{"id":381,"date":"2013-08-25T18:24:47","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T18:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2013\/08\/25\/labour-crisis-threatens-all-democracy-terry-bell-2013\/"},"modified":"2013-08-25T18:24:47","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T18:24:47","slug":"labour-crisis-threatens-all-democracy-terry-bell-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2013\/08\/25\/labour-crisis-threatens-all-democracy-terry-bell-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour Crisis Threatens All Democracy – Terry Bell (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nLABOUR CRISIS THREATENS ALL DEMOCRACY<\/strong><\/em>\u201c
\nOne is workers\u2019 unity and evermore shall be so.\u201d So goes an old labour movement
\nsong summarising the prime goal of trade unionism. It is also captured in the slogan:
\nAn injury to one is an injury to all. Equally, however, a disruption to one usually
\nmeans a disruption to all.
\nBy the egalitarian standard of solidarity, the South African labour movement is in
\ncrisis, despite constant denials that this is the case. However, if this reality is
\nconfronted and most unions return to basic principles, it is possible that a strong,
\ndemocratic and united coalition of trade unions will emerge in future.
\nAnd this would include not just Cosau unions, but also those of the Federation of
\nUnions (Fedusa), the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) and the independent
\norganisations. Together they comprise the 196 bodies recognised by the registrar of
\ntrade unions.
\nAt the moment, there is no sign of this. Even the rush this week by both the National
\nUnion of Mineworkers (NUM) and Cosatu to support the strike call by the National
\nUnion of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) is an indication less of solidarity than of a
\ndesperate attempt to ensure that that federation does not come apart at the seams.
\nAnd the main seam that appears in danger of being rent from the fabric of Cosatu is
\nNumsa. It is against this background of hostility between the Numsa leadership and
\nthat of Cosatu and NUM, that this gesture must be seen.
\nIt ties in with the statement made on Monday by Bheki Ntshalishali, the man who has
\nstepped into the shoes of the controversially suspended Cosatu general secretary
\nZwelinzima Vavi. On a national radio programme Ntshalishali noted: \u201cUnity and
\ncohesion are very important.\u201d If anything this is an understatement, given the
\ndominant ideological strain within the tripartite alliance.
\nDogmatic adherence to the the ANC and its allies is a legacy of the days of exile
\nwhen opposition to apartheid was the only glue that bound together official
\ncommunists, socialists, capitalists, nationalists and political opportunists. Among this
\nhost were idealists, cynics, thieves, rogues, the craven and the brave. In short, a good
\ncross-section of an authoritarian and racist society.
\nAdded to this mix were individuals who, for one or other reason, served the interests
\nof the apartheid state and had been infiltrated into the exile ranks from as early as
\n1963. Awareness of this created an atmosphere of paranoia in which anyone who
\ndared to challenge or criticise the policies of the leadership \u2014 invariably not the
\ninfiltrators \u2014 would be labelled an anarchist, an agent or a counter revolutionary.
\nThis reinforced the concept that there was \u201conly one true way forward\u201d, a concept
\npromoted by the SA Communist Party (SACP) that saw itself establishing an SACPled
\nsocialism after first helping to institute a black (ANC) republic. This remains the
\ndominant underlying dogma.
\nHowever, there have been times when reality finally made it impossible to persist
\nwith even the most dearly held beliefs. But adapting to reality has seldom meant
\nadmitting errors; new myths worryingly make way for old, but usually only after
\nlengthy denials.
\nSo it is that the ANC, SACP and Cosatu continue to deny that any crisis exists. Yet
\nall are aware that a major research project, scheduled for release on August 29,
\napparently reveals that the majority of Cosatu shop stewards favour an independent
\n\u201clabour party\u201d.
\nThis report seems to highlight widespread disgruntlement with the status quo in the
\nlabour and political environments. The greatest evidence of this came with the
\nupheaval and horrific loss of life at Marikana.
\nA year on, there was a knee-jerk reaction from the SACP. The party again labelled
\nthe newest major labour player in the sector, the Association of Mineworkers and
\nConstruction Union (Amcu) \u201cvigilantes\u201d and, \u201ccounter revolutionaries\u201d responsible
\nfor \u201ckilling workers\u201d.
\nThe fierce reaction of the SACP and, to a lesser degree, the ANC, is perhaps
\nunderstandable when it is realised that two former NUM general secretaries, Kgalema
\nMotlathe and Gwede Mantashe, now hold, respectively, the positions of deputy
\npresident of the country and secretary general of the ANC. The president of NUM,
\nSenzeni Zokwana, also took over the chair of the SACP from Mantashe and the
\ncontroversial general secretary of the union, Frans Baleni, is an SACP central
\ncommittee member.
\nWhat this means is that the disintegration of NUM affects not only Cosatu but also
\nthe SACP and the ANC. The ruling alliance and the government, therefore, face the
\nsame crisis that reverberates throughout the labour movement.
\nAmcu has clearly benefitted in membership terms from desertions from NUM, but so
\ntoo has Numsa with former NUM members swelling Numsa\u2019s numbers to a claimed
\n320 000. However, the labour movement overall has been weakened as many former
\nunion members have simply opted out.
\nAnd while Amcu has provided the biggest ever membership boost to Nactu, this
\nfederation is still struggling. After flirting with Black Consciousness and the also
\nonce exiled Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Nactu opted to be politically nonaligned,
\nbut failed to attract any large unions. The present general secretary of Nactu,
\nNarious Moloto, also holds the same position in the PAC, although he insists this
\ntemporary and in no way compromises the federation.
\nNactu and the bigger second fiddle in the labour federation business, Fedusa have
\nalso been trying in recent years, with little success, to launch a united front, the
\nSouthern African Confederation of Trade Unions. However, in the process, Fedusa
\nhas lost, to independent status, both its largest affiliate, the PSA (formerly the Public
\nServants Association), and the Independent Municipal Workers\u2019 Union (Imatu).
\nThe growing call now is back to basics: back to democratic control, to accountable
\nand recallable union leaders. This would almost certainly mean an end to party
\npolitical manipulation and to the expense account lifestyles of union bureaucrats.
\nThese are tall orders. But if a start if not soon made, the immediate future for the
\nlabour movement and for South Africa\u2019s fledgling democracy could be bleak.
\nTerry Bell
\nwriting, editing, broadcasting
\nspecialising in:
\npolitical\/economic analysis and labour
\nP.O Box 373, Muizenberg 7950
\nSouth Africa
\nTel: +27 +(0)21 788 9699
\nSkype: belnews \u2022 Twitter: @telbelsa
\nBlog: terrybellwrites.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}