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Labour Wrap: When unity calls spell danger

UNITY for the sake of unity is extremely dangerous, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. And he maintains that this call has increasingly been made within the ANC-led alliance since the run-up to, and launch of, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).

Saftu, he says, epitomises the ongoing, slow implosion within the governing tripartite alliance; an alliance that continues to maintain, as the ANC did during the exile years, that it is the only true representative of the people of South Africa. Therefore, if you were not with the ANC you were against - and an enemy of - the people.

This, says Bell, is as fallacious now as it was then. The emergence of Saftu, perhaps the most important development on the South African labour front since the formation of Cosatu, in many ways highlights this fallacy.

And it is a fallacy, says Bell, that has underlain the tensions within the governing alliance since, and even before, the ANC came to power. The National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), he points out, tabled a motion to Cosatu in 1993 calling for the federation to leave the anti-apartheid alliance.

The union noted that once the ANC became the government, it would become the largest employer in the land and that unions should not “be in bed” with the bosses. The motion lost and Numsa, along with other unions, went on to be more closely linked while also establishing investment companies.

Saftu now pledges to go back to first principles, to political independence, inclusivity and the militant defence of workers’ interests within democratic structures. At the same time, there still exists a degree of contradictory rhetoric and several areas the new federation says it will sort out over coming months.

But through its general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, it has verbally taken up long outstanding issues, including that of the Midrand municipal workers and the working conditions and fatigue suffered by truck and bus drivers mentioned recently in Inside Labour columns.

WATCH: Labour Wrap: Bus safety concerns us all

However, a major question still remains: will Saftu become merely a better example of a traditional labour federation, or will it finally break the mould to enable it to become a vehicle for workers to fully confront the challenges of the 21st Century?

* Add your voice or just drop Terry a labour question. Follow Terry on twitter @telbelsa.

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