Democratising the workplace: worker perspectives on industrial democracy.

Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Democracy, Popular Precedents, Practice and Culture, 13-15 July, 1994.The central theme of the transition under way in South Africa is democralisation of all spheres of life. One such sphere is the workplace where millions of workers spend most of their adult lives working for a living. For many years workers and their trade unions have been in the forefront of struggles for better wages and working conditions at the workplace. In many cases these struggles have also been about control at the workplace, or what Goodrich has termed "the demand not to be controlled disagreeably". This paper draws on interviews with workers and shop stewards at two factories in the Transvaal and seeks to establish the extent to which their notion of industrial democracy and worker participation constitutes what Goodrich has called "ii;.: demand to take a hand in controlling". What emerges is not a homogenous understanding of workplace democracy, but a range of views and opinions. The paper also analyses a number of powerful factors which influence or shape the views of workers on the subject of industrial democracy. The conclusion of this discussion is that democracy is part of the consciousness of unionised workers as it is the guiding principle in all union structures. It is therefore inevitable that the demand for democracy at the workplace will become part of organised workers' notion of justice and fairness on the shop floor

Work reorganisation and technological change: limits of trade union strategy and action at ArcelorMittal, Vanderbijlpark

The black South African trade unions were known globally for challenging apartheid in the workplace and low wages. In fact, they played a significant role in the broad liberation movement which ushered in democracy in 1994. However, little is known about the unions’ ability to respond to production issues such as technological changes at the ‘point of production’. Using a case study of the Vanderbijlpark Plant currently owned by the global steel corporation ArcelorMittal International, this article shows that the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) - the biggest trade union in South Africa - adopted a bargaining strategy which consistently ignored production issues at the plant while focusing on wages and working conditions. This article suggests that this unidimensional strategy meant that building the union’s capacity was neglected, reducing its ability to respond proactively to technological innovation and work reorganisation. While it does not present union capacity as a panacea, the article presents international examples that indicate that unions with more developed research and education capabilities were able to save some jobs by engaging union members and proposing alternatives.Keywords: education, research, technology, union capacity, union strateg

Enclave Rustenburg : platinum mining and the post-apartheid social order

In the absence of a levelling out of income and resources, as well as arbitrary violence in everyday life, the post-apartheid social order is characterised by the formation of various enclaves. In the platinum mining town of Rustenburg, these enclaves are constructed on the foundations of the apartheid categories ‘suburb’, ‘compound’, ‘township’ and ‘homeland’. Such enclaves include security villages, converted compounds with access control, and informal settlements with distinctive gender, linguistic and class formations. The article draws on David Harvey’s formulation of absolute, relative and relational space and the case of Rustenburg to elaborate the concept of enclave further.[L’enclave Rustenburg : la mine de platine et l’ordre social post-apartheid.] En l’absence d’un nivellement des revenus et ressources, en plus d’une violence arbitraire dans la vie de tous les jours, l’ordre social post-apartheid est caracte´rise´ par la formation de diffe´rentes enclaves. Dans la ville des mines de platine de Rustenburg, ces enclaves sont construites sur les fondations des cate´gories de l’apartheid « suburb » (ou banlieue), « compound » (habitations dans un enclos), « township » (bidonville) et « homeland » (bantoustans ou foyers nationaux). Ces enclaves comprennent des villages se´curise´s, des compounds convertis avec un controˆle d’acce`s, et des implantations informelles avec des formations distinctives de genre, de langue et de classe. L’article se base sur la formulation de David Harvey de l’espace absolu, relatif et relationnel et sur le cas de Rustenburg pour de´tailler davantage le concept de l’enclave.http://tandfonline.com/loi/crea202016-12-31hb2016Sociolog

The Struggle for Legitimacy: South Africa’s Divided Labour Movement and International Labour Organisations, 1919–2019

Who could be considered a legitimate representative of South Africa’s working class, and even who constituted this class, was bitterly contested during the twentieth century. This chapter examines the struggles for international recognition by the rival constituents of South Africa’s labour movement, which was sharply divided along racial and ideological lines. Initially, the International Labour Organization and other similar bodies formed links with the white-dominated labour movement, which regarded itself as the legitimate representative of all workers in South Africa. This position was successfully contested by emerging black African trade unions who themselves, in the face of fierce repression, competed for financial support made available by various sections of the international labour movement

The limits of transnational solidarity: the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Swaziland and Zimbabwean crises

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the main union federation in South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid. This paper evaluates COSATU's post-apartheid role in working for democracy elsewhere in Southern Africa through deepening transnational solidarity, focusing on its role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Although the federation successfully mobilised trade union members to oppose the contravention of human and labor rights, its ability to affect lasting change was limited by contradictory messages and actions by the South African government, the dualistic nature of institutional formation in these countries, strategic miscalculations and structural limitations on union power

Revisiting the democratic traditions in the South African trade union movement

Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Forging the links between historical research and the policy process, 18-19 September 1999.The Democratic traditions within South African trade unions have altered since 1994. They have become more oligarchic. The traditions of member participation, worker control and leadership accountability are discussed and how they have changed. The democratic tradition persists but is a matter of contestation

Trade union responses to participatory management: a case study

This thesis is an investigation of trade union responses to participatory management in South Africa. In examining the above question, it seeks to establish whether Weber's notion of bureaucracy and Michels' "iron law of oligarchy" provide a useful theoretical framework for understanding these responses by unions. The thesis also explores the possibilities of worker participation in which unions (and their members) benefit without losing the ability to represent worker's collective interests. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]MT201