South African Labour Movement Research Articles

Working-class Commuters and Innovative Use of Associational Power: The Case of Mamelodi Train Sector in South Africa

The article analyses the power resources of working-class train commuters in Tshwane, South Africa. I examine the organisational strategy of Mamelodi Train Sector (MTS), considering the crisis of representation characteristic of the South African labour movement currently. With changing composition of membership in the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the article begins with the question, what strategies and avenues are there for both unions and unorganised members of the working class? Through the case study of MTS, I suggest a need to rethink power resources and strategies in order to appreciate various non-union ways in which workers continue to organise under conditions that are at times hostile to unions. Drawing on the Power Resources Approach, I argue that MTS can utilise its strategic site of operations and associational power to link unorganised workers with relevant unions. Through its on-train organising, MTS strategically uses its associational power to achieve two things: 1) to empower non-unionised workers, and 2) to influence local-level politics during the morning and afternoon commutes. KEYWORDS: Mamelodi Train Sector; train; comrades’ coach; associational power; political agency

The South African labour movement

This paper reviews the state of the South African labour movement. It discusses trade unions within the context of national political dynamics, including the Tripartite Alliance and neoliberalism, as well as growing precarianization of work within South Africa. It examines splits within the major federation and explores debates around union renewal and new worker organizations. It argues that the political terrain is fragmented and shifting, but workers’ collective labour politics abides.

The "Double-edged Sword" of Institutional Power: COSATU, Neo-liberalisation and the Right to Strike

On 1 January 2019 amendments to the Labour Relations Act came into force that significantly altered and curtailed the right to protected strike action in South Africa. Internationally, the right to strike has been eroded in recent years with many countries adopting legal provisions that violate the International Labour Organization’s principles. Comparatively, the rights of South African workers to go on protected strikes remain better than many other places in the world, a reflection of the militant history of the South African labour movement. But the erosion of these rights, with the active support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, should be a cause for concern for activists and labour scholars in South Africa and beyond. This article develops the Power Resources Approach to consider how union institutional power has entrenched neo-liberalism in South Africa. Grounding the analysis of institutional power within the analytical framework of corporatism allows this article to develop an analysis of institutional power that is attentive to class forces. This provides an avenue for understanding the “double-edged sword” of institutional power in the South African context in order to comprehend when and under what circumstances trade unions advance and defend the interests of the working class and when they defend those of capital.
 KEY WORDS: labour; neo-liberalism; institutional power; corporatism; South Africa

Iimbongi of the resistance: praise poets, trade unions and extractive capitalism in apartheid South Africa

ABSTRACTThe South African labour movement of the 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by the rise of a new working class poetry. Drawing on traditional literary forms, the ‘worker poets’ became a prominent voice of anti-apartheid and anti-capitalist resistance. Performed during union meetings and community gatherings, their poems encoded the experiences of black labourers and gave voice to their struggles. As union membership surged throughout the 1980s, oral poets played a pivotal role in representing an invisible working class, advancing common notions of democracy, galvanising labourers into action and promoting social cohesion in the pursuit of a common cause. In challenging the extractive theft inflicted on their communities and environments, the worker poets exemplify a version of African environmentalism that recognises the constitutive ties between capital, labour and landscape, resisting not only the exploitation of African labour under the apartheid regime but also the environmental injustice that this subjugation represented.

Individual Trust and Distrust in South African Trade Unions: A Quantitative Analysis, 2011–2013

The South African organized labour movement is one of the most powerful on the African continent. A central actor in the democratic struggle, the movement continues to play a crucial role in the post-apartheid period. However, public opinion data collected by the South African Social Attitudes Survey for the period 2011–2013 suggest that only a minority of the public currently trust the organized labour movement. No cleavage in individual trust in trade unions was noted between age cohorts and labour market status. Distrust among the lower and working class has expanded significantly between 2011 and 2013. Findings suggest that trade unions in the country are increasingly associated with the unpopular political establishment. More research on public attitudes towards unions is required. There is a need for trade unions to intensify their engagement with working-class communities in order to build greater levels of individual trust.

Institutions, power and para-state alliances: a critical reassessment of HIV/AIDS politics in South Africa, 1999–2008

ABSTRACTFrom 1999 to 2008, delays in the adoption of a comprehensive treatment and prevention programme shortened the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. While the slow implementation of antiretroviral therapy has been attributed to a lack of institutional capacity, dissident views on HIV/AIDS and the effects of fiscal austerity, it was also an expression of power. This article analyses how the South African HIV/AIDS movement overcame this exercise of power by the AIDS dissident faction of the African National Congress (ANC) by building an alliance with the South African labour movement and moderate elements within the ruling party. The ANC's dissident faction responded to this by developing para-state partnerships with non-state organisations to support the AIDS dissident agenda. This study highlights the need to expand the para-state concept to take into account a wider range of social formations and the historically particular conditions under which they emerge.

The South African Labour Movement's Responses to Declarations of Martial Law, 1913-1922

The first two decades of South Africa's history is characterised as a period of serious endemic industrial unrest and violence, when the labour movement and capital were involved in regular conflict over labour issues and for control of the country's industrial work force. The level of violence in these conflicts was such that the government as a third party was repeatedly forced to intervene in the disputes and restore law and order by imposing martial law. This paper explores labour's attitude and responses to, as well as the consequences for labour, of the government's declarations of martial law during these disputes and in the First World War.

“Natal is a White Man's Land”: Anti-Asianism and Pro-White Labour Politics in Colonial Natal, c. 1906–1909

In recent years, the history of the early South African labour movement has been increasingly revisited and reinterpreted by social historians in order to produce a new understanding and synthesis of its influence on twentieth-century South African history. Labour and socialist newspapers, as well as official trade union organs, are important documents of the history of the early twentieth-century South African labour movement and present a general reflection of the socio-political views representative of this movement. This article focuses on the policies and political sentiments of the white colonial labour and trade union movement in Natal between c. 1906 and 1909, the period of existence of the Natal Labour Party (NLP). Contemporary literature on the history of KwaZulu-Natal pays scant attention to the NLP.

The “hollowing-out” of trade union democracy in COSATU? Members, shop stewards and the South African Communist Party

The South African labour movement’s strength has often been attributed to the vitality of local democratic structures and institutionalised mechanisms of worker control that govern unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Workers and shop-stewards continue to participate actively in local union activities and sustain democratic processes but, in an apparent contradiction, the arrival of political democracy has been associated with a decline in the intensity and vitality of local union democracy. As a result the model of union democracy is shifting from participatory to representative. This article draws on the results of the fourth leg of a longitudinal survey of COSATU members and shop-stewards and compares these results with surveys conducted in 1994, 1998 and 2003. The article explores the functioning of union democracy at the workplace and compares the attitudes of ordinary members and their elected representatives. At issue is whether this decline in the intensity of shop-floor democracy has resulted in a growing representation gap between workers and their elected representatives. The article concludes by examining the implications for union democracy of the recruitment of a large proportion of shop stewards into the South African Communist Party.

The Challenges Facing the South African Labour Movement

There is a growing body of literature on the role and impact of unions in the developing world, and on their ability to mobilize members against a background of neo-liberal reforms. The South African trade union movement represents a source of inspiration to organized labour worldwide, but has faced many challenges over the years. This article engages with debates on union solidarity and worker democracy, and draws on the findings of a nationwide survey of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to explore the extent of fragmentation according to gender, age, skill level and ethnicity. The survey reveals regular participation in union affairs, democratic accountability, participation in collective action, and a strong commitment to the labour movement, but variation in levels of engagement between categories of union members indicates significant implications for union policy and practice.

Trade Unions and Democracy in South Africa: Union Organizational Challenges and Solidarities in a Time of Transformation

AbstractBased on a nationwide survey, this article focuses on the perceptions of Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) members on two of the central issues that have dominated debates on the South African labour movement: the advisability of COSATU's Alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and the extent of internal union democracy. The survey revealed that the ANC‐Alliance continues to enjoy mass support, while internal democracy remains robust. At the same time, the federation faces the challenges of coping with — and contesting — neoliberal reforms, retaining and re‐energizing rank and file in the post‐apartheid era, and in reaching out to potential members in the informal sector and other areas of insecure work.

Gaining Influence but Losing Power? COSATU Members and the Democratic Transformation of South Africa1

This paper draws on the results of a third leg of a longitudinal survey of COSATU members run in 2004 by the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) and the Democracy and Governance unit of the Human Science Research Council in South Africa and compares these with results of the first two legs of the survey (1994 and 1998). The study shows a remarkable continuity of the militant union traditions within the union federation. Furthermore, COSATU members support the involvement of labour in institutions of the new democracy, including parliament and municipal councils because they believe that these provide them with opportunities to extract benefits and make new gains. For similar reasons support for the tripartite alliance led by the ruling African National Congress remains strong 10 years after the inauguration of democracy. However, an examination of the social characteristics of the membership of COSATU shows that the federation represents an ever-diminishing section of the working class and that it is making no headway in organizing workers in the growing precarious forms of work – contract, outsourced, casual and part-time workers. Furthermore, the federation's membership is increasingly becoming more skilled, more educated and older. In light of the above, the paper asks, does the survey data suggest that COSATU has been gaining political influence but losing organizational power during the democratic transition? Are we about to witness the marginalization of labour or is a process of union revitalization likely in South Africa? The paper concludes by arguing that both processes have occurred and that it is too early to suggest that the South African labour movement has been completely marginalized during the transition to democracy.

South African trade unions and globalisation: going for the ‘high road’, getting stuck on the ‘low road’

In this paper, we assess the South African labour movement's engagement with globalisation in the 1990s and its implications for labour politics in the following decade. Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with key informants, we show that, although the labour movement had become committed to a ‘high road’, post-Keynesian restructuring vision by 1993, its representatives failed to pursue that vision consistently in the economic policy negotiations that preceded the historic 1994 democratic election. In fact, labour delegates actually agreed to several policy changes that were more in line with a ‘low road’, neo-liberal approach, with dramatic implications for workers in some sectors. The inability of labour's engagement with globalisation to benefit the working class has led to a long search for a new basis for union strategy.

‘The Workers' Struggle’: A South African Text Revisited

In April 1982 workers from across South Africa met at the congress of the non-racial trade union movement, the Federation of South African Trade Unions, Fosatu. The federation was just three years old, but in that time it had grown five fold, from around 20,000 workers to over 100,000 (Baskin, 1991:25, 29). What they heard was a speech that must rank as one of the most important statements of principle ever delivered to a South African labour movement. Although the Fosatu general secretary, Joe Foster read it, the speech reflected the work of many people. Its authors have never been revealed, but the hand of Alec Erwin – Fosatu's first general secretary, and currently South Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry – was almost certainly among them.

The politics of trade unions in transition: the case of the Congress of South African Trade Unions

This article explores changes in political allegiances within the South African labour movement, drawing on the findings of a nation-wide survey of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Recent research shows that the Tripartite Alliance between the ANC, COSATU and the South African Communist Party remains overwhelmingly popular amongst COSATU members. This article shows that this appears to be both a product of South Africa's recent past and a reflection of a lack of credible alternatives.

The Star in the East: South African Socialist Expectations and Responses to the Outbreak of the Russian Revolution

Although the militant socialist left-wing of the largely conservative (white) South African labour movement was only a peripheral phenomenon, it identified itself closely with the left-wing international socialist movement overseas and promoted class solidarity. The outbreak of the First World War led to a schism in the South African Labour movement between the larger pro-war faction and the militant anti-war and revolutionary syndicalist left-wing. The latter saw the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 as confirmation that the dawn of the socialist millennium was breaking. The South African militant socialists enthusiastically identified themselves with the aims of the Russian Revolution. Left-wing socialists initiated militant municipal strike action by contributing to the short-lived existence of the Johannesburg and Durban Boards of Control, or 'Soviets'. The Johannesburg International Socialist League (ISL) and the Cape Town Industrial Socialist League vigorously endorsed the formation of the Communist International in 1919. The former also took the initiative to unite all the important followers of the Bolshevik Revolution in the country into the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) in 1921. In the wake of the 1917 Revolution leftwing socialist organisations, such as the ISL, the Industrial Socialist League and the CPSA, were among the first political organisations to endorse non-racialism and the class struggle in pursuing a socialist revolution and a future socialist South Africa.

The Current Crisis of the South African Labour Movement

The Current Crisis of the South African Labour Movement

From “Rolling Mass Action” to “RPL”: the changing discourse of experience and learning in the South African labour movement

This paper focuses on changing approaches to worker education within the South African labour movement over the past 20 years. It identifies the distinctive features of this movement in its early years of development, and shows how these were linked to an emancipatory educational discourse with particular notions of how knowledge is constructed, the role of experience in learning and the construction of particular forms of worker identity. It then traces the role of the labour movement in the development of new education and training policies in the context of transition to democracy in the 1990s. It shows how newer training discourses have impacted on union education and shifted the labour movements’ understandings of how and where knowledge is produced, the kinds of knowledge that should be valued, the social purpose of education and the very meaning of worker experience and its significance for learning.

Riches from rags: bosses and unions in the Cape clothing industry 1926–1937

During the late 1920s and 1930s a strong, militant garment workers' union was built up in the Transvaal. Solly Sachs, Joanna Cornelius, Anna Scheepers and others, led the union through more than a hundred strikes in a successful battle for improved wages and conditions. In addition, the union held out against a barrage of attacks from Afrikaner nationalists intent on wresting control from 'the Jew-Communist Sachs'. The struggle of young Afrikaner workers against wage-cutting bosses and their rejection of the ideology of the Afrikaner nationalists provided an encouraging example to the rest of the South African labour movement. ' This was in sharp contrast to the experience of the garment workers of Cape Town who had to confront a union, closely in league with the factory owners, which condoned substantially lower wages than in the Transvaal and refused to lead a fight against poor conditions. The alliance between the local clothing manufacturers and the leadership of the Cape Federation of Labour Unions (CFLU) effectively countered all attempts to form a militant garment workers' union in Cape Town. The failure of the various attempts to mobilize Cape garment workers significantly illuminates the operation of South African industrial legislation. Specifically, it shows how the Wage and Industrial Conciliation Acts operated to structure the alliance (between manufacturers and union officials) and prevent the emergence of a militant trade union in the Cape clothing industry. One cannot approach an understanding of the struggles of workers in Cape Town, without an appreciation of the general conditions of class struggle