Trade Unions and Non-Standard Forms of Work: A Shifting Modus Operandi

Research Paper from the year 2009 in the subject Sociology - Work, Profession, Education, Organisation, grade: 83%, University of Cape Town, language: English, abstract: Drawing on information gathered by means of one-on-one interviews, and supplemented and
supported by a vast depth of literature in the respective field, this study aims to identify and
discuss the effects of non-standard work on the modus operandi of trade unions in South Africa.
The study makes use of a relative small sample of seven experts in the field of industrial
relations/industrial sociology, and research interviews were conducted based on an interview
schedule, but not limited to it. Although the South African trade union movement operates in
much the same if not entirely same manner as it did pre-1994, a number of factors have been
identified and discussed which have impacted on and affected the labour movement at both
organisational and grassroots level.