“ONE is workers’ unity and evermore shall be so.” So goes a line in an old union song. It is a sentiment still agreed to - at least notionally - by unions and their federations across the board as they start to play a competitive numbers game.
Where once there were three main federations, now there are four. And the labour movement in South Africa today displays more disunity than at any time since the debates and fall-outs among anti-apartheid unions of 30 years ago.
These
involved mainly the Council of Unions, the Federation of Trade unions and the
Azanian Confederation that gave rise to Cosatu and National Council of Trade
Unions (Nactu).
The line
from that union song was especially pertinent this week as Cosatu completed its
four-day Central Executive Committee meeting, heavily influenced by the wider
political shambles in the governing ANC. The meeting was held under the slogan:
“Unity and Cohesion of Cosatu to advance the National Democratic Revolution
(NDR) for socialism”.
This
slogan reflected the claim that Cosatu is the only real workers’ movement and
remains allied to the ANC. It also punted the ANC’s economic policy programme,
the NDR, which it now claims as a route to an undefined socialist future.
Although
clearly suffering fragmentation because of its party political allegiance, the
Cosatu leadership continues to immerse itself in the ANC’s succession battle. Having
banned President Jacob Zuma from the traditional presidential address to the
meeting, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was invited to speak and was hailed
as the next president of both the governing ANC and the country.
Here, on one level, was an equal measure of confusion and irony: a proclaimed “socialist” labour federation supporting an NDR programme widely seen as “neo-liberal”, while giving fulsome backing to one of the most prominent emergent capitalists in the land.
Ramaphosa is also remembered within the labour movement for his involvement as a director of Lonmin at the time of the 2012 massacre at that company’s Marikana mine.
Looming bitter battle within labour
Some
critics, in what promises to be a looming bitter battle within labour, have
also pointed out that Ramaphosa was never a mineworker although serving as the
first general secretary of the then emerging National Union of Mineworkers
(NUM). They claim he was “parachuted” into the leadership of NUM, having
arrived via the Student Christian Movement and the Urban Foundation established
by Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo American.
Yet
Cosatu’s continued involvement in the presidential succession battle, and in
ANC politics generally, provides ammunition, especially for the newly-formed SA
Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), to continue sniping at Cosatu. And largely
as a result of this confusing political involvement, Cosatu may have lost as
many as 500 000 members.
The
expulsion from Cosatu of the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) and the
departure of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union alone would account for at
least 400 000. Numerous fragments of other Cosatu affiliates make up most of
the new Saftu membership, but many formerly unionised workers may simply have
left the movement. Numbers are important, but difficult to establish
accurately.
Although
all unions have, by law, to supply membership numbers annually to the registrar of trade unions, names of elected officials and financial statements, only
the financial statements are independently audited. There is no control over
whether officials are properly elected or if the number of members claimed is
accurate.
Numsa-led
Saftu now claims “more than 700 000 members” while the Federation of Unions of
SA (Fedusa), recently rejoined by probably the largest public sector union,
PSA, puts its membership at “close to 700 000”. Nactu claims “more than 300
000” although it too has lost members to Saftu.
Once
again, as with Cosatu, party politics is at the root of the Nactu’s problems: the
federation’s general secretary, Narious Moloto, also doubles as
secretary general of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). In order to halt any
further splits, there are now moves to “deselect” Moloto at the Nactu congress
next month.
At present, the single largest affiliate of Nactu is the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), the major beneficiary of the loss of members from Cosatu-affiliated NUM in the wake of Marikana. Amcu, assiduously wooed by Saftu, is unhappy with involvement with any political party, let alone the PAC.
Numbers game will come into play
The numbers
game will come seriously into play within the next few months when, as
expected, Saftu submits its application to join the labour caucus at the
tripartite National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). This is
the forum where all government policies are supposed to be discussed - and
hopefully agreed by consensus - before implementation.
Labour is
currently represented at Nedlac by Cosatu, Fedusa and Nactu and all three would
have to agree to include Saftu. It is clear that such agreement will not be
forthcoming and there will almost certainly be a fight about which federations
truly represent workers. This will come down to numbers.
Perhaps,
again emulating actions in the political arena, the Nedlac matter will end up
in the courts. At the same time, the leaderships of all four federations
profess to support worker unity as a priority, again presenting a mirror image
of party politics where expressed principle and practice are often poles
apart.
But with an apparent groundswell among rank and file union members and citizens in general to see principles put into practice, there is still room for optimism.