The Rural Labour Market in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT Wage labour in Zimbabwe is most often associated with large commercial farms. The use of wage labour within ‘peasant’ agriculture has been rarely investigated and remains largely undocumented. In 1986/7, the author conducted research in Zimbabwe which was explicitly concerned with issues of rural economic differentiation and the wage labour supplied and hired by ‘peasant’ households. The data suggest that a dynamic labour market exists in rural Zimbabwe. Further, it was found that in addition to the many part-time rural wage workers, there is a group of people who depend upon wages for all or the bulk of their income. These people, who have been largely ignored by policymakers, cannot be defined as farmers at all.     

The geographical distribution of Labour

The small volcanic and limestone islands of the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean, have a continuous history of commercial agricultural production which goes back 370 years. During this period, conditions of the environment, both natural (volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts) and human‐induced (deforestation, erosion, land degradation and reduction in the water‐table), have interfered with development in a variety of ways. The paper reviews past and present situations, and considers how growing sectoral imbalances may accentuate the resulting problems.     

The Restructuring of Labour in the Automobile Industry in South Korea

Based on a case study of the South Korean automobile industry, this article explores the qualitative shift in employment practices implied by the expansion of contract labour from peripheral services to the main production activities of firms. This new phenomenon involves the greater integration of labour contracting into the production process, together with changes in employment practices and the rights of workers, which poses a challenge to our conventional understanding of labour contracting. The findings of the present study address the importance of investigating the issue of employment relationships and analysing the roles played by workplace actors in order to better understand the process of change in labour contracting and the consequences of increased numbers of non‐standard workers in the workplace. By revealing both the cooperation and the conflicting interests between workplace actors, the study highlights the sources of tension and contradiction associated with changes in labour contracting arrangements and the subsequent restructuring of the workplace.     

伪满洲国劳动界的民族结构和民族间的位置关系

在分析伪满洲国的民族间的地位关系时,有着在满朝鲜人是处于支配民族的日本人和被支配民族的中国人之间的“中间”或说是比中国人优越的“二等公民”的说法。这样的论据提示了伪满洲国时期劳动界的民族间的工资差异,劳动条件的差异及民族间的粮食供给顺序。虽然伪满洲国的工厂、矿山、搬运、通信劳动领域中民族间平均每人工资额数为日本人一朝鲜人一中国人的顺序,平均每人工资额数朝鲜人比中国人多;但是其中高收入的比重却是中国人比朝鲜人高很多,朝鲜人中高收入的人是极少数。劳动条件也是朝鲜人比中国人恶劣。另外伪满洲国劳动界事实上是日本人和中国人两分天下,朝鲜人的比重微乎其微。其结果是伪满洲国的劳动政策也是以日本人和中国人为主,朝鲜人在其劳动政策中处于次要的地位。     

The Misappropriation of Malaitan Labour:

During the ‘crisis years’ in Solomon Islands from 1998–2003, Guadalcanal militants and the Guadalcanal provincial government showed resentment to the ‘foreign’ Solomon Islanders, mainly Malaitans, who lived there and forcefully claimed that the indigenous people of Guadalcanal suffered economic disadvantage on their own island. Malaitan counter-justification related to the need to protect their families in Honiara and stabilise the crumbling central government. This paper looks at the historical reasons why Malaitans left their island in the first place. The answer involves complex causes going back to the 1870s. Because Malaita has always been heavily populated, it drew labour recruiters from Queensland, Fiji and within the Protectorate, but for various reasons never attracted traders or planters. Unthinkingly encouraged by the British Protectorate administration and all post-independence governments, a pattern developed of ‘Malaitan muscle for hire’. Malaitan males became primarily a labour force for development projects elsewhere, and little attempt was made to introduce similar projects on Malaita. The paper also explores issues relating to resource development in Malaita Province and concludes that the problems there are no more difficult than on other large Melanesian islands.     

力的放歌--浅谈民和三川地区的劳动号子

我国历史悠久,地域辽阔、民族众多,各民族都有极其丰富的民间传统文化,民间歌谣更是浩如烟海,灿若星河。随着电视、广播、互联网等技术的飞速发展,现在这些民歌被越来越多的人所熟知和接受。此外,通过各地区民族民间文化保护工作的进一步开展,这些民歌形式都得到了相应的保护和发展。而作为最原始、最早出现的民歌形式——劳动号子却被人们渐渐遗忘。一些协作性较强,动作在节奏、速度上经常变化的集体劳动,需要步调一致、动作协调,如果没有统一的指挥号令,动作就会参差不齐、力量分散,劳动就无法顺利进行。劳动号子就是人们在这类劳动场合,…     

Labour Bureaucracy and Labour Officialdom in Evo Morales's Bolivia

Evo Morales has labelled his government the ‘government of social movements’, and much has been written on relations between social movements and the state in Bolivia since the turn of the century. The Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) — Bolivian Workers’ Central — has, however, remained largely absent from discussions in much of the literature. This article seeks to analyse the position of the COB under Morales, and to explore the nature and consequences of its relationship with the government over the past 12 years. The article differentiates between the concepts of labour bureaucracy and labour officialdom and examines how they can be used as analytical lenses that shed light on the position of the COB today. The author argues that during Bolivia's neoliberal period (1985–2005) the need to look after the COB bureaucratized union structures, as personal needs of the leadership were placed above those of the Bolivian working classes. This then allowed Morales's government to easily co‐opt sections of the labour movements’ leadership to form a labour officialdom, leaving the COB unable to challenge the continuation of the neoliberal structure of the economy and represent the majority of the country's working classes.     

Recruitment Procedures in the Construction of Labour Market Relations The Ethnic Divide in Sweden

In seeking to better understand the processes involved in the structuring of regional labour markets, an interview study has been conducted which focuses on recruitment procedures in private firms and public sector organizations in the Stockholm region, Sweden. The analysis discusses some of the effects of recruitment procedures used by the investigated firms and organizations, especially in terms of how new employees are selected and how these procedures may in turn act to hinder the entrance of ‘others’ into employment. The conclusions are discussed in relation to the situation in Sweden with particular consideration of the ethnic structure of the workforce and the high unemployment rates among groups of the immigrant population. Further, it is argued that such recruitment procedures as evidenced in the interview study are related to wider socio‐economic change, the particular characteristics of workplaces and their spatial context.     

Unfree Again: Social Reproduction,Flexible Labour Markets and the Resurgence of Gang Labour in the UK

Abstract: The reproduction of human insecurity in contemporary capitalist societies is linked to the need to “produce” labour at a price that permits the realisation of surplus value, and crises of social reproduction (both generalised and specific). In this paper I use a social reproduction lens to focus on the example of the emergence, and recent resurgence, of gang labour in the UK. I look first at the gang labour system, its evolution, and processes and institutions of regulation. The paper then examines the ways in which the gang labour system sheds light on interrelationship of relations of production and reproduction, processes of class formation, and how the power of supermarkets and the political imperative to keep food costs down, which are related to patterns of migration and racialisation, privilege the reproduction of some workers over others. This in turn signals the need to engage with the role and significance of unfree labour in contemporary economies.