OPINION
The end of COSATU's hegemony?
Sara Gon |
14 June 2017
Sara Gon says that even in the public service the Federation is being challenged by FEDUSA
Is Trade-Union Hegemony being Up-Ended?
The trade union scene is changing radically. The tension between the African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), has reached an all-time low. COSATU has decided that it will not allow ANC President, Jacob Zuma, to address any of its gatherings. It does not trust or support his leadership, and wants him to step down.
COSATU was formed in 1985 and, in many respects, became the ANC not-in-exile. Its strength probably started to fall in the mid-2000s as its political power grew and its union presence in the private sector fell.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) has recently been established by unions who were expelled from, or left, COSATU in recent years after bitter in-fighting. SAFTU’s membership is estimated at 700 000, of which 300 000 come from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). SAFTU also has far-left leanings.
Now the trade union scene seems to be about to be turned on its head: the 230 000-member Public Service Association (PSA) has rejoined the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA). FEDUSA now claims its total membership is 700 000. This development has implications for the balance of power in the Public Service Co-ordinated Bargaining Council (PSCBC), where all government employees’ pay and working conditions are negotiated.
COSATU unions are in the majority at the PSCBC, but FEDUSA is confident that, taking independent unions into account, this latest development could put it on par with the ANC. This is highly significant as COSATU’s dominance since 1994 has been in the public sector. Now, COSATU will no longer be the biggest block in the PSCBC. Traditionally, COSATU has relied on its relationship with the ANC to influence employers, depending on political solutions when negotiations deadlock.
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FEDUSA General Secretary, Dennis George, has said he is pleased that his organisation would be bringing together "a very large majority of 1.3 million workers in the public sector ahead of negotiations for the next three-year agreement". George wants to restore ethics in the public service. FEDUSA wants to ensure that workers feel protected and stand up against rogue politicians “who want to force them to doing things not required from public service”.
Labour Analyst, Mamokgethi Molopyane, says that the possibility of a shift in power dynamics at the PSCBC would favour the interests of workers. "I do think that in the future . . . you are going to have to earn your workers and you will have to earn them because we [the federations] are not going to let go of our workers so easily.”
SAFTU’s 700 000 membership claims have yet to be audited. In order to be admitted to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), SAFTU has to meet the threshold of 300 000.
FEDUSA’s constitution specifically states that it is politically unaligned. Its aim to promote the interests of its affiliates and is not politically ideologically grounded. It is, however, highly critical of ANC governance. Importantly, it is the first union grouping that has indicated that it will challenge Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba, on his intention to use the Government Employees Pension Fund to bail out South African Airways.
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Anthea Jeffery, Head of Policy Research at the IRR, says that taxpayers are likely to be unwilling to divert their private medical aid resources into the National Health Insurance scheme (NHI). Medical schemes will not be permitted to provide benefits which are theoretically available through the NHI. Instead, they will be confined to providing benefits which ‘complement’ those obtainable under the NHI. PSA, and now FEDUSA, are likely to challenge anything that threatens their members’ access to the Government Employees Medical Scheme. COSATU meanwhile supports the NHI.
ANC hegemony is no longer guaranteed. COSATU has fractured and weakened. Thirty years of COSATU dominance, both as a union federation and a major player in the political arena, may be ending.
In an uncertain economic environment, workers look to trade unions to perform their traditional roles of promoting their interests and protecting their employment. The increased muscularity of the opposition parties suggests that workers may no longer be interested in unions and federations representing their political interests.
This may have detrimental implications for traditional Marxist-Leninist federations such as COSATU and SAFTU. They see South Africa as what former Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko, has described as a ’smoke-stack’ economy. This harks back to the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century.