Speaker: Shaun Ruggunan

Date: Wednesday 15 November 2017

Time: 13h00-14h00

Venue: CCS Seminar Room A726, Level 7, Shepstone, Howard College, UKZN

 

This seminar is a focus on the themes of globalisation and labour markets discussed in Shaun Ruggunan’s book “Waves of Change: Globalisation and Seafaring Labour Markets”. Over 90 percent of the goods we use, from our smartphones to the fuel in our cars are transported by ships. The cargo shipping industry is the most globalised on Earth, yet we know very little about the context in which these ships operate or the ways in which its seafaring labour is organised. This book through evidence from South Africa and the Philippines provides an account of globalisation, seafaring labour markets and the state, that allows us to understand how processes of globalisation unfold in this industry. In telling this story of globalisation, Ruggunan shows that globalisation does not always mean a “race to the bottom” for workers. Labour solidarity and interventionist states shape globalisation as much as ship owners do.  Scholars, policy makers, students and those with a general interest in globalisation and labour will find this a revelatory account of an industry of which little is publically known.  Ruggunan will speak to the main themes in his book which are globalisation, labour markets and the ways in which capital and labour restructure through “waves of change”.

 

Shaun Ruggunan is a senior lecturer in Human Resources Management at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. An industrial sociologist by training, his doctoral and published work has examined the transformation of the global labour market for Filipino, South African and British seafarers. He has also published on the sociology of professions and critical management studies in South Africa. 

NOTE: A limited number of free copies of the book will be available for seminar participants.