Why did you join\na trade union? Or, why are you thinking about joining one? Maybe it was the low\npay or the long hours. Perhaps the humiliating searches, breath-tests and lie-detector\ntests. Maybe it was a bullying supervisor, a sexist HR or a racist manager. It\nwould not be unusual if it was all of these things in one workplace. This daily\nabuse and exploitation pushes workers to look for a way to defend themselves. They\nquickly discover that most of their workmates and colleagues feel the same way.\nThe need to unite is obvious \u2013 workers are the majority in the workplace; the\nbosses and their managers a minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Workers\norganising themselves to use the power of their greater numbers is of course\nthe basic idea of a trade union \u2013 the principle of \u2018an injury to one is an\ninjury to all\u2019. When workers are organised they can defend themselves and\nstruggle for improvements to wages and other working conditions. But often\nthings are more complicated than: unite, fight and win. Why? After all, the\nworking class has proved over and over again that it is willing to struggle for\na better future. The number of strikes in 2017 was the highest ever since the\nDepartment of Labour began recording them. The months of April, May and June\n2018, also saw a record high number of community protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These struggles can\nand do win important victories. But after a generation of majority rule it is\nclear that the problems in South Africa are extremely deep. We will argue below\nthat the crises of low-pay, poverty, inequality and unemployment cannot be solved\nby the capitalist profit system. To win permanent improvements \u2013 a living wage,\ndecent working conditions, permanent jobs, high quality and affordable housing,\nefficient and reliable services \u2013 workers need to struggle to fundamentally\nchange society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crisis of leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To do this, workers\nneed to be organised. For most working class people a trade union is the first\nstep \u2013 though this is just the start of the journey that class conscious\nworkers must travel (see Part 5 below). Trade union organisation gives workers\ndiscipline, unity and power. Because the economy is the heartbeat of any\nsociety, a strike, or even the threat of one, gives organised workers an\nextremely effective weapon. For these reasons organised workers in the trade\nunion movement play a decisive role in working class struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But over the\npast twenty years the trade unions have faced a growing crisis of leadership.\nCorruption has become widespread and class independence and democratic worker-control\nweakened. From being the driving force in the struggle to change society many\ntrade unions have become part of the status quo. Nearly 75% of workers are not\neven members of trade unions. Those that are members are divided. There are\ncurrently 190 registered trade unions in South Africa spread across four trade\nunion federations. In many sectors one\nunited employers\u2019 organisation sits across the table from a pic \u2018n\u2019 mix of unions\nwhose leaders are more interested in members\u2019 deductions than in unity against\nthe bosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A crisis of\nworking class leadership starts with the wrong ideas; it is ultimately a crisis\nof programme. Overcoming it requires uniting workers around a programme that\nexpresses the fundamental interests of the working class. We will explain below\nwhy this can only be a socialist programme based on the revolutionary ideas of genuine\nMarxism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mistakes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Trade union leaders\nwithout a socialist programme ultimately accept the bosses\u2019 control of the\neconomy and therefore the bosses\u2019 \u2018right\u2019 to exploit workers. Of course, they\ncannot usually say this to workers. They have to dress it up \u2013 sometimes in\n\u2018revolutionary\u2019 language. But the result is the same. Such leaders see trade\nunions\u2019 role as limited to negotiating the terms of exploitation but not\nchallenging their capitalist foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, workers\nin Cosatu are sold the idea of the \u2018National Democratic Revolution\u2019 by the SA\nCommunist Party. This implies that following the end of apartheid capitalism\nmust be given time to develop before a revolutionary struggle for socialism can\nbegin. Workers need to limit their struggles until the time is right \u2013 so far there\nare 24 years on the clock! This programme has led Cosatu into alliance with the\nANC which since 1996 has had an openly pro-capitalist neo-liberal programme\nentrenching poverty, inequality and unemployment. Cosatu members strike against\nthe ANC government and its policies one day and then are told by their leaders\nto vote for it the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some Nactu\nunions nationalist ideas still have some influence. These ideas suggest that black\nbosses are not \u2018bad\u2019 because of their class position in society\u2013 that they make\nprofit by exploiting workers\u2019 labour \u2013 but because they have forgotten to stand\nin solidarity with their black brothers and sisters. These ideas limit workers\nfrom building truly independent working class organisations and from developing\na clear understanding of the class struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crucial time<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But the crisis\nof leadership has not stopped workers from searching for a way forward. The mineworkers\u2019\nstrikes in 2012 were a decisive break in the situation. Demanding a R12,500 per\nmonth minimum wage these heroic unprotected strikes by-passed the \u2018official\u2019\nstructures of the trade unions. The Cosatu-affiliated NUM, until then the\nbiggest union in the country, crumbled as mineworkers tore-up their membership\ncards in their tens of thousands. Mineworkers rejected the entire system of\n\u2018sweetheart\u2019 unions that the ANC government demanded from Cosatu as part of the \u2018terms and\nconditions\u2019 of their Alliance. The price of this over-due rebellion was paid in\nblood by the 34 mineworkers murdered at Marikana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even before\nMarikana workers were increasingly questioning the direction of Cosatu. But the\nmassacre sped this up and led to greater polarisation within the federation. Many\nworkers grew in their determination that \u201csomething must change\u201d. Reflecting\nmembers\u2019 anger over Marikana the metalworkers\u2019 union NUMSA decided at a Special\nNational Congress in 2013 not to support the ANC in the upcoming elections. This\nled to further turmoil within the federation. NUMSA and Cosatu general\nsecretary Vavi were both expelled. Many affiliates went through local or\nregional splits as a result leading to the creation of new trade unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clarity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of this\nshake-up of the trade union movement the South African Federation of Trade\nUnions (Saftu) was launched in April 2017. This was an important development\nthat has further challenged the status quo. Saftu\u2019s successful 25 April 2018\nstrike against the ANC government\u2019s new poverty-level minimum wage and attacks\non the right to strike has again forced workers in other federations to question\nthe direction of their organisations. Their leaders condemned the strike and supported\nthe government\u2019s attack on workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This poses more sharply than ever the need for workers in every trade union to clarify their programme. There are many important questions that still need to be answered. How do we stop corruption in our trade unions? How do we defend class independence and democratic worker-control in our organisations? How do we ensure our leaders do not climb into bed with the bosses? How can organised workers link-up with the rest of the working class? What attitude should we take to politics, parties, elections and parliament? What is our understanding of the role of the capitalist state and its legal framework of labour law and collective bargaining? And, crucially, must we accept the capitalist profit system as \u2018the best there is\u2019? Or is socialism an alternative within our reach? For us these are all questions of programme. To begin to answer them it is necessary to go back and examine the \u2018first principles\u2019 of workers\u2019 struggle, checking our foundations in order to re-build a class-independent and united movement of militant, democratic worker-led trade unions. The MWP is committed to this task. We appeal to you to join us if you agree with what you read in the pages ahead. Become part of the conscious and organised struggle for revolutionary<\/em><\/strong> trade unionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\nContinue to Capitalism and the Trade Unions<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"