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Labour Wrap: Back to basics for a 'confusion of trade unions'
Perhaps the best collective noun to describe the labour movement of South Africa at the moment is a confusion of trade unions, says Terry Bell in his latest labour Wrap. This is because the entire movement is in a state of flux with change happening in an atmosphere of instability.Although all the unions and the federations continue to talk of unity, it is obvious that this remains an illusion. Bell points to the May Day rallies last Sunday: Cosatu staged its pro-alliance rally in Mamelodi, the anti-alliance workers’ summit, headed by Numsa, gathered in Thembisa while the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) rallied its supporters in Klerksdorp.
But while the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) president attended the Thembisa rally, Bell points out that Nactu’s largest affiliate by far is Amcu that was meeting in Klerksdorp. He adds that this is further complicated by the fact that Nactu and the Federation of Union of SA (Fedusa) are already in alliance in the South African Confederation of Trade Unions (Sacotu).
According to Bell, Sacotu is a form of “off-the-shelf and readymade” putative federation to accommodate unions that are not party politically aligned. At this stage, however, Fedusa seems to have taken a “plague on all your divisive houses” position.
In any event, Cosatu made it clear at its rally, attended by President Jacob Zuma and Communist Party (SACP) general secretary, Blade Nzimande, that it has no intention of deserting the ANC and a government that is the biggest employer in the country. Yet it is this contradiction, says Bell, that has bedevilled Cosatu since the ANC came to power in 1994.
The “last gamble” for many supporting this tactic was the support of the “Zuma tsunami” that swept Jacob Zuma into the presidency of both the ANC and the country. This was supposed to herald a new, “pro-worker” era.
Now the call, across the board is for “back to basics”, says Bell, back to shopfloor democracy in this fraught digital age.
