Trade unions in South Africa
South Africa's trade union movement, the largest and most disciplined on the continent, has played an influential role in determining labour market and industrial relations policies in the country.Its role in dismantling apartheid legislation and practices in the workplace remain one of its major achievements. During the apartheid era it succeeded in making employers appreciate the benefits of negotiating with employees through their representative unions. The fruits of these negotiations included agreements on union recognition, wages, conditions of service, workplace restructuring and retrenchments.
Wildcat strikes - a regular occurrence in the 1970s through late 1980s - have significantly decreased, thanks in part to stipulations in the Labour Relations Act giving workers and their unions redress through mediation, conciliation and arbitration.
Trade union representation is now an accepted fact of industrial practice. Almost all sectors of the economy, including the public service, have representative unions which engage employers over issues affecting their workforce.
Regulated, co-operative labour relations
Industrial relations policy is regulated through labour legislation that is negotiated at the statutory National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). Trade union federations, employer bodies, the government and civic organisations are represented in Nedlac, which debates and tries to reach consensus on social and economic policy issues.
South Africa's post-1994 labour legislation is among the most progressive in the world, providing for nine institutions to settle disputes, ensure fairness in the workplace, and nurture sound, co-operative industrial relations.
Three main union federations
According to the 2001/02
South Africa Yearbook, there were about 17 trade union federations at the end of 2000. This number could be higher, though, as federations are not required by law to register, and unaffiliated unions spring up all the time.
There are, however, three prominent trade union federations with affiliates operating in the different sectors of the economy. These are the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa), and the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu).
Although the three federations and their respective affiliates compete for membership, they co-operate in forums such as Nedlac. They have also embarked on joint campaigns, including demonstrations against amendments to the Labour Relations Act.
Strong unions, stable workplace
The strength of the trade unions lies in the fact that its campaigns are issue-focused and therefore appeal directly to its target members. The shop steward structures on the factory floor serve two major purposes: they ensure that workers’ interests are articulated, and that agreements with employers are implemented.
The factory floor structures also ensure that discipline and unity of purpose is maintained among the workforce. This benefits employers, as they interact with their employees through structures that enjoy legitimacy among the workers, thereby ensuring a relatively stable industrial environment.
Employers and trade unions have, over the years, cultivated a co-operative working relationship that has created a less strained working environment. Among the gains the unions have registered over the years is the concession by employers that unilateral decision-making is undemocratic.
A trade union movement is born
The basis of today’s trade union movement was laid in 1973 when about 100 000 workers in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal embarked on strike action to demand higher wages. Other workers joined in, engulfing Durban’s entire industrial heartland in strike activity.
The strikes soon spread to other major centres in the country, prompting the formation of a number of industrially demarcated unions, starting in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Thus was born a national, albeit fragmented, trade union movement.
The unions challenge apartheid
The militancy shown by the trade union movement in support of union recognition and higher wages soon translated into political mobilisation against apartheid structures.
The apartheid-era Industrial Conciliation Act, for example, recognised the right of white, Indian and coloured workers to belong to trade unions while denying black workers the same right. Consequently, trade unions argued that workers and their unions could not remain disengaged from community struggles to dismantle the apartheid system.
Unions soon began participating in community struggles against high rents, unrepresentative local councils and apartheid laws, leading in the 1980s to the establishment of community organisations, including youth, student and women’s structures.
A co-operative relationship between unions and community organisations was established. The many stayaways in support of political demands in the 1980s were jointly organised by the unions and community organisations. The trade unions' valuable organisational and negotiating experience was shared with community activists, ensuring effective community mobilisation.
The unions also played an important political role when, in 1983, they joined up with anti-apartheid organisations to form the United Democratic Front, a broad-based movement that campaigned against the tricameral parliament catering for whites, Indians and coloureds to the exclusion of black people.
Many trade union leaders became prominent members of the African National Congress (ANC) after the 1994 elections.
The unions in the 1950s
The South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu), aligned to the ANC, was formed in 1955, bringing together affiliates of the defunct Council of Non-European Trade Unions and the Trades and Labour Council.
Sactu espoused a militant factory floor approach, mobilising its affiliated unions both to campaign against low wages and lack of union recognition and to engage in political activism.
One of the most popular campaigns launched by Sactu was the national pound-a-day demand of the early 1950s. Organised in conjunction with the ANC and other political formations grouped under the Congress Alliance, South Africa's workforce engaged in one of its most visible and widely supported campaigns.
Although Sactu was not banned when the apartheid government outlawed the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1960, many of its leaders were imprisoned for political activism, while others fled into exile. This led to the demise of Sactu and a lull in trade unionism for the next decade.
Congress of South African Trade Unions
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is the biggest of the country’s three main labour federations, with a combined membership of 1.8 million workers grouped into 19 affiliated trade unions.
Cosatu was established in 1985 following unity talks between unions and federations that previously competed with one another. Cosatu believes in non-racialism, worker control, paid-up membership and international worker solidarity. It also subscribes to the principles of "one industry, one union" and "one country, one federation".
Cosatu has, through the years, aligned itself with the ANC's liberation politics. This position was formalised when the federation entered into an alliance with the ANC and the South African Communist Party, referred to as the tripartite alliance.
There has, however, been constant debate within Cosatu about the federation's role in the alliance. Cosatu remains highly critical of the government's Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) strategy and the privatisation of state assets, and some affiliates argue that the federation is compromising its independence by aligning itself with the ruling political party. Others counter that the alliance offers Cosatu an opportunity to influence government policies in favour of working people.
In the run-up to the 1994 elections, Cosatu campaigned for an ANC vote. After the elections, a number of senior Cosatu officials became ANC parliamentarians and members of provincial legislatures, while others were appointed to the Cabinet as well as to various provincial executive committees.
Federation of Unions of South Africa
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) is the country’s second-largest federation, claiming 520 000 members organised into 27 affiliates. Its biggest affiliate union is the Public Service Association, with nearly 200 000 members.
Fedusa was formed in 1997 following a merger between the Federation of South African Labour Unions and the Federation of Civil Servants. It describes itself as socially democratic and politically non-aligned.
National Council of Trade Unions
The National Council of
Trade Unions (Nactu) is South Africa's third-largest federation, comprising about 20 affiliate unions with a combined membership of nearly 400 000. It is politically aligned to the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and holds to Black Consciousness ideologies.
Nactu was formed shortly after the establishment of Cosatu. Nactu’s forerunner, the Council of Unions of South Africa, walked out of the talks to form a single federation following disagreements over the principle of non-racialism, espousing instead the principle of black leadership. The council joined up with the pro-Black Consciousness Azanian Confederation of Trade Unions to form Nactu in 1986.
