Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'State-labour relations'

China’s achievement of developing a vigorous market economy is based on Chinese communist party (CCP)’s top-down reform and opening-up policies since 1978. Meanwhile, political reform of the second largest economy in today’s world is continuously delayed. Without an agenda of bringing democracy and regulation-making process into workplaces, China’s state-owned enterprises were swiftly transformed to be profit-oriented economic entities with managerial supremacy. As an authoritarian regime still run by communist party, China has to negotiate with its own socialist tradition, which entails not only restructuring labour relations in workplaces but its national ideology. This study explores Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) politics of labour management in China’s local state sector. With use of multiple qualitative inquiring techniques, the study selects two state-owned corporations located in Shanghai region as cases, and provides an in-depth analysis on Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) politics of managing labour force formulation as well as re-shaping employment relationship within those transitioning SOEs. The study is expected to illuminate the diversity within and across regions and industrial sectors in China. Also, these case studies suggest that CCP adopts pragmatic approaches over labour managing matters so as to ensure its sovereign influence. I will argue that the key to understand SOEs’ management rebuilding is CCP’s governing tradition of co-option and elite selection, which is a prolong legacy that has shaped the party’s personnel managing system since revolutionary era. It is also hoped that the findings of my empirical research will lead to theoretical discussion on China’s path of industrial relations in future: if such dynamic managerialism in the state sector is able to guarantee further delays of workplace political liberalisation of labour relation, or not.

Botswana is a formally liberal democratic country that is known for its impressive economic growth and political stability. The country has sometimes been referred to as Africa's economic miracle and a shining example of democracy in a continent notorious for economic mismanagement, military dictatorships and one-party government. However, this picture of Botswana is too superficial and generous. This study seeks to delve beneath the surface of this much acclaimed liberal democracy in order to explore the system of labour repression that is the dark side of Botswana's constitutional framework of individual rights and democratic freedoms. In Botswana, the collective rights and freedoms of trade unions, though formally recognized, are in fact severely restricted. The state prevents workers in the public sector from forming or belonging to trade unions at all. In the private sector there are manifold constraints on industrial bargaining, organisation and activity. These forms of control over the trade union movement derive from the Botswana state's position as a peripheral capitalist state. These structures of social domination, however, have not gone unchallenged by the labour movement. The growth and development of the trade union movement and the challenges posed by the labour movement to both the state and capital have shifted the state towards limited labour reforms. This shows that, while the Botswana state remains the guarantor of private capital accumulation, its form is nevertheless determined by the constellation of class forces in which it is located. If the state is to maintain legitimacy and hegemony in society, and not rely on coercion alone, it must accede to some of the demands of the working class. Botswan&s liberal democracy gives the working class space to fight for the reduction of exploitation and to push the state toward more social reforms. At the same time, however, there is occurring a marked change in how the state relates to labour - from what may be called a strategy of "national economic development" to one more influenced by neo-liberal economic and political approaches. The conclusion I have reached in this analysis is that workers and their unions need to develop a long term strategy to increase their social weight in relation to the state and capital. The strategic option recommended here is social movement unionism. It is argued that because of the liberal democratic form of Botswana capitalism, social movement unionism, rather than overt political unionism stands a better chance of success because this form of unionism will not split the ranks of the workers along party lines.

This study is, above all, about the men and women whose labour form the basis of Nigeria's economy and social stability: the petroleum workers. Those we will come across here, work in perhaps the most important single enterprise in Nigeria; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The study itself was inspired by (i) an attempt to understand what work and work relations mean for these people, and (ii) by my dissatisfaction with the conventional wisdom in Industrial Relations analysis; which in the past years has inspired the regulation of the working lives of these petroleum workers as much as any group of employees in Nigeria. The study is on the NNPC, with special attention to the NNPC Refinery at Warri. The work itself is divided into three main parts; Part I, which is the Introductory section, is further divided in four chapters. Chapter 1 explores the main conceptual issues of this study, explains the research methods and examines some methodological issues that derive from the fieldwork. In Chapter 2, the labour process literature is reviewed, and this forms the analytical basis for the discussions in Parts II and III, while Chapters 3 and 4 provide the background information on Nigeria and NNPC respectively. Part U examines, under four chapters, the nature of work and processes of shopfloor relations in NNPC generally, with particular emphasis on the Refinery. Chapters 5 and 6 examine the nature of work and the internal labour market, while Chapters 7 and 8 look at the specific forms of relations on the shopfloor and their implications for shopfloor struggles. In Part III, I focus on unionism in the industry and the processes of interest mediation within the NNPC. The study takes conceptual issues with the main contributions to the Labour Process debate and argues for a more studied and coherent re-assesment of Braverman's work, by recognizing its theoretical and methodological objectives. The study concludes with a re-exposition of the main conceptual issues; first by emphasizing that it is only within the framework of a rigorous conceptual redefinition of production relations that we can overcome the limitations of conventional Industrial Relations discourse. Second, and central to this, is a re-conceptualized method of theory, which enables us to understand the socio-cultural peculiarities of each national or regional context, and overcome the limited vision of liberal-pluralist industrial relations ideology. In this sense, the study places strong emphasis on Marx's method of abstraction, both as a method of different levels of abstraction, and of one-sided abstraction. The Refinery, where the bulk of the field research was done, is located in the riverine belt of southern Nigeria. Although often referred to as Warri Refinery, the plant is situated in the Ethiope local government area of Bendel State, outside Warri (see Map A). This complication is a result of the settlement pattern in this area of southern Nigeria; Warri, for instance, is surrounded by tiny pockets of settlements, each with distinct lineage/clan history and traditional political autonomy. Two of such settlements are Jeddo and Ekpan villages which share the north-western borders with Warri, but in a separate local government area. It is on the territories of these two villages that the Refinery is located, although I will continue to refer to the plant as Warri Refinery.

The thesis is a study of labour regulation and the State in the Sudan in the light of a general theoretical conception of labour law and the State. The first Chapter defines the concepts of analysis that are used throughout the study, isolates the "essential" properties of the Capitalist State and Law from the historically concrete forms which they assume in a particular society and distinguishes between processes which influence development of the form of law and others which influence its sociological development. Drawing on the analysis in Chapter I, Chapter II exposes the inter-relationship between the Sudanese social formation, State and Law and the implication of this inter-relationship for both the form and substance of labour relations law. Chapters III, IV and V are specific verifications of the hypothesis regarding the inter-relationship between the State and labour relations law in the Sudan and that regarding the development of the "substance" and "ideology" of law in general. The thesis considers law as an empirically-founded discipline. But, it distinguishes between various types of empirical facts about law corresponding with respective semi-autonomous social levels at which law asserts its existence. The research method followed describes the empirical facts about law at the particular level and, in order to determine the epistemological significance of these facts, analytically relates them to empirical facts at other levels. Wherever used in the thesis the term "theory" signifies either this methodological procedure of analysing the inter-connection of empirical facts at a certain level and their inter-relation with other facts at other levels, or the substantive generalizations about law which findings at these various levels would allow. I consider my application of this methodology to the study of labour rela tions law, the historical dimension this application introduces in socio-economic analysis of this law, the criticism of certain Marxist and other sociological conceptions of law it enables, and the socio-histor ical relativity of the "substance" and "ideology" of law it reveals as original contributions to the knowledge of labour law. The compilation and evaluation within the framework of the thesis of empirical materials on industrial relations in the Sudan are likewise original contribution to the knowledge of Sudanese "labour law" and labour law in general.

Dans un contexte où l’on parlerait volontiers de « non-droit » ou de « droit invalide », où l’on serait tenté d’établir une corrélation entre secteur formel ou informel de l’économie et effectivité ou ineffectivité du droit, les modes d’intervention juridique de l’État dans les relations de travail ainsi que leurs formalisations, apparaissent sous-tendus au Togo par des réalités aussi diverses que paradoxales. L’analyse des conditions de production et de mobilisation du droit du travail permet de dégager quelques caractéristiques propres au fonctionnement de ce dernier en tant que système normatif au Togo. L’État peut sembler à la fois omniprésent et absent, puissant et impuissant. Les conditions de production du droit d’apparence hétéronome comme de celui élaboré sous contrôle étatique, conduisent à s’interroger sur la validité de certaines dispositions. Le droit positif apparaît parfois produit sans véritable attention à la question, pourtant essentielle, de l’articulation de ses sources et, quelquefois, selon des voies imprévues. Au travers du prisme particulier de l’analyse des mobilisations du droit du travail, des thématiques apparaissent récurrentes ou marginales, selon que l’on se réfère aux politiques et discours officiels ou bien à la pratique des acteurs institutionnels et sociaux. La réception du droit des relations de travail par ces derniers dépend en réalité non seulement du contexte socio-économique mais aussi des pouvoirs et situations en cause. L’interprétation juridictionnelle témoigne elle-même d’originalité quand ce n’est pas d’invention du droit
In a context where we willingly speak of "non-law" or "invalid law", where one would be tempted to establish a correlation between formal and informal sectors of the economy and of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the law, legal intervention methods regarding labor relations by the State and their formalizations appear underpinned by both diverse and paradoxial realities in Togo. The analysis of labor law production and mobilization conditions reveals some characteristics of its operation as a normative system in Togo. The State may seem both omnipresent and absent, powerful and powerless. Production conditions of heteronomous law or state control law, raises questions about the validity of certain provisions. Positive law apears to be sometimes produced without proper attention to the essential question regarding the articulation of its sources, and sometimes in an unexpected way. Throughout the distinctive prism of the analysis of labor law mobilization, themes appear recurring or marginal, as they refer to policies and official statements as well as the involvement of institutional and social actors. The receipt of labor relations law by the latter depends in reality not only on the socioeconomic background but also on the powers and situations in question. Judicial interpretation itself shows originality, when this is not an invention of the law

This dissertation investigates the labour migration from Southern Europe to Sweden, and the changes in Swedish immigration policy between 1960 and 1972. The first part of the dissertation examines the role of the state in shaping the migration streams from Southern Europe to Sweden. From the beginning of the 1950s to 1966, Sweden’s borders were relatively open, and this facilitated a significant amount of immigration. A system of unregulated individual labour migration developed, where foreign citizens could enter Sweden as tourists and thereafter look for work and obtain a work permit. For a significant period of time there doesn’t seem to have been any strong opposition to this laissez-faire system. This all changed during the 1960s, however, when the liberal immigration regulations were called into question. An important factor was that immigration increased dramatically in the mid-1960s. In addition, the national composition of the migration streams to Sweden changed during these years. Immigration from Yugoslavia, Greece and also from Turkey increased, while the number of immigrants from the Nordic countries diminished. In connection with the changing immigration pattern, certain actors, such as the trade unions and Sweden’s central employment authority, AMS, called for more restrictive immigration regulations. Demands from the trade unions and AMS led to a more stringent immigration control in 1966, and again in 1967, when a new Swedish immigration policy was introduced. Swedish research into changes in immigration policy during the 1960s often emphasizes the considerable influence of the trade unions on the policy shift. An argument put forward in this dissertation is that the intensification of immigration control not only reflected the demands of the trade unions, but that significant demands also came from within the state apparatus, and particularly from AMS. AMS was a relatively autonomous actor when the immigration regulations changed in 1966-1967, and its demands and knowledge regarding the influx of migrant labour made a significant contribution to the formation of the new immigration policy. The second part of the dissertation investigates how industrial companies have shaped the migration streams from Southern Europe to Sweden. Immigrants from Yugoslavia and Greece were often recruited in order to perform the heavy and subordinate work in the manufacturing industries that native workers had either avoided or left at that particular time. The dissertation attempts to explain this concentration of Southern Europeans in subordinate positions in the manufacturing industries. During the 1960s, Yugoslavs became the largest non-Nordic group in the migration streams to Sweden. How did Sweden become connected with this emigration country situated in the Mediterranean? A conclusion is that, to a great extent, the requirements and actions of industrial companies shaped the national composition of the migration streams to Sweden.

This study was aimed at analysing structural relations between the State and the non-governmental organizations (NGO) sector. It focused on the relations between two NGOs, namely the Labour Research Service and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa on the one hand and the National Development Agency on the other. The National Development Agency is a State intermediary structure established to facilitate funding and policy dialogue between the State and the NGO sector. The three institutions have been included in order to analyse the way in which a state-designed institution relates with NGOs and in turn the NGOs responded in general.

Estudar a indústria têxtil paulista, um dos mais importantes setores fabris no final dos anos (19)20, é, de uma certa mneira, compreender uma parte fundamental daquilo que abrange o complexo industrial brasileiro. O objeto desse estudo, nesse sentido, é a evolução econômica da indústria têxtil do estado de São Paulo durante as duas décadas pós-Depressão (1929-1950). Seu desempenho produtivo, as mudanças das suas estruturas subsetoriais e espaciais e suas relações de trabalho são alguns dos aspectos que este trabalho pretende examinar
To study São Paulo\'s textile industry, one of the most important ones in the late 1920s., is, in a certain way, to comprehend a fundamental part of what the brazilian industrial complex comprises. The object of this study, thus, is the economic evolution of São Paulo state\'s textile industry during the two post-depression decades (1929-1950). Its production performance, the changings of its sub-sectorial and spacial structures and its labour relations are some of the aspects that this work seeks to examine.

A idéia de que a formação de laços de cooperação e a organização em associações podem contribuir para a melhoria da qualidade de vida de populações pobres tem adquirido força entre teóricos e atores políticos. Parte deles argumenta que o Estado tem historicamente agido contra a possibilidade de organizações autônomas emergirem em comunidades de baixa renda, mas exemplos recentes mostram que atores estatais também podem incentivar e apoiar estas comunidades para que se auto-organizem, o que pode ser decisivo para que elas se desenvolvam em termos sociais e econômicos. A presente dissertação pretende estabelecer o quadro teórico e histórico no qual se insere um exemplo significativo de como o Estado pode, em parceria com setores organizados da sociedade civil, estimular a organização coletiva das parcelas mais pobres e menos organizadas da população, a fim de promover seu desenvolvimento. Este exemplo vem do programa Incubadora de Cooperativas, da Prefeitura Municipal de Santo André, município da região do Grande ABC, São Paulo. Os limites e possibilidades de uma política pública de fomento ao cooperativismo como estratégia de desenvolvimento são considerados com base em duas abordagens principais: de um lado, os debates sobre o papel de governos para o estímulo à participação dos cidadãos e sua organização em associações dentro de um quadro de redefinição das relações Estado-sociedade civil; de outro lado, o contexto de construção do que vem sendo chamado economia solidária, que aqui caracterizamos como uma diversidade de experiências coletivas de organização econômica, onde as pessoas se associam para produzir e reproduzir meios de vida segundo relações de reciprocidade, igualdade e democracia. Com base nos avanços, dificuldades e desafios do caso da Incubadora de Cooperativas de Santo André, procuramos refletir sobre o potencial apoio do Estado em relação às formas de economia solidária.
The idea that building cooperation ties and organising in associations may contribute to improve the quality of life of the poor has been growing among social scientists and political agents. Part of them argue that the state has historically worked against the possibility of autonomous organisation rise among poor communities, but recent cases have proved that state actors may also work in ways of fostering and helping organisation in these communities, what may be decisive to their development both in social and economic terms. This dissertation attempts to build the theoretical and historical frame for an interesting example of how state, along with organised groups of civil society, can foster collective organisation of poor and non-organised people in order to promote development: the Cooperatives Incubator, of the Municipality of Santo André, São Paulo, Brasil. Limits and possibilities of such a public policy as development strategy are considered according to two main approaches: the debates on the role of governments to promote civic participation and organisation, what is related to the redefinition of state-society relations; and, on the other hand, the building of what has been called solidarity economics, featured as a diversity of collective experiences of economic organisation, where people get together to produce and reproduce means of life according to relations of reciprocity, equality and democracy. Based on the progress, difficulties and challenges of the Cooperatives Incubator of Santo André, we try to point out reflections on the potential role of the state to support forms of solidarity economics.

This study represents the intellectual biography of an idea. That idea is the Welfare to Work regime of the New Labour government of Tony Blair over the period 1997 to 2007. This Welfare to Work regime is situated within a concept of an Enabling State developed in speeches by New Labour Ministers, particularly Blair, Gordon Brown, David Blunkett and the brothers Ed and David Miliband. The study elaborates the concept of 'enabling', traces its origins back, partly to the debates at Putney at the end of the English Civil War, partly through working-class history, and partly through the transformation of Gladstonian Liberalism wrought by New Liberals such as T.H. Green, L.T. Hobhouse and J.A. Hobson between 1880 and 1914. lt will argue that New Labour can be understood only by reference back to these origins. The study will also define the Enabling State by defining its opposite, the Disabling State created, albeit unintentionally, by the Conservatives between 1979 and 1997. The study employs a subset of Discourse Analysis, Speech Act Theory, to study the Labour speeches, since there has yet not been elaborated a 'theory of the Enabling State'. A participant observation is also employed to discuss how 'enabling' works at the level of individuals. The study is an attempt to 'read history backwards' as it were: to define the enabling state as it exists now, at least at the level of rhetoric, and then, as practical history, to trace lead ideas back to their sources, and to find antecedents: not cause and effect, for that is too difficult, but to find practices, traditions, concepts and discourse on which New Labour have been able to draw. This study will argue that, far from abandoning traditional Labour values, New Labour has found new ways to realise them.

Cette thèse étudie les relations entre le champ syndical et le champ politique en Turquie sous le gouvernement du Parti de la Justice et du Développement (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) de 2002 à 2015. Cette recherche s'appuie principalement sur un travail de terrain qui comprend des observations et une centaine d'entretiens semi-directifs dans les trois confédérations ouvrières syndicales (DİSK, Hak-İş, Türk-İş). Le terrain a été mené entre décembre 2011 et avril 2014. Sous le gouvernement AKP, une mise en cohérence entre le champ syndical et le champ politique s'effectue par le biais des transferts entre les deux champs. Les dynamiques partisanes entre les syndicats et les mouvances politiques donnent à voir des affinités entre les deux champs. L'intervention du gouvernement AKP, donc l'action étatique, renforce et accélère les transferts et transforme le champ syndical. Ainsi, les syndicats proches des réseaux AKP deviennent dominants dans le champ syndical. L'équilibre entre les organisations syndicales est modifié. Être pour ou contre le gouvernement AKP devient l'axe principal de la concurrence syndicale. Les dynamiques infra-confédérales, locales (sectorielles et territoriales), voire internationales, suscitent une pluralité des configurations partisanes et syndicales
This thesis studies the relationship between the trade union field and the political field in Turkey under the government of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) from 2002 to 2015. Joining the discussion around Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, it aims to understand how homologies between social fields are constructed and how fields are becoming autonomous. This research is primarily based on fieldwork that involves observation and nearly a hundred semi-structured interviews in the three labour union confederations (DİSK, Hak-İş, Türk-İş), conducted between December 2011 and April 2014. Under the AKP government, the transfers and alliances between trade unions and political parties enable their coherence. The intervention of the AKP government reinforces and accelerates these transfers, and transforms the trade union field. Thus, the correspondent of the dominant actor in the political field becomes the dominant actor in the trade union field. The influence of political cleavages on trade union strategies increases. Being for or against the AKP government becomes the main axis of union competition. These homologies do not yet happen in the same way at all scales. The local (sectorial and territorial), and even international dynamics generate a plurality of configurations. Autonomous spaces for resistance for trade unions emerge at the local level
Bu çalışmada Türkiye’de 2002-2015 yılları arasındaki AKP hükümetleri döneminde sendikal alanve siyasal alan arasındaki ilişkiler incelenmiştir. Pierre Bourdieu’nün alan teorisi etrafında, alanlararasındaki benzerliklerin nasıl oluştuğu ve alanların nasıl özerkleştiği açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır.Araştırma, 2011 Aralık ve 2014 Nisan tarihleri arasında üç işçi sendikası konfederasyonunda(DİSK, Hak-İş, Türk-İş) gerçekleştirilen gözlem ve yüze yakın yarı yapılandırılmış derinlemesinegörüşmelerden oluşan saha çalışmasına dayanmaktadır. AKP döneminde sendikal alan ve siyasalalan birbirine benzeşmeye başlamıştır. Sendika ve siyasi gruplar arasında var olan yakınlaşmalariki alan arasında çeşitli kaynak alışverişleri ortaya çıkarmaktadır. AKP hükümetinin sendikalişleyiş üzerindeki müdahalesi, devlet eliyle, bu süreci hızlandırarak sendikal alanıdönüştürmektedir. Siyasal ayrışmaların sendikal stratejiler üzerindeki etkisi artmakta, sendikal alankutuplaşmaktadır. Siyasal alandaki hakim aktörün sendikacılıktaki karşılığı kendi alanının hakimaktörü haline gelmektedir. AKP hükümetine karşı olmak veya olmamak sendikal rekabetinbelirleyici ekseni olmaktadır. Ancak bu homolojilerin sendikal örgütlenmenin her seviyesinde aynışekilde yeniden üretildiği de söylenemez. Yerel (sendikal/işkolu ve bölgesel), hatta uluslararasıölçekte, farklı sendika-siyaset ilişkileri ortaya çıkmakta, sendikalar için yerel ölçekte özerkleşmeve direniş alanları gözlemlenmektedir

Labour migration to Sweden is analysed from a labour perspective. As regards theory, the thesis focuses on how class and ethnicity intersect in a capitalistic setting, but it also gives attention to gender and age as structural principles. The main purpose is to analyse migrants in Sweden as a party in the relationship between labour and capital, and to explore how the immigration and the active recruitment of workers in other countries affected and was affected by the relative strengths of the parties on the labour market, covering the period 1945–1952. The relationship between labour and capital, regarding migration-related issues, is analysed from above and below on both national and local level, and the thesis discerns how the state mediated between the parties. It examines the first encounters between foreign-born and native-born workers at shop-floor level, how these encounters affected the relationship between the trade union and the industrial management concerned, and explores how all this, in turn, affected the relationship between the national parties on the Swedish labour market. A structural perspective is combined with micro analyses of narratives from the actors involved, which opens up for a study of the history of society. Firstly, the thesis addresses the relationship between the Swedish Engineering Employers’ Association and the Swedish Metalworkers’ Union, and secondly it is a local workplace study, focusing on Svenska Stålpressnings AB in Olofström (the Swedish Steel Pressing Company). The more precise focus of attention is on war refugees from Estonia employed by the company in Olofström between 1945 and 1947, and on Estonians recruited directly from West German refugee camps in the early 1950s. The study reveals that the Metalworkers’ Union at first opposed labour recruitment abroad – at both national and local level –, but also how coincident interests developed between labour, capital and the state regarding labour immigration. An important finding is that the Metalworkers’ Union had great influence considering which companies would be allowed to recruit foreign-born workers, and that the trade union could direct the migrations to workplaces with acceptable staff policies. A fundamental research problem for the thesis is, furthermore, how social groups construct ethnic boundaries between “us” and “the others”. It is stressed that Estonians’ background experiences and social memories differed from those of the Swedish workers, and that these differences affected the outcomes of the first encounters. But it is also pointed out that the Estonian group was internally divided, with a basis in interwar Estonian political history and in disparate class backgrounds among the Estonians.

Dissertação de mestrado em Sociologia (área de especialização em Desenvolvimento e Politicas Sociais)
Na presente dissertação procuramos tratar o tema do Estado e o do trabalho a partir de uma abordagem relacional. Perante um processo de globalização em expansão nas últimas décadas muitas análises apontaram para um esboroamento do papel do Estado na regulação das diversas esferas da vida social, focando a emergência de organismos e instrumentos de carácter supranacional que resultaram na diminuição das soberanias nacionais. De igual modo e em particular no espaço do capitalismo avançado o mundo do trabalho sofreu transformações estruturais, a partir da instauração de novas formas de produção e de organização do trabalho. O aumento do desemprego e o surgimento de novas formas de contratação levam hoje ao questionamento sobre a possibilidade de estarmos perante um processo de erosão das relações laborais, retirando ao trabalho a condição de centralidade na ordenação da vida dos actores colectivos e individuais que sempre ocupou. O fenómeno da precariedade laboral surge como uma das consequências mais visíveis dessa transformação. Aqui procuramos relacionar esses dois processos indagando sobre o papel desempenhado pelo Estado na regulação das relações do trabalho, nomeadamente a partir das novas formas de precarização laboral. Nesse sentido revisitamos as teorias do Estado e do trabalho, munindo-nos dos enfoques analíticos mais apropriados a esse estudo. A conceptualização do trabalho precário apresentada visa, no contexto português, encaixar este fenómeno num movimento mais amplo: o das transformações no sistema estatal nas suas projecções políticas e institucionais. Para tal recorremos a uma abordagem crítica dos principais momentos histórico de disrupção e reconstituição do poder de Estado bem como dos elementos que influenciaram esse processo no plano das relações do trabalho e das classes sociais em Portugal. Por fim atentamos à realidade substantiva e numérica da precariedade laboral presente nas novas formas de contratação estabelecidas pelo Estado de forma a melhor aferir o papel que este desempenhou nesse processo.
This work aims to address the issue of state and work from a relational approach. Faced with a growing globalization process in recent decades, several investigations pointed to a collapse of the state's role in regulating various spheres of social life, focusing on the emergence of supranational instruments and organizations which produced a national sovereignty decrease. In the same way, particularly within the advanced capitalist space, the world of work has gone through structural transformations, by introducing new forms of production and incoming methods of work organization. The growth of unemployment and the emergence of new forms of labor contract lead to the issue about whether the labor relations are facing an erosion process, diminishing the importance of work in the organization of the individual and collective life. The precarious work phenomenon emerges as one of the most visible consequences of this transformation. We attempt to relate these two processes by questioning the role of the state in regulating labor relations, especially looking into the new forms of precarious work. To this end we revisit state and work theories, addressing the most appropriate analytical approaches. The precarious work conceptualization presented aims, within the Portuguese context, to fit this phenomenon into a broader trend: the state system transformations in their political and institutional projections. For this we use a critical view to the major historical events of disruption and reconstitution of state power as well as the factors that influenced this process in terms of labor relations and social classes in Portugal. Finally we look to the substantive and numerical reality of precarious work presented in new forms of labor contract established by the State in order to better assess the role it played in this process.

Les syndicats d’entreprise chinois souffrent d’un manque apparent de pertinence pour les salariés. Dans l’intervalle, les gouvernements et les fédérations de syndicats locaux mènent de plus en plus de réformes syndicales d’entreprise en vue de promouvoir la négociation collective et la démocratie syndicale. Ces deux tendances se produisant simultanément, c’est ainsi que les questions de recherche suivantes viennent à l’esprit: (1) D’une manière générale, la négociation collective et la démocratie syndicale améliorent-elles la pertinence des syndicats pour les salariés? (2) Dans le cas chinois, les réformes de la négociation collective et de la démocratie syndicale menées par les gouvernements et les fédérations de syndicats locaux améliorent-elles la pertinence des syndicats d’entreprise pour les salaries? Afin d’explorer et d’expliquer les variations de l’identification syndicale des employés et de l’identification des employés avec l’employeur, cette thèse développe un nouveau cadre théorique composé de quatre lignes d’analyse. Cette thèse examine d’abord les récits instrumentaux et constructivistes de l’identification syndicale des salariés. La possibilité d’une double identification, d’une identification unilatérale, ou d’une double désidentification ouvre une troisième ligne d’analyse, qui se concentre sur la relation entre l’identification des salariés – la configuration combinant l’identification syndicale des salariés et l’identification des salariés à l’employeur – et le cadre de référence pour les relations de travail. Enfin, en prenant en considération la spécificité du système chinois de relations de travail, cette thèse considère l’intervention du Parti-État en vue d’explorer comment une telle intervention affecte la démocratie syndicale et s’il existe ou non d’autres facteurs en jeu dans la relation entre la démocratie syndicale et l’intervention du Parti-Etat. Afin d’explorer ces quatre lignes d’analyse, cette thèse s’est appuyée sur des études de cas comparatives de six filiales d’entreprises multinationales étrangères dans, ce que nous appelons à des fins d’anonymat, la zone de développement économique et technologique de Binhai. Deux iv séries d’enquête sur le terrain comprenaient des entretiens dans chaque entreprise de l’échantillon avec le responsable syndical, trois à cinq membres du comité syndical, quatre ou cinq délégués syndicaux (le cas échéant), et cinq à sept membres syndicaux. Les principaux résultats empiriques sont résumés comme suit. Premièrement, trois types d’identité des syndicats d’entreprise chinois – le pont critique, le pont constructif, et le pont communicatif – à titre de pont entre les salariés et leur employeur et qui est assumé par un syndicat d’entreprise. Il existe par ailleurs une correspondance entre l’identité syndicale et l’identification des salariés. Deuxièmement, l’identification du syndicat des salariés est associée au caractère instrumental de syndicat et à la démocratie syndicale. La démocratie syndicale affecte non seulement directement l’identification du syndicat des salariés, mais affecte également le caractère instrumental de syndicat et, à son tour, a un impact indirect sur l’identification du syndicat des salariés. Les synergies entre le cadre de référence des relations de travail, la capacité stratégique syndicale, et la vitalité délibérative conduisent à la construction de l’identité syndicale. Troisièmement, le cadre de référence va du pluralisme adversarial à l’unitarisme autocratique, puis à l’unitarisme consultatif, et enfin, à l’unitarisme coordonné. En affectant l’instrumentalité syndicale, le cadre de référence affecte indirectement l’identification syndicale des salariés. Le cadre de référence affecte également l’amélioration des intérêts des salariés par un employeur et à son tour, a un impact indirect sur l’identification des salariés à l’employeur. Enfin, l’intervention du Parti-Etat affecte la démocratie syndicale mais comme modérée par la capacité stratégique.
Chinese enterprise unions suffer the apparent absence of relevance for employees. In the meantime, local governments and federations of trade unions are increasingly conducting enterprise union reforms with a view to promoting collective bargaining and union democracy. With these two trends occurring simultaneously, the following research questions come to mind: (1) Do collective bargaining and union democracy improve the relevance of trade unions for employees? (2) Do the reforms of collective bargaining and union democracy conducted by local governments and federations of trade unions in China improve the relevance of enterprise unions for employees? In order to explore and explain the variations in employee union identification and employee identification with the employer, this thesis develops a novel theoretical framework consisting of four lines of analysis. This thesis first examines the instrumental and constructivist accounts of employee union identification. The possibility of dual identification, unilateral identification, or dual disidentification opens up a third line of analysis, which focuses on the relationship between employee identification – the configuration combining employee union identification and employee identification with the employer – and the frame of reference for labour relations. Finally, in taking the specificity of the Chinese labour relations system into consideration, this thesis considers the intervention of the Party-State with a view to exploring how such intervention affects union democracy and whether or not there are other factors at play in the relationship between union democracy and the intervention of the Party-State. In order to pursue these four lines of analysis, this thesis drew on the comparative case studies of six subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises in, what we label for the purpose of anonymity, the Binhai Economic-Technological Development Area. Two rounds of fieldwork involved interviews in each sample enterprise with the union officer, three to five union committee members, four or five union stewards (when applicable), and five to seven union vi members. The major empirical findings are summarized as follows. First, three types of identity of the Chinese enterprise unions discussed – critical bridging, constructive bridging, and communicative bridging – emerge in terms of the role of the bridge between employees and their employer, which is played by an enterprise union. There is a link between trade union identity and employee identification. Second, employee union identification is associated with union instrumentality and union democracy. Union democracy not only directly affects employee union identification but also affects union instrumentality and in turn, has an indirect impact on employee union identification. Synergies between the frame of reference for labour relations, union strategic capacity, and deliberative vitality lead to union identity construction. Third, the frame of reference ranges from adversarial pluralism to autocratic unitarism, then to consultative unitarism, and finally, to coordinated unitarism. By affecting union instrumentality, the frame of reference indirectly affects employee union identification. The frame of reference also affects the improvement of employee interests by an employer and in turn, has an indirect impact on employee identification with the employer. Finally, the intervention of the Party-State affects union democracy but as moderated by strategic capacity.

This thesis examines the effects of the so-called Hartz IV reform on the German labour market development, with special emphasis on unemployment reduction. To determine the causal link, a variety of tools are used, namely macroeconomic studies, worker flow analysis, surveys and comparison with competing arguments. Preponderance of evidence suggests, that Hartz IV played a significant role in unemployment rate reduction in the period following its implementation. Size of this effects is hard to discern exactly, but an estimate in the range of 1,5-2 percentage points should be quite accurate. Contrary to popular belief, this reduction did not occur to the detriment of general job quality, such as by splitting of old jobs or by dilution of their working hours. Furthermore, the issue of relative poverty is investigated. The thesis concludes that the increase in relative poverty was not caused primarily by Hartz IV, nor is it a good measure of actual living standard. The increase seems to be to a large degree driven by demographic changes, mainly the decreasing size of German households.