Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2002): African Sociological Review

5 - Trade Union Responses to the ‘Flexible' Workforce in Namibia Incorporation or Marginalisation

Gilton Klerck
Department of Sociology & lndustrial Sociology Rhodes University POBox94 Grahamstown 6140
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2143-3302

African Sociological Review, Vol. 6 No. 2 (2002): African Sociological Review

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that a key feature of current restructuring is an increasing polarisation in employment conditions and a growing differentiation of the worliforce. The changing social composition of the worliforce associated with employment 'flexibility 'poses serious chal­lenges to the modes of organisation that have long served the labour movement. Available evidence suggests considerable variation in the nature and efficacy oftrade union responses to the casualisation ofwork. This heterogeneity highlights the extent to which choices are structurally determined and underscores the tensions that can arise between d(fjèrent union strategies. A meaningful explanation of this diversity must there­ fore be rooted in the existence of different 'types' of trade unions. Prevailing typologies of trade unionism, however, cannot adequately account for the variety of union responses to 'flexible' employment. By linking the various responses to specific trade union 'identifies ' and by highlighting the limiting factors which serve to constrain choice, the approach adopted here represents an advance over alternative accounts. It allows us to proceed beyond mere taxonomies of trade unionism and to explore their conditions of possibility, reproduction, and propensity for transformation.

Keywords

Trade Workforce Incorporation Marginalisation Namibia
Gilton Klerck. (2002). 5 - Trade Union Responses to the ‘Flexible’ Workforce in Namibia Incorporation or Marginalisation. African Sociological Review, 6(2), 98–129. Retrieved from https://journals.codesria.org/index.php/asr/article/view/3898
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Author Biography

Gilton Klerck, Department of Sociology & lndustrial Sociology Rhodes University POBox94 Grahamstown 6140

Gilton Klerck is the labour relations specialist in the Department of Sociology & Industrial Sociology. His legal background and sociological training mean that Gilton is uniquely qualified to offer comprehensive courses in labour relations. He is one of the pioneers of socio-legal analysis of subcontracting and outsourcing in South Africa.

Gilton is currently Head of Department. He has acted as an external examiner for several South African universities, serves on the editorial board and review panel of local and international journals, and has acted as a referee for the National Research Foundation. Professionally, he is a member of the South African Sociological Association and an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. 

Gilton is also actively involved in the labour movement and civil-society organisations. He has (among others) conducted research, with direct policy relevance, for the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council in Bhisho and the Labour Resource and Research Institute in Windhoek, Namibia. He presented seminars to community and trade union leaders at the Institute for Social and Economic Research’s annual Summer School, the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit’s annual Winter School, and Nelson Mandela University’s Labour and Development Programme.

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