their busy work schedules.
Initially the researcher had intended to conduct focus group interviews, however this was not possible,
because of the reluctance of the employees to participate. Their reluctance was because the focus
group interviews were to prompt in-depth responses on the events, moods, meanings and debates
before, during and after the strike.
The questionnaires were completed in the presence of the researcher. This may have influenced the
responses. In addition because of the fear presented to management, some employees may have
given favourable answers. However, the researcher made the respondents aware that the responses
would be kept confidential. Some employees felt that the responses should be brought to the attention
of management, as they felt that something had to done to solve some of their work conditions. On
making them aware that the responses will be kept confidential, they felt reluctant to complete the
questionnaire. This may have affected their responses.
The sample which was 105 was a relatively small sample. Therefore this limited the level of statistical
analysis of the survey responses.
The reluctance of employees to complete the questionnaire could have been because the Traffic
Officers’ decision to embark on strike action received harsh responses from the community and the
media. Though the researcher explained to all employees that the research was for academic
purposes and that their responses would be kept confidential, some employees simply chose not to
participate in the research.
3.9 Chapter summary
This chapter tried to describe all aspects of the research method and design that was utilized in this
study. A qualitative method and quantitative design were used in the study. The results are presented
in Chapter four that follows.
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CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
This main objective of this chapter is to present both the results from the qualitative study of the strike
and quantitative survey that was done of affective factors, namely; organization and union
commitment, job and management satisfaction and work climate. The chapter is divided into three
sections. Section one deals with the study of the strike that was done through the identification of
categories, themes, patterns, relations and trends form transcripts of interviews, media reports,
negotiation minutes and Municipality reports. Section 2 deals with the results of the survey
questionnaire completed by Traffic Officers to determine their attitudes pre and post the strike. The
quantitative information was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Section three
discusses the results in relation to the research questions and hypotheses.
4.2 The Study of the 3rd March 2010 Strike of the Traffic Officers in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
This section will map the causes, processes and the outcomes of the strike by the Traffic Officers in
the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
4.2.1 Background and Events that led up to the Strike Action
In order to understand the sequence of the events that led up to the strike, a brief background of the
structure of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate, the job evaluation system of the old Port-
Elizabeth Municipality (PEM) system, the events surrounding the establishment of the Metro Police,
and the events surrounding the resolution of grievances on the job evaluation of the Traffic Officers
with the Municipality will be given.
4.2.1.1 The Structure of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
The Traffic and Licensing services sub-directorate together with the Disaster Management, Fire and
Emergency Services, and Security Services are all sub-directorates of the Safety and Security
Directorate of the NMBM.
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The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate organisational structure comprises of five major functions,
that is; Operations (which is involved with law enforcement) the Municipal court and legal processes
(involved in processing of tickets or fines for court prosecution), Support services (which includes
administration work), Training and crime prevention, and licensing (issues learners and drivers’
licence, and road worth licensing). Each function is run by an Assistant director, who directly reports
to the Director of Traffic and Licensing. The Traffic Officers fall under the Operations function. All
employees are affiliated to one of the two major Trade Unions in the Nelson Mandela Bay
Municipality, which are, SAMWU and IMATU.
4.2.1.2 Job Evaluation
In 1999, the Council of the former Port Elizabeth Municipality decided to embark on a job evaluation
exercise for positions within the Municipality. Job evaluation was to follow the specific procedure
stipulated by the PEM system. This meant that an employee could complete a request form and
submit it to his or her respective Head of Department for approval. The Head of Department would
then forward this request to the Job evaluation section to be registered. On refusal by the Head of
Department to approve a request from the employee, the employee could declare a formal dispute
which would be resolved under a specific dispute resolution procedure
On the 1 August 2001, the South African Local Government Bargaining Council established that new
job evaluation requests were to be evaluated using a new system. The backlog of job evaluation
requests at the new NMBM1 submitted before the 1st August 2001 were to be evaluated using the old
PEM system. It was estimated that to clear the backlog would take two years, after which the new
system would effectively be implemented. Unfortunately, it took until 2006 to clear the backlog.
4.2.1.3 Confusion and delays regarding the establishment of the Metro Police
At the time when the former Port Elizabeth Municipality had embarked on job evaluation exercise, the
council was involved in the establishment of the Metro Police. The Metro Police was to involve the
two sub-directorates of Traffic and Licensing and Security Services. On the 9th July 1999, there was a
request formally registered for job evaluation of the new positions of Metro Police with the job
evaluation section.
On the 14th September 1999, the PEM Mayoral Committee or the Executive Committee (EXCO) took
a resolution that the project of the establishment of the Metro Police services must continue and it
must be given priority. However, there were further delays and there was a perception at the time that
the delays for the establishment of the Metro Police was for reasons not known or better known by the
1 The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality came into being in (2000) incorporating the municipalities of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch
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Politicians, the project was put on hold until such time that the Metro was to be established on the
2nd December 2000.
In November 2002, the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was requested to amend the approved
Municipal Police organogramme to that of a combined Traffic and Licensing and Security Services
structure which confirmed that the Metro Police would not go ahead as anticipated. In addition, the
Management from the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate informed the job evaluation section that
further submissions for the draft job descriptions of the Municipal police services would not be
possible as the project would be put on hold due to lack of funds.
However, the project was again re-instated and in 2009, Traffic Officers participated in an illegal stay
away over the Christmas weekend, protesting against their non-involvement in the process of the
formation of the Metro Police which was to be established on the 21st March 2010.
However, up until the writing of this treatise the establishment of the Municipal Police services has not
taken place.
4.2.1.4 The Job Evaluation of the Traffic Officers
The situation surrounding the Traffic Officers’ grievances date back from the late 1990’s when the
Port Elizabeth Municipality at the time decided to embark on the job evaluation programme to re-
grade positions within the Municipality. On the 21st June 1999, a meeting was held between the
Traffic Management and the Unions regarding various in-house issues. One of the issues that was
raised was the job evaluation of the Traffic Officers. At the time, the Traffic Officers who had
approached the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate management requesting that their jobs should
evaluated were told that there would not be sufficient changes in their jobs until their incorporation in
to the soon to be established Metro Police. Employees were therefore urged to be patient until the
formation of the Municipal Police service, when municipal police service officers would be evaluated.
The non-approval of the Traffic Officer’s job evaluation requests by the Traffic Management meant
that no submissions specifically regarding the evaluation of Traffic Officers were received by the job
evaluation section. The only submissions received were for the evaluation of the Metro Police
positions.
In important to note that job evaluation requests by employees within the same directorate (Safety
and Security) were approved by the respective departments, registered and implemented by the job
evaluation section.
For example, in 1997, a job evaluation application for the position of Security officer had been
submitted. This application was based on the fact that there was an increasing workload on the part of
the security officers due to the changing security environment. The motivation given for the job
evaluation request was that previous job descriptions for Security Officers contained only guarding
related duties and subsequent to this, the division had been restructured into four units, namely
mobile response, guarding and control rooms , contracts and investigation. It was therefore clear that
59
the old job descriptions were completely inaccurate and would have to be updated and evaluated to
determine the correct levels for the posts. As a result, on the 14th May 2002, the post was evaluated
and implemented in August 2002. The delays were due to backlogs in job evaluation and lack of
funding respectively.
A further example was that on the 30th March 2000 and 6th November 2000 group evaluation
applications were received by the Human Resources Department from the fire personnel of the Fire
and Emergency Services sub-directorate.
In addition, job evaluation requests from employees who occupied other positions within the Traffic
and Licensing sub-directorate were approved, registered and implemented.
A table for the evaluation of other positions within the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate is shown
in the Municipality records as illustrated below;
Table 4.1 Job evaluation dates in respect to the PEM system
Designation/Division Date Registered Date evaluated Date implemented
Clerical Assistant
(accident Bureau)
25th April 2001 17th June 2003 3rd September 2003
Typing Services
(Secretarial Assistant)
27th march 1998 17th June 2003 3rd September 2003
Cashier/Clerk
(Roadworthy)
1st September 1995 23rd May 2002 25th may 2003
Traffic Training College 1st September 1995 23rd May 2002 25th May 2003
Senor /Traffic Warden 21st August 1995 6th November 1997 29th September 1998
In 2004, SAMWU laid a formal complaint against the Municipality Management for issues related to
Traffic Officers, such as “parity in salaries, irregular appointments, removal of officials who did not
meet their job requirements and evaluation of positions.” Due to the non-resolution of these
complaints, the matter was referred to the Bargaining Council for conciliation. A certificate of non-
resolution was issued on the 30th of July 2004 after the Municipality Management failed to reach
agreement on the issues raised by SAMWU (The Herald 24th August 2004). Though the Traffic
Officers were set to strike on the 23th of August 2004, a successful Labour Court application by the
Municipality Management prohibited the Traffic Officers from striking because they fell within the
category of essential workers (The Herald, 24th August 2004).
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4.2.1.5 The negotiation process
Discussions between the Directorate of Safety and Security and the labour representatives between
the 2004 and 2009 resulted in the decision for further discussions on the re-grading of the Traffic
Officers to be considered by the Executive Major at the meeting on the 11th March 2009. A follow up
meeting on the 12th March 2009 paved the way for a final decision to embark on negotiations
regarding the re-grading of the Traffic Officers. Aspects that would guide the negotiations were
agreed to between the union and Municipality Management as outlined below;
• Intent of Discussion Document
• A special Negotiating Team would be established from both sides to give effect to the
envisaged negotiations
• That parties would, in advance, exchange relevant documentation in their possession (in
paginated and clearly set out bundles) to ensure meaningful negotiations.
• A proposal programme /schedule of negotiations would be communicated by the Municipality,
on the understanding that at least one day in a week would be set aside to ensure a
concerted effort at concluding negotiations within a reasonable period of time.
• The employer and the unions would each confirm their negotiation teams, on the
understanding that the employer would draw appropriately authorized officials from Corporate
Services, Safety and Security, Budget and Treasury and Office of the Chief Operations
Officer to be part of its negotiations team subject to approval by the municipal Manager and
that likewise the unions would put together a team of negotiators to be drawn from both
SAMWU and IMATU.
• That consideration may, if necessary, be given by parties to enlist through the relevant
Division of the SALGBC, the services of an independent mediator from the approved list of
panellists to assist in facilitating the conducting of negotiations in a structured and effective
manner
• That matters raised by the unions in this meeting upon presentation of the discussion
document/proposal be the subject of further engagement in the envisaged negotiations
• That as outlined in the discussion document/proposal now regarded as the negotiating
framework parties would reserve the right to seek mandates on their negotiating positions
from time to time.
• That the Executive Director: Corporate would see to the proper co-ordination and
management of logistics that related to this process.
• That the Executive Director: Corporate Services would submit the negotiations Framework
along with this report, the schedule of meetings for negotiations, the names of the negotiators
from both sides for the processes to be ratified by the Local Labour Forum.
In addition, in the Discussion Document/Proposal on the evaluation of Traffic Officers within the
Security and Safety Directorate, different aspects were put forward by the employer as noted below;
61
• The employer was of the view that it has a responsibility to resolve this matter responsibly,
fairly and within the confines of its compliance obligations.
• The employer was of a view that the matter ought to be resolved in a proper Forum by
following proper procedures
• The Employer was of the view that this is a unique issue which should be separated from
other organizational challenges/programmes that have a bearing on service delivery
• The employer proposed the following aspects for the negotiating framework ;
o That benchmarking instead of job evaluation be the basis or mechanism of resolving
the Traffic Officer issue;
o That a closed benchmarking exercise instead of an open one would be undertaken
o The focus of benchmarking be the Traffic Officers and Senior Traffic Officers only
o That the finalization of an agreement of this and other related issues be undertaken in
the appropriate structure of the Local Labour Forum and that such identified structure
assume the responsibility forthwith.
o That the negotiating parties reserve the right to consult and seek specific mandates
on this matter as detailed negotiations proceed
The negotiation team for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality included
• The Executive Director: Corporate Services
• The Executive Director: Safety and Security
• The Director: Budget and Financial Accounting
• Director: Legal Services
• Director: Labour Relations
• Director: Corporate HR Services
• Administrative Officer
On the 27th March 2009, the Local Labour Forum (LLF) resolved that six sessions of negotiations
should take place for the evaluation of the Traffic Officer posts. These six sessions took place on the
2nd April 2009; 15th April 2009; 29th April 2009; 7th May 2009; 20th August 2009; and 25th August 2009
under the guidance of Prof Adriaan Van der Walt as the facilitator.
At the end of the negotiations, a draft agreement was developed by the facilitator to be signed by the
Municipal Director: Corporate Services on behalf of the Municipality Management and by SAMWU
and IMATU representatives. The agreement fell within the mandate given by the Mayoral Committee
and the LLF resolution of the 27th March 2009. The date of the implementation was to be resolved
under the process of arbitration.
The agreement was concluded between the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and the South African
Municipal Workers Union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union. The draft
62
agreement was concluded in August 2009 and became effective on the 23rd November 2009 when all
parties signed the agreement. The agreement included the following aspects:
• The Traffic Officer position included five operational levels, for instance; Traffic Officer; Senior
Traffic Officer; Assistant Superintendent; Superintendent; and Senior Superintendent
• Each of these levels was upgraded by one grade; for example the position of Traffic Officer
which was benchmarked with the position of Security Officer was graded at grade level 0009;
a Senior Traffic Officer was graded at grade level 1011, an Assistant Superintendent was
graded at grade level 0012, a Superintendent was graded at level 0013 and a Senior
Superintendent was graded at 0014
• The implementation date or back pay date from which the benchmarking was to be effective
was to be determined through an arbitration process.
• An arbitration agreement that was to govern the process on the decision of the
implementation date was concluded between the parties which cited that
• Dr John Grogan was to act as an Arbitrator
• The arbitration process was to be conducted in terms of the Arbitration Act 42
of 1965
• The main issue to govern the arbitration process was the implementation
date
• The arbitrator was to determine the procedures at the hearing
• The arbitrator would communicate his findings in writing within the period of
14 days from the date of the finalization of the arbitration proceedings.
4.2.2 Triggers of the 3rd of March 2010 Traffic Officers’ Strike
The issue of job evaluation was the underlying cause of the strike. The interviews highlighted what the
respondents felt were the triggers.
In an interview, one of the respondents said that the many years of consultation regarding the
upgrading of Traffic Officers was a trigger for the strike action. In addition a respondent mentioned
that in the period after the signing of the draft agreement of November 2009 and the preparation for
arbitration, they were being told that they should forget about the money that they thought the
Municipality owed to them. Another respondent said that they were informed by the politicians that
their demands which were to be compensated for ten years in back-pay could not be met because of
the lack of funding. The delay of the arbitration process could also have triggered the strike action.
This is supported by the following quotation taken from an interview with a management respondent: “They wanted to be backdated right from the beginning, when the dispute occurred in 1999, and we
only wanted to back date them as from when this agreement was signed. So that was quite a big
difference... and they then they did not want to wait for the final outcome of the arbitrator. Both parties
could not wait for the arbitrator to make a decision....where both parties could have stated their cases
63
to the arbitrator to make the decision. The Traffic Officers in addition demanded from the politicians to
get involved, and then obviously, they went on strike.”
In addition, the Traffic Officers felt that the employer was dragging on the process of arbitration
unnecessarily, so they decided to embark on the strike action to quicken the process of reaching
agreement on the back pay
4.2.3 Demands made by the Traffic Officers
An adherence to the signed agreement of November 2009 was one of the demands that were made
at the time of the strike. The Officers also demanded a change to the agreement in that the re-grading
of the Traffic Officers jobs should be two grades up (the agreement stipulated one grade). Because
employees within the same Directorate were upgraded, the Traffic Officers demanded that they
should also be upgraded.
Further Traffic Officers demanded that the ANC intervene to order the Municipality Management to
grant the Traffic Officers what they wanted
.
4.2.4 The Strike Process
On the 3rd March 2010, about 100 Traffic Officers blocked the traffic in the city’s major roads during
busy morning hours. A respondent had this to say about the commencement of the freeway
blockade;
“We only called one meeting and we took a decision and it was done the following day. In fact
we told them, let’s meet at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate the following day, and we
never told them what we were going to do. People were there... and in that meeting, the
first session, we said this was what we were going to do.... how do them feel... and they were
happy and we moved. Because they knew if we discuss it, the day before that, management
would know”
The blockade was organised by some shop stewards without the awareness of the Union leadership
from SAMWU or IMATU. The Traffic Officers diverted all calls to Director (Traffic and Licensing)
during the strike.
The decision to block the freeway by the Traffic Officers was illegal in terms of the Gatherings Act, as
the strike action was conducted in possession of firearms (The Herald, 2010). In addition, because
the Traffic Officers obstructed traffic, the police had to intervene, by detaining the officers involved for
a short period of time. These officers were served with warnings and were to face disciplinary action.
64
However no formal charge was laid against the Traffic Officers for their illegal actions (The Herald, 12
May 2010). The strike also constituted an unprotected strike as the Traffic Officers are designated an
essential service.
The road blockade was followed by go-slows in the following one and half weeks starting on the 4th
March. The go- slows meant that Traffic Officers refused to work over time. The refusal to work
overtime meant that Traffic control measures for local events such as “Cobras v Warriors cricket
match at St George’s Park, the EP v Argentine Pampas rugby game at the new 2010 stadium on
Friday evening and the Orlando Pirates v Gaborone United game there on Sunday” were affected.
The provincial Traffic Officers had to assist in these events though they were threatened by the
Municipal Traffic Officers (The Herald, 5th March 2010).
Further The Herald Reported (6th march 2010) that Traffic Officers, including the Traffic control room
radio unit, decided on a stay away action on the 5th March 2010 and decided to sit at the place of
work rather than resuming their patrolling duties. The Officers decided to embark on only “private trips
to buy lunch or run other errands” until their demands were met by the employer. Although
management tried to force the striking employees through the supervisors, the Traffic Officers
continued to ignore their law enforcement duties. During the interview, a respondent said that
“....They were trying to use the supervisors in pressing the members within the shifts to report many
traffic cases, when our members said that they were not going to do anything everyday”
When asked about management’s reaction towards no production on the part of the Traffic Officers,
the respondent said that “...they could not do anything because it is not our duty to issue fines; it is not
a matter of a must that you must issue fines, but it is part of our job. So we were doing part of our job
by roaming around, and being visible, attending to accidents, although that is not what they want,
what they want the most was to report traffic cases”
In addition some Traffic Officers illegally participated in the Municipal Workers strike on the 12th and
13th of April 2010 despite a warning issued by the Municipality Management against involvement of
essential service workers (Traffic, Security and Fire departments).The Municipality had sent a
notification that essential service workers who participated in a strike would face disciplinary action
(14th April 2010).
At the time of the 3rd March freeway blockade, police intervention was sought for by management,
where all those employees who participated in the action were taken away in police vans to Mount
Road and Humewood police stations.
After the 3rd March of 2010, to try and solve the grievances of the Traffic Officers, there was an
intervention by the ANC councillor and the Provincial ANC Secretary. Meetings with the portfolio
councillors were set up to solve the problems and come up with a workable solution. This intervention
and discussions between the politicians and the Traffic Officers was outside the in-principle
agreement that had stipulated that the back-pay date would be determined by means of arbitration.
65
One of the respondents from Municipality Management stressed the fact that the intervention from
the politicians was “outside the formal agreed processes and that was basically between the political
employer, and the workers. The Traffic Officers were unhappy with the progress made by the
Politicians and not management. So the process was outside management’s control. Management
had formal processes and agreements with the Traffic Officers, but they did not want to honour this
agreement. So they had discussion outside with the politicians...”
Over the period of industrial action (3rd March 2010 to 17th of March 2010) by the Traffic Officers,
there were some demands that were dropped in order to make concessions with management. For
example the Traffic Officers had demanded to be upgraded two grades and retrospective payment
backdated to the year 2000 (10 years back pay). On the other hand the employer was offering an
upgrade of one grade and one year of back pay. The parties finally reached an agreement on one
grade upgrade and three and a half years of back pay.
4.2.5 Strike Outcomes
On the 17th March 2010, an agreement was signed between IMATU, SAMWU and the Nelson
Mandela Bay Municipality, at the Sidwell Traffic and Licensing Officers. The Herald (18th March 2010)
reported that there were about 80 to 100 Traffic Officers who witnessed the negotiation between their
Unions and the Municipality that resulted in an agreement of three and half years of back pay and
one grade upgrade. The agreement entailed the following aspects;
• The Five occupational levels of the Traffic Officer positions were; Traffic Officer, Senior Traffic
Officers, Assistant Superintendents, Superintendents and Senior Superintendents.
• The above operational levels were upgraded by one grade, as follows;
• A Traffic Officer position which was benchmarked with the security Officer
position was graded as a grade 0009
• A Senior Traffic Officer was graded as a Grade 1011
• As Assistant Superintendent was graded as a Grade 0012
• A Superintendent was graded as a Grade 0013
• A Senior Superintendent was graded as a Grade 0014
The re-grading of the five operational levels as indicated above was to be effective from the 1st of July
2009. The back-pay was to be conducted as follows;
• The payment due for the 12 month period ending on the 1st of July 2007 was to be made on
the 31st of July 2010
• The payment due for the 12 month period ending on the 1st of July 2008 was to be made on
the 31st of July 2011
66
• The payment due for the 12 month period ending on the 1st of July 2009 would be made on
the 31st July 2012
The settlement agreement was only applicable to the current employees at the time of signing the
agreement in that it was binding to the parties.
The parties agreed that the settlement agreement would take a form of an arbitration agreement
The agreement on the three and half years back pay and a promotion to one grade higher had an
effect on the rate payers within the Municipality. This back pay amounted to R13 Million.” (The Herald,
18th March 2010). The Weekend Post (6th March 2010) reported that the rate payers would have to
incur costs amounting to R4 million a year for three years.
The strike had direct negative effects to the public. This is because the Traffic Officers decided to
block three major routes in rush hours, and as a result, students and pupils could not get to school in
time, employees with the Municipality could not get to work in time and businesses lost out in terms of
delivery delays (The Weekend Post, 2010).
In terms of the relationship between the management in the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate and
the union, respondents pointed out that the relationship was good as the communication between the
two parties indicated to the employees that there would be day light and that they would receive their
money. In addition, respondents also pointed out the fact that the Traffic Management supported their
grievances. In a quotation the respondent specifically said that “the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate management, was fully behind the traffic personnel, because they knew their plight, they
were in support with the Traffic Officers to an extent that they have written a number of items to
council that, with the recommendations, as to how the matter could be resolved”
In addition, with respect to the relationships between management and employees, one of the
respondents noted that a degree of trust between the parties needed to develop, in terms of
management and employee engagements that would make a law enforcement institution like the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate to be what is should be.
In terms of the relations towards the union, a sense of unity among the union members of the Traffic
and Licensing Sub-directorate was an evident outcome of the strike. As noted by a respondent “...
unity is a form that we have managed to do in that section, understanding of our members... you
know... and the element in the spirit of togetherness... understanding that trade union is a home for
the poor and the previously disadvantaged majority”
In terms of the relationships between the union and its members, union commitment and growth is
one of the outcome is of the strike. One of the respondents asserted
“We also managed to have an organizational growth in that department. A number of people came to
us... they joined the union. But we also gained respect from management, that when we demand, and
67
we are able to come with issues, they must not come to look at themselves first, they must also look...
also the element of administration.”
4.2.6 Facilitators and Inhibitors
The freeway blockade by the Traffic Officers was a violent action and unethical conduct. This
unethical and violent behaviour may have been as a result of incompetent leadership on the part of
the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate. This incompetent leadership was illustrated by the
Weekend Post (6th March 2010) which reported that appointments in the leadership positions of the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate are made on the basis of political allegiance rather than
considering job competence. The incompetent leadership in addition may have caused the unethical
behaviour among the Traffic Officers which included the illegal sale of drivers’ licenses, taking bribes
for Traffic transgressions from the public and the involvement in robberies with the Nelson Mandela
Bay Municipality.
A lack of close cooperation between the Municipality and interest groups within the Municipality such
as the opposition political party leaders at local government may have partly contributed to the strike
of the 3rd March 2010. The Weekend Post (6th March 2010) had quoted that the Democratic Alliance
(DA) Safety and Security Spokesperson had warned the Municipality to deal with the Traffic Officers’
grievances in 2001, which the Municipality failed to act upon. Had the Municipality effectively dealt
with the grievances by the Traffic Officers when it was warned by the DA, the strike related to the
same issues would not have taken place.
We could argue that public perception towards the Traffic Officer’s action may have contributed to the
end of the strike (3rd March strike). An editorial comment in the Weekend Post (6th March 2010)
remarked that the subsequent go slows after the highway blockade, put the public at risk, because of
the poor law enforcement services the Traffic Officers were rendering. In addition the media may have
played a role in its reporting about the strike action. The media negatively perceived the actions by
the Traffic Officers to block the high-way and to participate in go-slow actions. One of the respondents
noted that the media rather forget about how far long the Traffic Officers were coming from, but rather
crucified the Traffic Officers in what they had resorted to do (strike action).
4.3 Results of the Questionnaire.
This section of chapter four will discuss the affective outcomes of the strike, namely; organizational
commitment, job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, management satisfaction and union
commitment.
4.3.1 Sample Demographics.
68
Of the 187 Traffic Officers, Senior Traffic Officers, Assistant Superintendents, Superintendents, and
Senior Superintendents, a total of 105 completed the questionnaire for a response rate of 56%. The
demographic profile of the sample for gender, race, home language, occupational level, union
membership, length of union service, length of organizational service, age and participation in the
strike is given in the series of Tables and Figures below.
4.3.1.1 Gender Distribution
The Table 4.2 illustrates that the sample comprised of 105 Traffic Officers. Out of the 105
respondents, males were 81, with a percentage of 77%, whereas females were 24, with a
corresponding percentage of 23%.
Table 4.2: Gender distribution of the sample
Figure 4.2: Gender distribution
4.3.1.2 Racial Category
The racial breakdown for the sample was 75% for the Africans, 18% for the Coloured, 1% for the
Indians and 6% for the Whites as indicated in the Table 4.3 and Figure 4.3 below;
Table 4.3 Racial distribution
77% (81)
23% (24)
Gender distribution
Male Female
Gender Frequency
(f) Percent
(%) Male 81 77%
Female 24 23%
Total 105 100%
Race Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
African 79 75%
Coloured 19 18%
Indian 1 1%
White 6 6%
Total 105 100%
69
Figure 4.3: Racial distribution
.
4.3.1.3 Home Language Distribution
The Illustrations below show the language distribution of the sample of the 105 Traffic Officers.
Seventy-nine of the respondents were Xhosa speaking making up 75% of the sample. Ten of the
respondents spoke English as a home language making up 10% of the sample, 15 were Afrikaans
speakers who made up 14% of the sample, and 1 of the respondents spoke another language making
up 1% of the sample.
Table 4.4: Home language distribution
Figure 4.4: Home language distribution
A high percentage of Xhosa speakers was attributed to the fact that the Nelson Mandela Bay is part of
the Eastern Cape Province where there are more Xhosa speaking Africans than other African
language group speakers.
75% (79)
18% (19)
6% (6)
1% (1)
Racial category
African
Coloured
White
Indian
75% (79)
14% (15)
10% (10)1% (1)
Home language Distribution
Xhosa
Afrikaans
English
Other
Language Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
Xhosa 79 75%
English 10 10%
Afrikaans 15 14%
Other 1 1%
Total 105 100%
70
4.3.1.4 Occupational Level Distribution
The Treatise refers to the term Traffic Officer as a general term for all occupational levels of
employees under study. However, at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate, the highest
occupational level of Traffic Officer is Senior Superintendent, followed by Superintendent, Assistant
Superintendent, Senior Traffic Officer and then Traffic Officer. For the purposes of this study, the
upper levels of Senior Superintendent, followed by Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent were
jointly grouped in the category of Superintendent. The survey indicated that 17 individuals in the
category of Superintendent completed the survey questionnaire, while 47 Senior Traffic Officers and
41 Traffic Officers also completed the survey questionnaire. Responses amounted to 16%, 45%, and
39% respectively. These results are illustrated in form of a Table 4.5 and Figure 4.5 below;
Table 4.5: Occupational level distribution
Figure 4.5: Occupational level distribution.
4.3.1.5 Union membership distribution
There were two unions that were in operation within the Municipality. As indicated in the results
below, SAMWU was the dominant union amongst the traffic officers. The results of the survey
indicated that 95 SAMWU members completed the questionnaire while 9 respondents were IMATU
members. There was only one respondent who indicated that he or she belonged to another Union
(The name of the Union was not specified).
45% (47)
39% (41)
16% (17)
Occupational level Distribution
Senior TrafficOfficerTraffic Officer
Superintendent
Occupational level Frequency
(f) Percent (%)
Traffic Officer 41 39%
Senior Traffic Officer 47 45%
Superintendent 17 16%
Total 105 100%
71
Table 4.6: Union membership distribution
Figure 4.6: Union membership distribution
4.3.1.6 Length of union membership Category Distribution
In the survey questionnaire respondents noted down their actual number of years of membership of a
union. In the process of data capture of the survey questionnaire, the numbers of years were divided
into three categories, which were 1-4 years, 5-14 years and 15 + years. Twenty-eight of the
respondents fell in the 1-4 years category, 52 fell in the 5-14 years category, while 25 fell in the 15 +
category, accounting for 27%, 50%, and 24% of the total number of respondents for the respective
categories. This information is illustrated in the form of a Table 4.7 and Figure 4.7 below;
Table 4.7: Length of union membership distribution
Figure 4.7: Length of union membership distribution
90% (95)
9% (9) 1% (1)
Union membership Distribution
SAMWU
IMATU
Other
27% (28)
50% (52)
24% (25)
Length of union membership category distribution
1-4 years
5-14 years
15+ years
Membership Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
SAMWU 95 90%
IMATU 9 9%
Other 1 1%
Total 105 100%
Years Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
1-4 years 28 27%
5-14 years 52 50%
15+ years 25 24%
Total 105 100%
72
4.3.1.7 Length of Service Category Distribution
Respondents were asked to indicate the actual duration of service in the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate. For analysis purposes, service categories were divided into three groups, that is, 1-4years
of service, 5-14years of service, and 15+ years of service. The results showed that 27 respondents
fell in the 1-4years service duration category, 49 fell in the 5-14years service duration category,
whereas 29 fell in the 15+ service duration category. A conversion to percentages indicated 26%, 47,
and 28% fell in 1-4 years, 5-14years and 15+ year’s categories respectively. These results are shown
in the illustrations below;
73
Table 4.8 Service Category distribution
Figure 4.8: Service category distribution
4.3.1.8 Age Distribution
The participants were requested to indicate their actual age. Age categories were then drawn when
analyzing the information. The results indicated that 42 respondents were of the ages of 28-39 years,
46 respondents were of the ages of 40-49years, and 17 respondents were of the ages of 50+ years.
The Table 4.9 and Figure 4.9 below illustrate this information.
Table 4.9: Age category distribution
Figure 4.9: Age category distribution
4.3.1.9 Participation Distribution
Respondents were also asked to indicate with a “yes” or “no” if they participated in the strike. Eighty-
five respondents indicated that they had participated in the strike, whereas 20 of them did not
participate in the strike. Therefore 81% of the total sample participated in the strike, and 19% of the
sample did not participate in the strike. This information is illustrated below in the form of a Table 4.10
and Figure 4.10 below;
26% (27)
47% (49)
28% (29)
Service category distribution
1-4 years
5-14 years
15+ years
40% (42)
44% (46)
16% (17)
Age Category
28-39 years
20-49 years
50+ years
Years
Frequency
(f)
Percent
(%)
1-4 years 27 26%
5-14 years 49 47%
15+ years 29 28%
Total 105 100%
Years Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
28-39 42 40%
40-49 46 44%
50+ 17 16%
Total 105 100%
74
Table 4.10: Participation distribution
Figure 4.10: Participation Category distribution.
4.3.2 The Reliability of the Affective Factors Pre-and Post-Strike
To test the reliability of the factors, an item analysis was conducted to determine the Cronbach alpha
scores. Factors with an alpha score above 0.7 were considered acceptable
Table 4.11 Cronbach’s alpha for affective factors
Cronbach’s alpha
Mean SD
Organisational commitment Pre-strike 0.88 3.53 0.88 Post-strike 0.91 3.58 0.88
Job satisfaction Pre-strike 0.64 3.41 0.63 Post-strike 0.82 3.57 0.79
Work climate satisfaction Pre-strike 0.57 3.02 0.76 Post-strike 0.59 3.19 0.75
Management satisfaction Pre-strike 0.89 2.35 0.89 Post-strike 0.92 2.59 0.95
Union commitment Pre-strike 0.93 3.81 0.87 Post-strike 0.94 3.81 0.87
As indicated above, the Cronbach’s alpha scores for organisational commitment, management
satisfaction and union commitment pre and post –strike were acceptable and these factors can be
considered reliable. The pre-strike Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for job satisfaction was 0.64 and the
post-strike coefficient was 0.82. The results for job satisfaction were taken to be acceptable although
the low pre-strike figure necessitates that the results from this factor be treated with caution. The
scores for work climate satisfaction were below 0.7 for both pre- and post-strike. The results for this
factor should be treated as tentative evidence of possible trends.
81% (85)
19% (20)
Participation distribution
Yes
No
Participation Frequency
(f) Percent
(%)
Yes 85 81%
No 20 19%
Total 105 100%
75
4.3.3 The Results for the Affective Factors Pre-and Post-Strike
The results for all the affective factors are shown below in tables 4.12 to 4.22. The Tables present the
descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations) for the items and the
summated scores. Table 4.22 presents the difference between the factor scores and tests the
significance of the difference
4. 3.3.1 Organizational Commitment Pre and Post-Strike
The Tables 4.11 and 4.12 give the results of the responses as to how committed the respondents felt
to the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate pre-and post the strike. The tables show each item
response and the summated score for the factor organisational commitment
Table 4.12 Organizational commitment for the sample pre-strike
n=105
Q
no.
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
A1 I would have accepted any job assignment in order to
maintain employment with the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 43 41% 16 15% 46 44% 3.04 1.47
A2 I felt very loyal to the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate 15 14% 14 13% 76 72% 3.93 1.21
A3 I found that my values and the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate values were similar 31 30% 21 20% 53 50% 3.28 1.30
A4 I was proud to tell others that I was an employee at
the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 16 15% 14 13% 75 71% 3.89 1.26
A5 I told others that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate was a great department to work for 30 29% 12 11% 63 60% 3.50 1.37
A6 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate really
inspired the very best in me in the way of job
performance 27 26% 22 21% 56 53% 3.48 1.37
A7 I did really care about the fate of the Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate 22 21% 20 19% 63 60% 3.52 1.19
A8 I agreed with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
policies on matters relating to its employees 24 23% 32 30% 49 47% 3.26 1.20
A9 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was the
best possible department to work for 24 23% 26 25% 55 52% 3.52 1.23
A10 Deciding to work for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate was a good decision on my part 14 13% 15 14% 75 72% 3.90 1.16
AF1 Organisational commitment 16 15% 29 28% 60 57% 3.53 0.88
Pre-strike the respondents were positive regarding all ten of the items testing organisational
commitment. They were most positive about their loyalty to the Department (M=3.93, SD=1.21), that
76
working for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate had been a good decision (M=3.90, SD=1.16)
and that they were proud to work for the department (M=3.89, SD=1.26). The respondents were least
positive regarding the suggestion that they would have accepted any assignment (M=3.04, SD=1.47).
Overall the respondents were positive and committed to the organization (M=3.53, SD 0.88)
Table 4.13 Organisational commitment for the sample post-strike
n=105
Q no Low (1,2)
Average (3)
High (4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % f %
B1 I would accept any job assignment in order to
maintain employment with the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 31 30% 24 23% 50 48% 3.21 1.43
B2 I feel very loyal to the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate 11 10% 18 17% 76 72% 3.91 1.08
B3 I find that my values and the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate values are similar 23 22% 23 22% 59 56% 3.45 1.14
B4 I am proud to tell others that I am an employee at the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 14 13% 19 18% 72 69% 3.81 1.19
B5 I tell others that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate is a great department to work for 18 17% 24 23% 63 60% 3.61 1.14
B6 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate really
inspires the very best in me in the way of job
performance 24 23% 23 22% 58 55% 3.53 1.17
B7 I do really care about the fate of the Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate 15 14% 22 21% 68 65% 3.65 1.10
B8 I agree with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
policies on matters relating to its employees 30 29% 22 21% 53 50% 3.30 1.24
B9 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate is the best
possible department to work for 23 22% 27 26% 55 52% 3.49 1.28
B10 Working for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
is a good decision on my part 11 10% 18 17% 76 72% 3.83 1.11
BF1 Organisational commitment 14 13% 32 30% 59 56% 3.58 0.88
Post-strike the respondents were still positive regarding all ten of the items testing organisational
commitment. They were still most positive about their loyalty to the Department (M=3.91, SD=1.08),
that working for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate had been a good decision (M=3.83,
SD=1.11) and that they were proud to work for the department (M=3.81, SD=1.19). The respondents
were least positive regarding the suggestion that they would have accepted any assignment (M=3.21
SD=1.43)
Overall the respondents were positive and committed to the organization in the post-strike period
(M=3.58, SD=0.88).
77
4. 3.3.2 Job Satisfaction Pre and Post-Strike
Table 4.14 Job satisfaction pre-strike
n=105
Q
no
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
F % f % f %
A11 My job was satisfying 16 15% 17 16% 72 69% 3.78 1.10
A12 My job was challenging 15 14% 11 10% 79 75% 3.93 1.11
A13 My job gave me a sense of accomplishment 16 15% 27 26% 62 59% 3.62 1.10
A14 I was satisfied with my pay at the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 52 50% 18 17% 35 33% 2.64 1.37
A15 There were opportunities for promotion at the Traffic
and Licensing Sub-directorate 61 58% 25 24% 19 18% 2.35 1.22
A16 I was a valued employee at the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 37 35% 19 18% 49 47% 3.12 1.39
A17 Other employees were pleasant to work with 11 10% 30 29% 64 61% 3.69 1.01
A18 I performed my job tasks effectively and efficiently 10 10% 7 7% 88 84% 4.17 1.12
AF2 Job Satisfaction 11 10% 41 39% 53 50% 3.41 0.63
As can be seen in the Table 4.14 above, in the pre-strike period the respondents were dissatisfied
with promotion opportunities (M=2.35, SD= 1.22) and with their remuneration (M=2.64, SD=1.37). In
addition, respondents were not very positive that they were valued employees at their workplace
(M=3.12, SD=1.39). Respondents were most satisfied that they could perform their tasks effectively
and efficiently (M=4.17, SD=1.12), that their jobs were challenging (M-3.93, SD=1.11) and satisfying
(M=3.78, SD=1.10).
The overall job satisfaction perception was positive (M=3.41, SD=0.63)
78
Table 4.15 Job satisfaction post-strike
n=105
Q
no
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
B11 My job is satisfying 14 13% 16 15% 75 71% 3.80 1.16 B12 My job is challenging 12 11% 12 11% 81 77% 3.97 1.11 B13 My job gives me a sense of accomplishment 13 12% 19 18% 73 70% 3.75 1.07 B14 I am satisfied with my pay at the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 34 32% 19 18% 52 50% 3.19 1.39 B15 There are opportunities for promotion at the Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate 44 42% 25 24% 35 34% 2.83 1.35 B16 I am a valued employee at the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 24 23% 20 19% 61 58% 3.46 1.27 B17 Other employees are pleasant to work with 14 13% 22 21% 69 66% 3.71 1.10 B18 I perform my job tasks effectively and efficiently 14 13% 16 15% 75 71% 3.84 1.13 BF2 Job Satisfaction 10 10% 33 31% 62 59% 3.57 0.79
In the post-strike table 4.15 above, respondents were most satisfied that their jobs were challenging
(M=3.97, SD=1.11), that their performance in their job tasks was effective and efficient (M=3.84,
SD=1.13), that their jobs were satisfying (M=3.80, SD=1.16), that their jobs gave them a sense of
accomplishment (3.75, SD=1.07), and that other employees were pleasant to work with (M=3.71,
SD=1.10). On the other hand, respondents were less satisfied with the promotion opportunities at the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate (M=2.83, SD=1.35), with the remuneration (M=3.19, SD=1.39),
and with the value the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate placed on them (M=3.46, SD=1.27).
The overall job satisfaction post-strike was positive (M=3.57, SD=0.79).
4.3.3.3 Work Climate Satisfaction Pre and Post-Strike
Table 4.16 Work climate satisfaction pre-strike
n=105
Q no
Low (1,2)
Average (3)
High (4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
A19 Management and employees worked well together 63 60% 22 21% 20 19% 2.28 1.27
A20 There was little tension between co-workers 38 36% 32 30% 35 33% 2.85 1.18
A21 There was little tension between workers and
management 45 43% 20 19% 40 38% 2.80 1.43
A22 I enjoyed going to work on a daily basis 15 14% 27 26% 62 60% 3.63 1.18
A23 I felt able to complete my job tasks 19 18% 19 18% 67 64% 3.58 1.20
AF3 Work climate satisfaction 26 25% 48 46% 31 30% 3.02 0.76
79
Respondents thought that management and employees did not work well together (M=2.28,
SD=1.27), and also felt that there was tension between workers and management (M=2.80, 1.43) and
between co-workers (M=2.85, SD=1.18). Respondents were more positive on items such as enjoying
going to work on a daily basis (M=3.63, SD=1.18), and the feeling towards being able to complete
their job tasks (M=3.58, SD=1.20).
The overall perception towards work climate was a slightly positive (M=3.02, SD=0.76)
Table 4.17 Work climate satisfaction post –strike
n=105
Q
no
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
B19 Management and employees work well together 46 44% 33 31% 26 25% 2.76 1.19
B20 There is little tension between co-workers 39 37% 30 29% 36 34% 2.92 1.15
B21 There is little tension between workers and
management 29 28% 33 31% 43 41% 3.13 1.31
B22 I enjoy going to work on a daily basis 14 13% 24 23% 67 64% 3.66 1.15
B23 I feel able to complete my job tasks 24 23% 16 15% 65 62% 3.46 1.26
BF3 Work climate satisfaction 15 14% 55 52% 35 33% 3.19 0.75
Respondents were most positive towards going to work on a daily basis (M=3.66, SD=1.15), the
feeling of being able to complete their job tasks (M=3.46, SD=1.26). Respondents thought that;
management and employees did not work well together (M=2.76, SD=1.19) and there was some
tension between co-workers (M=2.92, SD=1.15). They were more positive about the relationship
between workers and management (M=3.13, SD=1.31). The overall perception towards work climate
post-strike was slightly positive (M=3.19, SD=0.75)
80
4.3.3.4. Management Satisfaction – Pre and Post-strike
Table 4.18 Management satisfaction pre-strike
n=105
Q no Low (1,2)
Average (3)
High (4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
A24 Management was fair 62 59% 20 19% 23 22% 2.31 1.33
A25 Management did accept my advice 65 63% 23 22% 16 15% 2.15 1.22
A26 Management was responsive to any questions or
concerns
I shared with them 57 54% 31 30% 17 16% 2.31 1.20
A27 Management helped foster a positive work
environment 62 59% 26 25% 17 16% 2.21 1.16
A28 I had respect for Management 44 42% 24 23% 37 35% 2.77 1.36
A29 Management valued Traffic Officers as employees 61 58% 16 15% 28 27% 2.50 1.36
A30 Management was well organized 71 68% 20 19% 14 13% 2.01 1.14
A31 Management provided me with direction 63 60% 25 24% 17 16% 2.20 1.18
A32 Management did praise my work 57 54% 18 17% 30 29% 2.48 1.39
A33 Management was not difficult to please 52 50% 24 23% 29 28% 2.50 1.34
AF4 Management satisfaction 59 56% 33 31% 13 12% 2.35 0.89
The most negative responses were for the questionnaire items that stated that; management was well
organized (M=2.01, SD =1.14), management did accept my advice (M=2.15, SD=1.22), management
helped foster a positive work environment (M=2.21, SD=1.1.16) and management provided me with
direction (M=2.20, SD =1.18).
Relatively more positive responses were for questionnaire items that stated that; I had respect for
management (M=2.77, SD =1.36), management valued Traffic Officers as employees (M=2.50,
SD=1.36), management was not difficult to please (M=2.50, SD=1.34) and management did praise
my work (M=2.48, SD=1.39).
The overall response in the pre-strike period for management satisfaction was negative (M=2.35,
SD=0.89).
81
Table 4.19 Management satisfaction post –strike
n=105
Q
no
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
f % F % F %
B24 Management is fair 51 49% 31 30% 23 22% 2.57 1.26
B25 Management does accept my advice 54 51% 33 31% 18 17% 2.43 1.21
B26 Management is responsive to any questions or
concerns
I share with them 52 50% 37 35% 16 15% 2.41 1.11
B27 Management helps foster a positive work environment
43 41% 31 30% 30 29% 2.76 1.16
B28 I have respect for Management 38 36% 27 26% 40 38% 2.96 1.25
B29 Management values Traffic Officers as employees 49 47% 30 29% 26 25% 2.64 1.22
B30 Management is well organized 63 60% 22 21% 20 19% 2.43 1.17
B31 Management provides me with direction 61 58% 26 25% 18 17% 2.40 1.17
B32 Management does praise my work 57 54% 17 16% 31 30% 2.56 1.32
B33 Management is not difficult to please 47 45% 24 23% 33 32% 2.75 1.31
BF4 Management satisfaction 54 51% 33 31% 18 17% 2.59 0.95
In the post-strike period all the responses were still negative. The most positive responses were noted
for questionnaire items such as respect for management (M=2.96, SD =1.25), management’s efforts
in fostering a positive work environment (M=2.76, SD=1.16), and the ease in pleasing management
(M=2.75, SD=1.31), The most negative responses are noted for items such as; Guidance from
management (M=2.40, SD=1.17); management’s responsiveness to questions and concerns shared
by employees (M=2.41, SD= 1.11), organizational abilities of management (M=2.43, SD=1.17), and
management’s efforts in accepting advice from employees (M=2.43, SD=1.21).
The overall response for management satisfaction in the post-strike period was negative (M= 2.59,
SD= 0.96).
82
4.3.3.5 Union Commitment- Pre and Post-strike
Table 4.20: Union commitment pre-strike
n=105
Q no
Low (1,2)
Average (3)
High (4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
A34 I usually found it easy to agree with the Union’s
policies 15 15% 25 24% 64 61% 3.60 1.18
A35 I was proud to tell others I was a member of the Union 6 6% 23 22% 76 72% 4.00 0.95
A36 I cared about the fate of the Union 6 6% 19 18% 79 76% 4.01 0.95
A37 I was glad I became a member of the Union 6 6% 22 21% 77 73% 4.07 0.97
A38 I felt very loyal toward the Union 12 12% 16 15% 76 73% 3.91 1.07
A39 I gained a lot by being a member of the Union 11 11% 21 20% 72 69% 3.88 1.09
A40 I was willing to put a great deal of effort into making
the union successful 8 8% 22 21% 75 71% 3.91 1.01
A41 I trusted the members in the union 22 21% 27 26% 55 53% 3.49 1.22
A42 I would have served on a union committee 26 25% 29 28% 50 48% 3.37 1.29
A43 I felt a sense of pride belonging to the Union 13 12% 18 17% 74 70% 3.86 1.20
AF5 Union Commitment 10 10% 22 21% 73 70% 3.81 0.87
As indicated above, the overall response towards commitment to the union was positive.
Respondents were most positive towards their membership to the union (M=4.07, SD=0.97), concern
for the fate of the union (M=4.01, SD=0.95), and telling others about their membership to the union
(M=4.00, SD=0.95). The less positive responses were towards; commitment to serve on the union
committee (M=3.37, SD=1.29), and trust in other members of the union (M=3.49; SD=1.22).
The overall perception towards union commitment in the pre-strike period was positive (M= 3.81, SD
0.87).
83
Table4.21: Union commitment post –strike
n=105
Q
no
Low
(1,2)
Average
(3)
High
(4,5)
Mean SD
f % f % F %
B34 I usually find it easy to agree with the Union’s policies
15 14% 29 28% 61 58% 3.61 1.11
B35 I am proud to tell others I am a member of the Union 9 9% 21 20% 75 71% 3.94 0.99
B36 I care about the fate of the Union 12 12% 20 19% 72 69% 3.87 1.13
B37 I am glad I became a member of the Union 6 6% 22 21% 77 73% 4.01 0.91
B38 I feel very loyal toward the Union 10 10% 21 20% 74 70% 3.87 1.00
B39 I gain a lot by being a member of the Union 13 13% 26 25% 65 62% 3.75 1.12
B40 I am willing to put a great deal of effort into making the
union successful 6 6% 25 24% 74 70% 3.96 0.92
B41 I trust the members in the union 14 13% 28 27% 63 60% 3.72 1.11
B42 I would serve on a union committee 25 24% 21 20% 59 56% 3.50 1.29
B43 I feel a sense of pride belonging to the Union 9 9% 26 25% 70 67% 3.90 1.12
BF5 Union Commitment 11 10% 23 22% 71 68% 3.81 0.87
In the post-strike period, the responses were positive. The most positive responses were registered
for questionnaire items such as; gladness of becoming a member of the union (M=4.01, SD=0.91),
the willingness to put a great deal of effort in making the union successful (M=3.96, SD=0.92), being
proud to tell others about membership to the union ((M=3.94, SD=0.99), and being proud of belonging
to the union (M=3.90, SD=1.12). the less positive responses were for questionnaire items such as
commitment to serving on a union committee (M=3.50, SD=1.29, the ease towards agreeing with
union’s policies (M=3.61, SD=1.11), trust placed in union members (M=3.72, SD=1.11) and perceived
gain from being a union member (M=3.75, SD=1.12).
The overall perception towards union commitment in the post-strike period was positive (M= 3.81, SD
0.87).
4.3.4 The Difference in the Affective Factors Pre-and Post-Strike
With the aid of the t-test application, an investigation on whether there was a significant change in the
level of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, work climate, management satisfaction and union
commitment in the pre-post-strike period was carried out as illustrated in the Table 4.22 below. For
any significant changes, the Cohen’s d was calculated to determine whether the significance was
small, moderate, or large.
84
Table 4.22: Differences between the affective measures pre- and post the strike for the sample
Pre Post t-test (df=104) Mean SD Mean SD t p Cohen’s
d F1 Organisation commitment 3.53 0.88 3.58 0.88 0.67 .506 n.a. F2 Job satisfaction 3.41 0.63 3.57 0.79 2.18 .032 0.21 (s) F3 Work climate 3.02 0.76 3.19 0.75 2.25 .027 0.22 (s) F4 Management satisfaction 2.35 0.89 2.59 0.95 3.32 .001 0.32 (s) F5 Union commitment 3.81 0.87 3.81 0.87 0.05 .961 n.a.
As seen in the table 4.22 above, the respondent’s perception of their commitment to the organization
increased after the strike. In same way their perceptions of job satisfaction, work climate and
management satisfaction improved after the strike. However, union commitment in the pre- and post-
strike periods remained unchanged.
The difference in commitment to the organisation pre and post-strike was not significant, however, the
differences in the affective measures of job satisfaction, work climate and management satisfaction
pre and post-strike were found to be statistically significant, but not practically significant (Cohen’s d
showed a small significance). However it should be noted that the factor for work climate satisfaction
is not reliable and therefore, the significant difference should be treated with caution.
It should also be noted from table 4.22 that the most positive attitude both pre and post-strike was the
respondents commitment to the union. The most negative attitude both pre and post-strike was their
level of satisfaction with management.
4.3.5 The Impact of Demographic Variables on Change in the Affective Measures Pre and Post-Strike
An ANOVA, and Scheffe and t-test analyses were carried out to establish whether the demographic
variables gender, participation in the strike, occupational level, length of service, and age impacted
the change in the affective factors pre and post-strike. The sub-groups of union membership, race
and language were not analyzed using these statistical tools as some of the sub-groups were too
small.
85
4.3.5.1 Results for Gender.
Table 4.23: The impact of gender on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (Means and Standard Deviations)
Pre-strike Post-strike
Males n-81
Females n=24
Males n=81
Females n=24
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
F1 Organisational commitment 3.56 0.88 3.45 0.90 3.57 0.93 3.62 0.73
F2 Job satisfaction 3.44 0.64 3.31 0.60 3.57 0.82 3.58 0.70
F3 Work climate satisfaction 3.03 0.75 2.99 0.80 3.18 0.75 3.21 0.75
F4 Management satisfaction 2.35 0.88 2.33 0.94 2.57 0.96 2.67 0.92
F5 Union commitment 3.80 0.89 3.85 0.80 3.82 0.89 3.80 0.81
Table 4.24: The impact of gender on the change in the affective factors- pre and post-strike (T-test analysis)
Males n-81
Females n=24
t-test (df=103)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean Difference
t p Cohen’s d
F1 Organizational commitment 0.01 0.70 0.18 0.86
0.16 .962 .338 n.a.
F2 Job satisfaction 0.12 0.74 0.27 0.72 0.15 .864 .390 n.a. F3 Work climate 0.15 0.74 0.22 0.77 0.07 .402 .688 n.a. F4 Management
satisfaction 0.22 0.77 0.33 0.73
0.11 .634 .528 n.a. F5 Union commitment
0.02 0.64 -0.06 0.45
-0.08 -.559 .578 n.a.
As seen in the Table 4.24 above, there was no significant difference in the change in any of the
affective measures pre and post-strike between males and females.
86
4.3.5.2 Results for Participation in the Strike
Table 4.25 The impact of participation on the change in the affective factors- pre and post-strike (Means and standard deviations)
Pre-strike Post-strike
Yes n=85
No n=20
Yes n=85
No n=20
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
F1 Organisational commitment 3.58 0.81 3.30 1.15 3.64 0.88 3.30 0.86
F2 Job satisfaction 3.40 0.64 3.46 0.60 3.59 0.80 3.50 0.79
F3 Work climate 3.00 0.79 3.12 0.64 3.21 0.79 3.09 0.56
F4 Management satisfaction 2.28 0.92 2.61 0.71 2.57 0.99 2.67 0.76
F5 Union commitment 4.00 0.73 3.00 0.93 3.93 0.84 3.33 0.83
Table 4.26 The impact of participation on the change in the affective factors- pre and post-strike (T-test analysis)
Difference Yes n=85 No n=20 t-test (df = 103) Mean SD Mean SD Mean
diff T p Cohen’s
d F1 Organizational commitment
0.06 0.71 0.00 0.85
0.06 .345 .731 n.a. F2 Job satisfaction 0.18 0.76 0.04 0.64 0.14 .760 .449 n.a. F3 work climate 0.21 0.78 -0.03 0.54 0.24 1.295 .198 n.a. F4 Management satisfaction
0.29 0.78 0.06 0.65 0.23 1.221 .225 n.a. F5 Union commitment -0.07 0.57 0.33 0.66 -0.40 -2.762 .007 -0.69
As indicated in Table 4.26 above, there was a practically significant difference in union commitment
pre and post-strike between those that participated and those that did not. In other words the
commitment gap between the yes and no groups narrowed after the strike (pre-strike M diff 4.00-3.00
=1.00; post-strike M diff 3.93-3.33=0.60).
There was a slight drop in union commitment for those who participated (M=4.00 to M=3.93, p=0.544)
compared to an increase (M=3.00 to M=3.33, p=0.247) for those who did not participate but neither of
these changes were significant. Thus the narrowing of the gap in union commitment between those
who participated and those who did not participate after the strike may not be significant.
87
4.3.5.3 Results for Occupational Level
Table 4.27 The impact of occupational level on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (Means and Standard deviations)
Pre-strike Post-strike
Traffic Officer n=41
Senior Traffic Officer n=47
Superinten-dent n=17
Traffic Officer n-41
Senior Traffic Officer n=47
Superintendent
n=17
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
F1 Organizational
commitment 3.57 0.86 3.60 0.83 3.26 1.06 3.73 0.77 3.58 0.91 3.22 1.00 F2 Job satisfaction 3.47 0.59 3.29 0.66 3.61 0.60 3.65 0.70 3.60 0.75 3.29 1.07 F3 Work climate 3.05 0.68 3.05 0.77 2.89 0.94 3.32 0.73 3.06 0.80 3.21 0.63 F4 Management
satisfaction 2.53 0.85 2.20 0.95 2.29 0.76 2.77 0.94 2.39 0.94 2.70 0.94 F5 Union
commitment 3.98 0.71 3.86 0.93 3.26 0.86 3.91 0.92 3.84 0.86 3.51 0.76
Table 4.28 The impact of occupational level on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
Traffic Officer n-41
Senior Traffic Officer n=47
Superinten-dent n=17
Scheffe test (df =102)
Job satisfaction (F2) by Senior Traffic Officers vs. Superintendents
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean Difference
F p Cohen’s d
F1 Organizational
commitment 0.16 0.63 -0.02 0.86 -0.04 0.61 n.a.
F2 Job satisfaction
0.18 0.64 0.31 0.74 -0.32 0.79
0.62 4.82 0.010 0.83
F3 Work climate 0.27 0.59 0.02 0.81 0.32 0.85 n.a. F4 Management
satisfaction 0.24 0.70 0.19 0.75 0.41 0.91 n.a.
F5 Union
commitment -0.06 0.49 -0.03 0.65 0.25 0.70 n.a.
In Table 4.28, an ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference between the change in job
satisfaction pre and post-strike by occupational level (F=4.82, p=0.010). A Scheffe test showed that a
large practically significant difference in job satisfaction levels pre and post-strike was detected
between Senior Traffic Officers and Superintendents (df=102, p=0.010, Cohen’s d=0.83).
88
As seen from Table 4.27, there was an increase in job satisfaction (from M=3.29 to M=3.60 p=0.109)
for the Senior Traffic Officers compared with a decrease (M=3.60 to M=3.29 p=0.295) for the
Superintendents. However, neither of these changes was significant.
4.3.5.5 Results for length of service
Table 4.29 The impact of length of service on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (Means and Standard deviations)
Pre-strike Post-strike
1-4years n-27
5-14years n=49
15+years n=29
1-4years n-27
5-14years n=49
15+years n=29
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean
SD Mean SD Mean
SD
F1 Organizational
commitment 3.65 0.65 3.55 0.88 3.38 1.06 3.72 0.71 3.63 0.93 3.37 0.94 F2 Job satisfaction 3.59 0.53 3.35 0.64 3.35 0.69 3.70 0.58 3.53 0.83 3.51 0.91 F3 Work climate 3.13 0.59 2.97 0.84 3.01 0.78 3.40 0.69 3.11 0.84 3.11 0.60 F4 Management
satisfaction 2.58 0.85 2.29 0.93 2.22 0.84 2.88 0.95 2.59 0.93 2.33 0.93 F5 Union
commitment 3.91 0.66 4.00 0.82 3.39 0.98 3.93 0.83 3.86 0.96 3.62 0.73
Table 4.30 The impact of length of service category on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
1-4years
n-27
5-14years
n=49
15+years
n=29
Scheffe test (df =102)
Union Commitment (F5) by service length (5-14years vs 15+ years)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean Difference
F p Cohen’s d
F1 Organizational
commitment 0.06 0.53 0.08 0.81 -0.02 0.79
n.a. F2 Job satisfaction 0.11 0.50 0.18 0.83 0.16 0.77 n.a F3 Work climate 0.27 0.55 0.14 0.88 0.10 0.66 n.a. F4 Management
satisfaction 0.30 0.82 0.30 0.75 0.10 0.71
n.a. F5 Union
commitment
0.02 0.48 -0.14 0.64 0.23 0.58
-0.37
3.60 0.031 -0.59
In Table 4.30, an ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference between the change in
union commitment pre and post-strike by service length (F=3.60, p=0.031). A Scheffe test showed
89
that a large practically significant difference in union commitment levels pre and post-strike was
detected between the service length category of 5-14 years and 15+ years (df=102, p=0.031, Cohen’s
d=-0.59).
As seen from Table 4.29, there was a decrease in union commitment (M=4.00 to M=3.86 p=0.44) for
the service length category of 5-14years, compared to an increase (M=3.39 to M= 3.62 p=0.316) for
the service length category of 15+years However, neither of these changes were significant.
4.3.5.6 Results for the age category
Table 4.31 The impact of Age category on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (Means and Standard deviations)
Pre-strike Post-strike
28-39years n-42
40-49years n=46
50+years n=17
28-39years n-42
40-49years n=46
50+years n=17
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
F1 Organizational
commitment 3.53 0.90 3.46 0.84 3.73 0.96 3.62 0.87 3.55 0.87 3.57 0.99 F2 Job satisfaction 3.45 0.66 3.28 0.61 3.68 0.52 3.65 0.75 3.55 0.79 3.42 0.94 F3 work climate 2.93 0.74 3.08 0.72 3.09 0.94 3.30 0.75 3.13 0.76 3.05 0.73 F4 Management
satisfaction 2.37 0.95 2.29 0.91 2.43 0.70 2.60 0.98 2.56 0.96 2.63 0.88 F5 Union
commitment 4.02 0.67 3.68 0.98 3.64 0.91 4.03 0.78 3.68 0.95 3.64 0.78
Table 4.32 The impact of Age category on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
28-39years n-42
40-49years n=46
50+years n=17
Scheffe test (df =102) Job satisfaction (F2) by Age Category (40-49
years vs 50+ years)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean Difference
F p Cohen’s d
F1 Organizational
commitment 0.09 0.74 0.09 0.80 -0.16 0.50
n.a. F2 Job satisfaction
0.20 0.71 0.27 0.73 -0.26 0.71 0.53 3.52 0.037 0.74
F3 work climate 0.37 0.73 0.05 0.78 -0.04 0.56 n.a. F4 Management
satisfaction 0.23 0.67 0.27 0.85 0.20 0.72
n.a. F5 Union
commitment 0.01 0.44 0.00 0.74 -0.01 0.57
90
Table 4.33 The impact of Age category on the change in affective factors pre-and post-strike (ANOVA and Scheffe test analysis)
28-39years
n-42
40-49years
n=46
50+years
n=17
Scheffe test (df =102)
Job satisfaction (F2) by Age Category (28-39 years vs 50+ years)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean Difference
F p Cohen’s d
F1 Organizational
commitment 0.09 0.74 0.09 0.80 -0.16 0.50
n.a. F2 Job satisfaction
0.20 0.71 0.27 0.73 -0.26 0.71 0.43 3.52 0.032 0.76
F3 work climate 0.37 0.73 0.05 0.78 -0.04 0.56 n.a. F4 Management
satisfaction 0.23 0.67 0.27 0.85 0.20 0.72
n.a. F5 Union
commitment 0.01 0.44 0.00 0.74 -0.01 0.57
Na
In Table 4.32 and Table 4.33, an ANOVA revealed that there was a significant difference between the
change in job satisfaction pre and post-strike by age category (F=3.52). A Scheffe test showed that a
large practically significant difference in job satisfaction levels pre and post-strike was detected
between the age category of 40-49 years and 50+ years (df=102, p=0.037, Cohen’s d=-0.74) and for
age category of 28-39 years and 50+ years (df=102, p=0.032, Cohen’s d=-0.76)
As seen from Table 4.31, there was an increase in job satisfaction (M=3.28 to M=3.55 p =0.067) for
age category of 40-49years, compared to a decrease (M=3.68 to M=3.42 p=0.323) for the age
category of 50+years However, neither of these changes were significant.
In Table 4.31, there was an increase in job satisfaction (M=3.45 to M=3.65) p=0.161 for age category
of 28-39years, compared to a decrease (M=3.68 to M=3.42 p=.323) for the age category of 50+years
However, neither of these changes were significant.
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4.4 Discussion of results
4.4.1 The integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes
Figure 4.11 of the integrated model of strike causation, processes, and outcomes of the strike shown
below is used to report the answers to the research questions as obtained from the results of the
qualitative investigation using media reports, municipal documents and respondent interviews. The
following research questions were investigated;
Research1: What were the causes of the strike?
Research 2: How did the strike unfold?
Research 3: What were the substantive outcomes of the strike?
Research 4: What were the procedural outcomes of the strike?
Research 5: What were the affective outcomes of the strike?
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Figure 4.11 The Traffic Officer’s strike using the integrated model of strike causation, processes and outcomes.
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4.4.1.1 The causes of the strike.
Both the political and economic structures had a role to play in the 3rd March 2010 strike by the
Traffic Officers. Politically motivated was the Council’s decision to establish the Metro Police. In
addition, another political factor is the fact that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate structure is
governed by the legislation that designates the Traffic Officers as employees who render essential
services. The economic structure that was accounted for in the strike was the decision by the Council
to embark on job evaluation exercise for all positions within the old PEM in 1999. A job evaluation
exercise is economic in a sense that it may result in to positive economic benefits such as a
promotion and an increase in salaries.
Issues leading up to the strike included the delays by the Municipality to establish the Metro Police.
The delays to establish the Metro Police meant that the Traffic Officers’ could not be evaluated as
their jobs were to be evaluated at the establishment of the Metro Police. The second issue therefore
was failure by the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate to approve the job evaluation request made
by Traffic Officers. At the time before 2000, other positions within the same Directorate as the Traffic
Officers were evaluated.
In 2009, the Mayoral Committee took a decision to resolve the matter of evaluating the Traffic Officers
through a facilitation or negotiation process. One of the aspects of the agreement that was reached at
the end of negotiations stipulated that the parties should solve the issue of the back-pay date or
implementation date through the arbitration process. Unfortunately, there were delays for the start of
the arbitration process caused by the parties themselves.
The triggers that may have led up to the strike include; delays caused in the arbitration process, the
feelings of deprivation by the Traffic Officers, the rumours that possibly that the Traffic Officer’s
requests would not be met
4.4.1.2 How the strike unfolded
In consideration of the issues and the triggers, on the 3rd March 2010, the Traffic Officers blocked
three of the major highways of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in the busy morning hours; an
illegal strike action that left the union leaders, management and the public in shock. At the time of the
strike, some of the calls to Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate were diverted to the Director of the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate. The strike’s nature was illegal as the Traffic Officers who are
essential service workers are prohibited from striking, a notice for the strike to the employer was not
given and the Traffic Officers were in possession of their fire arms at the time of the strike. Because
the strike in its nature was illegal, the Police intervened. After the strike, a series of go-slow action
took place, which led to the intervention from the political leaders that the Traffic Officers sought for
during the 3rd March 2010 Strike. An in-principle agreement between the parties was later reached on
the 12th March 2010 awaiting submission of the names of the union members who were affected.
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4.4.1.3 The Substantive and Procedure Outcomes of the Strike
Immediate outcomes involved; the intervention from the police, the arrest of those employees who
participated in the strike and the disciplinary charges laid against the unruly behaviours of those
Traffic Officers who participated in the freeway blockade.
Substantive outcomes included the economic benefits of the Traffic Officers in terms of the one year
upgrade and three years and half of back-pay; economic costs of 13 million rand to the Municipality;
and the an indirect impact in terms of related cost to the rate payers.
4.4.1.4 The Climate Outcomes of the strike.
From the interviews conducted, the affective outcomes included the unity among employees who
shared the same grievances, and good relationships between management and the employees.
4.4.2 The Climate Outcome
The climate outcomes of the strike (Research Question 5 above) were further explored in the
quantitative section of the research using the survey questionnaire adapted from Chaulk and Brown
(2008). The following hypotheses were tested.
Hypothesis 1: There was a significant change in the level of organizational commitment after the
strike.
Hypothesis 2: There was a significant change in the level of job satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 3: There was a significant change in the level of work climate satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 4: There was a significant change in the level of management satisfaction after the strike.
Hypothesis 5: There is was significant change in the level of union commitment after the strike.
With reference to hypothesis one, there was no significant change in the level of organizational
commitment in the pre-post-strike (pre-strike M=3.53, SD=0.88, post-strike M=3.58, SD=0.88, t=0.67,
p=0.506, df=104).
In connection to hypothesis two, the strike resulted in an increase in job satisfaction (as indicated in
Table 4.22; pre-strike M=3.41, SD=0.63; post-strike M=3.57, SD=0.79). This increase was found to be
statistically significant (t=2.18, df=104, p=0.032) however of little practical significance (Cohen’s
d=0.21).
With reference to hypothesis three, the strike resulted in an increase in work climate satisfaction as
indicated in Table 4.22; pre-strike M=3.02, SD=0.76; post-strike M=3.19, SD=0.75). This increase was
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found to be statistically significant (t=2.25, df=104, p=0.027) however of little practical significance
(Cohen’s d=0.22). However, the work climate satisfaction factor was found to be unreliable
(Cronbach's coefficient of alpha tests reported in Table 4.11 for pre-strike=0.57 and post-strike= 0.59)
so these results must be treated with caution as merely tentative.
With reference to hypothesis four, the strike resulted in an increase in management satisfaction as
indicated in Table 4.22; (pre-strike M=2.35, SD=0.89; post-strike M=2.59, SD=0.95). This increase
was found to be statistically significant (t=2.32, df=104, p=0.001) however of little practical
significance (Cohen’s d=0.32)
Lastly, with reference to hypothesis five, there was no significant change in the level of union
commitment in the pre-post-strike period (pre-strike M=3.81, SD=0.87, pos strike M=3.81, SD=0.87,
t=0.05, p=0.961, df=104).
4.4.3 The Impact of Demographic Variables on the Affective Measures Pre and Post-strike.
The relationship between the demographic factors and affective outcomes of the strike (research
question 6) was investigated in the quantitative section of the research. The demographic factors that
were identified were gender, participation in the strike occupational level, length of service category
and age category.
For the gender grouping, there was no significant difference in the change in any of the affective
measures pre and post-strike between males and females.
A practically significant change in union commitment pre and post-strike was reported between those
who participated and those who did not participate in the strike (t= -2.762, p=0.007, Cohen’s d= -
0.69).
Secondly, there was large practical significant difference between the change in job satisfaction pre
and post-strike and the occupational levels of Senior Traffic Officers and Superintendents (F=4.82,
p=0.010, df= 102, Cohen’s d=0.83).
Thirdly, there was a large practical significant difference between the change in union commitment
pre and post-strike and length of service categories of 5-14 years and 15+ years (F=3.60, p=0.031,
df=102, Cohen’s d= -0.59).
Lastly there was a large practical significant difference between the change in job satisfaction pre and
post-strike, and a two combination of two age categories. Firstly a significant change was reported for
age categories of 40-49 years and 50+ years (F=3.52, p=0.037, df=102, Cohen’s d=0.74) and
between age categories of 28-39 and 50+years (F=3.52, p=0.032, df=102, Cohen’s d=0.76)
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4.5 Chapter Summary
This chapter mapped the strike causes, processes and outcomes in relation to the integrated model.
Strike causation was characterized by both political and economic causes. The strike was mainly
triggered by frustrations and feelings of deprivation. Since the strike itself was illegal, no notice was
issued to the employer. Among the outcomes of the strike were economic benefits to the Traffic
Officers and cost implication to the Municipality as the employer. Chapter five will discuss the results
found in relation to the literature and make conclusions and recommendations.
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CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
This research study sought to map strike action of the 3rd March 2010 according the integrated model,
and then further investigate the impact of strike action on the affective outcomes (such as
organizational commitment, job satisfaction, work climate, management satisfaction and union
commitment)
As indicated in the chapters above, chapter 2 outlined the relevant literature, chapter 3 explained the
methodology which the research followed, and lastly chapter 4, presented the results from the
qualitative and quantitative data. The major findings, conclusions and recommendations will be
summarized in this chapter
5.2 The Major Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the research was to describe the causes, the process and the economic and
affective outcomes of the strike by the Traffic Officers in the Nelson Mandela Municipality using the
integrated model. By examining the causes and process of the strike and measuring the impact of the
strike on job satisfaction, satisfaction with management, organizational commitment, commitment to
the union and work climate, the research would have both theoretical and practical implications.
5.3 Discussion on the Causes, Processes and Outcomes of the Strike
The major grievance by the Traffic Officers was the failure by the Municipality to evaluate their jobs.
The failure was caused by two major aspects; that is; the failure by the Municipality to establish the
Metro Police, and the failure by the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate to approve the job
evaluation request of the Traffic Officers in 1999.
The failure by the Municipality to establish the Metro Police meant that the jobs of the Traffic Officers
would not be evaluated. The Municipality was under the impression that the evaluation of the Traffic
Officer positions would lead to duplication of the job evaluation process, with the upcoming evaluation
of the Metro Police Officer positions. Therefore the Traffic Officers were told to be patient, until the
establishment of the Metro Police. The lack of funds for the establishment of the Metro Police put the
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process on hold. The failure of the Municipality Management to resolve these issues was contrary to
the Municipality’s responsibility to make funds available to ensure that essential services can be
adequately maintained on a continuous basis.
In 2009, the Local Labour Forum resolved that negotiations should take place to resolve the job
evaluation issue. These negotiations were to be guided by a facilitator (who was a panel member of
the SALGABC). In addition, these negotiations took a form of six sessions. At the end of the
negotiations, a draft agreement between the Management of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
and SAMWU and IMATU had to be concluded. In August, a draft agreement between the parties was
concluded and signed by all the parties on the 23rd November 2009. The major issues for the in-
principle agreement were;
• To include all operational levels of the Traffic Officer Position; such as Traffic Officer, Senior
Traffic Officer, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, Senior Superintendent.
• To benchmark the position of Traffic Officer with that of Security Officer.
• To upgrade each of the operational levels of the Traffic Officers by one grade
• That the issue of back-pay or the implementation date be decided upon through an
arbitration process.
At the arbitration hearing each legal team for the respective parties had to make presentations. For
reasons only known to the parties, there were delays in the arbitration process caused by the parties
themselves. In addition, the union and its members is particular did not want to see through the whole
process, and so they embarked on an industrial action, that led to the blockage of the three major
highways within the Municipality. The triggers for the industrial action may have been related to the
following issues;
• The industrial action by the Traffic Officers may have been caused by the frustrations that
they had towards delays in solving issues by Municipal Management. In the literature Kelly
and Nicholson (1980) assert that improper management practices or failure to resolve
grievances trigger employees to make demands that lead to strike action.
• The fact that the counter offers were so apart, the members of the union may have foreseen
that management would never meet the employees’ expectations. At the time of the strike,
the Municipality Management was willing to offer one year of back pay, whereas the Traffic
Officers demanded ten years of back pay.
• The frustrations caused by the impossibility of management to meet the union’s demands
may have been escalated by rumours that management had said to the Traffic Officers to
forget about the ten years of back pay as it would have serious financial constraints to the
Municipality.
• The strike tool may have been used to avoid the possible unfavourable outcome of the
arbitration process which would be binding to the parties. Therefore, the strike tool may have
been used to force the employer back to the negotiation table. The theory of planned
behaviour mentioned supports the action by the Traffic Officers, because the Traffic Officers
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were fully aware of the negative consequences of their action (being arrested for obstructing
Traffic) and the positive consequences (an agreement to compensate the Traffic Officers)
(Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980)
• The strike tool may also have been used to catch the attention the politicians. This is because
the Traffic Officers may have thought that it was impossible to get what they wanted through
the dealings with the Municipality Management. At the time of the strike, the Traffic Officers
demanded a direct intervention from the politicians
• The private information model could explain the Traffic Officers’ strike. This is because the
strike tool was used as an information revealing tool because of the uncertainty surrounding
the establishment of the Metro Police (Cramton & Tracy, 1992).
The freeway blockade did not follow the stipulated strike process as noted in the LRA of 1995. The
LRA requires for a 48 hour notice to the employer in private sectors and 7day notice for the public
employer. In addition, for the strike to be rendered legal in terms of the LRA of 1995, the following
conditions should be met.
(a) That person is bound by a collective agreement that prohibits a strike or lockout in respect of
the issue in dispute;
(b) That person is bound by an agreement that requires the issue in dispute to be referred to
arbitration;
(c) The issue in dispute is one that a party has the right to refer to arbitration or to the Labour
Court in terms of this Act
(d) That a person is engaged in
(i) An essential service; or
(ii) A maintenance service
.
Given the above conditions, two conditions were not met by the Traffic Officers;
• Firstly, the fact that a collective agreement had been signed stipulating that the issue of back-
pay date or the implementation date would be resolved through arbitration. The action to
strike violated this collective agreement.
• Secondly, the fact that Traffic Officer operational positions are designated as essential
services by the Essential Service Committee in South Africa restricts those employees
rendering Traffic services from embarking on a strike action.
Other conditions not stipulated in the labour legislation were not met by the Traffic Officers.
• Firstly, the strike action by the Traffic Officers was conducted in possession of their fire-arms.
This renders the strike action un-peaceful and illegal in terms of the Gatherings Act
• Lastly, the maintenance of good personal conduct by the Traffic Officers in their dealings with
the general public. In each of the job descriptions for the operational levels of Traffic Officers,
they are “required to liaise with the members of the public, industry and commerce, officials of
the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate, other municipal departments, and Provincial and
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Government authorities. In their dealings with the above stake holders, an extemporary
personal conduct must be maintained at all times so as not to bring the good name of the
Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate and that of the Council, as a whole into disrepute.” The
freeway blockade was centrally to the stipulated professional conduct of the Traffic Officers.
In the following one and half weeks after the blockade, Traffic Officers engaged in go slow action, to
try and force the political employer and Municipality employer to meet their demands. Implications for
the go-slow action were; deliberate failure of the Traffic Officers to work over time, and low production
by the Traffic Officers.
The failure to work over-time had serious traffic implications such as:-
• Partial failure to embark on traffic duties during peak hours.
• Partial failure to control the flow of Traffic under the abnormal conditions such as defective
traffic lights, road accidents, and road works.
• Failure to work on special events (such as sporting events, university events and opening of
the season).
• Partial failure to render escort services for VIP’s, funerals and abnormal loads.
• Partial failure to render scholar patrols.
• Partial failure to perform law enforcement duties, such as moving violations, parking and
related violations, license and transportation violations, roadworthiness of vehicles, abnormal
vehicle loads, attending to public complaints/requests, issuing of parking tickets and issuing of
summons.
The decreasing productivity together with the negative perception that the public may have had
towards the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate, led to an intervention from the political employer.
On the 12th March 2010, an in-principle agreement was reached between the Municipality
Management and SAMWU and IMATU. This agreement was to be finalized, on the submission of all
union members that were affected by the agreement. On the 17th March 2010, the agreement on the
three years and half back-pay and an upgrade of one year became effective.
Had the strike led to the dismissal of the employees who participated in the strike on the basis that the
strike was illegal and had the trade union appealed against the dismissals, the union could have had
a chance at winning. In a similar case (Betha v BTR Sarmcol) as noted in the chapter two of the
literature review, the South African Constitutional Court ruled in favour of employees who had
participated in an illegal strike with a motive to promote workplace democracy (Chicktay, 2006). In
the Traffic Officers’ strike the frustrations associated with having to wait for ten years and the empty
promises by Municipality Management to establish the Metro Police may have been viewed as
legitimate reasons for the illegal strike.
From the quantitative study, it was clear that the strike had an effect on management satisfaction,
union commitment and the general attitude towards the work place.
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• Firstly, frustrations by the Traffic Officers were towards the political employer and the
Municipality employer and not the Traffic management. This is because the financing of the
municipal police was out the hands of the Traffic management but in the hand of the
Municipality council. In addition, the Traffic management supported the fate of the Traffic
Officers through the submissions it forwarded to the council to solve the grievances by the
Traffic Officers. This may have been the reason why the Traffic Officers who were
respondents in the interviews indicated that the relationship between them and management
was good.
• Secondly, although the freeway blockade was carried out without the awareness of the union
leadership, this action may have been carried out because of the frustration the Traffic
Officers had towards the Municipal Management, and nothing to do with their loyalty towards
the union. In addition, the go-slows carried out by the Traffic Officers were fully supported by
the union leadership. Therefore we can conclude that union commitment was positive, as a
union leader said that unity existed between the members because they had the same cause.
• Thirdly, organizational commitment, work climate satisfaction and job satisfaction may have
been low before the strike. The low affective attitudes may have been evident through a
resentment of duties and the constant engagement in industrial action by the Traffic Officers.
This is because, the grievances that were still outstanding, may have had an effect on the
motivation levels, that in turn translated in to the poor performance of the metro Traffic and
Licensing Sub-directorate. The poor performance was evident in cases where there was
low visibility of Traffic Officers patrolling through the Municipality and the higher cases of
bribery and corruption by the Traffic Officers.
5.4 Affective Outcomes of the Strike
This study is an extension of Chaulk and Brown’s (2008) work on their research on the impact of a
strike on the workers, and their investigation of the workers reaction towards their organizational
commitment, job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, management satisfaction and union loyalty in
the pre-strike period and post-strike period.
Chaulk and Brown (2008) found that the affective outcomes mentioned above deteriorated after the
strike, which meant that the worker’s reactions were negative after the strike. Further, the authors
established a link between gender and the affective outcomes. The authors asserted that affective
outcomes towards the company (such as organization commitment, management satisfaction, job
satisfaction and work climate satisfaction) were positive for the males whereas females were
associated with positive union commitment. Further, Chaulk and Brown (2008) concluded length of
service was associated were negative towards company affective outcomes and positive towards
union commitment.
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In addition, since Chaulk and Brown (2008) built on the research of Barling et al (1992) bridging the
gap between industrial psychology and Industrial relations, our research also has theoretical
significance in the two fields of study. These two fields of study are bridged together in the very sense
that the aspect of strike action (which is an industrial relations area of study) is deemed to have
serious impact on the industrial psychology aspects of organizational commitment, job satisfaction,
work climate satisfaction and management satisfaction.
5.4.1 The Impact of the Strike on the Affective Factors
In this study the employees’ reactions towards job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction and
management satisfaction were impacted by the strike. The impact of the strike was positive. Other
affective factors such as organizational commitment and union commitment were not impacted by the
strike.
The absence of a significant change in the attitudinal measure of organizational commitment, may
have been caused by the evidence obtained for the qualitative results, which indicated that the Traffic
and Licensing Sub-directorate supported the request of the Traffic Officers, and in some causes the
department made some written recommendations to the council in the efforts to solve the grievances
by the Traffic Officers.
The absence of a significant change in union commitment may have been supported by the evidence
obtained from the qualitative results, where the union supported activities such as the go-slow action
to put pressure on Municipal Management. In addition, the union representatives were there for the
members from the time the grievance were lodged on the 21st June 1999, to the 17th March 2010,
when agreement was reached. Therefore the perception towards union commitment remained steady
and positive.
A significant change in level of job satisfaction could be supported by the qualitative results. This is
because, at the time when the Traffic Officers had not reached agreement with the Municipal
Management, frustration levels were high, which had a negative effect on their motivation level to
perform job tasks. The final agreement, may have lowered down the frustration levels, and hence
have had a positive significant impact on job satisfaction.
A significant change was also realized for the work climate satisfaction attitude. Although this
measure was not a reliable measure, we could argue that the agreement reached between the
parties, may have made the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate environment more tolerable.
Lastly, a positive significance change was realized for the management satisfaction attitude. The
same conclusion of the impact of the agreement that was reached is drawn for the positive change in
this factor.
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In addition, at the time, when the agreement was signed, the Municipality was busy with preparations
to host the world cup. The atmosphere within the Municipality for hosting the 2010 World Cup was
positive, and in turn this meant that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate management and the
Traffic Officers had to embark on a strategy for hosting a successful world cup, though their patrolling
duties, the regulation of Traffic and escorting VIP guests. This atmosphere may have had a positive
impact on the job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction, and management satisfaction levels of the
Traffic Officers.
5.4.2 The Impact of Demographic Variables on the Affective Measures of Pre and Post-strike.
Empirical results indicated a significant change in union commitment in the pre and post-strike period
between those that participated in the strike and those who did not. In Fowler et al. (2009), a
comparison was made between the psychological effects of a strike between strikers and non-
strikers. Strikers, compared with non-strikers reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and
irritation, and lower levels of mental health.
A relationship between Service Category and union commitment was also established. This
relationship was established for the service categories of 5-14years and 15+ years. Fullagar and
Barling (1989) and Gordon et al. (1980 in Fullagar and Barling, 1989) conclude that early
experiences of socialization with the union were strongly and positively associated with union
commitment.
Empirical results also indicated a relationship between occupational level and job satisfaction. This
relationship was established for the occupational category of Senior Traffic Officers and
Superintendent Category. A relationship between age and job satisfaction was also established.
Significance in the change was registered for two combinations of two age categories (first between
40-49 and 50+years and between 28-39 years and 50+ years).
5.5 Short Comings of the Research
As recommended by Chaulk & Brown (2008), a longitudinal study would bring new findings. The
limitation of the current research is that its nature is cross sectional due to the nature of the research
as it is a Masters treatise. In addition, the researcher would not have fore-seen a strike by the Traffic
Officials, to administer a questionnaire with pre-strike measures just before the strike.
The measure of work climate was unreliable. Therefore an accurate picture on the change in work
climate satisfaction was not provided. In cases where work climate was reported significant, the
research results are deemed inconclusive for this factor.
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Although the research was aimed at assessing the impact of the strike on the affective measurements
for all Traffic Officers within the Municipality, only 105 respondents fully participated in the survey. We
cannot rule out the possibility that those who did not participate in the survey had different
perceptions, and therefore they may have had an impact on the total research results.
The extent of the impact of demographic factors on affective factors was not established because of
the time constraints. A T-test analysis could be carried out to establish the extent of the change in;
union commitment in the pre and post-strike period between those that participated in the strike and
those who did not; union commitment in the pre and post-strike period between service categories of
5-14years and 15+ years; job satisfaction in the pre and post-strike period between occupational
category of Senior Traffic Officers and Superintendent category; job satisfaction in the pre and post-
strike period between age categories of 40-49 and 50+years; and job satisfaction in the pre and post-
strike period between age categories of 28-39 years and 50+ years.
5.6 Recommendations
As previously mentioned, the research has theoretical implications and practical implications. The
current study bridges the gap between the field of industrial relations and industrial psychology. These
fields in a sense have different approaches to the employment relationship. Whereas the former views
the employment relationship, as a collective relationship, where employees are represented by the
union, the latter takes a form of an individual relationship where an employees and the employer have
a psychological contract characterized by unwritten expectations from both parties of the employment
relationship (Abbott, 2006). The recommendation from the literature for both the union and
management is to adopt a mutual gains approach, which is characterized by reciprocal gains that
elicit cooperation, employee participation and dual commitment (organizational and union loyalty)
(Pyman, Holland, Teicher & Cooper, 2010; Angle & Perry, 1986).
From the research results, because of the significant change in the level of union commitment for the
5-14 years and 15+ years’ service categories, the union leadership should devise means of uniting all
the members during the strike. In the same way, because of the significant change in the level of
union commitment for those who participated in the strike versus those who did not, the union
leadership should devise means of uniting all the members during the strike.
The research results indicating a relationship between age and job satisfaction, and between
occupational category and job satisfaction, have implications for organization. This is because the
significant changes in the levels of job satisfaction for the 50+years and Superintendent occupational
category. The implication to management is to try and solve employees’ grievances as they arise, in
order to encourage employees resume their job tasks. This action will avoid cases where frustrations
from employees build up, with time because of unresolved grievances.
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5.7 Possible Areas for Future Research
This study draws on the research of Chaulk and Brown’s (2008) therefore future areas of research
would be similar. Firstly Chaulk and Brown (2008) suggest that future research possibilities would
measure workers’ reactions before the strike, during the negotiation process, during the strike and
after the strike. Such a study would provide a 360 degree account on the impact of the strike on the
affective factors. Other areas of possible research studies would be investigate a series of strikes,
and measure the workers reactions. This kind of study may reveal a series of different results on
affective outcomes of the strike (Chaulk & Brown, 2008).
5.8 Conclusion
Strike action remains a topic of interest in the South African industrial relations studies. The high rate
of strike action describes South Africa as a society that is prone to strike action. This study has
proposed that strike action could be understood through the lenses of the integrated model. The
integrated model combines the work of Kelly & Nicholson (1980), Finnemore (2006) and Chaulk &
Brown (2008). This model highlighted political, psychological and economic and social causes of
strike action; the South African process that should be followed to render the strike protected; and the
strike outcomes in terms of substantive, procedural and affective outcomes. To measure the
psychological impact of the strike, affective outcomes such as job satisfaction, management
satisfaction, organisational commitment, work climate satisfaction and union commitment in the pre-
strike and post-strike were measured. Empirical evidence from the survey questionnaire revealed that
job satisfaction, work climate satisfaction and management satisfaction significantly changed in the
post-strike period. Further the impact of demographic factors on affective factors was evident for
participation in the strike and the level of union commitment; age and job satisfaction; occupational
level and job satisfaction; and service length and union commitment. This research has implications
towards both management’s practices and the union’s practices. Firstly, both management and union
should strive towards a mutual gain approach, recognising that both parties have conflicting interests,
but working towards a cooperative approach. Secondly, in case the union decides to embark on a
strike action, it should devise means of creating a high level of solidarity among all its members to
ensure high levels of union commitment. Thirdly, management should show urgency in solving
employees’ grievances as they arise.
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Interviews
Mr Camagu- SAMWU Chief Negotiator and Superintendant
Mr Fundani-Regional SAMWU Chairperson
Mr Ludic- Traffic Superintendant
Mr Nagu -Shop steward and Senior Traffic Officer
Mr Visage-Assistant Director: Traffic Operations
Mr Viviers-NMBM Labour Relations Director
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APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW GUIDELINE
Date……………………………………………Location………………………………………………….. Time…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Student Name…………………………………………………………………………………………
Transcription date…………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you for affording me the time to interview you.
1. Strike Causation
2.1 What were the underlying issues that prompted the Traffic Officers to embark on strike action?
2.2 What demands were made at the time of the strike?
2.3 What events led up to the strike?
2.4 Which particular event or circumstance triggered the strike?
2. Strike process.
3.1 Could you please take us through the facilitation/negotiation phases in solving the
issues at hand?
3.3 What happened between the union and the union members during the strike?
3.4 What happened between management and the union during the strike?
3.5 Were there any efforts made to regularly communicate any new developments from
any form of negotiation or facilitations to involved parties? Please elaborate
3.6 What tactics did management adopt to stop any industrial action by the Traffic
officers?
3.7 What role did the media play, at the time of the strike?
3.8 What kept the strike going?
3.9 What brought the strike to an end?
4. Transitional outputs
4.1 Which demands were dropped or regarded as the least important by Union members
in order to make concessions with management?
5. Final outputs
5.1 What were the outcomes of the strike?
5.2 What were the affective outcomes of the strike?
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APPENDIX 2: EMPLOYEE QUESTIONNAIRE
This research project is an examination of how a strike may impact the employment relationship. You are requested to complete the following questionnaire. Please remember that you must not put your name, employment number or any means of identification on the questionnaire. SECTION A asks you questions about how you felt BEFORE THE STRIKE For each statement please circle the number that best corresponds to HOW YOU FELT BEFORE THE STRIKE using the following key. Please circle ONLY ONE NUMBER FOR EACH STATEMENT.
1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly Agree
SD D N A SA
1 I would have accepted any job assignment in order to maintain employment with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate
1 2 3 4 5
2 I felt very loyal to the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5 3 I found that my values and the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate values were similar 1 2 3 4 5
4 I was proud to tell others that I was an employee at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
5 I told others that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was a great department to work for 1 2 3 4 5
6 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate really inspired the very best in me in the way of job performance 1 2 3 4 5
7 I did really care about the fate of the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
8 I agreed with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate policies on matters relating to its employees 1 2 3 4 5
9 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was the best possible department to work for 1 2 3 4 5
10 Deciding to work for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was a good decision on my part 1 2 3 4 5
11 My job was satisfying 1 2 3 4 5 12 My job was challenging 1 2 3 4 5 13 My job gave me a sense of accomplishment 1 2 3 4 5 14 I was satisfied with my pay at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate 1 2 3 4 5
15 There were opportunities for promotion at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
16 I was a valued employee at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
17 Other employees were pleasant to work with 1 2 3 4 5 18 I performed my job tasks effectively and efficiently 1 2 3 4 5 19 Management and employees worked well together 1 2 3 4 5
115
20 There was little tension between co-workers 1 2 3 4 5 21 There was little tension between workers and management 1 2 3 4 5 22 I enjoyed going to work on a daily basis 1 2 3 4 5 23 I felt able to complete my job tasks 1 2 3 4 5 24 Management was fair 1 2 3 4 5 25 Management did accept my advice 1 2 3 4 5 26 Management was responsive to any questions or concerns
I shared with them 1 2 3 4 5
27 Management helped foster a positive work environment 1 2 3 4 5
28 I had respect for Management 1 2 3 4 5 29 Management valued Traffic Officers as employees 1 2 3 4 5 30 Management was well organized 1 2 3 4 5 31 Management provided me with direction 1 2 3 4 5 32 Management did praise my work 1 2 3 4 5 33 Management was not difficult to please 1 2 3 4 5 34 I usually found it easy to agree with the Union’s policies
1 2 3 4 5
35 I was proud to tell others I was a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 36 I cared about the fate of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 37 I was glad I became a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 38 I felt very loyal toward the Union 1 2 3 4 5 39 I gained a lot by being a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 40 I was willing to put a great deal of effort into making the union
successful 1 2 3 4 5
41 I trusted the members in the union 1 2 3 4 5 42 I would have served on a union committee 1 2 3 4 5 43 I felt a sense of pride belonging to the Union 1 2 3 4 5
SECTION B asks you questions about how you FEEL TODAY For each statement please circle the number that best corresponds to HOW YOU FEEL TODAY using the following key. Please circle only one number for each statement.
1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly Agree
SD D N A SA
1 I would accept any job assignment in order to maintain employment with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
2 I feel very loyal to the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5 3 I find that my values and the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate values are similar 1 2 3 4 5
4 I am proud to tell others that I am an employee at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
5 I tell others that the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate is a great department to work for 1 2 3 4 5
6 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate really inspires the 1 2 3 4 5
116
very best in me in the way of job performance 7 I do really care about the fate of the Traffic and Licensing
Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
8 I agree with the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate policies on matters relating to its employees 1 2 3 4 5
9 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate is the best possible department to work for 1 2 3 4 5
10 Working for the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate is a good decision on my part 1 2 3 4 5
11 My job is satisfying 1 2 3 4 5 12 My job is challenging 1 2 3 4 5 13 My job gives me a sense of accomplishment 1 2 3 4 5 14 I am satisfied with my pay at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-
directorate 1 2 3 4 5
15 There are opportunities for promotion at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
16 I am a valued employee at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate 1 2 3 4 5
17 Other employees are pleasant to work with 1 2 3 4 5 18 I perform my job tasks effectively and efficiently 1 2 3 4 5 19 Management and employees work well together 1 2 3 4 5 20 There is little tension between co-workers 1 2 3 4 5 21 There is little tension between workers and management 1 2 3 4 5 22 I enjoy going to work on a daily basis 1 2 3 4 5 23 I feel able to complete my job tasks 1 2 3 4 5 24 Management is fair 1 2 3 4 5 25 Management does accept my advice 1 2 3 4 5 26 Management is responsive to any questions or concerns
I share with them 1 2 3 4 5
27 Management helps foster a positive work environment 1 2 3 4 5
28 I have respect for Management 1 2 3 4 5 29 Management values Traffic Officers as employees 1 2 3 4 5 30 Management is well organized 1 2 3 4 5 31 Management provides me with direction 1 2 3 4 5 32 Management does praise my work 1 2 3 4 5 33 Management is not difficult to please 1 2 3 4 5 34 I usually find it easy to agree with the Union’s policies 1 2 3 4 5 35 I am proud to tell others I am a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 36 I care about the fate of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 37 I am glad I became a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 38 I feel very loyal toward the Union 1 2 3 4 5 39 I gain a lot by being a member of the Union 1 2 3 4 5 40 I am willing to put a great deal of effort into making the union
successful 1 2 3 4 5
41 I trust the members in the union 1 2 3 4 5 42 I would serve on a union committee 1 2 3 4 5 43 I feel a sense of pride belonging to the Union 1 2 3 4 5
SECTION C
117
I would like to ask a few questions about you. Please answer the following questions by circling the number corresponding to the most appropriate options. Gender Male 1
Female 2 Racial group African 1
Coloured 2 Indian 3 White 4
Language spoken at home Xhosa 1 English 2
Afrikaans 3 Other 4
Occupational level Traffic Officer 1 Senior Traffic
Officer 2
Other 3 Which union do you belong to? SAMWU 1
IMATU 2 Other 3
How many years have you been a member of the union that you currently belong to?
years
How old are you? years How long have you worked at the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate?
years
Did you participate in any industrial action (strike and/or go-slow) of Traffic Officers in March 2010
Yes 1 No 2
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS SURVEY!
118
APPENDIX 3: EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTERS AND INFORMED CONSENT FORMS (EMPLOYEE QUESTIONNAIRE)
THE LABOUR RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNIT NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY PORT ELIZABETH 6031
EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTER AND INFORMED CONSENT FORM
As a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources in the Labour Relations and Human Resources Unit at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University I am required to conduct an independent research project. The research project is an examination of how the employment relationship may be impacted by a strike. As the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recently experienced a strike, I am surveying Traffic Officers who are members of SAMWU and IMATU. You are requested to complete a questionnaire. Please be assured that your responses will be ANONYMOUS and treated as CONFIDENTIAL. The questionnaire does not require you to give your name, employment number or any means of identification as to who completed the questionnaire. In addition, no one but my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler, and I will be dealing with the individual questionnaires. Your participation in terms of responding to any or all of the attached questions is VOLUNTARY. However, your participation in this study is very important - it is only by hearing from people who have experienced strikes that we can understand how strikes impact employment relationships. The questionnaire should not take you more than 15 minutes to complete. If you have any questions concerning this research please speak to me, Annet Kigozi, or email me on [email protected] or telephone (0765461175); or you may contact my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler by email ([email protected]) or by phone (041 5042362).
Thank you for your time,
Annet Kigozi Master's student of Labour Relations and Human Resources
I understand the nature of the research study and why it is being done. I voluntarily consent to participation in this study. I have received a signed copy of this letter. Employee name:
Signature:
Date
119
THE LABOUR RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNIT NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY PORT ELIZABETH 6031
EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTER AND INFORMED CONSENT FORM
As a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources in the Labour Relations and Human Resources Unit at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University I am required to conduct an independent research project. The research project is an examination of how the employment relationship may be impacted by a strike. As the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recently experienced a strike, I am surveying Traffic Officers who are members of SAMWU and IMATU. You are requested to complete a questionnaire. Please be assured that your responses will be ANONYMOUS and treated as CONFIDENTIAL. The questionnaire does not require you to give your name, employment number or any means of identification as to who completed the questionnaire. In addition, no one but my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler, and I will be dealing with the individual questionnaires. Your participation in terms of responding to any or all of the attached questions is VOLUNTARY. However, your participation in this study is very important - it is only by hearing from people who have experienced strikes that we can understand how strikes impact employment relationships. The questionnaire should not take you more than 15 minutes to complete. If you have any questions concerning this research please speak to me, Annet Kigozi, or email me on [email protected] or telephone (0765461175); or you may contact my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler by email ([email protected]) or by phone (041 5042362).
Thank you for your time,
Annet Kigozi Master's student of Labour Relations and Human Resources
120
APPENDIX 4: EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTER AND INFORMED CONSENT FORM (INTERVIEWS)
THE LABOUR RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNIT NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY PORT ELIZABETH 6031
EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTER AND INFORMED CONSENT FORM
Dear Mr.......................................
Thank you for affording me the time to interview you. I am Annet Kigozi, a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources at the NMMU. As a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources in the Labour Relations and Human Resources Unit at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, I am required to conduct an independent research project. I have chosen to research the Traffic Officers’ strike that took place in March 2010. The main aim of the current research is to map all events, including the causes, the processes and the outcomes of a Traffic Officers’ strike that took place in March 2010. Please be assured that your responses will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and your participation in terms of responding to any or all of the questions is VOLUNTARY. We would like to tape record this interview in order to capture as much information as accurately as possible. Transcripts will be made from the tape recording and these will be analyzed by me and my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler. Please indicate below if you are willing or unwilling to have this interview tape recorded.
The research will be compiled as a treatise for publication for the requirements of the Masters programme. Please indicate below if you are willing to have your role identified in the publication.
Thank you for your time, Annet Kigozi Master's student of Labour Relations and Human Resources
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Employee name:
Agree Disagree Signature
I understand the nature of the research study and why it is being done.
I voluntarily consent to participation in this study. I am willing to have the interview tape recorded I am willing to have my role identified in the published document
Signature Date
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THE LABOUR RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES UNIT NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY PORT ELIZABETH 6031
EMPLOYEE INTRODUCTION LETTER AND INFORMED CONSENT FORM
Dear Mr.......................................
Thank you for affording me the time to interview you.
I am Annet Kigozi, a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources at the NMMU. As a Masters student in Labour Relations and Human Resources in the Labour Relations and Human Resources Unit at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, I am required to conduct an independent research project. I have chosen to research the Traffic Officers’ strike that took place in March 2010. The main aim of the current research is to map all events, including the causes, the processes and the outcomes of a Traffic Officers’ strike that took place in March 2010. Please be assured that your responses will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and your participation in terms of responding to any or all of the questions is VOLUNTARY. We would like to tape record this interview in order to capture as much information as accurately as possible. Transcripts will be made from the tape recording and these will be analyzed by me and my supervisor, Jennifer Bowler. Please indicate below if you are willing or unwilling to have this interview tape recorded.
The research will be compiled as a treatise for publication for the requirements of the Masters programme. Please indicate below if you are willing to have your role identified in the publication.
Thank you for your time,
Annet Kigozi Master's student of Labour Relations and Human Resources
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APPENDIX 5: TIME LINE FOR TRAFFIC OFFICER’S ISSUES Date Event
21 June 1999 Meeting between Management and shop stewards to discuss in-house issues including the re-grading of Traffic Officers
9 July 1999 Request for job evaluations of the Metro Police using the old PEM system.
14th September 1999
Mayoral Committee takes makes a resolution that the project of the establishment of the Metro Police services must be given priority
1st August 2001 The South African Local Government Bargaining Council established that new job evaluation requests were to be evaluated using the new TASK system
November 2002 The Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate was requested to amend the approved municipal police organogram to that of a combined Traffic and licensing and security services structure
2004 SAMWU laid a formal complaint against the Municipality management for issues such as “parity in salaries, irregular appointments, and removal of officials who did not meet their job requirements and evaluation of positions.
On the 25th July 2008
A meeting was held by safety and security services committee, and the DA Traffic and security, regarding issues within the department
11th Mach 2009 Discussions between the Safety and security Directorate and the Union Representatives.
12th March 2009 This follow-up meeting paved way for final decision to embark on negotiations regarding the re-grading of the Traffic Officers by the Executive Mayor
27th March 2009 The Local Labour Forum resolved that six sessions of negotiations should take place for the evaluation of the Traffic Officer Posts. These six sessions took place on the 2nd April 2009; 15th April 2009; 29th April 2009; 7th May 2009; 20th August 2009; 2 and 5th August 2009
August 2009 A draft agreement was developed by the facilitator to be signed by the Municipal Director: Corporate Services on behalf of the Municipality Management and by SAMWU representatives
23rd November 2009 IMATU finalises the signing of the in principle agreement
Dec 2009-Jan 2010 Traffic Officers participated in an illegal stay away over the Christmas weekend, protesting against their non-involvement in the process of the formation of the Metro Police which was to be established on the 21st March 2010
3rd March 2010 100 Traffic Officers blocked the city’s major roads during busy hours
4th March 2010-17th March 2010
Traffic Officers embark on go- slows that meant that Traffic Officers refused to work over time
12th and 13th April 2010
Traffic Officers illegally participated in the Municipal Workers strike despite a warning issued by the Municipality Management against involvement of essential service workers (Traffic, security and fire departments)
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Date Event
12th March 2010 In-principle agreement between the SAMWU, IMATU and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipal Management
17th March 2010 Nelson Mandela Bay Traffic Officers signed an agreement with the Municipality
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APPENDIX 6: CODE BOOK
Themes Category 2nd level coding First level coding Causes
Delays in Job evaluation Delays in the Establishment of the Metro Police Non-continuation of the arbitration process
In 1999, Council took a decision to establish Metro Police that decision coincided with the decision of Council to embark on a job Evaluation of positions within the Municipality. employees were argued to be patient, until the formation of the Municipal Police service, where municipal police service officers would be evaluated. “and they then they did not want to wait for the final outcome of the arbitrator”
Processes Freeway blockade Go-slows Management’s reaction Intervention from Politicians
“We only called one meeting and we took a decision and it was done the following day..” “Private trips to buy lunch or run other errands” until their demands were met by the employer. “they could not do anything because It not our duty to issue fines, its not a matter of a must that you must issue fines, but it is part of our job” Management had formal processes and agreements with the Traffic Officers, but they did not want to honour this agreement. So they had discussion outside with the politicians...”
Outcomes Substantive outcomes Affective outcomes Union growth
The deal was struck after Traffic Officers were successful in having a clause revoked which stipulated that each had to issue “about 10 fines a day” – the quota in municipalities nationally” the Traffic and Licensing Sub-directorate management, was fully behind the traffic personnel, because they knew their plight, they were in support with the Traffic Officers to an extent that they have written a number of items to council that, with the recommendations, as to how the matter could be resolved” A number of people came to us.. they joined the union
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