Alan Rycroft

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Alan Rycroft University of Cape
Town Alan.Rycroft_at_uct.ac.za
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• Violence and dismissals in the strike
  context

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(No Transcript)
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The context

• 181 people killed in strike violence in SA in the
  past 13 years.
• At least 313 people were injured
• More than 3 058 were arrested for public
  violence.
• 1 377 people arrested between 1 Jan 2009 and 31
  July 2011
• 217 cases of public violence made it to court
• 9 people were convicted.

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Sociological, economic and political factors

• Inequality in South Africa increased in the
  period 1995-2005
• Service delivery protests speak of poverty,
  frustration and conflict over scare resources
• A 'culture of violence

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The anatomy of one strike

• FAWU obo Kapesi 31 others v Premier Foods
  Limited
• Houses of non-strikers firebombed, ransacked
• Cars and possessions set alight
• A female employee, dragged from her home at
  night, assaulted with pangas and sjamboks
• A witness was shot killed
• Money collected to assassinate Director
• Companys main witness disappeared

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Assumptions implicit in SA strike law

• An inseparable link between collective bargaining
  and the right to strike
• A strike must be orderly
• The strike must not involve misconduct

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The failure of the Golden Formula

• Refer a dispute the CCMA or BC for conciliation.
• The CCMA or BC must issue a certificate that
  dispute remains unresolved, or a period of 30
  days has elapsed.
• At least 48 hours notice of the commencement of
  the strike must be given to the employer.

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Success rate of CCMA

• CCMA conciliation - 57 success rate in interest
  disputes
• ie in 43 of mutual interest disputes the failure
  in conciliation allowed the parties to proceed to
  industrial action.
• Progress in s 150 intervention in strikes
  cohort of trained conciliators available.

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What the law offers

• Interdict
• Prosecution for contempt of court
• Damages
• Withdrawal of protection
• Prosecution for criminal offences
• Police or army control

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The strike dynamic

• the strike as protest
• the strike as warfare
• the strike as stratagem
• the strike as group process
• the strike as organizational change
• (Nicholson Kelly (1980)

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Psychological factors

• frustration acute deprivation
• anger
• aggression and violence
• There are three features of strikes which can be
  perceived in this way
• the intransigent employer
• the presence of police
• the existence of non-strikers

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The role of the police
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The role of non-strikers scabs
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Mob theory le Bon

• Authorisation
• Routinisation
• Dehumanisation
• Courts in SA, since the 1990s, have accepted
  conformity, obedience, group polarization,
  deindividuation, bystander apathy, and other
  psychological phenomena as extenuating factors

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The power of the toyi-toyi
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In the tradition of the anti-apartheid struggle
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Criticism of mob theory

• Reicher individuals do not lose identity in the
  crowd but rather shift from personal identity
  (what makes me as an individual distinctive from
  other individuals)
• to social identity (what makes my group
  distinctive compared to other groups)
• they do not lose values and standards but rather
  shift to acting in terms of the values and
  standards associated with the relevant group

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Is there a different approach?

• A shift from positional to mutual gain
  negotiation
• Joint training in modern negotiation theory and
  practice.
• Use of an independent and trusted facilitator
  from the outset
• A proper analysis of the problem before moving on
  to seek and evaluate potential solutions. 

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Delaying the mandating process until after the
problem analysis stage. 
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• Pre-negotiation meeting for problem analysis,
  issue identification, interest exploration and
  solution search
• The use of small task teams to promote lateral
  creative thinking
• Encourage thinking about possible trade offs
  across issues
• A working document which grows from the
  commencement of the negotiation into the final
  agreement at its conclusion - to record and
  reflect progress in the negotiations
• Strategies to counter bad faith negotiation and
  to curb strike related violence

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• The End?