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Johannesburg – The turf battle between Congress of South African Trade Union affiliates is set to intensify as the federation moves to tackle union rivalry and member poaching.
A long-standing battle continues to rage between the federation's largest affiliates‚ the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) over the Eskom workers‚ meant to be the terrain of the former.
This battle intensified last year as the NUM threatened to withhold its subscription to Cosatu should it fail to intervene and compel Numsa to return its members.
A NUM leadership meeting earlier this month was tasked with raising the matter at the Cosatu central executive committee meeting in order to ensure that its members from Eskom are returned by the metalworker' union.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini yesterday said the matter was “sensitive” and that it was not limited to the NUM and Numsa.
“There are a number of Cosatu union guilty of poaching‚ we have to go through a process of sorting through them‚” he said.
It was difficult to identify unions who were poaching members as they failed to own up to it. Poaching members also weakened unions‚ as leaders battled with each other to get their members returned.
Numsa's stance on its members at Eskom‚ which was meant to be organised by the NUM‚ was that workers were not “rhinos” who were “poached"‚ rather they chose to belong to Numsa.
On Tuesday‚ African National Congress general secretary Gwede Mantashe said Cosatu unions were flouting one of the federation's founding principles by organising in each others' sectors‚ saying employers often exploited the divisions which emerged as a result of turf wars among Cosatu unions.
“In some workplaces its even worse... unions use the same strategies (Cosatu strategies) to undermine each other‚” Mantashe said.
The latest manifestation of this was at Eskom's Medupi power station which was still under construction and workers belonged to both the NUM and Numsa.
“They are Cosatu unions in the same workplace‚ they contest each other and tear each other apart‚” he said.
Dlamini said Cosatu would work hard toward addressing this‚ particularly regarding the NUM/Numsa issue. He would not elaborate further.
“Those who hold members will eventually have to hand over‚” he said.
Cosatu faced a host of rival unions who were not under the federation's umbrella – in the mining‚ transport and among municipal workers.
It emerged at the conference on Tuesday that ANC councillors were assisting a rival union in the municipal sector to recruit members away from the Cosatu-aligned SA Municipal Workers Union in the North West.
Provincial secretary Sello Selepe said the ANC councillors were attempting to silence SAMWU who launched a massive anti-corruption campaign last year.
Dlamini urged those with proof of this to come forward‚ saying Cosatu had to discuss the matter with its ally‚ the ANC.
”If it is true that they are in fact ANC councillors‚ we have to deal with it. Because that it wrong‚ it is absolutely counter-revolutionary‚” he said.
A long-standing battle continues to rage between the federation's largest affiliates‚ the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) over the Eskom workers‚ meant to be the terrain of the former.
This battle intensified last year as the NUM threatened to withhold its subscription to Cosatu should it fail to intervene and compel Numsa to return its members.
A NUM leadership meeting earlier this month was tasked with raising the matter at the Cosatu central executive committee meeting in order to ensure that its members from Eskom are returned by the metalworker' union.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini yesterday said the matter was “sensitive” and that it was not limited to the NUM and Numsa.
“There are a number of Cosatu union guilty of poaching‚ we have to go through a process of sorting through them‚” he said.
It was difficult to identify unions who were poaching members as they failed to own up to it. Poaching members also weakened unions‚ as leaders battled with each other to get their members returned.
Numsa's stance on its members at Eskom‚ which was meant to be organised by the NUM‚ was that workers were not “rhinos” who were “poached"‚ rather they chose to belong to Numsa.
On Tuesday‚ African National Congress general secretary Gwede Mantashe said Cosatu unions were flouting one of the federation's founding principles by organising in each others' sectors‚ saying employers often exploited the divisions which emerged as a result of turf wars among Cosatu unions.
“In some workplaces its even worse... unions use the same strategies (Cosatu strategies) to undermine each other‚” Mantashe said.
The latest manifestation of this was at Eskom's Medupi power station which was still under construction and workers belonged to both the NUM and Numsa.
“They are Cosatu unions in the same workplace‚ they contest each other and tear each other apart‚” he said.
Dlamini said Cosatu would work hard toward addressing this‚ particularly regarding the NUM/Numsa issue. He would not elaborate further.
“Those who hold members will eventually have to hand over‚” he said.
Cosatu faced a host of rival unions who were not under the federation's umbrella – in the mining‚ transport and among municipal workers.
It emerged at the conference on Tuesday that ANC councillors were assisting a rival union in the municipal sector to recruit members away from the Cosatu-aligned SA Municipal Workers Union in the North West.
Provincial secretary Sello Selepe said the ANC councillors were attempting to silence SAMWU who launched a massive anti-corruption campaign last year.
Dlamini urged those with proof of this to come forward‚ saying Cosatu had to discuss the matter with its ally‚ the ANC.
”If it is true that they are in fact ANC councillors‚ we have to deal with it. Because that it wrong‚ it is absolutely counter-revolutionary‚” he said.
