What is the state of the trade union movement in South Africa today?

1 March 2021

Over many decades the growth of the South African trade union movement has seen a gallant struggle and an amazing evolution.

The 1973 Durban strikes brought into sharp focus the titanic battle to secure worker rights, a minimum floor of conditions of employment and recognition for any trade union to represent their members and to bargain to improve wages, improved benefits and other conditions of employment.

Trade Union density:

Research has shown that workers employed in the South African economy and in the public service has a union density of 23% meaning that about 77% of workers employed do not belong to a union and thus employers can determine the conditions of employment and wages as they see fit.

All trade unions must be extremely worried that workers are either not interested to join a trade union or are comfortable to take employment as they receive it irrespective bad working conditions associated with such employment. This of cause is not a South African phenomenon. Trade union membership is on the decline.

It is not very useful or helpful that unions are no longer making members of the union their centre of gravity. Worker control of Unions appears to be a mere slogan that leaders recite when they want to sound relevant but do not practice worker control of unions so that the real owners of Unions may determine the direction of the union and how their own resources drawn from subscriptions should benefit them. It is a reality that;

Unions lose members to rival unions in the same workplace, sector or industry.

Unions fish in the same pond and do little to organise the unorganised workers.

Service to Union members has taken a back seat and Union Organisers are occupying most of their working hours at the CCMA and the dispute resolution centres.

Unions are just not the same in terms of what obtained in the 80’s – Why?

On this question, ZwelinzimaVavi has penned a well written internal SAFTU discussion document which he titled “Why are established trade unions comfortable with the status quo”. In a very gripping articulation to explain the real-time situation within and amongst trade unions, Vavi explains that;

“The spectre of business trade unionism may be one of the reasons why workers in the private sector have also begun to lose trust in unions.

If union leaders appear to be preoccupied with building up personal assets and forgetting about workers’ day to day concerns, then workers will withdraw their support.

As soon as the union is awash with resources from investment companies, for example, allegations fly over whether the leadership is using these resources to amass wealth for itself, getting benefits that tend to weaken internal democracy.

The interests of the service providers in who becomes the leader of the union have become legendary. The reason why this is the case is also well documented within trade unions with investment companies. The instability this has caused is also well recorded in the past twenty-six years of democracy.

We also know that former militant unions that were growing and stable are now under administration and have literally been taken over by the bureaucrats of the Department of Labour.

We know that unions that enjoyed stability from the inceptions are now engulfed in destructive factional wars that has defocused the leadership from top to bottom leading to the weakening of the commitment to serve workers.

This is capture of our internal trade union principles, not terribly different from how, externally, unions have been muted by capital and the state.”

In another paper penned by Comrade Vavi titled “The early warning for a dysfunctional union”, Vavi makes the following penetrating and compelling argument that requires any serious trade unionist to engage with;

“Unions with no democratic management structures and democratic system of accountability will simply die and will not attract workers into the ranks or making them relevant in 2020. Badly managed unions have no system of any kind to ensure growth, effective collective bargaining, education and training, prudent financial management of the union resources, etc.”

Trough intense struggles, battles and negotiations, trade unions forced the post 1994 government and the state to make many concessions in the best interest of workers (not all of it revolutionary though). Improved legislation guaranteed the possibility to help with the transformation of workplaces. This, amongst others include the;

Employment Equity Act

Skills Development Act

Basic Conditions of Employment (as amended)

Labour Relations Act (as amended)

Regrettably Trade Unions left the implementation of these pieces of legislation to the whim of unwilling and headstrong employers. This resulted in;

The racial composition of management in companies remains as it was under Apartheid – If the annual reports of the Commission for Employment Equity is anything to go by, then unions have largely ignored the struggle to bring about employment equity and transformation in workplaces – nice discussions with management will not change the employment equity landscape, it need to involve a struggle of committed workers.

Skills development in companies is largely limited to hyster driving and first aid training – the struggle to get apprenticeships, artisan training and recognition of prior learning off the ground is not just worrying but very disturbing for unions who once were proud campaigners for training so that workers could move from being a sweeper to an engineer in their lifetime.

In South Africa unclaimed pension and provident fund benefits are sitting roughly at R50billion – This is so because there is absolutely no drive by the trade union movement in South Africa to transform the trillion-rand retirement industry and to ensure that the deferred wages of workers benefit their families.

From the above, the question that arises for ordinary workers, is why they should belong to a trade union and pay their subscriptions religiously when they are failed by the unions at the point of production. Getting upset and angry about these observations will be of no assistance to building the unity of workers in workplaces, private and public sectors. Taking collective responsibility is far better than the blame game.

What are the problems that prevent trade unions to unify and to build strong formations in the best interest of the organised and unorganised workers in South Africa?

It is important that we draw lessons from trade union experiences and history in our country as well as internationally if we are to arrest the steady decline and deteriorating influence of unions in workplaces and in broader society.

Some of the old habits and practices of the past requires expurgating. In this regard this article argues that we must purge and liberate the trade union movement in respect of the following;

Trade unions should be politically independent from any political party so that any political party in government or outside government can be criticised and fought by workers when the interest of workers are threatened and undermined by government policies.

Workers should in earnest discuss the establishment of worker controlled cooperatives so that unemployed could be beneficiaries

The often cosy and bhuti-bhuti relationship trade unions have with management and government must end because the class antagonisms run too deep for such cosy relationships to benefit workers.

Any self-respecting trade union should rather engage with management and government based on mandates from workers, constant report backs for fresh mandates and holding union representatives accountable for what is done in the name of union members.

Capitalism has restructured locally and internationally and therefore the one union one industry policy is no longer relevant. Where once a union organised canteen workers, security personnel, transport employees that are employed by one particular firm, it is forced to abandon those workers as members because companies have outsourced such employees because business argues that if other ancillary services do not form part of its core business, they cannot hold onto such departments or divisions in their businesses.

In conclusion:

In a follow up opinion piece one would spent time and pay attention to social dialogue in South Africa and whether NEDLAC is beneficial to workers’ interest.

Karl Cloete is the former Numsa Deputy General Secretary and writes in his personal capacity.