INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS MODULE - Midlands State … 10… · Web viewThe management prerogative...

Note to students: this is still work in progress. Its intention is just to guide you in your

studies. It is required that you engage in wide research in the subject in order to be able to

fully comprehend the many basic elements covered.

MODULE OUTLINE

The Module: -

Explores on the nature of the employment relationship,

Examines the different perspectives in analyzing Industrial Relations,

Examines the different perspectives in analyzing the worker problem,

Examines the roles of various parties in Industrial Relations,

Explores on Industrial Relations dynamics in the 21st Century and key issues

driving change in Industrial Relations.

AREAS OF STUDY

Background to the study of Industrial Relations

1 Academic Study of I.R

- I.R defined

- The growth of I.R as a discipline.

2 The Employment Relationship

- Nature of the Employment Relationship,

- The Employment Contract (origins, types, elements etc.)

- The Concepts of Power, Conflict and Job Regulation.

- Implications on the study of Industrial Relations

3 Industrial Relations Perspectives

- Unitarism

- Pluralism

- Marxism

ACTORS IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

4 Management

- Management defined

- Historical features of labour management

- The Managerial Prerogative

HRM 109 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

2 | P a g e

- Management Styles in Employment R/ships

- Management Control Strategies

- Contemporary issues in Management

- Management and Employers Organisations

5 Trade Unions

- Trade Unions defined

- Types of unions

- The rise and fall of trade unions

- Trade union Structure and democracy

- Contemporary Issues on Trade Unions

6 The State in Industrial Relations

- Forms of State Interventions

- The changing and future role of the State in Industrial Relations

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS PROCESSES

7 Negotiations

- Purpose of Negotiation

- Types of Negotiation

- Negotiation Strategies

8. Collective Bargaining

- Definition

- Types of Bargaining

- Functions of Bargaining

- Management and Trade Union roles in bargaining

- Contemporary issues in Collective Bargaining

9. Industrial Action

- Functions

- Forms of Industrial Relations

- The Legal Framework of Industrial Action in Zimbabwe

10. I. R dynamics in Zimbabwe

- A historical account of Industrial Relations in Zimbabwe

- Organisation of workers


3 | P a g e

FACTORS SHAPING I.R IN ZIMBABWE TODAY

Globalisation

Technology

Flexibility

The new H.R Agenda

Social Dialogue

The future of Industrial Relations and the study of HRM in Zimbabwe

Defining Industrial Relations

Difficulties in defining the subject with precision

Just like any other discipline, Industrial relations founded in the history of other

disciplines including economics, sociology, psychology, history, engineering, law,

religion, etc.

Attempts made to define Industrial Relations included the works of Flanders

(1968) on Job Regulation, Dunlop (1963) with systems approach, Bains and Clegg,

Salamon 91998,2000), Hyman (1975), Bendix (2003) etc.

Today Industrial Relations can be identified as Work Relations, Employee

Relations, Employment Relations, and Labour Relations among others.

Some of the definitions include the following:

- “…the study of industrial relations is the study of institutions of job

regulation…” Flanders (1968)

- “…industrial relations refer to the study of processes of control over work

relations…” Hyman (1975)

- “…Employee relations are the contemporary term for the field of study which

analyses how the employment relationship between employers and employees

is organized and practiced…’ Farnham (2002)

- “…Employee Relations are a set of human resource practices that seek to

secure commitment and compliance with organisational goals and standards

through the involvement of employees in decision making and by managerial

disciplinary action…” Bratton and Gold (2003)


4 | P a g e

- “…the collective aspects of relationships between the workforce and

management...” Blyton & Turnbull (1994)

- “…The study of rules governing employment together with the ways in which

rules are changed interpreted and administered…” Clegg (1979)

The Employment Relationship

This is an exchange relationship in the sense that the parties exchange or trade

specific tangible and intangible elements.

With regards to the tangibles, the employee offers his/her labour (from a hard point

of view) which includes his/her skills, knowledge, abilities and experience among

other things in return for a salary/ wage and the associated benefits.

At the level of the intangibles, the employee offers their commitment, loyalty,

subordination (from a soft point of view) with the expectation that the employer

will offer job security (or in its absence, employability security), recognition, job

satisfaction, opportunities for career advancement etc.

This relationship may also be understood as the bedrock of conflicts because the

divergence of interests between the parties to it.

It is generally argued that the employer is much concerned with issues of

controlling the relationship, whilst the employee is concerned with care, which, at

a psychological level become the hub of industrial conflicts.

Employer-worker relations are organised principally around the contract of

employment

This forms the background of the study of industrial relations

A contract of employment begins when one party (the employee) offers to render

their services of a defined nature in return for a fixed, or ascertainable form of

remuneration, and the other party (employer) offers to remunerate for services

rendered.

Contract may or may not be written

Breach of contract can lead to unfair labour practice or unfair dismissal

Express agreement – are terms which are spelled out


5 | P a g e

Implied will result from what is understood to have been the intention of the

parties. This could be from the fact that its so obvious that it need not be stated

Terms implied in every contract (Pitt, 2000)

To pay wages if an employee is available for work

To provide work in certain specified circumstances

To co operate with employee in that employee will not be treated in a manner that

will destroy mutual trust and confidence

To take reasonable care for the reasonable care for the health and safety of the

employee

To be faithful to the employer and not engage in actions that cause conflict of

interest

To take reasonable care in the performance of his or he duties

In the absence of express terms, “custom and practice” may help to define what

constitutes the employment contracts. Custom and practice has to be reasonable –

reasonable by fitting the “norms” of the industry in question

Custom and practice should not be interpreted in a substantially different ways by

different people

Should be well known by all those whom it relates

Express Terms of a Contract

These are enunciated in Section 12 of the Labour Act (Duration, Particulars and

Termination of Employment Contracts)

Here it is provided that:

“…Every person who is employed by or working for any other person and

receiving or entitled to receive any remuneration in respect of such employment or

work shall be deemed to be under a contract of employment with that other person,

whether such contract is reduced to writing or not…” (refer to the Labour Act)

Sources of Contract Terms

Minimum Statutory Standards

Express statements of the parties to the contracts


6 | P a g e

Collective agreements

Organizational rules

Custom and practice

Common law and duties of employers

Common law and duties of employees

Psychological Contract

It refers to the expectations of the employer and the employee that operate in

addition to the formal contract of employment

It has been defined by Rousseau (1994) cited by Hiltrop (1995:287) as “the

understanding people have regarding the commitments made between themselves

and their organisation.”

It therefore, is concerned with each party’s perception of what the other party to

the employment relationship owes them over and above that which may be

specified in the contract of employment.

The contract is not clear as to the content and because it is based on perceptions, it

is not written down

Mullins (1996) points out that there is a continuous process of balancing and

explicit and implicit bargaining over the contract content and more over that the

individual and the organisation may not be aware consciously of the contract

“terms”. However, these terms affect their behavior and relationship.

One of the aspects of the psychological contract that has gained prominence over

the years is the traditional employee perception that the organisation promises a

“job for life” (examples) in return for employee loyalty and commitment. This is

still practiced if we take the case of local government, civil service and parastatals.

Some jobs are fast changing in terms of nature and content hence driving a twist of

the psychological contract for example, the changes in the banking sector. The

coming in of IT to replace people has shifted people’s expectations and hence the

psychological contract.


7 | P a g e

Organisations now need managers that are less experienced, more commercially

aware, more energetic, and they could be easily obtained, and retained, more

cheaply than their predecessors.

Research reviewed by Sparrow (2000) highlights the changing nature of the

organisation of work and its implications on the psychological contract, e.g.,

experiences of redundancy, for example, are often viewed by the older workers as

a violation of the psychological contract, and are significantly related to their

adoption of personal responsibility for their career development (Sparrow 2000)

also issues of termination or grows of incapacitation, etc.

Herriot and Pemberton (1995) argued that the psychological contract has moved

from one that is relational- based on mutual trust and commitment- to one that is

transactional- based upon mutual instrumentality of the work- effort- reward

bargain.

It demonstrates a shift from focus on job security on the part of employees towards

employability security.

According to Hiltrop (1995:289) in the new type of psychological contract “there

is no job security. The employee will be employed as long as s (he) adds value to

the organisation and is personally responsible for finding new ways to add value.

In return the employee has the right to demand interesting and important work has

the freedom and resources to perform it well, receives extra pay that reflect his/her

contribution and gets the experience and training needed to be employable here or

elsewhere.”

Characteristics of the ‘old’ and new psychological contract

Characteristic Old New

Focus of the E/R Security and long term careers

in the company

Employability to cope with changes

with this and future employment

Format Structured and predictable Flexible and unpredictable

Duration Permanent Variable

Underlying principle Influenced by tradition Drive by market forces

Intended output Loyalty and commitment Value added

Employer’s key Fair pay for a fair day’s work High pay for job performance


8 | P a g e

responsibility

Employee’s key

responsibility

Good performance in present

job

Making a difference to the

organisation

Employer’s key input Stable income and career Opportunities for self development

Employee’s key input Time and effort Knowledge and skills

Source- Hiltrop (1995:290)

So the contract is based on the theory of reciprocation/ exchange theory by Cox

and Parkinson (1999), where individuals make an investment with expectations

that an appropriate reward will be forthcoming.

1. Discuss the implications for the conduct of the employment relationship when the

psychological contract is broken.

2. How may you as a Human Resource Manager contribute towards the management

of a psychological contract in a company which is in the FMCG industry

Industrial Relations Perspectives (Fox, 1973)

1. Unitarism

It assumes that an organisation is or should be, an integrated group of people

with a single authority/loyalty structure, and a set of common values, interests

and objectives shared by all members of the organisation.

The management prerogative (that is, the right for management to manage and

make decisions) is regarded as legitimate and rational and accepted and any

opposition to it (whether formal or informal, internal or external) is seen as

irrational.

The underlying assumption therefore is that, the organizational system is in

basic harmony and conflict is unnecessary and exceptional.

Conflict, when it does arise, is believed to be primarily frictional rather than

structural in nature and caused by such factors as clashes of personalities

within the organisation, poor communication by management of its plans and


9 | P a g e

decisions, lack of understanding on the part of the employees that management

decisions and actions are made for the good of all in the organisation.

The use of coercion (including law) is legitimate in the use of managerial

power. In other words, management does not peceive a need given the

legitimacy of its prerogative, to obtain consent of employees to decisions or

changes.

At the same time, management concentrate on a Human Relations Approach

improving interpersonal relations and communications within the organisation)

or make appeals to the loyalty of employees.

Trade unions are seen to be an historical anachronism, and with the coming of

HRM, are no longer necessary to protect employees interests.

Even though management are forced to accept the existence of trade unions in

the determination of terms and conditions of employment (market leaders),

they are certainly reluctant to concede any role for trade unions in the exercise

of authority and decision making and decision making within the organisation

(managerial relations).

They (trade unions) are most likely to be seen as little more than a political

power vehicle used by militant minority in order to subvert the existing and

legitimate political, social and economic structure of society

Conclusion

The Unitarist system has one source of authority and one focus of loyalty,

which is why it suggests the team analogy

What pattern of behaviour do we expect from members of a successful and

healthily functioning team?

We expect then to strive jointly towards a common objective, each pulling his

weight to the best of their ability (tits out).

Each accepts his place and function gladly, following the leadership of one so

appointed.

There are no opposition groups/functions, and therefore no rival leaders within

the team.


10 | P a g e

Nor are they any outside it, the team stands alone, its members owing

allegiance to their own leaders but not o others.

If the members have an obligation of loyalty towards the leaders, the obligation

is reciprocated, for it is the duty of the leader to act in such ways as to inspire

the loyalty he demands.

Morale and success are closely connected and rest heavily upon personal

relationships.

Most of us will agree that the unitary perspective represents a vision of what

industry ought to be like which is widespread among employers, top managers

and substantial sections of outside public opinionThe vision is closest to a

professional football team, for her, combined with the team structure and its

associated loyalties; one finds a substantial measure of managerial prerogative

at the top in the persons of the manager, trainer or board members.

Team spirit and undivided management authority co-exist for the benefit of all.

2. Pluralism

The perspective views society as being post-capitalist in nature, a relatively

wide distribution of authority and power within the society, a separation of

ownership from management, a separation, acceptance and institutionalization

of political and industrial conflict.

Organisations are viewed as coalition of individuals with contrasting interests,

objectives and leadership. According to Fox (1973), the organisation is multi-

structured and competitive in terms of groupings, leadership, authority and

loyalty and this gives rise to a complex of tensions and competing claims

which have to be managed in the interests of maintaining a viable collaborative

structure.

Conflict is perceived to be both rational and inevitable. It results from

individual and organizational factors (structurally determined) and different

roles of managerial and employee groups. (Management objectives include

efficiency, productivity and profitability whilst for employees working

conditions, better pay, job and employability securities are crucial).


11 | P a g e

Because of such divergence of interests, the issue of power and authority to

control the production process become fundamental. The resolution of conflict

is characterized by the need to establish acceptable procedures and institutions

which achieve collaboration through comprehensive, codified systems and

negotiated regulation.

There has to be an acceptance of the need for shared decision making, the

legitimacy of management’s role is not automatic but must be sought by and

maintained by management itself ‘management by consent” rather than

“management by right”.

Trade unions are seen to provide a countervailing power of management and

therefore are seen as legitimate.

Such legitimacy, according to Fox (ibid) is founded not just on industrial

power or management acceptance, but on social values which recognize the

right of interest groups to combine and have an effective voice in their own

destiny.

3. Marxism

Concentrates on the nature of the capitalist society surrounding organisations,

where Hyman (1975) argues, “the production system is privately owned….,

profit is the key influence on Company policy…., and control over production

is enforced downwards by the owner’s managerial agents…”

Marxist general theory argues that: (1) class/group conflict is the source of

societal change, without it, the society will stagnate (2) class conflict arises

primarily from the disparity in the distribution of, and access to, economic

power within society – the principal disparity being between those who own

capital and those who supply their labour (3) the nature of the society’s social

and political institutions is derived from this economic disparity and reinforces

the position of the dominant establishment group, for example, through

differential access to education, the media, employment in government and

other establishment bodies.

Social and political conflict in whatever form is merely an expression of the

underlying economic conflict within the society.


12 | P a g e

It is seen as a reflection of not just organizational demands and tensions, but

the economic and social divisions within society between those whose who

own and manage means of production and those who have their labour for sale.

Therefore it is continuous, unavoidable and synonymous with political and

social conflict.

Employers do not need to exercise their full industrial power by choosing

plants and withdrawing their capital, the implicit threat that they have such

power is sufficient to balance any direct collective power exercised by trade

unions.

The social and political institutions within society supports the intrinsic

position of management, employees thought eh influence of education and the

mass media, become socialized into accepting the existing system and role of

management.

An attack on the institutions of job regulation provides only a limited

temporary accommodation of the inherent and fundamental divisions within

capitalist based work and social structure.

Trade union growth becomes inevitable as a response to a system of capitalism.

Management

Harbison and Myers (1959) give a general definition of management -

(i) Management as a technical resource - which refers to management as those

having the functional expertise in the enterprise.

(ii) Management as a system of government, of authority - by which policy is

translated into effective action.

(iii) Management as an elite group - exercising power in society via family,

educational, political or professional links.

The planning, organizing, leading and controlling of resources to achieve

organizational goals effectively and efficiently

Origins of Management

Employer’s rights are today generally exercised by managers


13 | P a g e

Pollard attributed that the industrial revolution provides evidence of the

origins of management.

Writers such as Braverman argue that initial managers were recruited from the

family of business people

This is necessary to keep control of business, but in the growing size of

businesses nepotism was quickly replaced by merit

This provides an insight into modern ownership and control and becomes the

real underlying factor in terms of management into the ranks of owners

The managerial prerogative, which are the managements rights and functions

are asserted to derive property rights

Managerial rights are the right to decide what to be done, when, where, and by

whom.

Managers act as legal trustees to the owners of property

Managerial Prerogative

Management Control Strategies

Is the process through which plans are implemented and objectives achieved by

setting standards of measuring performance, comparing the actual performance

against the target and then putting up corrective actions

Strategies adopted by management are based on ways of thinking about the

employment relationship

They include a pluralist view which asserts that a potential conflict defines the

employment relationship due to differences in the interests of the stakeholders

Blighton and Turnbull (1998) forwarded that the employment relationship is

founded on the principles of structured antagonism

most of them enter the employment relationship not because they want but for

economic reasons hence management control becomes important

management devise ways of making people do what they want to do

Friedman (1977)


14 | P a g e

talks of two types of strategies which managers use to exercise authority over

labour power namely responsible autonomy and direct control

Responsible Autonomy mobilizes labour power by giving employees an

opportunity to have control over the work situation (being responsible citizens) in

a manner that is beneficial to the whole organisation

It includes such elements such as employee involvement and participation,

delegation of authority and empowerment.

Direct Control on the other hand involves close supervision of employees, a

harsher regime of discipline characterized by threats of pay reduction or dismissal

This approach owes much to Taylorism and Scientific Management which has

some of the elements as reflected by Morgen (1986)

Helrigel and Slocum (1978)

Identify 3 common strategies used by managers, that is

i. Control through Organizational Structure

ii. Control through Recruitment and Training

iii. Control through Rewards and Punishment

iv. Control through Policies and Rules

v. Control through budgets

vi. Control through machinery

Managerial Styles in an Employment Relationship

Style Characteristics

Traditional Fire fighting approach, ER not important until there is trouble, Low pay, hostile

unions, authoritarian, typical of small owner managed businesses

Paternalistic Unions regarded as unnecessary because of employer’s enlightenment.

Concentrating on getting employees to identify with business objectives

Consultative Union participation encouraged through recognition. Problem solving informal


15 | P a g e

approach to employee relations. Emphasis on two way communication

Constitutional Emphasis is on formal agreements to regulate relationship between two powerful

protagonists

Opportunist Large Companies devolving ER to subsidiaries, no common approach emphasis on

unit profitability

Trade Unions

Students should at the end of the lecture be able to: -

Define a trade union,

Distinguish the types of trade unions citing examples,

List and explain the functions of trade unions,

Trace the genealogy of trade unions in Zimbabwe and Britain among other cases,

Account for the factors that have led to the rise and fall of trade unions in

Zimbabwe since the pre-independence period to date,

Clearly demonstrate their understanding of the structure and organization of trade

unions, citing local examples,

Demonstrate understanding of trade union democracy and shortcomings thereof,

Assess the contemporary issues on trade unions including the factors that are likely

to influence the future of trade unions locally and abroad.

Definition of Trade Unions

The Webbs (1920:11) define a trade union as, “a continuous association of wage

earners for the purposes of maintaining or improving conditions of their working

lives”

Salamon (1998) define it as “any organisation whose membership consists of

employees which seeks to organize and represent their interests both in the

workplace and society and in particular, seeks to regulate the direct process of

Collective Bargaining with management”


16 | P a g e

The legal definition of trade unions (according to The Act) “any association or

organization formed to represent or advance the interests of any employees or class

thereof in respect of their employment…”

According to the towers, trade unions are more than engines for converting

bargaining power into improved pay and conditions for their members, …they are

an integral part of the system on checks and balances which is composed of

capitalist liberal democracies, as according to Salamon (1998)

The goal of the Labour Movement (Flanders, 1970)

Allan Flanders in his book Management and Unions (1970) has attempted to

provide perspectives on the reasons for existence of labour movements and this

summary explains it;

"This question "What are trade unions for?" might be called the George

Woodcock question. He has raised it repeatedly in recent years, but the answer

is slow in coming and still remains more of a. hope than a happening. There is

in fact great confusion today about the purpose of trade unions. This affects

attitudes to their future and what should be their legal and social rights and

obligations in present-day society, as well as their own decisions on policy and

organisation. No less an authority than Professor Galbraith has stated that

unions in the future will "have a drastically reduced function in the industrial

system" and "will retreat more or less permanently into the shadows". And his

is not a lone voice. Trade unions are increasingly made the target of many

criticisms. Much of this may be unfair, but the unions themselves rarely bother

to state their own case in persuasive terms.

"I would like first to reject two views of union purpose which merely mislead.

They are poles apart but they have this in common. Those who hold them

believe they know more about what trade unions are for than the unions and

their members know themselves.

"The first is the Marxist view. Admittedly it has many different shapes and

variations and, since all its advocates claim to be offering the one true inter-


17 | P a g e

pretation of the one true gospel, they are often violently at odds with each other.

Most of them, however, would subscribe to an exposition by the editor of the

New Left Review -

"As institutions, trade unions do not challenge the existence of society based on

a division of classes, they merely express it. Thus trade unions can never be

viable vehicles of advance towards socialism in themselves; by their nature they

are tied to capitalism. They can bargain within society but not transform it.

"From this it follows that the inevitable limits of trade union action must be

overcame with the help of a revolutionary movement or party which -• to

continue quoting from the same essay - "must include intellectuals and petit

bourgeois who alone can provide the essential theory of socialism", Why?

Because - "Culture in a capitalist society is ...... a prerogative of privileged

strata; only if some members of these strata go over to the cause of working

class can a revolutionary movement be born".

"Ignoring for a moment the conceit in this statement, I would not dispute the

point that trade unions are not a substitute for political parties, be they

revolutionary or reformist, workers do not join unions because they think alike

and share the same political outlook. They do so for the sake of gaining

immediate improvements in their lot which only come from collective action.

Their unity, that completeness of the organisation of trade unions which is the

foundation of their strength, must always be imperilled when they import

political faction fights. Unions may decide by a majority to support a particular

political party - as many in this country have decided to affiliate with the Labour

Party - but this is another matter. It reflects no more than recognition that they

must engage in politics as well as the best strategy because it produces the best

results.

"What I find so objectionable as well as invalid in the Marxist view is its implicit

contempt for "pure and simple" trade unionism.


18 | P a g e

"Trade unions, by doggedly sticking to their immediate ends and refusing to be

captured and exploited by any-political party, have gradually transformed

society. Only not according from the sacred texts or the dialectical laws! That

they may be right in preferring reform to revolution and unity to discord never

crosses the mind of those whose theory tells them all the answers.

"I do not deny that socialism, as someone once said, has been "the conscience of

labour movements". But this is socialism as a set of ideals, as a moral dynamic,

not as a particular blueprint for an economic or political system. In this sense it

has undoubtedly provided restraints against the emergence of the cruder forms

of business unionism that can be found in the United States.

"If the first mistaken view of the purpose of trade unions comes from the Left,

then the second comes from the Right. The operative word for its expression is

responsible trade unionism. Michael Shanks amusingly characterized and only

slightly caricatured this view -

"There has grown up in recent years a widespread superstition that the trade

union leader is a sort of ex officio civil servant, responsible to the community at

large. The trade union leader’s main responsibility, to judge from the sort of

comment one reads in the press and hears from middle-class lips, is to "keep his

chaps in line" or "knock some sense into them...", in practical terms, the main

function of a union leader according to this view is to deter his members from

putting in ambitious wage claims, stop them from going on strike and behaving

in other anti-social ways and encourage them to work harder and increase their

productivity... Having done all that, he can gracefully retire with a peerage. He

may even be introduced to the Queen and taken to dine in a west End club from

time to time.

"The essence of this view is that trade unions are there to act as a kind of

social police force - to keep the chaps in order and the wheels of industry

turning. To this there is only one answer. The first and overriding

responsibility of all trade unions is to the welfare of their own members. That


19 | P a g e

is their primary commitment; not to a firm, not to an industry, not to the

nation. A union collects its member’s contributions and demands their loyalty

specifically for the purpose of protecting their interests as they see them, not

their alleged "true" or "best" interests as defined by others.

"Leadership is important of course. Trade union leaders should be ahead of

their members in thinking about their problems. It is their responsibility to

point out the further and more far-reaching consequences of decisions which

could be regretted later despite their strong immediate appeal. When union

leaders seek only to court popularity and defend this on the grounds that they

are "the servants" of their members, they betray the responsibilities of their

office, when the argument is over, however, their principal task must be one of

representation. If they fail in this the trade union no longer serves its purpose.

No other organisation is there to do this job.

"Obviously trade unions cannot reasonably behave as if they were not part of

a larger Society or ignore the effects of their policies on the national economy

and the general public. No voluntary organisation can do that with impunity.

If they do, they turn society against them and society can retaliate. In any

case, members of trade unions are citizens and consumers as well as

producers. Even so, trade unions exist to promote sectional interests - the

interests of the section of the population they happen to organise - as do

professional associations and many other bodies!

"There is nothing selfish or slightly disreputable about this; it is an essential

part of the democratic process. Indeed, once trade unions appear to be acting

as servants of employers or servants of the government, they are bound to be

written off by their own members who will turn, as they sometimes do already,

to unofficial leaders to take up their demands.

"Both of the views I have been attacking belittle the democratic function of

trade unions; their function of representation. That is why each in its different

way claims to know better than the trade unions themselves where the interests


20 | P a g e

of their members lie. My starting point in defining union purpose is the

opposite premise; that the best way of finding the right answer is to look at the

behaviour of trade unions; to infer what they are from what they do.

"Here one thing is at once certain and it applies to all trade unions and has

applied throughout the greater part of their history. The activity, to which they

devote most of their resources and appear to rate most highly, is collective

bargaining. So the question we have to ask is, what purpose do unions pursue

in collective bargaining? The conventional answer is that they defend and, if

possible, improve their members' terms and conditions of employment. They

are out to raise wages, to shorten hours and to make working conditions safer,

healthier and better in many other aspects.

"The answer is right as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. Collective

bargaining may be what the words imply - that depends on how we define

bargaining - but it is also a rule-making process. The rules it makes can be

seen in the contents of collective agreements. In other words, one of the

principal purposes of trade unions in collective bargaining is regulation or

control. They are interested in regulating wages as well as in raising them

and, of course, in regulating a wide range of other issues appertaining to their

members' jobs and working life.

"Why do they have this interest in regulating employment relationships and

what social purpose does such regulation serve? It is certainly not a

bureaucratic interest in rules for their own sake. Unions and their members

are interested in the effect of rules made by collective bargaining, which is to

limit the power and authority of employers and to lessen the dependence of

employees on market fluctuations and the arbitrary will of management.

Stated in the simplest possible terms these rules provide protection, a shield,

for their members. And they protect not only their material standards of living,

but equally, their security, status and self-respect; in short, their dignity as


21 | P a g e

human beings. One can put the same point in another way. The effect of rules

is to establish rights, with their corresponding obligations.

"The rules in collective agreements secure for employees the right to a certain

rate of wages; the right not to have to work longer than a certain number of

hours; the right not to be dismissed without consultation or compensation and

so on. This surely is the most enduring social achievement of trade unionism;

its creation of a social order in industry embodied in a code of industrial

rights. This too, is the constant service that unions offer their members: daily

protection of their industrial rights.

"Such rights could be and to some extent are, established by law. But

collective bargaining serves yet another great social purpose. Apart from

providing protection, it also permits participation. A worker through his union

has more direct influence on what rules are made and how they are applied

than he can ever exercise by his vote over the laws made by parliament. We

hear a lot these days about participation, including workers' participation in

management. I have yet to be convinced that there is a better method than

collective bargaining for making industry more democratic, providing its

subjects and procedures are suitably extended. Putting a few workers or union

officials on boards of directors only divorces them from the rank-and-file. In

collective bargaining, trade unions must continually respond to and service

their members' interests.

"The constant underlying social purpose of trade unionism is then

participation in job regulation. But participation is not an end in itself, it is

the means of enabling workers to gain more control over their working lives.

Nothing has happened over the post-war years to change that basic purpose or

to lessen its importance."

Why Employees Join Unions

To increase their bargaining power

Minimize favoritism and discrimination


22 | P a g e

Representation in labour disputes

Closed shop arrangements

Social factors, i.e., peer pressure, feeling of belongingness etc.,

Cultural factors – legacy/history.

According to Swanepoel et al (2004), the following are the factors that lead

employees into joining trade unions: -

1. Perceived lack of job security,

2. Management’s lack of respect for employees

3. Anger at the employer,

4. The belief that union representation would be effective

5. Favorable attitudes towards unions in general

Ultimately, they conclude, the decision to join trade unions “may involve a

combination of pre-dispositional attitudes, situational conditions, intense emotional

effect, as well as a calculative cost/benefit analysis of the pros and cons of union

representation”

Employees will join trade unions if such membership wields utility. The utility that

they find usually emanate from the cost-benefit analysis, premised on the

assumption of trade unions bargaining for batter wages and working conditions,

Job security is increasingly becoming an all important factor, in an era where there

are changing trends on the nature of work and the new psychological contract and

this is exacerbated by the unfavorable labour market conditions locally with very

high unemployment levels, leading employees to prioritizing security as

exoneration

Job insecurity is defined by Bender and Sloane (1999) as “a situation where

employees experience a sense of powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in a

threatened job situation. Now because of the power element associated with trade

unions, this insecurity, it is argued, is sufficient to influence the propensity of

employees to unionize hence it is argued by some scholars that “the overall impact

of trade unions is to reduce the proportion of workers who are insecure of their

jobs.


23 | P a g e

Apart from the legal rights to freedom of association and assembly and of trade

unions organizing to get recognition in the workplace as representatives of

employees

Legal Provisions surrounding Trade Unions in Zimbabwe

Section 27 of LRA a group of employees may form a trade union

Within 6 months of formation shall provide a written constitution and submit to

Minister showing:

- Qualification for membership

- Rights of person’s within the membership

- The number of officials and office bearers

- The holding of annual general meetings

- Re appointment of office bearers

- Calling and conducting meetings

- Issues of discrimination

- Amendment of constitution

- Winding up of trade unions

- Can raise subscriptions from its members

No unregistered Trade Union shall

- Make representation to the Labour Court

- Be assisted by an agent or labour officer

- Form or be represented at the employment council

- Recommend collective job action

- Have the right to access employee records

- Levy collect or recover union dues

- A registered trade union may act as the agent union of employees in an

undertaking or industry

- An unregistered union may ask the registered union to act as its agent

Such applications shall be forwarded to the Minister who will

- ascertain the extent to which the registered trade union appreciates needs of

employee in that industry

- Ability of the union to act as agent


24 | P a g e

- No registered trade union shall act as an agent for more than 3 years

without renewal or after a union is registered in that industry

Any interested person may apply to the registrar for variation suspension or

rescission of registration if

The trade union no longer represents the interest areas of which it was registered

It has failed to perform any of its functions in terms of the act

Minister may regulate the collection of union dues in terms of maximum amount,

accounting procedures and the auditing


25 | P a g e

A NOTE

ON

TRADE

UNION

DEMOCRACY: Michael P. Jackson


26 | P a g e


27 | P a g e


28 | P a g e


29 | P a g e


30 | P a g e

The Future of Trade Unions

Blyton & Turnbull (1994) argue that the future of trade unions depends on two

goals

i. Workers who are willing to join and once joined to remain union members

ii Employers who are willing to recognise them as bargaining agents for the

workforce

Batstone (1988) suggests power sources of unions lie in scarcity in the labour

market, disruptive capacity in the production process and political influence

Union membership therefore becomes an indicator of trade union power


31 | P a g e

In the UK unions work with shop stewards. In Zimbabwe they work with workers

committees.

“All trade unions are involved in political activity, by virtue of necessity” Crouch

(1982)

Union’s political activities take into account broad social issues such as housing,

transport, education and health care.

In the UK there was a gradual move towards “market share unionism” merger

activities

These mergers are because unions want to avert serious financial problems caused

by membership decline.

Unions may decide to pool their resources for mutual advantage

The State in Industrial Relations

Limited to protecting the bargaining process.

At face value, the state and government are one and the same thing because it

legislates and promote economic and government policy and also regulates both

individual and collective employment relationships

The government of the day will influence the direction the country will take and

therefore a country’s strategy for economic development will determine its future

industrial relations system…

If government favours the free market system, then it legislates in terms of market

forces- will allow labour and management to dictate the employment relationship

Ministry of Labour in Zimbabwe would play a pivotal role in the employment

relationship.

Legal Function

Professor Kahn-Freud has identified three legal functions which the State performs

in industrial relations (Otto Kahn Freud’s Labour and the Law 1972). First, the

"regulatory function" in which it provides rules that govern the terms and

conditions of employment of individual employees, whether or not they are union

members.


32 | P a g e

Second, the "restrictive function" in which it provides rules that governs the

conduct of industrial conflict, ie restricting the lawful ambit of industrial action.

Third, the "auxiliary function" in which it provides rules that govern the

encouragement and extension of collective bargaining institutions. In reality there

is a great overlap between these functions, but as tools of analysis they are quite

useful.

Regulatory Functions

The conceptual corner-stone of labour law both historically and currently is the

individual contract of employment as a legally enforceable relationship. In legal

theory the employer and the employee are equal bargaining partners with freedom

to decide on its terms. There is, however, a wide difference between legal theory

and what happens in practice as far as the contract of employment is concerned.

Kahn-Freud sums up this contradiction between legal theory and what happens in

practice -

".... the relation between an employer and an isolated employee or worker is

typically a relation between a bearer of power and one who is not a bearer of

power. In operation it is a condition of subordination, however much the

submission and the subordination may be concealed by the indispensable

figment of the legal mind known as the contract of employment". (Labour

and the Law, p.8)

In order to provide protection on behalf of the powerless individual employee, the

State provides a floor of rights on such issues as fundamental rights of employees

(see labour act), duration, particulars and termination of employment (s12)

Restrictive Function

In general terms the State acts as a referee in the dynamic relations between

employers and employees. This analogy of a referee symbolizes the restrictive

function of the State in so far as it limits and prescribes the freedom of action of

the participants. The starting point when analyzing this function is to consider


33 | P a g e

whether the State is encouraging or destroying collective bargaining between

employers and employees. Is the State encouraging the growth and strength of

both employees' and employers' organisations, or is the restrictive function used to

supersede collective bargaining?

The following are some of the practices which generally characterize the restrictive

function of the State -

Strike Action

Registration of trade unions

Compulsory Arbitration

Unfair Dismissal

Auxiliary Function

The auxiliary function of the State in industrial relations is primarily to promote

industrial peace by encouraging and promoting collective bargaining between trade

unions and employer organisations. The State, through legislation or otherwise,

defines the bargaining units, the procedures and institutions for resolving disputes

and reserves the power to legally enforce agreements and place unions under

statutory duty to give equal protection, ie representation to all the workers in the

designated industry or occupation irrespective of membership, race, creed or

anything else.

For more, students should refer to part X of the labour Act, (S74-82b) on

Collective Bargaining

The process of conciliation, mediation, arbitration, investigation and inquiry

constitutes the auxiliary function of the State.

Conciliation

Simply means "that some third party" - a civil servant, a person without office but

with personal prestige, or statutory or agreed commission or board - tries to get the

parties together. If conciliation succeeds, the result is an agreement. Mediation is

usually synonymous with conciliation.


34 | P a g e

Arbitration

Is listening to the parties and the evidence and then formulating an award. "if the

arbitration is voluntary as to its outcome, this is a mere recommendation; if it is

compulsory, the award binds the parties".

Investigation and/or Inquiry

Is "a procedure in which some third party (usually a commission or court) is

charged with finding the facts of a dispute and sometimes also with the making of

recommendations for its settlement".

The State in the General Management of the Economy

No analysis of the State's involvement in industrial relations will be complete

without an examination of the State versus the general management of the

economy. The extent to which the State gets involved in the general management

of the economy depends on the political economic philosophy of the Statue.

The crucial questions that one needs to ask in examining this role of the State are –

- Is the involvement of the State promoting the interests of the employers or

the employees, i.e. interests of capital or of labour?

- Is the involvement of the State guided by the principle of an overriding

national interest which goes beyond the rich-poor conflict and the

employee- employer conflict?

- When playing such a central and visible role can the State really be neutral?

A detailed analysis of the neutrality or otherwise of the State is beyond the scope of

this module. What is not debatable is the fact that the role of the State in industrial

relations was developed in line with the general transformation in its economic

functions. The State is usually involved in manpower policies, incomes and prices

policies, investments and subsidies policies all of which have direct or indirect

impact on the industrial relations trends in any given national economy. These will

be examined in this section, giving emphasis to the resultant influence on industrial

relations.


35 | P a g e

Manpower Policies, these include policies on such issues as;

Skills generation.

Employment generation.

General conditions of service.

Labour Mobility

Income and Price Policy

Collective Bargaining

Definitions

“...all negotiations which takes place between an employer, a group of employers

or one or more employers organisations, on the one hand, and one or more workers

organisations on the other, for: -

a) Determining working conditions and terms of employment, and /or

b) Regulating relations between employers and workers, and /or

c) Regulating relations between employers or their organisations and a workers’

organization…” (ILO Convention 154)

“A voluntary process for reconciling the conflicting interests and aspirations of

management and labour through the joint regulation of terms and conditions of

employment” Gwisai (2006)

It is a process of negotiation between management and union representatives for

the purpose of arriving at mutually acceptable wages and working conditions for

employees. (Boone and Kurtz, 1999 p 424 – 425)

Rycroft and Jordaan define Collective Bargaining as a voluntary process for

reconciling the conflicting interests and aspirations of management and labour

though the joint regulation of terms and conditions of employment.

John Grogan defines it as the process in terms of which employers and employees

collectively seek to reconcile their conflicting goals through a process of mutual

accommodation.

Purpose of Collective Bargaining

Establishes industrial justice


36 | P a g e

Allows workers to participate in decisions that affect them.

Ensures that no arbitrary behaviour is imposed and no unrealistic demands are

made on them

According to Grogan (2006), it assumes a willingness on each side not only to

listen to the representations of the other but to abandon fixed positions where

possible in order to find common ground.

Factors necessary for effective Collective Bargaining to take place (Gwisai 2006)

Recognition of divergent interests of employers and employees.

Recognition of the need for equilibrium of power between the two parties

Recognition of the philosophy of mutual survival

Elimination of direct and indirect obstacles to effective CB

Representation, democratic process whereby elected representatives negotiate on

behalf of large groups

Power which lies in the ability of parties to influence each other towards mutually

acceptable agreements.

Common ground – the desire

Types of Collective Bargaining

The two basic methods of bargaining are traditional bargaining and partnership

bargaining.

The traditional style of bargaining has been used since collective bargaining began

between management and the early labour unions (Encyclopedia of Business and

Finance, 2000)

It is an adversarial style of negotiating, putting one side against the other with little

or no understanding of, or knowledge about the other on the part of either party.

Each side places its demands and proposals on the table and the other side

responds to them with counter proposals.

The process is negative and involves a struggle of give and take on most issues.

The partnership style of bargaining is a more modern concept.

It strives for mutual understanding and common education on the part of both

labour and management, and it focuses on goals and concerns common to both

parties.


37 | P a g e

It emphasizes on each side’s being aware of its issues concerning the other side, it

is called interest based bargaining.

In this process labour and management each list and explain their needs and

ensuring discussion revolves around ways to meet those needs that will not only be

acceptable but also beneficial to both parties.

This style of bargaining is very positive and imports a much more congenial

atmosphere to the negotiating process.

Sometimes there is a blending of the traditional and partnership styles in labour

and management negotiations.

Key issues in Collective Bargaining

Scope

Issues discussed (both substantive and procedural issues, including; Rates of

remuneration, Benefits, Deductions from employee wages, Methods of calculating

or adjusting rate of pay, Overtime, piecework, vacation leave, Demarcation of

categories of jobs, Apprentices conditions of service, Hours of work, Occupational

safety, Access of parties to records, Procedures to deal with disputes, Housing and

transport facilities, Measures to combat workplace violence,

Level,

Collective bargaining takes place at 3 levels, the micro/enterprise level, and the

macro-levels which include the industry and national levels.

Coverage

This includes the specific groups/ constituencies that are covered by collective

agreements at various levels.

Historical Background to Collective Bargaining in Zimbabwe

The Industrial Conciliations Act establishes the foundation for Collective

Bargaining in Zimbabwe.

According to Schiphorst (2001), The 1959 ICA was a major hallmark in Industrial

relations, as the first genuine piece of legislation not only to allow the formation of

black unions, but, to provide a wage setting machinery by setting the parameters

for collective bargaining as well as the development of Industrial Boards and

Industrial Councils.


38 | P a g e

Amongst the weaknesses it had however, Sachikonye (1986:52) in Schiphorst

(2001) has summarised thus “…the institutionalization of wage setting machinery

has meant breaking in part of the employer monopoly on wage determination even

though the process is far from complete…the exercise of labour power has

established the basis for intervention in the system and resulted in the development

of additional threats to employers’ interests…the institutionalization of unionism

has permitted the entrenchment of a protective instrument of working-class

welfare, this being not an insignificant achievement in the prevailing climate…”.

The 1973 Act twisted the system of collective bargaining with the empowering of

the minister to vary CBAs, thus reducing the freedom to bargain (Collective

Bargaining Autonomy).

Not so much change occurred post-independence, as had been forecasted, but just

the flow within the direction of the 1959 Industrial Conciliation Act. Within the

first five years of independence, wages continued to be determined through

bargaining at an industry level, albeit after the removal of racial overtones.

This period also marked the time to debate on whether to introduce workers

committees and works councils in the new system, or instead to strengthen the

machinery already present.

To trade unions, this had obvious implications in terms of their strengths, at a time

when they believed that the development of a trade union movement was more an

important achievement of worker expectations than worker participation, while to

business; it meant an alteration to the existing power structures and an opening of

new forms of worker control.

That witnessed the formation of enterprise councils and the strengthening of the

one-industry-one-union policy. Collective bargaining became largely centralized at

the industry level.

The coming in of the 1985 Act witnessed the institutionalization of collective

bargaining at industrial level with the possibility of enterprise flexibility through

flexibility through workers committees (Schiphorst 2001).

Concepts such as the unfair labour practice concept were introduced, including

good faith bargaining, bringing Employment Councils and Employment Boards (in


39 | P a g e

their structures and forms) in the hierarchy to replace industrial councils and

boards, that had been introduced in the 1959 Act as well as empowerment of

enterprise level bargaining through works councils, the empowerment of the state

to promulgate regulations which would have overriding effects on bargaining

agreements, state’s determination of maximum and minimum wages, severe

curtailment of the right to strike and the intensive state regulation of trade unions

as well as the continuation of the one union one industry concept among other

things.

This resulted in collective bargaining playing a more secondary and subordinate

role to state regulation.

The neo-liberal policies adopted in the 90’s witnessed, but a radical shift towards

voluntarism and labour autonomy, when collective bargaining became a decisive

platform for the determination of wages and dismissals.

Benefits accrued to labour in terms of full recognition of trade unions as a

legitimate partner to the process, though major shortcomings including the severe

curtailment of the right to strike as well as shop floor competition that came in the

form of works councils.

The 2002 Amendment Act strengthened the facilitative role of the state, which

expressly states in the purpose of the Act the provision of a legal framework within

which employers and employees can bargain collectively for the improvement of

working conditions.

This position has been maintained by the 2006 Labour Act, as provided for on Part

1X (Sections 74 to 82B) of the Act. Some of the critical elements that lie at the

core of collective bargaining in the Act include, among other things; issues on the

scope of agreements (s74), good faith negotiation (s75), disclosure once inability

to pay is alleged (s76), issues of agency representation (s77), registration of

agreements (s79) as well as internal and external regulation or variation of

agreements (including the powers of the minister to vary the agreements so made-

s81).

Collective bargaining law in Zimbabwe has tremendously contributed to the whole

industrial relations framework both economically and socially.


40 | P a g e

The major economic benefit so derived by parties to the employment relationship

has been the establishment of a framework upon which individual and collective

workplace relations are managed and where industrial conflict is institutionalized

for the pursuit of a harmonious employee relations climate.

Gwisai (2006) also acknowledges how law has aided employee relations socially

(in terms of justice and democracy) by the strength of S2A of the Act (Purpose of

the Act). Collective Bargaining Autonomy, though some argue is limited, remains,

but a significant factor that has been enjoyed by parties to Employee Relations.

The legally binding nature of Collective Bargaining has been significant. It falls at

the hub of such works like Otto Kahn Freund who argue that law comes as a force

to “…regulate, support, and restrain the powers of management and organized

labour…” In other words, there is a clear recognition of the power differences

between individual employees against management or organized labour against

management respectively, the inadequacies of the former (organized labour) to

provide a power base that can be equated to that of the later (management) at the

bargaining table, which then justifies the need for a machinery to govern their

relationship (in terms of setting the framework upon which terms and conditions of

employment are regulated).

Furthermore, the law has improved on trade union effectiveness, as measured by

the meeting of primary needs of workers such as better pay and conditions,

increased influence on what they regard as increased influence on what they regard

as workplace decisions, and protection against arbitrary management action

(Freeman 1996). This is regardless of whether unions are instrumentally or

ideologically motivated to do so.

In as much as the law on collective bargaining has posed improvements on

employer-employee relations, it has also had its own weaknesses, or limitations. A

critical analysis of one element key to the process, the recognition of a need to

balance the powers of the parties to the employee relations, has not been addressed

carefully.


41 | P a g e

The rhetoric of the argument provides a seemingly clear manner in which the

government has tried to create a balance of power between parties to employee

relations, but the reality is very different.

The state has made it very difficult for labour to enjoy the freedom to bargain by

instituting a well calculated and sophisticated bargaining framework involving a

combination of bargaining centralization through employment councils as well as

bargaining decentralization in the workplace (Schiphorst 2001).

While this may have been simple, if we look at s23 (1) (b), it has become very

difficult for unions to gain 50 % membership at an enterprise level so that they

could control the workers committees as shop stewards in the workplace with the

prevailing economic environment.

This was also made in light of Part VII of the Act on the right to organize, giving

rise to a recognition of multiple unions at the negotiation table (usually in

opposition with regards to political opinions) for example AMWZ and

NUMQISWZ in the mining industry, and most importantly, the continued

curtailment of the right to strike, or rather, the exercise of the freedom through a

set of verbose procedures and unfounded restrictions (Part XIII of the Act).

Research has clearly proved that the essence of bargaining power lies in one’s

ability to withhold something of value to another and that a strike action is an

essential and integral part of collective bargaining (Gwisai, 2006).

Without this, “…the power of management to shut down the plant will not be

matched by a corresponding power on the side of labour…”. Apparently, such

factors have tended to negatively affect trade unions in terms of their powers to

negotiate effective collective bargaining.

Most of the regulations were largely driven by political factors rather that

economic ones, thus resulting in a disintegrated, frustrated, competing (levels) and

conflicting labour movement hence diverting their attention from representing their

constituencies to scampering for membership. Meanwhile, this has given more

security to employers who already have so much power in employee relations.

A combination of the two tier system of managing collective bargaining, one for

the Public Sector and another for the Private Sector, plus the administration of a


42 | P a g e

combination of bargaining centralization (industry-wide) and decentralization

(company-wide) simultaneously has also come with it some interesting results.

This has also been against the fact that there are more than 20 sectors/industries

negotiating their agreements with employees in the country.

As a result, there has not only been a lack of collective voice on the part of

employees in general, but the private sector has had a tendency to wait for the

public sector to negotiate CBAs first, and then use the result as a benchmark. Such

has been a rather fire-fighting and retrogressive ploy considering how poorly the

public sector has addressed issues of working conditions.

The lack of coordination amongst bargaining centres has also resulted in a lack of a

collective voice and an organized strategy with respect to the capacity of industry

to produce and pay.

The other weakness was that the declining degrees of bargaining centralization to

industry level has tended to result in bargainers passing negative pay externalities

(i.e. the cost of pay rises in terms of inflation, unemployment and loss of

competitiveness) onto third parties (e.g customers, other employee groups and

also the state). Now this has equally resulted in the stagnation of the country’s

economic performance.

The area of scope of bargaining has not been fully addressed by law to take

consideration, explicitly issues of productivity, which should be a critical factor in

the consideration of pay increases.

This has resulted in a nadir relationship being built in employee relations where

union strength would at times supersede the capacities of companies to pay (for

example in the energy industry and local authorities).

The resultant effect has been the channelling of company funds towards employee

salaries at the expense of the real objects of Companies. It has been the general

public that has felt the grip especially considering how water and electricity

charges have increased for example, pressure for payments mounting against a

rather dismal performance of these, in terms of service delivery. These companies

have managed to comprise market leaders in terms of pay and benefits despite the

fact that there is a sharp contrast between productivity and pay, a flaw of the law.


43 | P a g e

At one time the minister even had to interfere in order to get allowances cut for

some employees in the energy industry.

Within this context, a great deal of questions has been raised over the effectiveness

of Arbitrators in collective dispute management, especially amid reports from

business that they were not factoring in these issues of productivity in wage

determination.

This has been exacerbated by the continued inclination of the labour movement on

measuring minimum wages basing on the basic needs as explained in calculating

the Poverty Datum Line thus building on stagnation of the economy by way of

creating a dependency syndrome where they focus on milking business of

productive funds instead of realizing the relationship between productivity,

performance, revenues and pay increases.

A more similar argument has been raised in that the binding effect of collective

bargaining agreements on everyone in a specific industry has largely affected

many companies in terms of their capacities to pay since they are affected

differently by the business environmental factors. The moment we have

Companies failing to meet wage payment among other collective bargaining

obligations, stagnation, rightsizing elements or even Company closure becomes

imminent.

Whilst taking note of the failures of the law to take into consideration the factors

that affected collective bargaining after the 2006 Act (esp. 2008) thus shaping the

scope of bargaining, where a great deal of both substantive and procedural rules

was varied, the frequency of bargaining increased, the levels of bargaining

decentralized to the workplace, and coverage of agreements also varied, equally,

challenges have been noted in trying to get parties to employee relations re-

oriented to a new dollarized Zimbabwe, which is a bit certain and more likely

predictable.

The same applies to its failure to take cognizance of the increasingly growing

informal sector.

The weaknesses of law on collective bargaining in adapting to the prevailing

economic situation has also paved way for the administration of sophisticated


44 | P a g e

HRM practices and an intimate relationship between labour and business that has

witnessed new trends on Collective bargaining (to include productivity bargaining

elements, e.g, at Wankie Colliery) as well as other agreements that fall outside the

legal framework of Collective bargaining in Zimbabwe being binding on parties,

for example in 2008.

Recommendations

Productivity bargaining should be factored in on the scope of bargaining explicitly,

since it lies at the hub of collective bargaining. This should be complemented by

an effort to apprise the labour movement of the need to view negotiations within

the context of organizational and industry performance.

Trade unions will always remain ineffective for as long as they cannot exercise

their right to resort to collective job action as part of bargaining. This is but the

most important area that builds on trade union strength and hence forces employers

to negotiate effectively.

The law should also put up a clause governing the frequency of bargaining and

circumstances upon which agreements can be reviewed in a clear and precise

manner.

There is need to reduce the number of bargaining councils so as to try create a

platform for the formulation of more homogeneous agreements that allow for

internalization of negative pay externalities whilst at the same time allowing for

coordination amongst bargaining centers and the mapping of a whole industry-

wide bargaining strategy.

There is need for the creation of a legal framework guiding and binding parties to

the social contract and then cascading to the workplace through a machinery of

collective bargaining. This is largely because the social contract has significant

impacts on collective bargaining.

Globalisation

Introductory food for thoughtQuestion: What is the truest definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death.

Question: How come?


45 | P a g e

Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car

with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky: followed closely by Italian

Paparazzi in Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. And

moreover this is sent to you by a Zimbo, using American (Bill Gate’s) technology and you're probably

reading this on your computer that uses Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi

workers in a Singapore plant, transported by PAKISTANI lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded

by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you illegally by Mexican.

That’s Globalization" my friend.

Thank You

What is?

Is the process by which development of a “global ideology” has begun to transcend

national boundaries with far reaching consequences for both the conduct of business

transactions and the theory and practice of management ( Vernon – Wortzel et al 1990)

The growing economic dependence among countries as reflected in increasing cross

boarder flows of goods and services, capital and know-how” (Govindarajan and

Gupta 1998a in Leopold et al 1999:99)

Scholte (2000) viewed globalization as involving ‘the growth of supra-territorial

relations among people’ fostered by the development of high technology and

increasing complex international supply links are developed”

Can be defined as a process of increasing global connectivity, integration and

interdependence in the economic, social, technological, cultural, political and

institutional spheres.

It can be found to represent, for example, the process that reduces barriers between

countries and involve greater integration in world markets, thus, increasing the

pressure for assimilation towards international standards (Macdonald, 1997,

Frenkel and Peetz, 1998, Ali, 2005).

Economic aspects of globalisation are the most visible and important ones. These

include, but are not limited to: - economic competition amongst nations, rapidly

expanding international trade and financial flows and foreign direct investments

(FDIs) by multinational corporations (MNCs), disseminating advanced

management practices and newer forms of work organisation and in some cases

sharing of internationally recognised labour standards.


46 | P a g e

Globalisation enhances competitiveness, both at a company level and at a national

level, which leads to company managements and governments to adopt strategies

designed to increase labour effectiveness in terms of productivity, quality and or

innovation.

In summary, globalisation involves economies that are opening up to international

competition and that do not discriminate against international capital. It therefore is

accompanied by liberalisation of markets and the privatisation of productive assets.

At the same time, this phenomenon has obviously resulted in high unemployment,

increasing casual employment and weakening labour movements according to Ali

(2005)

Dimensions of Globalisation

1. Economic Globalisation - is the convergence of prices, products, wages, interest

rates and profits towards the standard of developed countries. The extent to which

an economy will globalise depends on the importance of certain processes at play,

such as labour migration, international trade, movement of capital and integration

of financial markets.

2. Political Globalisation - this relates to the increasing number and power of

international organisations which influence or govern the relationships among

nations and which safeguards the rights of countries arising from social and

economic globalisation.

3. Information Globalisation - refers to the rapid development of ICT worldwide,

such as global telecommunications infrastructure allowing for greater cross-border

data flow.

4. Cultural Globalisation - this refers to the greater international culture exchange and

growth of cross cultural contacts between nations and people. It also involves the

expansion of multiculturalism and improved individual access to cultural diversity,

as well as the growth of international travel and tourism, while at the same time

developing and establishing a set of universal values.

Forces for Globalisation

Lowering and removal of trade barriers

Revolution in international transport and communication


47 | P a g e

Emergence of a new wave of competitors

New global markets segments

Globalization Solidifying Forces

Trends towards regionalism e.g NAFTA (North American Free Trade Area) and

EU. These argue that open trade has more advantages than disadvantages and opt

for the creation of world with few or no trade restrictions.

Abatement of ideological conflicts and the end of cold war. With the collapse of

Berlin Wall in 1989 and socialism in much of the world global co-operations

expanded virtually throughout the world. Governments became more inclined than

ever to solve international problems through constructive engagement and

dialogue, e.g. Geneva Convention for equal rights. Governments not only

restructure economies through liberalization and privatization but also invest in

productive sectors and therefore the adoption of free trade systems.

The rising influence of NGOs in addressing and regulating a wide range of

international problems and issues eg Amnesty International and Green Peace

contribute to the world economic, social and technological integration. NGOs such

as ISO set widely observed standards in the global market place. This has affected

even organizations such as Turnall where it is under pressure from health and

safety groups on its failure to meet standards on OHS.

Mobility of capital across the globe so as to seize better financial opportunities

and expansion of markets by investors. Over $US1 trillion is traded in the global

foreign exchange market and therefore solidifying the creation of a global market.

Ease of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and labour flow across the globe.

Liberalization and restructuring of world economies enhance MNC’s investment

activities. Such organizations will be targeting cheap labour so that they achieve

higher returns from their investments. Programmes that include ESAP ensured the

solidification of globalization where there was trade liberalization in Zimbabwe in

1991/2 years and was driven by World Bank and IMF super powers.

Revolution in international transport and ICT (International

Communications Technology). This has eased communication, knowledge


48 | P a g e

transfer and transportation and therefore geographical space and time have lost

their utility as a serious barrier for people and business interactions. Internet has

increased connectivity and worldwide information can be easily accessed and

decisions made in a short span of time.

Economic impacts of Globalisation

The most economic effects of economic globalisation include the following:

Increasing integration of global economic activities (this leads to intensifying

competition among producers and a greater and more varied offer of diverse

sources and destinations of FDI. Capital movements are very high in an open

international environment that labour force, MNCs have played a key role in this

regard, through relocating their business activities while also subcontracting and

substituting technology for human labour. Many companies have been seen to be

rationalising their operations in order to strengthen their competitiveness, by

reducing both wage and non-wage labour costs. Evidence has proved that MNCs

generally pay higher wages and employment benefits than local companies, which

significantly affects the industrial relations systems of the host country.

In addition, their relationships with trade unions are influenced by both the

management and workforce relations in the Company’s country of origin and the

situation in host country, which makes it effectively difficult to remove the

rigidities of their policies. In most instances, they do not recognise trade unions in

bargaining on terms and conditions of employment, except for when they are

complying with the labour relations regulations of that particular host country.

(Macdonald, 1997, Ali, 2005)

Rising Competitiveness – increased competition in global markets creates demand

for more specialised and better quality products, leading to a higher volatility in

product markets and shorter product life cycles, which ultimately requires

companies to respond quicker to changes in market demands (HR implications-

the need to manage people in a quality way, to build on audible readiness, to

develop globats, the need for HR to transcend the stewardship of taking care of

conditions of employment to look at factors that bring shareholder value and

organisational competitiveness. Production implications-the need to introduce


49 | P a g e

new technologies and increase the scope of flexibility in the production processes

and resolve any information and coordination difficulties which previously limited

the production capacities of enterprises in different locations around the world.

The main focus in on individualising and decollectivising work through new work

organisation in the form of niches, SBUs, while on the other end, a great deal of

effort is placed on reducing the input cost to the production process by replacing

people with technologies and then emphasising on building higher value

capacities and skills on workers to perform a variety of jobs (multi-skilling). This

has blurred the functional and hierarchical distinctions between different types of

jobs and between labour and management in general, Organisation of work –

efforts to improve products through innovation, quality, availability and pricing

have led companies to set up cross-functional development TEAMS, thus

transcending the traditional boundaries between engineering, manufacturing, and

marketing. All these developments have been accompanied by standardised,

segmented, stable production process which had facilitated collective industrial

relations (Macdonalds, 1997) and a continual shift of employment from

manufacturing to service oriented industries, i.e., jobs shift from traditional

manual occupations to various forms of white collar occupations, though these

have been different amongst countries, largely because of differences in stages of

development. The developments in technologies, for example, are affected by the

willingness of countries with technologies to provide other countries with them

(situations of sanctions), and also the extent to which economically developed

countries are seeking access to the emerging markets to sell their products. On the

other hand, developing countries face many barriers to entry into the developed

world’s markets, hence affecting their rate of growth; hence the impact and pace

of growth vary from one country to another.

Relocation of economic activities

Structural changes in the economy

Rapid advancements and innovation.

Labour Markets Effects

The most influential effects here include: -


50 | P a g e

Labour market flexibility (influences on labour market performance)

Increasing labour migration

Rising atypical non-standard forms of employment

Changes in the content and working conditions

Skills mismatch, multi-skilling and the need for lifelong learning

Such factors vary from one country to another, but however are very fundamental

in determining a country’s competitive advantage labour market developments.

Due to growing competitiveness, many countries have become obliged to relax

their employment protection mechanisms in order to increase their labour market

flexibility (see s12-duration, particulars and termination of employment contracts),

which has also raised a need to the need to create a balance between labour market

flexibility and social protection (see Parts 11-Fundamental Rights of employees,

111-unfair labour practices as examples). As a result, the need for cost efficiency

and value addition has necessitated reforms in the labour market thus bringing

flexibility in order for companies to be able to deliver goods at the right time and

be strategically positioned closer to their customers.

Flexibility defined: -

At a more global scale, we can identify flexibility as the capacity to which an

economies and organisations can adapt to global pressures.

Flexibility – hours, part-time work, variable contracts, functional flexibility, pay

(including PRP common in Zim.)

We can distinguish between various types of flexibility, that is, numerical

flexibility, which is when employers use non-standard contracts of employment to

match labour supply to product service demand and to parcel out work in a way

that avoids exposure to the risk of overstaffing. Employers achieve numerical

flexibility when employees work part time, fixed term and or short term contracts,

zero hours, annual hours or work from home, also including the use of short term

casualised labour, agency workers including contracting in and contracting out.

We can also talk about functional flexibility, which is the requirement or

expectation that workers will perform tasks beyond those strictly specified in their

main role or function. This might entail cross working (performing other people’s


51 | P a g e

jobs at the workplace), expanding the number of tasks performed or working in

Teams.

We can also talk of geographical flexibility which results in managing across

cultures as another type of flexibility. Organisational flexibility is yet another

strategic form of flexibility, now this is a bigger form and beyond the deployment

of flexible labour. It relates to workplace change more generally (e.g Business

process reengineering, continuous process improvement, restructuring, mergers

and acquisitions, takeovers etc) as well as introduction of new forms of work

organisation, job design and redesign etc.

Complexities in flexibility in organisations have come in the form of new forms of

contracts, e.g., part time work, fixed term contracts, zero hour contracts, the

increased participation of women in the labour market, outsourcing of labour,

actualisation and subcontracting, all of which have reshaped the issue of security

of employment, from job security to employability security. However, in most

African societies, or the developing world in general, these have had a tendency of

creating permanent unemployment hence underemployment.

Pillay (2006) argues that outsourcing and subcontracting have been seen by

COSATU as backdoor attempts to introduce labour market flexibility in the

country- in other words, lowering employment standards. This is in contrast with

the developed world, which sees a shortage in labour and skills threatening their

competitiveness, productivity performance and sustainability of their economic

growth, hence resulting in them steering labour migration to cover the void from

the developing world in the form of temporary employment. This introduces

flexibility into the labour market while increasing competition between foreign and

domestic labour with varying implications for the countries sending and receiving

workers. (They put restrictions of migrant labour into their markets in order to

limit competition for work between domestic and foreign workers.

The other issue we can talk about is the issue of reorganisation of work, which

result in: -

- Greater emphasis on team working


52 | P a g e

- Flattening of management hierarchies and the transfer of greater operational

responsibility and authority to lower level managers, supervisors and work

teams. All these are channelled at increasing workers’ commitment to the

organisation and its goals, as well as in establishing closer relationships

between managers and workers based on consultation and cooperation

(Macdonald, 1997). In addition to that, there is an argument that, while

globalisation and rapid changes in economies demand that workers become

proactive, adaptable, multi-skilled, responsible and competent, these demands

put additional pressure on workers, thus exacerbating their difficulties at a time

when working conditions are deteriorating and wages are compressed. The

results of this change will be on an unbearable price, with ill health associated

with a decrease in quality of life and unfair costs for individuals and society.

However, to become aware of the benefits arising from global integration,

countries will need effective education and training systems in order to supply the

higher skills levels, which underpin strong and flexible labour markets, economic

growth and high unemployment, address inequalities and ensure social cohesion

(HM Treasury, 2005). In countries where competition is based on quality and

innovation, governments emphasize the need for adequate skills training to

improve workers’ competencies, esp. for those countries where shortages of

qualified labour exist, hence we have LIFELONG LEARNING-which is based on

continuous learning, as well as updating and upgrading of skills as a viable

alternative to lifelong employment (Senge-learning organisations, Blanchard-

today’s organisations share a commitment to constant improvement.......)

Globalisation and Industrial Relations

If industrial relations systems do not adjust to globalisation, the danger arises that

companies will relocate their production to countries with fewer restrictions on

business activities, such as countries with less regulated labour markets and lower

labour costs.

ELEMENTS

- Internationalisation of

IMPACTS

Increasing integration of global

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEM

- ACTORS


53 | P a g e

markets

- Increase in competition

- Free movement of capital

and labour across borders

due to less stringent

regulations. As a result,

markets are

internationalising,

competition is increasing,

global markets are

integrating and ICT

promote networking.

Informational globalisation

through rapid development of

ICT

economic activities

- Rising competitiveness

- Relocation of economic

activities

- Structural changes in the

economy

- Rapid technological

advancements and

innovation

- Knowledge society,

networking, social capital

- Labour market flexibility

- Increasing labour migration

- Rise of atypical and non

standard employment forms

- Changes in working

conditions and work content

Job-skills mismatches, multi-

skilling, need for lifelong learning

-Trade Unions, Employers Organisations,

Government

- ACTIONS/PROCESSES

Collective Bargaining, Workers Participation,

Industrial Actions, Conflict Resolution

- CONTEXT

-Political, Economic, Legal, Socio-Cultural,

Technological Environments

- OUTCOMES

-Scope of regulation of employment, i.e., wages,

working time, working conditions etc

- IMPACTS

-Productivity, job and employment security,

industrial peace and democracy

Some of the impacts of Globalisation

Increasing international economic interdependence has affected traditional IR

arrangements viz:

- Structurally changed & expanded marketplace, making possible information

flows through tech. Tearing down traditional boundaries of the organisation.

- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) allows MNCs to influence country, regional

bodies trade policies and labour laws as they control assets in more than one

country.

- MNCs have created complex international production processes.


54 | P a g e

- Locally based businesses are now focusing on technology based focus in their

business creating as they do, growing individualism and decollectivism of

work.

Globalisation has shaken the status quo that hitherto existed between Capital and

Labour – while Labour is relatively immobile, capital moves at the same speed

irrespective of location.

- Capital can employ labour in cheaper areas with ease thereby prejudicing

countries of origination – Daimler Chrysler

Contradictory impact on IR

- Accelerates the interdependence of states which has the capacity of creating

uniform IR arrangements beyond borders.

- There is resistance towards convergence based on the particular

circumstances of different countries and regions.

Impacts on Business

Internationalization of companies

- The development of new strategies to manage organisations, influenced by

the ideas of individuals like Michael Porter on Competitive strategies in the

80’s

- The growth of MNCs

Mergers and Alliances-GlaxoSmithKline, PricewaterhouseCoopers,

DaimlerChrysler:

Markets – driven by customer orientation not products (the need for organisations

to respond to customer-driven demand for products)

- Asian Tigers – world’s fastest growing economy.

• Dubai, Chinese, Japanese products in Zimbabwe (issues of culture,

mass production, management practices etc)

Whole production departments are moved to areas of cheaper labour Asia and

recently Africa – Mercedez Benz, VW, Parmalat, Toyota, Nokia etc

Movements also facilitate sensitivities to local and regional markets in a customer

oriented environment.


55 | P a g e

New management practices such as Downsizing/rightsizing, Contracting and

outsourcing to allow concentration on core business, Increase in need for casual of

labour, BPR with a view to increasing organisational effectiveness, lower costs

leading to increasing technology etc.

Businesses relying on outsourcing to:

- Reduce time-to-market, time-to-volume

- Lower operating costs, investment, etc.

- Improve inventory management

- Access leading technology, etc.

- Produce on a global scale using parallel production facilities

- Focus on core competencies

- Organise supply chain

- Enhance purchasing power

Pushing for more deregulated and flexible labour markets.

Increased Competition defined by knowledge/innovation, skills and productivity

compelling business to develop new models of managing resources, including

human resources hence the coming in of the HRM Agenda, which is concerned

with the attraction, development and retention of skilled employees that are

willing, and able to work towards the organisation at all levels. (influence of the

Michigan School of thought, The Harvard School and Guest 1987)

“The success global companies is to a large extent dependant on their ability to

organize (sic) (within and between organisations) across national boundaries

information, money, people and other resources)”

Employers seen encouraging more employee involvement in job design and

execution of work – multi-skilling; they cover up for absenteeism and make jobs

redundant reducing the need to employ certain replacements.

Reducing the scope of C.B to issues that cannot be employer specific – removing

work re-organisation, flexible working hours (Mining in Zim), and contractual

arrangements (PRP).

• US – enterprise level CB

• UK and EU – movement is towards the enterprise level


56 | P a g e

Increased training expenditure and pressure to up educational qualification –

increasing need for self dvpt.

Knowledge is driving employment, investment & productivity.

Managing a Global Workforce: Emerging Issues

Armstrong defines the 7 characteristics of people management being adopted viz:

• Cosmopolitan, Culture, Compensation, Communication, Consultancy,

Competence and Coordination

Centralisation strategy – extent of parent country control of employment policies

• Helps plan for Mgt. Succession

• Secure high quality staff members

• Managing existing operations effectively

• More commitment because of assurance of a global outlook

Merging employment practice and culture (the convergence thesis)

Managing diverse cultures, social systems and legal requirements

Managing people spread across the globe even with the most sophisticated global

system is not the same e.g. video conferencing – the absentee boss.

Chia (1995) says of management: “the earlier generation’s recipe for success

hinged on hard work, smart moves, the right business and political connections,

monopolies, protectionist barriers… and a docile labour force. …the new …

manager has to exercise greater levels of leadership …balance this with being an

entrepreneur… To this has to be added coaching, team building and motivating the

company , the ability to visualize, plan strategically, market and reengineer

products and services and the belief in a customer driven culture.”

Globalization and the role of the State

Traditional role of the state in a tripartite IR system is being threatened by

enterprise level C.B

Role of international bodies external governments

- Laws in some countries in Europe forbid investment for poor labour

practice records

- International pressure groups on Corp. Responsibility e.g. on Shell


57 | P a g e

Integration based legal changes have made it difficult to institute legal measures

that are not practice in the group – critical in EU, ASEAN, COMESA and SADC

- Creation of common market, free movement of goods

- Unity of Currency or parity

- Removal of Tariffs

- Free flow of capital, people (dropping visas)

IR policy is managed through compliance with ILO conventions

- No 87 – Freedom of association & protection of the right to organize

Globalization and Labour

The permanent job is disappearing

- Casualisation of labour

Organized labour is threatened by enterprise level bargaining under the auspices of

the democratization of the workplace

IT – As businesses seek ways to improve the product (through innovation, quality,

availability & pricing) cross functional teams, cutting across traditional segments

& stable processes that facilitated collective IR

Reduction as well of the numbers that is available to the organisation into Trade

Unions.

The rise of the knowledge worker

The impact of MNCs on C.B in host countries

Globalization and labour market performance

Eric Foner has written: "Today's Chinatown sweatshops and Third World child

labour factories are the functional equivalent of colonial slavery in that the

demands of the consumer and the profit drive of the entrepreneur overwhelm the

rights of those whose labour actually produces the saleable commodity." 9 Working

people have always resisted such demands. At the end of the 20th century

resistance will be stronger to the extent to which we do not allow the scarecrow of

"globalization" to disempower us. The system is the same, its logic is the same,

and the need for workers of the world to unite has never been greater. It is time for

greater clarity in our critique of the basic workings of what are called "free

markets" but are in reality class power. We need to counterpoise the need to


58 | P a g e

control capital and to have the economy serve human needs rather than accept the

continuous sacrifice of working people to such ideological constructions as

competitiveness, free markets, and the alleged requirements of globalization.

Twist of trade union power from membership to information

The impacts of the growing informal sector

Social Dialogue

Definition of Social Dialogue

Social Dialogue is defined to include all types of negotiations or simply the

exchange of information between, or among representatives of governments,

employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and

social policy. It is perceived as an instrument of democracy, which promotes

consensus building for the national good.

Prerequisite for Social Dialogue

The following are key conditions for Social Dialogue:

- Establishment of a Social Dialogue culture;

- cultivation of a Social Dialogue mindset;

- establishment of effective institutions for Social Dialogue;

- political tolerance and social cohesion for the sake of national development.

Social Dialogue approaches in Zimbabwe

The approach to Social Dialogue is two-pronged. The National Economic

Consultative Forum (NECF) under the banner of smart partnership is pursuing the

broader initiatives. Secondly, resolving of national socio-economic problems

through negotiations is pursued within the auspices of the Tripartite Negotiating

Forum (TNF).

Smart partnership and NECF

The Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management Ltd. (CPTM),

created by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1995 promotes networking

between governments, business and labour organisations.

It involves partnership among government, business and labour at the national,

regional and international levels, helping Commonwealth countries to make the


59 | P a g e

most of opportunities offered by the new global market. Smart Partnership is based

on a deliberate policy of co-operation among the government, the private sector

and labour aimed at transforming a country into a winning nation.

The primary responsibility of government in a Smart Partnership is to set a clear

vision, which is shared by all stakeholders and clearly articulated national strategic

plan, which captures that vision. All parties must see themselves as stakeholders in

a common endeavour, with the prospect of a “win-win” outcome for all. Smart

Partnership is, therefore, about creating limitless opportunities for the generation of

wealth. It is also a process that unites people in contributing towards prosperity for

all. One such example of International Dialogues co-ordinated by CPTM was the

2nd Southern African International Dialogue (SAID 99) held in Victoria Falls in

October 1999, which focused on economic empowerment and wealth creation in

the region. Both labour and business participated.

The NECF, set up in 1997, is the national hub for Smart Partnership in Zimbabwe.

The objectives of the NECF are:

- to create a Smart Partnership amongst key economic players - government,

private sector, labour and other stakeholders in order to enhance the economic

development process of the nation;

- to provide a broad participatory framework in the formation of national

economic policy through an interchange of ideas and experiences amongst the

stakeholders;

- to facilitate the co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation of national economic

policy implementation.

The NECF operates through the following task forces:

Macro-economic Task Force

Land Reform Task Force

Industrial Policy Task Force

Incomes and Pricing Task Force

Human Resources Development Task Force


60 | P a g e

Health and Environment Task Force

Taxation and Expenditure Task Force, and

Anti-corruption Task Force

Smart Partnership for what?

In the Zimbabwean context, Smart Partnership is for:

- strengthening co-operative networks and enhancing working relationships

among Governments, Labour and the Private Sector;

- building a Zimbabwean co-operative team and a common vision;

- identifying “win-win” situations so as to promote the development of

Zimbabwe;

- projecting Zimbabwe to the international business community as a destiny for

investments.

The Smart Partnership approach is a means of creating a uniquely Zimbabwean

pathway to global competitiveness by building on the systems of co-operation,

which are inherent in the Zimbabwean culture. After all, the Zimbabwean culture

stresses the important role of co-operative action within the family and community.

Competitiveness in the global market is achievable within a co-operative

framework.

In the context of globalisation, government should:

create an enabling environment;

Pursue policies essential to successes in the global economy.

Labour should:

be driven by a clear understanding that only through productivity enhancing

measures and commitment to excellence in the provision of goods and services,

can they guarantee workers good salaries, wages, employment and job security;

adopt less conflictual labour relations;

assist in building the capacity of workers.


61 | P a g e

Private sector should:

encourage managers to employ progressive business practices;

assist in the building the capacity of workers in line with the new concept of social

capital;

place productivity and quality through Smart Partnership at the apex of

organisational endeavour;

maintain core standards at the work place in line with the Declaration on

Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Shortcomings of the NECF

Some of the shortcomings are:

It is not a negotiating chamber though some of its positions are factored into the

government decision-making machinery.

Public Service Associations are not players of this forum despite the fact that there

are critical components of labour in Zimbabwe.

The Tripartite Negotiating Forum

Background information

Since independence in 1980, tripartite consultations among government, labour and

business have been taking place following the ratification by government of the ILO

Convention No. 144 (Tripartite Consultations, 1976). The tripartite consultations have

been, to a greater extent, restricted to meetings among the Ministry responsible for

Labour Administration, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the

Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ).

Up to 1998, the consultations had remained narrow in scope

It is against this background that in 1998, at the zenith of the labour movement’s

protests, demonstrations and job stay-aways against macro-economic problems, that

the idea to transform the tripartite consultation arrangements by broadening the scope

in line with paragraph 3(b) of ILO Recommendation No. 152 was mooted. With Social

Dialogue in mind and as the way forward to deal with issues of national outlook, the


62 | P a g e

Government, Labour and Business formalised in October 1998 their meetings into the

Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF).

The agreed terms of reference of the TNF are:

to identify and deal with all macro- economic issues that affect the well- being of

the economy and social development;

to deal with issues debated in the NECF and render themselves for negotiations. (A

practical example is the issue of a Social Contract, which was debated in the NECF

in September 1999 and was referred to the TNF since it is a negotiable matter);

to negotiate and recommend positions to the respective constituent bodies;

to monitor the implementation of the agreed positions once ratified by constituent

bodies.

Composition for the TNF

Government

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (Chairperson)

Finance and Economic Development

Industry and International Trade

Mines and Energy

Lands and Agriculture

Environment and Tourism

Information and Publicity

Other Ministers are invited depending on the issues under consideration.

Business

Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (EMCOZ) (business co-ordinator and co-

chairperson)

Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC)

Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ)


63 | P a g e

Chamber of Mines

Commercial Farmers Union (CFU)

Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU)

Labour

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union’s (ZCTU) (labour co-ordinator and co-

chairperson)

Public Service Association (PSA)

Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA)

Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZNA)

5 members of the Executive Office of the ZCTU attend the TNF

Issues finalised by Social Partners in the TNF

The following issues were discussed and agreed upon within the auspices of the TNF

in October 1999:

the scrapping of the Development Levy;

the scrapping of the 2½ sales tax which the Government had effected in November

1997;

the deferment of taxation on Pension Funds to allow for a comprehensive study.

Current discussions on Social Contract

At the beginning of September 2000, the social partners started negotiations aimed at

the conclusion of a Social Contract. The social partners agreed to start with a

Declaration of Intent towards a Social Contract. This is a prelude to the conclusion of a

Social Contract and its main objectives are:

to create a conducive and tolerant environment for the discussion and conclusion

of a Social Contract;

to overcome constituents differences and work towards a common goal being

guided by a common vision regarding the future of the economy;


64 | P a g e

to remove the fears and mistrust among Social Partners;

to commit social partners to sustainable Social Dialogue.

Advantages of the TNF approach

It is a negotiating chamber

It is result-oriented

Representation in the TNF is by institutional arrangement

It is a forum, which affords social partners to meaningfully engage in decision-

making processes on issues, which have a national outlook.

Concluding Remarks

Social dialogue is the only way forward for this country to survive in depressed

political and economic environments.

Economic problems have to be tackled by all social partners – government, labour,

capital, and society in general. Not one single party can resolve some of the

teething problems being faced by the country.


65 | P a g e

PAST EXAM QUESTIONS FOR REVISION

1. Discuss Robert Mitchell’s “Iron Law of Oligarchy” and its relevance to trade union

democracy.

2. A contract of employment is a way of controlling the labour process. Discuss with

reference to Zimbabwe’s statutory and common law provisions on the employment

contract.

3. “An unceasing power struggle is therefore the central feature of industrial

relations…..”Hyman (1975). Discuss

4. Discuss the contention that “there is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of

unequals” with respect to the State’s intervention in industrial relations.

5. Does the definition of Industrial relations as job regulation represent a narrow

framework for the study of the subject? Discuss

6. Conflict is always inherent in Industrial Relations. Discuss this argument with

reference to the three Industrial Relations perspectives.

7. The issues of power and control are central to the study of industrial relations.

Discuss

8. Discuss the various elements that are fundamental in developing a legally binding

employment contract as discussed in class.

9. Analyse the factors that have led to the growth and decline of trade unions in

Zimbabwe since 1900 to date.

10. Discuss the role of the State in industrial Relations.

11. Analyse the critical elements that should be considered by negotiators for effective

negotiations to take place. Discuss the extent to which the State has contributed

towards the rise and fall of trade unions in the pre and post-independent

Zimbabwe.

12. Discuss the impact of globalization on Industrial Relations in Zimbabwe. In your

answer, take note of how flexibility issues have shaped the employment contract.

13. a) “…the issues of power and control are central to the study of industrial

relations…”.Outline the various types and sources of managerial power in

Industrial Relations.


66 | P a g e

b) Discuss the strategies employed by management in order to gain full control of

the labour process.

14. a) Discuss the contention that conflict is always inherent in Industrial Relations.

b) Analyse the nature and causes of industrial conflict and the various ways that

are used to contain it.

15. a)

b) Discuss the factors that are likely to affect the nature and scope of collective

bargaining in Zimbabwe today.

16. a) Discuss the reasons why employees join trade unions as well as the factors that

discourage others to obtain membership in such organizations.

b) Critically analyse trade union democracy and the factors that are likely to

impinge on trade union democracy in the contemporary business world.

17. Discuss the role played by Social Dialogue in addressing issues of Social and

Economic Policy in Zimbabwe since 1998. To what extent has it added value to all

parties to the Social Contract?

18. Analyse the impacts of the new H.R Agenda on the management of Employment

Relations today.

REFERENCES

Grogan J, (2000), Workplace Law, 5th ED

Gwisai M,(2006), Labour and Employment Law in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Labour

Centre, Harare

Labour Act, (2006), Government Printers, Harare

Mugumisi S,(18 Nov 2009), Collective Bargaining: lessons form from 2009 focusing

at 2010 and Regional Trends, Paper presented at the IPMZ Labour

Briefing in Harare.

Schiphorst F.B,(2001),Strength & Weakness: the rise of ZCTU and the development of

Labour relations (1980-1995)

Swanepoel et al,(2007), South African Employment Relations, Van Schaik Publishers,

Pretoria

Taxler.F,(2009), The Economic Effects of Collective Bargaining Coverage: A cross

national analysis, ILO, Geneva


INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS MODULE - Midlands State … 10… · Web viewThe management prerogative...

Documents

Transcript of INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS MODULE - Midlands State … 10… · Web viewThe management prerogative...