Institutionalised conflict, subaltern worker rebellions and insurgent unionism: casual workers’ organisation and power resources in the South African Post Office

ABSTRACT

Across the globe, the increasing number of precarious workers has (re)created bifurcated labour markets. This paper looks at casual worker mobilisation in the South African Post Office. Attention is paid to one group of workers, the Mabarete, and the way they projected power in a classification struggle pursued though violence and intimidation, rather than moral or symbolic power. Their struggle was spatially and morally sculpted by the communities in which they lived, but was not social movement unionism. Why the Mabarete transformed – from the successful organisation structure that had evolved to registered union – is addressed through two alternative models of industrial engagement: the use of official, legal frameworks in which conflict is institutionalised and that of subaltern worker rebellions in which extra-legal, covert forms of power are mobilised. Insurgent unionism, it is argued, can be understood as the combination of, or oscillation between, these two alternatives.

RÉSUMÉ

À travers le monde, le nombre croissant de travailleurs précaires a (re)créé des marchés du travail divisés. Cet article analyse la mobilisation informelle des travailleurs au sein des Postes sud-africaines. Il porte son attention sur un groupe de travailleurs, les Mabarete, et la manière dont ils ont projeté le pouvoir dans une lutte de classification poursuivie par la violence et l’intimidation, plutôt que par la morale ou le pouvoir symbolique. Leur lutte était sculptée spatialement et moralement par les communautés dans lesquelles ils ont vécu, mais n’était pas du syndicalisme de mouvement social. La question de savoir pourquoi les Mabarete se sont transformés – de la structure organisationnelle réussie qui avait évolué pour devenir un syndicat déclaré – est traitée à travers deux modèles alternatifs d’engagement : l’utilisation de cadres officiels, légaux à travers lesquels le conflit est institutionnalisé, et celui des rébellions de travailleurs subalternes à travers lesquelles les formes de pouvoir extra-légales et secrètes sont mobilisées. L’article soutient que le syndicalisme insurgé peut être compris comme la combinaison de, ou l’oscillation entre, ces deux alternatives.

KEYWORDS:

• Labour brokers
• precarious workers
• South African Post Office
• casual workers’ committees
• insurgent unionism
• classification struggles

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Courtiers du travail
• travailleurs précaires
• South African Post Office
• comités des travailleurs occasionnels
• syndicalisme insurgé
• luttes de classification

Acknowledgements

I thank all those who provided information and insights on which this paper is based. An early version was presented at the 2015 South African Sociological Association Congress. Two anonymous referees provided valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

David Dickinson is Professor of Sociology at Wits University, Johannesburg.

Notes

1 For a penetrating critique of the potential of social movement unionism in South Africa, see Von Holdt (2002).

2 A key difference on the platinum belt was that workers’ committees were formed primarily by permanent employees, though arguably in precarious positions, notably in terms of salary, in part because of the widespread use of sub-contractors (or outsourcing) of core functions that, along the lines of Kenny and Webster’s (1998) argument, weakened their bargaining position within the labour process.

3 Gauteng Province is the most highly urbanised and industrialised of South Africa’s nine provinces. SAPO regions do not correspond with provincial boundaries. Much of what is described in this article took place within SAPO’s Wits Region (approximately Gauteng excluding Pretoria). However, for simplicity I refer only to Gauteng.

4 In Gauteng, those delivering mail to street addresses are all men, hence the use of ‘postmen’ rather than a gender-neutral term. There were a very small number of women among the Mabarete (employed in other roles than mail delivery by SAPO), however they did not participate in the ho tsoma actions.

5 At least two Mabarete operating principles were breached in this incident: the two individuals had taken action in an area where they were known (accounting for them being traced) and they had stolen Post Office property. The absence of Mabarete leadership and the presence of alcohol help explain these lapses.

6 That it was not possible to join CWU was a result of the deep antagonisms generated between CWU and casuals over the years, along with a parallel set of tensions between the ex-SAPWU officials and CWU.

Additional information

Funding

Research funding from the Wits Humanities Research Committee is gratefully acknowledged.