Towards unity of the nonracial unions LANGA, AUGUST 8, 1981 - Durban, November 30, 1985. In the four years between these two congresses, a lot of things have changed in South Africa. There have been the new labor laws, the rebellions and the imposition of the state of emergency, to say nothing of the founding of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum, or the deep economic recession into which the country has plunged. But these two dates are the milestones of the transformation of the trade-union movement in South Africa. NATHAN PALMER
SOUTH AFRICA
Industrial Councils remains open, it no longer represents a Rubicon.
The appearance of differences over these two questions gave the first union summit meeting the character primarily of a demonstration of a common will to struggle against the oppressive apartheid system, without this involving any organizational choices in the plants or regions.
The second and third summits pointed up this impasse. In April
1982, several small unions left the second conference on the question of nonregistration. The discussion at the following meeting in July of the same year ran into the same stumbing blocks.
Despite the unity achieved in the protest after the death in detention of
Neil Agget in February 1982, fusion of the unions seemed in that year to be relegated to an indefinite future.
A gap widened between one pole represented by FOSATU, the FCWU Food and Canning Workers Union], [Food and Canning Workers Unionl the GWU, and the CTMWA [Cape Town Municipal Workers Association]; and another where the unions put as much stress on building a base in the communities as in the plants. The latter group evolved toward an outlook close to that of SACTU/ the South African Confederation of Trade Unions, which is influenced by the African National Congress (ANC).
The question of relations with the community organizations was not one of whether or not the unions should have ties to these groups or not. It involved a debate on the tactics for construction and mobilization. The unions and the communities
The pole represented by FOSATU put primary stress on organizing the working class in the workplaces. This did not exclude broader actions involving other sectors of the population, in particular in boycotts in solidarity with strikes. Examples of this are the Colgate-Palmolive action in which FOSATU was involved in 19801981 (a 14-month boycott) or the Fattis and Monis action in the Cape in 1979, in which the FCWU was involved.
Quite recently, the long strike that the FOSATU fought this year in the British firm SARMCOL-BTR illustrates the linkup between workers struggles and mobilizing the community.
The opposing pole in the trade-union movement considers that the independent unions would act on all of the problems of the Black communities. Thus, the SAAWU was very active in opposing the proclamation of the independence of Ciskei a bantustan in which this union has the bulk of its forces.
On this level also, the situation and
5
The first unity conference of the independent unions was held in August 1981. The gathering on November 30, 1985, will mark the formation of an independent "superfederation," with a half a million members.
The road between these two markers has not been a straight one. Not all of the differences that have arisen have been smoothed. Some independent unions have remained outside the fusion. However, it was possible to achieve an accord among forces with different political sensibilities around the most dynamic pole of attraction, the "Unity Unions,"
even if this brought on some splits.
One such split occurred, for example, in the case of the rapidly growing National Union of Mineworkers. It disaffiliated from the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) when the latter proved too reticent about the fusion.
The last four years have seen the growth of the independent unions. Sometimes, this has taken on spectacular proportions, as in the case of the NUM. It was founded in 1982 in an industry that up till then had kept out noncollaborationist unions. Today, it claims 230,000 members out of a total national workforce of 400,000 miners. In this period, there has also been an evolution as regards the questions under debate, around which differentiations took place.
One of the first questions posed for the independent unions was that of registering. This was required by the new laws passed after the work of the Wiehahn Commission concerning recognition of unions.
Through this change in the law, the government sought to exercise a tight control over the young trade-union movement. Moreover, the legislation denied immigrant workers the right to join trade unions and provided for registration on a racial basis. All the unions condemned together this law and its constraints.
But a division then developed at the Langa conference between unions such as SAAWU and the GWU, which were opposed to accepting these conditions; and FOSATU, most of whose affiliated unions complied with the formalities of registration. For the latter, the tactical advantages of registering, that is, the dues checkoff and negotiating rights, outweighed the disadvantages, which could be combated. In fact a victory was won with respect to the principle and the government finally agreed to register the FOSATU as a nonracial union in 1981, which did represent a significant problem for the union. In fact, today, this question has receded into the background.
The next question to arise was that of the Industrial Councils, the national framework for negotiating by industry that combined representatives of the employers, the workers, and the state. Several FOSATU unions managed to get representation in it. This was the case notably of the auto workers union, NAAWU; the metalworkers union, MAWU; as well as of the textile workers union, NUTW. This option was indicated by the strength of these unions in their respective industries. But FOSATU posed the condition that the workers should retain democratic control of their representatives.
The growing pressure of the recession, with its panoply of layoffs and restructurations, called for waging national battles in the industries affected. The result has been that while the tactical question of participating in the
International Viewpoint 9 December 1985
Unions supporting unity
ACCORDING to the South Africa Labour Bulletin, the unions involved in the
"superfederation" are the following:
- The nine affiliates of the FOSATU, with 130,000 members.
- The National Union of Mineworkers, with 100,000 members.
- The commerce workers union CCAWUSA, with 50,000 members.
- The food and canning-workers union, the FCWU, with 25,000 members.
- The Cape Town municipal workers union, CMTA, with 12,000 members.
- The General Workers Union (based mainly in transport) with 12,000 members.
These unions, which are called "unity unions," have been joined by the unions affiliated to the UDF, which have 40,000 members. Notable among the latter are South Africa Amalgamated Workers Union (SAAWU) and the
National Federation of Workers (NFW) with 12,000 members in nine unions.
In total, the superfederation will start out with 380,000 regular dues paying members and 500,000 adherents.
The five basic principles of the superfederation are the following:
Nonracialism
-
One union per industry.
-
Workers Control
-
Representation on the basis of the number of regular dues payers.
-
Cooperation on the national level in the framework of the new federation.
-
- ests of the population in the townships. This is one of the major questions that the unified federation will have to resolve.
The new major questions arose in 1983 that had not been posed before. At the time of the fourth summit meeting held in Athlone on April 9 and 10, 1983, a fresh optimism appeared. The "united" unions and the "community" unions agreed to set up a parity commission, like that which was established at the time of the formation of the FOSATU. Its brief will be to prepare the founding documents of the future federation and organize the discussions. The principle of industrial unionism is under discussion.
The various unions were invited to provide information on their activists, members, and dues payers, and on their base.
The community unions, as well as the CUSA, did not meet these requirements during the various parity meetings. Moreover, the transformation of general workers unions into industrial unions did not proceed fast enough to suit everybody. Once again, the process of unity seemed to bog down.
Another development that was to transform the political scene was the formation in 1983 of two groupings in opposition to the regime, one of which, the UDF, was rapidly to gain a commanding lead over its rival the National Forum.
Thus, the debate that had arisen over relations with the community was raised to the national level, becoming a debate over the general conception of the struggle to bring down apartheid. International Viewpoint 9 December 1985 positions are going to evolve. A union like the SAAWU, which has been hard hit by repression, retained its organization as a general workers union, rather than being structured on an industrial basis. This question is going to assume more and more weight as the fusion comes closer.
On the other hand, the unity unions, which did not suffer repression on such a massive scale owing to their superior organization in the plants, were also to commit themselves on openly political questions. Their opposition on the local level to the expulsion of camps of squatters and above all the national campaign that FOSATU waged against Botha's constitutional reforms indicate the incorrectness of schematic analysis of the positions of the two union blocs on this question. The regime fears workers' unity (DR)
Nonetheless, it would be wrong to think that the tensions between some community organizations and the unions have disappeared. While the November 1984 "stay-away" in Transvaal province was a united action, we have not always seen the same unity when similar calls have been issued in one or another township without real prior discussion or collaborative preparation.
For example, in the Port Elizabeth region unionists, essentially FOSATU members, were attacked by elements claiming to represent the UDF simply because they did not heed a unilateral call for a strike.
The present situation has not opened up any clear road forward to combining the strengthening of the union base in the factories and taking up the inter-
COLOMBIA
Although the UDF does not simply represent the ANC, it does pose the problems of relations with the latter organization, which considers itself a framework for uniting the liberation movement.
The force that the independent unions have built will obviously weigh heavily in the balance against the regime. Thus, at the time of its founding the UDF appealed to the unions to join it. Most of the community unions did so immediately.
But the unity unions refused to take this step in order not to divide their supporters, who have very diverse political sympathies. In order to avoid this pitfall, the CUSA chose to affiliate both to the UDF and to the
National Forum. In the case of the media workers union, this question was at the center of a split between the various provincial branches of the organization.
In March 1984, the unity unions stepped up the pace. At the fifth summit meeting, the principle of industrial unionism was adopted. Those unions that could not, or did not want to, organize immediately on industrial lines were offered the status of observers. The community unions then left the conference.
In addition to these two poles, a third grouping of unions has emerged, the AZACTU (the Azania Confederation of Trade Unions), which is affiliated to the National Forum. This grouping of general workers unions is opposed to the principle of nonracialism supported by the other unions. It advances the principle of a Black leadership. This is one of the reasons for its refusal to participate in the preparatory meetings for the November 30 congress.
Finally, after some people thought that the community unions were going to reactivate SACTU, at the beginning of 1985, they took the decision to rejoin the unity unions. So, it is not hard to predict that the political problems that existed will remain inside the superfederation.
The historic portent of the founding of this federation, must, however, be stressed. First of all, it will be the biggest trade-union federation in the history of South Africa. In 1927, the Industry and Commerce Workers Union had up to 100,000 members, and the SACTU reached its peak in 1961, with 53,000 members.
Secondly, no one any longer challenges the role that the working class must play in transforming the apartheid capitalist society. The creation of the superfederation does not solve all the problems of political action for the working class, but it cannot be said to be an event that is without importance for the South African revolution. International Viewpoint 9 December 1985