{"id":429,"date":"2014-06-01T21:54:45","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2014\/06\/01\/unions-getting-back-to-democratic-basics-terry-bell-2014\/"},"modified":"2014-06-01T21:54:45","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:54:45","slug":"unions-getting-back-to-democratic-basics-terry-bell-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/2014\/06\/01\/unions-getting-back-to-democratic-basics-terry-bell-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions Getting Back to Democratic Basics – Terry Bell (2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nUNIONS GETTING BACK TO DEMOCRATIC BASICS<\/strong><\/em>
\nMisunderstanding and confusion about the platinum sector pay issue persists. And
\nmuch of the media is to blame for repeating, without analysis, the public relations
\nspin of the mining companies.
\nThis distorted version of the facts states that the mining companies agreed to meet the
\nR12 500 a month entry level wage demand, phased in over three years and that the
\nunion rejected this. The implication being that the union wants the money without
\ndelay.
\nHowever, it was worker mandated union negotiators who first proposed the phasing
\nin over three years. This was rejected, as was a proposal of four years to reach R12
\n500.
\nAs I have mentioned before, the main sticking point is that the mining companies
\nwant to include all the usual extras to basic wages, such as holiday pay and housing
\nallowances, in their R12 500 offer. So it is understandable that the union, the
\nAssociation of Construction and Mining Union (Amcu), representing the striking
\nminers, rejects this.
\nBut the portrayal of the union, often personified by its high profile president, Joseph
\nMathunjwa, as the power opposing the companies is also a distortion. Because
\nMathunjwa, the Amcu executive and the union negotiators are beholden to
\ncommittees elected by the miners and, ultimately to the worker majority.
\nWhat occurred on the platinum belt in August 2012 was a rebellion by a majority of
\nminers, members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), against their union
\nleaders who, they felt, no longer served their interests. After mass desertions from
\nNUM following the massacre on August 16, Amcu stepped into the organisational
\nvacuum, offering to respond to the democratic mandates of the miners.
\nThese developments raise the whole question of the role of unions and their relevance
\nin this global, crisis-ridden economic system. On the one hand, unions came into
\nbeing as voluntary associations of equals and, in principal, remain as such.
\nIn mines and factories and especially in dangerous environments, workers co-operate
\nand rely on one another, making collective decisions because, all too often, their lives
\ndepend on it. This is democracy in action and it is such circumstances that gave birth
\nto trade unions.
\nWorkers soon learned that, as the slogan goes, an injury to one is an injury to all; that
\nwhile we are all different, our basic needs are roughly equal. This concept was
\nsummed up by a Marikana miner who noted: \u201cThe blood of a manager is no different
\nto that of a rock drill operator.\u201d
\nBut distortions soon crept in to the often idealistic origins of various unions.
\nPossessing considerable collective power they are constant targets for manipulation
\nby governments, politicians, big business and political parties.
\nThese pressures, combined with the actions of ambitious individuals, have seen many
\nunions develop into virtual clones of big business, developing a bureaucratic layer
\nbetween the workers below and the employers above. Many unions have also
\ncontradicted the fundamental principle of equality and solidarity by establishing
\ninvestment companies that profit, like business anywhere, from the labour of
\nworkers.
\nAlthough these companies are invariably at arm\u2019s length from the unions themselves,
\noperating as separate entities, they are still linked to the unions. As such, there have
\nbeen numerous allegations of official fingers in various investment company tills.
\nBut, as the latest row in the SA Municipal Workers\u2019 Union has revealed, there are also
\nallegations of fingers in union tills. And, certainly in the case of the major unions,
\nthose tills could provide lucrative pickings since the subscription income alone puts
\nthem in a league well beyond that of small businesses.
\nThere are also issues of fiduciary responsibility and accountability. These surfaced
\nagain this week as part of another apparent attempt to discredit Cosatu general
\nsecretary Zwelinzima Vavi over the sale and purchase of the federation\u2019s
\nheadquarters. However, the person directly in the firing line is Collin Matjila, now
\nacting CEO of Eskom and who headed Cosatu\u2019s Kopana ke Matla investment
\ncompany when the deals were done.
\nBut now there is a new and rebellious mood abroad in the union movement,
\nespecially since Marikana. It seems to indicate a desire to return to basics, to the
\nconcept of voluntary associations of equals where the leadership is not only elected,
\nbut transparent in its dealings and wholly accountable to the membership.
\nIn the present economic climate where employers are under increasing pressure to cut
\ncosts, wages and conditions, collective protection \u2014 unions \u2014 for the sellers of
\nlabour seem vital. But trade unions, because of their fundamentally democratic
\nnature, can also provide a bulwark against threats to our democracy.
\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<\/em><\/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\/429"}],"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=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/global-labour.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}