Public sector trade union response to change in South Africa: a case study of the South African municipal workers union (SAMWU) in the Western Cape (1992-97)

The thesis explores the relationship between the public sector trade unions and the government in South Africa from 1992-7. The research is located in debates concerning the ANC government's endorsement of the 'free-market 1 economy in the post apartheid period. The Marxist method of historical materialism is used to explain the changing relationship between the state and the trade unions. To expound these issues, a single case study of the Cape Town branch of the municipal union - SAMWU - is examined. The case served several functions, it illustrated the nature of apartheid, it took account of the government's introduction of privatisation in the public sector, and simultaneously provided a vehicle for the development of the theory of the state and its inter-relationship with the trade unions. The questions that arose from the case were linked to whether SAMWU would engage in conflict or conciliation to stop privatisation in the public sector, and whether the state would be free to respond favourably to labour's actions and demands. A number of key findings were established relating to these areas. With regard to the state, the materialist analysis developed by the 'state derivation' theorists provided a useful tool, but for reasons outlined in the dissertation, neglected the basic structural dependence on capitalism. The theoretical conclusion of the thesis: was the state was not independent of capitalism, that it - along with business and labour - was ultimately bound up with the relations of capital. However, as an integral part of capitalism, the state was also affected by the 'contradictions' or potential conflict found within the exploitative relations between capital and labour. Consequently, in order to control any serious challenge from labour to the system - arising as a result of the 'contradictions' within capitalism - the South African state had chosen to engage in conciliation with the trade unions, with the aim of minimising any overall threat or resistance to the existing system. As to whether SAMWU would engage in this conciliation, or choose resistance to stop privatisation, the answer was viewed as related to the union members' levels of class consciousness, and the policies and organisation of their union. The class and collective consciousness of SAMWU members was seen as inherently tied up with issues of race - in particular their 'coloured' identity. The thesis conceptualised apartheid and race as a function of capitalism. It concluded that the continuing use made of the 'coloured' identity in the region, to disguise economic inequality, had the potential to negate against the members' collective ability to resist privatisation. With regard to the acceptance of conciliation, although no clear answers were immediately forthcoming by 1997, it was possible to deduce that formalisation and partnerships had, at this stage, done little to prevent free market practices from being introduced in the workplace. Finally, although the thesis was unable to conclude in 1997, that SAMWU would ultimately resort to industrial action to stop privatisation, the re-organisation of the union to remain rooted in rank-and-file activity, the campaigns and protests against privatisation, plus the declared intention of the leaders and membership during interviews to take strike action, all seemed to indicate this would be the case

Facilitative reforms, democratic accountability, social accounting and learning representative initiatives

This article considers critical accountants’ potential contribution to progressive reforms by examining how trade unions transformed workplace accountability relationships and developed social accounts as part of a workplace learning initiative. The article develops and utilizes the concept of facilitative reforms to interpret the advances brought by learning representative initiatives and accompanying changes in broader civil society, workplace relationships and social accounts in the UK and New Zealand. The article finds that the experience of the learning representative initiatives suggests that critical accountants’ support of facilitative reforms may sometimes be a fruitful strategy

More than nothing? Auditing business studies

This paper argues that business school scholarship can be seen as the example par excellence of what we are calling extreme neo-liberalism. By extreme neo-liberalism we mean the coexistence in the same sphere of extreme externalization of costs and extreme regulation of the sources of value. We argue that this condition is most obvious in the research audits conducted in Britain, and spreading globally, audits that record both the extreme externalization in business scholarship of all the sources of the wealth expropriated by business, and at the same time, regulate the very labour that produces this extreme self-regulation. Although this self-regulated labour regards itself as complete, and although it regards its acts of externalization as acts of self-making, we consider the relation between pedagogy and scholarship in order to show how this pervasive form of self-regarding simply does not hold. We conclude by noting that if business scholarship persists in defining itself against all that makes wealth possible, and thus making itself, logically at least, worthless, it also opens the possibility of starting an investigation of wealth, worth and value, from another point of view, one not dependant of completing business, but competing with it

Critical accounting scholarship and social movements: The case of rail privatisation in Britain

This paper reflects upon how accounting academics can contribute to emancipatory social change through connecting with the agency of social movements. A review of critical accounting work on rail privatisation in Britain is conducted, and a comparison is made with other instances of accounting academics working with social movements. Past work emphasises a Bourdieusian pre-occupation with intellectual autonomy from social movements. An alternative – a Gramscian understanding of the potential for ‘organic intellectuals’ to develop subaltern consciousness – is instead proposed. This frames a discussion on the similarities and differences between critical academic accounting work with rail social movements, compared to past efforts. The central questions addressed are: What ‘value’ do accounting scholars bring to social movements, and how might we judge and learn from the ‘successes’ of our activities? Is it preferable for critical academics to maintain ‘autonomy’ from the class struggle while striving to assist subaltern social movements? Does the neoliberalisation of higher education preclude social movement-orientated praxis? And, if not, how might the constraints that it poses on our activities be overcome? It is argued that a class-orientated, political praxis is both possible and desirable in the current conjecture, but more examples and studies are needed

Accounting and the second enclosure movement : a question of justice, equality of opportunities and freedom

International audienceEthics in accounting and business education must be considered in the contemporary context of neoliberal economic globalisation. Official responses to corporate scandals have included new laws and regulations, and some have argued that these scandals illustrate the need for change at an individual level, but this paper argues that the problem is manifested at a system level and that greater attention must be paid to the wider economic and social system within which individuals operate. Contemporary accounting education tends to treat ethics as an add-on component that itself may be justified in instrumental ways, such as a claim that it may enhance corporate profitability. In accounting and business education programs, case study scenarios utilising codes of ethics and ethical decision-making models are typically prominent in ethics components of accounting courses. This model of teaching is critiqued in this paper, and it is agued that it is necessary to transcend the individualised conception of ethics implicit in such approaches. Accounting and business educators have a special responsibility to examine ethics in the broader context of globalisation because it is at this level that many relevant ethical concerns arise. These concerns are directly connected to accounting education and practice. University academics (as intellectuals) should balance the humanistic/formative and vocational aspects of education. In relation both to developments in globalisation and the systemic crises of which accounting is a part, accounting educators should actively consider their positions in relation to the global hegemonic balance. As mediators in the intellectual realm, accounting educators can do more to make accounting education relevant to the lived experience of students, to the multifaceted global(ising) context in which we live, and to the capacities of graduates to act meaningfully in and on the world, individually and collectively