Organised labour and the politics of class formation in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This paper will examine the processes of class formation being augmented by South Africa's democratic transition and the impacts these processes are having on trade union organising. Through a case study of the National Union of Mineworkers in the energy industry, it will be argued that affirmative action and employment equity policies are opening up divisions within the union and eroding its unifying class identity. This poses a great challenge, not only to trade union organisation, but also to how we understand the political role of South Africa's trade unions within the post-apartheid era.

[Le travail organisé et la politique de formation des classes après l'époque de l'apartheid en Afrique du Sud.] Le présent document examine les processus de formation des classes mis en croissance par la transition démocratique en Afrique du Sud et les impacts que ces processus ont sur l'organisation syndicale. Grâce à une étude de cas du Syndicat national des mineurs (NUM) dans le secteur de l'énergie, on fera valoir que l'action positive et les politiques d'équité dans le domaine de l'emploi suscitent des divisions au sein de l'Union et entament l'identité de la classe unificatrice. Cela pose un grand défi, non seulement à l'organisation syndicale, mais aussi à la façon dont nous comprenons le rôle politique des syndicats d'Afrique du Sud à travers l'ère d'après- apartheid.

Mots-clés: Afrique du Sud  ; les syndicats  ; l'action positive  ; COSATU  ; ANC

Keywords:

• South Africa
• trade unions
• affirmative action
• COSATU
• ANC
• social movement unionism

Notes

This article is based on qualitative research conducted over an 18-month period, which included in-depth interviews with rank-and-file members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), their shop stewards, local branch committee members, and both regional and national leaders. Participant observation in union meetings, shop stewards' councils, shop steward training/education workshops, wage negotiations and local ANC branch meetings was used to supplement these interviews in order to contribute a more detailed understanding of NUM's organisation and how its members engaged both within its own structures and those of the ANC.

For example, many unskilled workers would describe a situation of struggling simply to get by, while, on the other hand, their more skilled counterparts would often complain of difficulties in paying for cars and other ‘status’ items such as clothing and electrical goods.

The reasons for this are complex. One noticeable influence on these perceptions has been the manner in which Eskom has increasingly ‘outsourced’ the ‘non-core’ functions performed by workers in the power stations to independent ‘contractors’. According to NUM officials, this means that Eskom is hiring far fewer manual workers (or ‘labourers’) directly and those that are hired are less likely to be unionised. Hence it is often seen that the vast majority of younger workers entering into the workplace and who become members of the union are skilled and well-educated workers.

Although Bezuidenhout and Buhlungu's (2007, p. 251) study of wage levels across NUM suggests that energy workers are actually comfortably better off than their comrades in other sectors.

It was sometimes said that ‘these young ladies’ or ‘the young wives’ should not be coming into the workforce and telling the older male workers what to do because it was considered ‘disrespectful’.

Although in general they were seen to be less involved, there were some notable exceptions. Some of the more senior shop stewards argued that this was because they had received the correct ‘political education’ and therefore ‘understood’ the union properly (Interview with Joe Skosana, 16 May 2008).

The ‘1976 youth’ is refers to what is recounted by union members – and in South African literature more broadly – as the younger generation of activists that emerged on the political scene following the Soweto uprising of 1976.

NUM has a purpose-built facility in Johannesburg – the Elijah Barayi Memorial Training Centre – which offers education and training to shop stewards and leaders ranging from ‘political education’ through to the basics of employment law, negotiation tactics and the basics of employee representation and case work.

Indeed, those shop stewards that I was in contact with who were promoted said that they would stand for re-election. NUM regional chairperson, Piet Matosa, for example, was continuously elected into positions within the union despite formerly occupying a position in the mining company which he described as being ‘practically management’.