LABOUR
Trade unions announce merger deal
Posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005
Trade union federations Fedusa, Nactu and Consawu are to merge,
they revealed on Tuesday.
The formal announcement of the merger would take place on
Wednesday at the Roodepoort headquarters of the Federation of
Unions of South Africa (Fedusa).
The move would create a politically independent, non-aligned
federation with 1.1 million members.
Established in 1997, Fedusa represents more than 500 000 members
from more than twenty affiliated trade unions.
The National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) is South Africa's
third-largest federation, consisting of 20 affiliated unions with a
combined membership of nearly 400 000.
Formed in 1986, it was previously politically aligned to the Pan
Africanist Congress (PAC) and held Black Consciousness ideologies.
The Confederation of South African Workers' Unions (Consawu),
established in 2003, had 24 affiliated unions with 226 148 members
by July.
Pre-empting the merger, the
country's largest trade union
federation, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu), on Tuesday
said it had "always supported the vision of one united trade union
federation in South Africa".
The initiative could a "stepping-stone" towards its vision of
one-country, one federation — something all workers desired, but
which would be impossible without Cosatu's 1.7 million paid-up
members.
Cosatu, established in 1985, warned against the initiative
taking the narrow, short-sighted position of becoming "a
significant rival to Cosatu".
"If they take that position, it will suggest that Cosatu, rather
than capital, is their main enemy. Such a move would only assist
the employers and government, who will seize on the opportunity to
play divide-and-rule between different workers' organisations and
seriously weaken the union movement," Cosatu cautioned.
It appealed to the leaders of the new federation to take the
first route and open talks with Cosatu,
"so that we can move
towards the strong united federation we all aspire to create".
"We are ready to engage with the new leadership on this," it
said.
Sapa
| 
