Abraham-Rubin-Shelah Open Colorings and a Large Continuum

We show that the Abraham-Rubin-Shelah Open Coloring Axiom is consistent with a large continuum, in particular, consistent with $2^{\aleph_0}=\aleph_3$. This answers one of the main open questions from the 1985 paper of Abraham-Rubin-Shelah. As in their paper, we need to construct names for so-called preassignments of colors in order to add the necessary homogeneous sets. However, these names are constructed over models satisfying the CH. In order to address this difficulty, we show how to construct such names with very strong symmetry conditions. This symmetry allows us to combine them in many different ways, using a new type of poset called a Partition Product, and thereby obtain a model of this axiom in which $2^{\aleph_0}=\aleph_3$

Industrial relations in Namibia since independence: between neo-liberalism and neo-corporatism?

The paper seeks to examine the changes and continuities in industrial relations in post-independence Namibia. In particular, it aims to explore some of the key elements in the process through which the distribution of the costs and rewards of economic and industrial restructuring is institutionalised. The paper concentrates, through in-depth interviews with key role players, on how the attempts at sustaining a durable and redistributive trade-off between economic efficiency and social equality led to a contradictory fusion of neo-liberal and neo-corporatist forms of labour market regulation. The research reveals that changes in the regulation of the labour market since independence have created opportunities for advancement and participation by groups of more skilled and organised employees, while weaker and less skilled groups have generally experienced a decline in employment conditions and the absence of collective representation. These developments reflect and reproduce patterns of racial and gender discrimination, industrial structure, trade union membership and collective bargaining across the various sectors and occupations. The paper shows that a system of low-skill, low-wage and low-trust relations - with an emphasis on cost reduction and employment "flexibility" - is fast becoming embedded in industrial relations in Namibia. Given the prevailing economic policies, industrial strategies and labour market structures, Namibia's integration into the global economy will most likely involve the increasing dislocation and exclusion of vulnerable and "peripheral" workers from the formal economy. The paper highlights the ways in which the transformation of industrial relations in Namibia is shaped by the legacy of apartheid-colonialism and the pressures of globalisation. Specifically, the conjunction of increasingly deregulated product markets and increasingly regulated labour markets has driven a wedge between the pursuit of short-term objectives and the attainment of long-term transformational goals

The limits of transnational solidarity : the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Swaziland and Zimbabwean crises

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the main union federation in South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid. This paper evaluates COSATU's post-apartheid role in working for democracy elsewhere in Southern Africa through deepening transnational solidarity, focusing on its role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Although the federation successfully mobilised trade union members to oppose the contravention of human and labor rights, its ability to affect lasting change was limited by contradictory messages and actions by the South African government, the dualistic nature of institutional formation in these countries, strategic miscalculations and structural limitations on union power

PCF Theory and the Tukey Spectrum

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the Tukey order and PCF theory, as applied to sets of regular cardinals. We show that it is consistent that for all sets $A$ of regular cardinals that the Tukey spectrum of $A$, denoted $\operatorname{spec}(A)$, is equal to the set of possible cofinalities of $A$, denoted $\operatorname{pcf}(A)$; this is to be read in light of the $\mathsf{ZFC}$ fact that $\operatorname{pcf}(A)\subseteq\operatorname{spec}(A)$ holds for all $A$. We also prove results about when regular limit cardinals must be in the Tukey spectrum or must be out of the Tukey spectrum of some $A$, and we show the relevance of these for forcings which might separate $\operatorname{spec}(A)$ from $\operatorname{pcf}(A)$. Finally, we show that the strong part of the Tukey spectrum can be used in place of PCF-theoretic scales to lift the existence of Jonsson algebras from below a singular to hold at its successor. We close with a list of questions.Comment: Comments welcome, via emai

Industrial relations in Namibia since independence: between neo-liberalism and neo-corporatism?

The paper seeks to examine the changes and continuities in industrial relations in post-independence Namibia. In particular, it aims to explore some of the key elements in the process through which the distribution of the costs and rewards of economic and industrial restructuring is institutionalised. The paper concentrates, through in-depth interviews with key role players, on how the attempts at sustaining a durable and redistributive trade-off between economic efficiency and social equality led to a contradictory fusion of neo-liberal and neo-corporatist forms of labour market regulation. The research reveals that changes in the regulation of the labour market since independence have created opportunities for advancement and participation by groups of more skilled and organised employees, while weaker and less skilled groups have generally experienced a decline in employment conditions and the absence of collective representation. These developments reflect and reproduce patterns of racial and gender discrimination, industrial structure, trade union membership and collective bargaining across the various sectors and occupations. The paper shows that a system of low-skill, low-wage and low-trust relations - with an emphasis on cost reduction and employment "flexibility" - is fast becoming embedded in industrial relations in Namibia. Given the prevailing economic policies, industrial strategies and labour market structures, Namibia's integration into the global economy will most likely involve the increasing dislocation and exclusion of vulnerable and "peripheral" workers from the formal economy. The paper highlights the ways in which the transformation of industrial relations in Namibia is shaped by the legacy of apartheid-colonialism and the pressures of globalisation. Specifically, the conjunction of increasingly deregulated product markets and increasingly regulated labour markets has driven a wedge between the pursuit of short-term objectives and the attainment of long-term transformational goals