Countries Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Countries Analysis - Assignment Example SOUTH AFRICA LABOUR ISSUES Labor force in South Africa has increased since the days of Apartheid. During Apartheid, most of the Blacks were working in the informal sector and mostly provided unskilled labor. In 1994 and 1995, officials revised employment statistics to join into national accounts employment in the former black homelands which were home to almost one-half of the black South African population subject to the revisions, in mid 1995, the government estimated the national work force to 14.3 million people.1 Section 23 of the Constitution of South Africa2 provides for labor relations that everyone has the right to fair labor practices, right to join a trade union and the right to engage in collective bargaining. In 1997, the country3 adopted a new constitution which set out the regulations and basic conditions of employment and the labor laws were to comply with the Republic. The Act applies to all employees save for the members of the National Defense Force, the National I ntelligence Agency, the Secret Service and unpaid volunteers. Section 7 of the Act gives the proviso for regulation of working times. It goes ahead to provide for the allowed rest period to include a rest period of at least 12 hours between ending and recommencing works daily. WAGES An employee must provide written particulars of employment before commencing employment which include place of work; designation of job; the rate payable for overtime and the employee wages. An employer has a duty to pay an employee remuneration that is paid in form of money, the payment has to be calculated by reference to the several hours the employee works, that is 45 hours a week, or 9 hours a day. Notice of termination has to be given to the employee some months or days before an employee is dismissed, this is provided for in the Act. The state enacted Labor Relations Acti which has undergone numerous amendments to change the law governing labor relations and, to give effect to section 27 of the Co nstitution. The Act regulates the rights of the organization; it regulates the rights of the trade unions; it promotes and facilitates collective bargaining at the workplace and at the sector level. The Labor Act also provides for the legal effect of collective agreements, Disputes about collective agreements, Agency shop agreements, Closed shop agreements, Establishment of bargaining councils, Powers and functions of bargaining council, Registration of bargaining councils and the Constitution of bargaining council. LABOR AND POLITICS South African Industrial development had relied on an abundance of low-wage labor for centuries in order to ensure profits,4 but as time went by, economic and social problems associated with implementing apartheid emerged. The development of new technologies during the 1960s and 1970s made most industries to increase their capital stock so that they could invest in machinery and employ a few skilled technicians rather than adopt a labor intensive metho d that would need training and managing a large work force. The trend towards capital-intensive operations led to a lower labor costs and increased productivity. As a result, there was an increased rate of unemployment and poverty which fueled resentment and this made the government to raise the costs of preserving apartheid. Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was establishment in 1985 by 1990ii more than

Feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Feminism - Essay Example That function gives women such wisdom and power as no male ever can possess. When women can support themselves, have their entry to all the trades and professions, with a house of their own over their heads and a bank account, they will own their bodies and be dictators in the social realm. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1890 (Banner, 1980) The activists for women's rights in the nineteenth century may have read Godey's Lady's Book and the same domestic novels as their neighbors, but they believed that women's moral superiority justified their working for women's equality inside and outside the home. Why did they challenge the prevailing restrictions on women How did their own experiences in the family lead them to a feminist consciousness How did their domestic experiences shape their feminist thought and action Family issues--women's property rights, child custody, marriage, reproductive control, and divorce--were central to the early women's rights advocates' understanding of women's oppression. The Declaration of Sentiments passed in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, as well as the resolutions passed at other women's rights conventions, reflected the centrality of these concerns. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with many Quakers and Spiritualists, were the strongest advocates for marriage reform, both before and after the Civil War, when the women's rights movement as a whole narrowed its platform to concentrate on the vote. This emphasis on family issues stemmed from the supporters' own domestic experiences--empowering as well as restrictive--and from their outrage over the victimization of other women by abusive husbands. Aware of the precariousness of women's covert domestic power, many early activists for women's rights forged a feminist agenda designed to benefit women and their familie s. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and other notable feminists who were dismayed by the slow progress of achieving public power sought to apply feminist principles in their own lives. They pursued two major alternative strategies: combining marriage, motherhood, and careers; or choosing single celibate lives dedicated to reform (Banner, 1980). Many early advocates for women's rights came to a feminist consciousness as they perceived the disparities between their own experiences as wives and mothers and the cultural ideals of true womanhood. Some of them came to an awareness of their subordination when they were discriminated against in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In these movements they gained valuable political organizing experience through public speaking, lobbying, and petition campaigns. For others their feminist consciousness stemmed from their experiences as Quakers and Spiritualists. Women spoke in Quaker meetings, became ministers, held separate business meetings, and had equal educational opportunities. Feminists against the Traditional Family Certain topics were almost universally taboo in nineteenth-century America. Even husbands and their wives avoided discussing sex, homosexuality, prostitution, insanity, illegitimate children, birth control, and suicide. In a time when nudity was considered indecent, Hiram Powers's statue of a nude female titled Greek Slave caused uproar. Some museums had a "ladies hour" when women could view the statue

African American Caribbean Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

African American Caribbean Art - Essay Example This art involves the drawings that have been made through scribbling and scratching on the wall surfaces. They also involve illegal paints on the walls.Normaly; the decorative images are applied by painting to buildings and public transport facilities. Impressionist art. This art is meant to catch the attention of people. Normally, the pictures in this art are painted by the usage of more colours.The pictures represent the outdoor scenes. The pictures are often conspicuous, dazzling and vibrant at the places that they have been placed so as to attract people’s attention. The artist William Johnson used this approach in his artwork. Assemblage art. This art consists of three-dimensional elements that represent a particular object. The art involves modeling of objects that have volume. It is a visual art that consists of objects that can be seen and touched. It was commonly used by Edna Manley. The 1960’s through the1990’s were seen as a time of the cultural revolution, especially in art. Artists have become more worried about big ideas and innovation. The artist are now concerned with the quality of the paintings and not just artwork. The presence of technology has enabled the artist to take little time in the art work and also have wide and fine designs. Many art scholars have developed new educational priorities which emphasizes the pursuit of skills rather than knowledge. This has made the artists and art students less interested in gaining the traditions and craft of their subject, and instead focused on mastering production and innovation techniques. The personal innovation and interpretation have become vital than acquiring painting skills.Therefore, many individuals have failed to master the painting skills and depend on the presence of the computers. The introduction of new technology has enabled has enabled photographic and film images to be produced. The speed of production of the art work has increased significantly. The images that are

Philosophy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Philosophy - Assignment Example of the things they say seem to parallel one another in that the same self-value is recognized though Kant says it is autonomous and comes from within and Mill seems to think it okay to take advantage of others to some degree in order to derive physical pleasure over pain. Kant was a believer in the â€Å"freedom of will† or what we call free will as it pertains to the individual. He also believed that we don’t morally sacrifice our conscience or what is â€Å"good† about us just to meet some expedient need. Mill seems to make the argument that self-preservation comes first. He isn’t going so far as to say it’s okay to trample on others for personal pleasure of the highest degree, but that self-valuation holds the highest place on the ladder. Kant believes that any reasonably sane adult, in possession of rationality and the need to be autonomous (separated from the crowd) in his moral beliefs, will answer the question â€Å"What should I do?† (in this situation) with a two-fold set of beliefs: How will it affect me, and how will it affect others? Moral virtue plus complete happiness equals Highest Good. What is our obligation, our duty, or the good will we must show others when making a determination about how to conduct ourselves in the moral universe? In Mill’s world, the only life’s happiness to be found is in rote self-gratification and the only thing mankind need fret himself about is making certain (s)he is surrounded with only that which makes him feel pleasure and no pain. All else is ‘morally’ expendable, meaning there is no such thing, really, as guilt if the person who derived the pleasurable benefit is happy. Then Kant unwittingly crosses that by saying (close enough) that true happiness comes from within. Mill’s hedonistic stance is that there is no moral guide or judge when a person is pleasuring themselves and that no one has to be surrounded by anything or anyone that does not make them happy or give them their highest pleasures in

As I lay dying Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

As I lay dying - Essay Example Darl is not only a deep thinker, but very observant youth.(Wagner 1973) He immediately emerges as a unique character with what might amount to clairvoyance . Early on the reader is aware of this when Darl describes his younger brother Jewel who is behind him. He is able to discern that: â€Å"Jewel, fifteen feet behind me, looking straight ahead, steps in a single stride through the window. Still staring straight ahead, his pale eyes like wood set into his wooden face, he crosses the floor in four strides.’†(Faulkner 2000 p3) Be that as it may, Darl appears to be the sharper of the Bundrens and his philosophical nature may have confined him to a somewhat dreamy existence. While he says little, he is often times engaged in deep thought. It is indeed ironic that for a boy who has little to say, Darl conducts at least nineteen monologues throughout Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. ‘†What you want, Darl?† Dewey Dell said, not stopping the fan, speaking up quick, keeping even him from her. He didnt answer. He just stood and looked at his dying mother, his heart too full for words†. (Faulkner 2000 p 26). It is the fear of the power associated with Darl’s clairvoyance that ultimately accounts for his family’s decision to send him to a mental institution. Darl alienates himself from the community and others fear getting too close to him. The fear is grounded in their knowledge that he will learn some ugly, hidden truth. A truth they do not wish to share with others. It is ultimately this fear that drives his family to have him committed to an institution for the mentally impaired by the end of the novel. Darl’s detachment and estrangement from his family after his mother’s death is explained by Darl in the following passage: "It is as though the space between us were time: an irrevocable quality. It is as though time, no longer running straight before us in a diminishing line, now runs

An Analysis of the Movie ( Mystic River ) Assignment

An Analysis of the Movie ( Mystic River ) - Assignment Example The politics concerned with planning in Mystic River is stemmed from planning issues. The freedom of staying in slum community and environment raises the issue of planning in the movie. Furthermore, the freedom in the slum dwelling is not always enjoyed due to higher density demographic, similarly, the high density population causes the community to be too close, physically. The high population in the urban area poses obstruction to planning and other related issues. The communal obstruction in the movie has similar results that usually invoke changes among the communities. The planning politics in the film illustrate positions of public welfare where the personal gains and interest is the main protagonist. The planning politics began with water issues and overall welfare, and the effect of political affairs on the environmental nature. The Boston environment is maximized to suit the desires of the located citizens. Analysis of Mystic River and urban planning involved coordination of time and speed, which is juxtaposed with geography and history. The director of the movie focused on the relation between the cinematic space and urban planning. Since the special categories of the movie based on its topographies, location, site, and settings have changed in the entire movie. The movie integrates that understanding between geography and history without giving one a privilege (Belly, 14). Talking about the limited liability in urban development, is important to note that Lynch discovered the five elements like landmarks, nodes, edges, and paths compared to those that build the image cities (Peterson,119). In the film, the urban dwellers used social contact and personal communication to make personal connection in Boston city. Such networks in the film include the dating agencies, clubs, and public ballrooms. The network served the characters that are desperate and lonely; in addition, they served those that are happy

Management Information Systems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management Information Systems - Case Study Example In this context, the metrics and standards must not be confused with feeling and religion. Ethical dilemma is a situation when a good step (or approach) from the viewpoint of one set of metrics and standards becomes wrong from another set of metrics and standards or vice versa. Wal-Mart has become a top retailer in the U.S.A. by inventing how to reduce the operational cost, implementing low prices for products and placing the inventory in the shop just in time. When Wal-Mart notices that associates scheduling using manual mode is expensive and ineffective, no doubt it will try to find a way to reduce the particular expense. Implementation of digital technology for associate work scheduling by Wal-Mart cannot be considered as a wrong moral action. Wal-Mart’s moral action will be classified right, or wrong based on decisions that management implements in stores using the information that they receive from the Kronos system. Management uses information to reduce staff early in the day and increase staff during the midday rush. Management reduces staff again toward the end of the afternoon and increases again for an evening crowd (â€Å"Flexible Scheduling at Walmart†, n.d). This scheduling method implies that the Wal-Mart is holding an X number of workforce under its control and distributing all or a portion of it during the day based on the optimization rule on how to maximize the profit. It should be noted that Wal-Mart is only paying the associates when they are at work. An additional benefit that Wal-Mart is bringing to its shareholders from this operation is money that the Company is not paying to the workforce while keeping them under its control. On one hand, Wal-Mart is fulfilling its responsibility to increase shareholders’ value; on the other hand, it is not fulfilling its responsibility to ensure workers welfare. Thus, the action is resulting conflicting moral obligations;