Regulation and Flexibility: Industrial Restructuring and Labour Market Segmentation in Namibia, 1990-2000 - Softcover

Klerck, Gilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 363913379X ISBN 13: 9783639133790

Publisher: VDM Verlag, 2009

Synopsis

The first decade of independence in Namibia was characterised by both a strengthening of the legal and social safety net covering permanent, full-time employment and a proliferation of casual and temporary employment relationships at the margins of this regulatory framework. These shifts in labour regulation have created opportunities for advancement by groups of more skilled and organised employees, whereas less skilled and unorganised groups have generally experienced a deterioration of working conditions and a decline in employment and job security. In the lexicon of labour market policy, a bifurcated workforce is the outcome of ¿flexibility¿ measures designed to dismantle the ¿rigidities¿ associated with statutory and collective regulation. In this study, non-standard employment is viewed as a particular social and spatio-temporal 'fix' for the various regulatory dilemmas generated by the standard employment relationship. This conception underscores the fact that a national system of labour regulation decisively shapes the conditions under which employers are able to casualise or externalise a part of their workforce.

About this title

About the Author

Gilton Klerck is a senior lecturer in Industrial and Economic Sociology at Rhodes University, South Africa. He has published widely on industrial relations, workplace restructuring and labour markets. Current research interests include the impact of the minimum wage in South Africa and trade union responses to casualisation.

Edition details

• Publisher: VDM Verlag
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 363913379X
• ISBN 13: 9783639133790
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 428