The Harvester judgement : an historical assessment

The Basic Wage is considered to be the ethical element in Australia's complex and legalistic system of wage determination; the application of the philosophy of a 'fair go' to the lowest paid adult male worker. More than any other moment in time, November 1907 is seen as the occasion when society acknowledged its obligation to guarantee the unskilled man a definite minimum standard of living. Higgins spelled out carefully yet categorically the imperative of the Living Wage; and by erecting thereon an hierarchy of 'customary' margins for skill made it 'basic' to the entire wage structure. This thesis accepts that the personality of Higgins was important in the development of the concept and practice of the Living Wage. Yet more fundamental were the economic 1 social and political factors which. influenced attitudes of important interest groups to problems of wage determination. The sequence of study then is to first sketch the character of Higgins in the Introduction, and turn next in the first chapter to summarise the nature of Australian economic development: from prosperity, high wages and full employment, 1860-1890, to depression, reduced wages and persistent unemployment for most of the nineties and again from 1902~1905. Money wages, effective wages, and unemployment estimates are presented to illustrate the pace and direction of change. Chapter Two directs attention to the wage experience of unskilled wage earners. The wage indices presented suggest that in the 1900s, most of the unskilled earned substantially less than the Harvester wage of 7/- a day. Together, the continuing abundance of this grade of labour, price inflation, and the war held their average wage to approximately four fifths of this 1 ideal' wage - until 1921. Responses to changed conditions by labour, employers and government over the decades 1890-1910 are discussed in Chapters Three, Four and Five, with the intention of tracing changing attitudes to wage determining processes. Particularly stressed is the shift of power in wage bargaining against labour, both in the 1890s and 1900s, and the unions' attempts to manipulate state power in the interests of wage earners. Similarly, employers' responses to changed conditions are considered to point out resistances to the growth of quasi-legislative wage determining tribunals. In these chapters, emphasis is laid on labour and employer concern for protection - this as the main basis for interest reconciliation and ultimately for the provision of industrial tribunals, It is further suggested that government policy mostly reflected the outcome of influences exerted by the major interest groups. The result, as shown in Chapter Five, was the imposition of the 7/- a day Living Wage for public works and the emergence of specialised institutions to guarantee 'fair and reasonable' wages in the private sector. Chapter Six surveys attitudes to wage principles insofar as they were relevant to the growth of the Living Wage concept, whilst Chapter Seven discusses the development and importance of wages boards in Victoria and the Arbitration Court in New South Wales. The chapter entitled 'The Harvester Judgment' describes the attitudes of labour and employers in 1907, outlines Higgins' ideas on industrial dispute settlement, and suggests the Living Wage of 7/- a day was his attempt to raise wages paid for unskilled work to pre-depression standards. Finally, chapter nine attempts to indicate some of the institutional difficulties of establishing a national minimum wage and to state the importance of Harvester in the process

Integrating climate change considerations in planning for urban development in Sierra Leone : the case of Freetown

Much of the climate change literature is replete with discussions about the potential impact of climate change on cities. Whilst urban planners are increasingly being urged to develop robust and clear strategies for dealing with the impacts, in reality there is very little knowledge about the way the local context shapes whether, and how, planners and households are able to address the challenges posed. Moreover, since much of the literature on the response to climate change impacts has focused mainly on national level actions, there is very little knowledge about how such actions should be carried out in particular cities. Although local levels are now increasingly being recognised as plausible action points, the way in which institutional structures work to either shape vulnerability, or to constrain households and urban planning responses, has been largely ignored and the links poorly theorised. This study questions the dominant assumptions about ‘institutional fit’ and argues that the ingenuity of human agency in dealing with climate change can be constrained by the planning structures within which actions take place. The study uses Sierra Leone’s capital – Freetown − to explore this argument by examining the linkages between the country’s urban planning system, the structures of governance, and the system for climate change response and adaptation management. Using a multi-disciplinary approach that has been developed on both theoretical and empirical grounds, the research examines the important challenges that must be addressed in order for urban planning processes to effectively address climate change response and adaptation issues. The research uses a variety of data collection techniques (quantitative and qualitative) to investigate the constraints placed on actors at different levels in shaping the city’s development process and how this will be affected by climate change. The thesis proposes a framework to offer insights into some of the more practical considerations and approaches behind making climate change an integral part of urban planning. However, the inclusion of climate change considerations in urban planning decisions raises questions about what kinds of adjustments ought to be made to the current planning system. The thesis concludes that whilst institutions do not guarantee what actually happens in practice, they are critical for urban planning responses since the integration of climate change concerns into policy and practice is largely dependent on national and local level institutions.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceCommonwealth Scholarship CommissionGBUnited Kingdo

Coordination of development and operations activities in agile software development

DevOps is described as a software engineering culture and philosophy that utilises cross-functional teams, to build test and release software faster and more reliably through automation. As an emerging concept, its definitions and best practices are still ambiguous. However, interest in DevOps and its adoption continue to rise significantly among industry practitioners. The unclear nature of the concept presents organisations with a wide range of unstructured choices, and few guidelines to navigate through a plethora of valuable information. To contribute to understanding of the subject and to a more structured implementation, this study employs a mixed method qualitative approach to investigates the practice of DevOps in four phases. Phase one investigates the perceptions of DevOps and its associated practices, based on interviews with 11 industry practitioners across nine organisations. Phase 2 critically examines the DevOps implementation through interviews with 14practitioners who lead DevOps transformation in their respective organisations. In both phases, transcripts of interviews were coded and analysed using a method informed by grounded theory. The first phase identifies four different modes of DevOps implementation. A novel taxonomy is presented, which maps the approaches to cloud and on-premises deployment environments. In phase 2, six strategies of DevOps implementation were identified and uniquely characterised, with a critical examination of the roles of skillset and automation in the strategies. A combination of literature and theories generated from our data analysis led to the extension of an existing situational method engineering model, to create a novel model for DevOps implementation in phase three.The model is evaluated by engaging with expert practitioners in a Focus Group workshop. The evaluation shows that the model provides clarity and better understanding DevOps implementation to practitioners. Arising from the workshop, a physical instantiation of the model was created in a repository. This versioncontrolled repository provides practitioners with the opportunity to collaboratively determine their DevOps strategy and keep track of the improvement journey. This thesis concludes that organisations can implement DevOps in a structured and well-informed manner following the guidelines provided by our model

Sustaining Community-Based Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning Platforms at Work in Freetown, Sierra Leone

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, despite the progress in the official response to the COVID-19 outbreak, there remain concerns about the limited involvement of local communities and the use of bottom-up participatory approaches in the response. While the official response has been characterised by restrictive public health measures such as partial lockdowns and the declaration of a state of a public health emergency, for the urban poor, the implications have been wide-ranging including the deepening of inequalities, especially among residents in slum-like informal settlements who already suffer from pre-COVID-19 structural challenges and vulnerabilities. This includes challenges linked to health systems fragility, environmental risks and uncertainties around livelihoods in the informal economy, which forces many to live from hand to mouth. Ultimately, these vulnerabilities challenge the acceptance and compliance of the restrictive state-led health measures, which puts them at risk of infections. To address these structural inequalities and foster an inclusive dialogue, a City Learning Platform, comprising the Freetown City Council, local community residents and their groups, and a few non-governmental organisations have been working creatively to respond to the COVID-19 challenges faced by the urban poor. But, while this alternative bottom-up approach has allowed the coordination of response to address community-level priorities more effectively, how well the platform has been able to successfully sustain the interest and commitments of vulnerable groups and to build their capacities, co-create knowledge and explore new opportunities has yet to be understood. This article highlights the strategic value of Community Learning Platforms in sustaining local responses to the pandemic. It also explores how social protection measures are shaped into the local response and help tackle deeply entrenched inequalities in the communities. The article additionally reflects on the challenges and opportunities for using the Community Learning Platforms in the COVID-19 response

Partnering with higher education institutions for social and environmental justice in the global South: lessons from the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre

In the context of the £1.5 billion aid money that the UK government is now channelling through UK research institutions, this article explores the importance of building local institutions and capacity in order to establish equitable research partnerships that respond to local concerns. It will also explore the role of these institutions in brokering local partnerships for urban justice

Fighting COVID-19 in Freetown, Sierra Leone: the critical role of community organisations in a growing pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads in Africa, attention is increasingly shifting to the potential and ongoing impact on informal settlements, which face considerable challenges around the implementation of conventional control measures of social distancing, hand washing and self-isolation. In Freetown, Sierra Leone, residents of informal settlements have relied on local community organisations and groups, and their resourcefulness to provide essential preparedness, response and on-going support to alleviate the public health and economic risks associated with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is also premised on lessons drawn from dealing with previous epidemics, notably the Ebola virus disease in 2014–2015. This paper will explain the nature and form of community organisation that can be galvanised and leveraged for COVID-19 preparedness and responses that are suited for informal settlements. Secondly, it highlights the critical contribution of community organisations in social protection measures that tackle deeply entrenched inequalities in rapidly urbanising contexts. Finally, the cases examined seek to provide evidence of the value of processes of continuous learning within community organisation that are essential for both humanitarian assistance and emergency management. Although situated in Freetown, the broad lessons drawn are relevant for urban-poor communities and informal settlements in many urban African centres

The politics of urban management and planning in African cities

Half of Africa’s population is expected to live in a city by 2035, up from 40 per cent today. This is a testament to the fact that a quarter of the world’s fastest-growing cities are in Africa and 52 African cities already have more than 1 million inhabitants each. But these cities are only projected to absorb a quarter of the growth in urban populations, meaning that small and medium cities will host the majority of new urban dwellers (UN-Habitat, 2014: 23–25). African cities are the most unequal in the world, posing a major challenge to their future (UN-Habitat, 2010: 2)

An empirical taxonomy of DevOps in practice

DevOps is described as a software engineering culture and philosophy that utilises cross-functional teams to build, test and release software faster and more reliably through automation. Research shows that its adoption speeds up software delivery time, improve quality, security, and collaboration in software development. One controversial issue has been whether DevOps is an organisation-wide culture or a job description. As DevOps is an emerging concept, its definitions and best practices are still hazy, making its implementation in practice less informed and somewhat risky. The rising trend of DevOps adoption among software development practitioners therefore heightens the need for in-depth investigation into its implementation.This paper seeks to contribute to the above by critically examining DevOps implementation in practice through an exploratory case study, based on interviews with 11 industry practitioners across nine organisations. Transcripts of interviews were coded and analysed using a method informed by Grounded Theory. This study provides an empirical taxonomy of DevOps implementation, describing developers’ interaction with On-premises Ops, Outsourced Ops, DevOps teams, and DevOps bridge teams. We present a novel mapping of the approaches to on-premises and cloud-based deployments, and identified the facilitators of DevOps practices in the different modes. We further identified three distinct groups of activities in the fourth mode: provisioning and maintenance of physical systems, function virtualisation and creation of automated pipelines, and development, deployment and maintenance of applications, which may have given rise to the implementation of DevOps as bridge teams. Interviewees claimed these distinctions allowed developers to focus on delivering value for the business