Africa
Chinese Investment in Africa. A Labour Perspective.
Edited by Anthony Yaw Baah & Herbert Jauch. ALRN, May 2009. 421 pages.
A comprehensive report on Chinese investments in Africa and their effect in industrial relations and labour conditions.
Full report (pdf-document)
Namibia
Water Privatisation in Namibia: Creating a new Apartheid?
By Jade McClune, LaRRI, 2004.
The report will take the reader on a long journey from the dusty roads of squatter areas to the makers of Namibia's water policies and further to the boardrooms of international water corporations and international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Full report (Word-document)
Ramatex: On the other side of the fence.
LaRRI, 2003.
The Ramatex textile factory is undoubtedly the most spectacular foreign investment in Namibia since independence. The report gives and overview of Namibia's Export Processing Zone programme as well as a profile of the Ramatex Company and focusses on the experiences of Ramatex workers.
Full report (rtf-document)
Labour at the Crossroads: a 'make or break' situation for Namibia's trade unions.
By Herbert Jauch, 2002.
Despite the organisational weaknesses and a lack of ideological clarity the trade unions are still among the most significant mass-based organisations in Namibia. In his article the director of the Labour Resource and Research Institute gives a brief overview of the history and current challenges of the Namibian trade union movement.
Full article (Word-document)
Export processing zones in Namibia: Taking a closer look.
LaRRI, 2002.
As part of its strategy to become an internationally competitive investment location, the Namibian Government introduced the Export Processing Zone Act in 1995, hoping that EPZs would attract foreign investment to Namibia and boost the country's manufacturing capacity. Nevertheless, only a tiny fraction of the expected number of jobs and very few linkages have been created while considerable costs have been incurred.
Full report (Word-document)
The State of Union Organisation in Namibia
Herbert Jauch and Barney Karuuombe. African Labour Researchers' Network, 2002.
The Namibian labour movement has undergone significant changes during the first decade of Namibia's independence. They had to shift form political mobilisation that dominated the unions' activities in the run-up to the independence elections in 1989, to a process of engagement with government and business under a new tripartite arrangement. The article gives a broad overview of the trade union movement in Namibia.
Full report (Word document)
South Africa
Building Alternatives, Building Alliances: Union responses to privatisation in South Africa.
By Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen, NALEDI, 2002.
Should unions respond to privatisation with an all or nothing approach? Should trade unions simply cut the best deals for members when services are privatised? Or should trade unions develop strategies to transform services to strengthen the working class. The author tries to answer these questions by using the South African experience, drawing both general lessons and more specific ones from attempts to privatise railways.
Full text (Word-document)
Working life in South Africa
By Mercy Brown
The booklet examines the impact of the global economical changes on working life in South Africa through the life histories of three workers in South Africa’s wine industry. The booklet introduces different aspects of South African life, gives an overview of the South African wine industry and provides the contextual background to the life and working histories of the workers in this industry.
Full report (Pdf)
Pilot studies and research reports of the African Labour Research Network
Foreign direct investment and local economic development in Africa - study by Ntwala Mwilima, LaRRI (pdf-document)
Corporate Accountability Frameworks - litterature review by Saliem Patel & Riedwaan Baboo, LRS and Wolfe Braude, Naledi (pdf document)
African Social Observatory - a synthesis report by Devan Pillay, Naledi (pdf-document)
Study on Metso Minerals in South Africa
Study on Woolworths in Ghana
Study on Shoprite in Zambia
Study on Shoprite in Zimbabwe
Unilever and Akzo Nobel - a Company Monitor case study financed by FNV Mondiaal, the Netherlands (pdf-document)
