Shutdown flop shows unions must head back to drawing board, or become even more irrelevant

With the low turnout of workers during this week’s “national protest” showing a lack of unity, South African unions are in desperate need of change, according to experts.

The relatively low numbers participating in Wednesday’s demonstrations and stay away organised by the two largest trade union federations – the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African Federation of Trade Union (Saftu) – showed a lack of support for the strike.

As the country entered what was called the “post-industrial era”, the future of unions was becoming more irrelevant, political analyst Andre Duvenhage said.

There was still a place for unions in SA, but there was no place for unions that were completely unrealistic and used “conflict and violence” as mechanisms to pursue their goals, he said.

“Many of these trade unions should head back to the drawing board, reconsider their situation and strategise within a new context,” he said.

‘Trade union bosses not transparent’

Duvenhage said the protest was not a complete blackout but a failure of the trade unions.

“This failure could lead to a negative impact on an already negative economic situation in the country.”

Duvenhage said trade union bosses were not transparent, and the story of ordinary labourers not picking the fruit of the process was true. There was an issue of mismanagement and poor levels of governance, he claimed.

“The problem is they played politics, which was problematic.”

Political analyst Levy Ndou said unions would remain relevant if they advanced the interests of the workers. The fragmentation of unions was the cause of low turnouts.

“You need workers to be united under one big umbrella,” he said. Whether there were few or lots of people, unions still raised an awareness that government needs to plan ahead to avoid being severely affected by things happening in other countries, which had a negative impact on SA.

“This reflects how we should be first sustainable.”

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There was a need for more leaders to be committed to the issues of the workers and consistency was required in the unions, Ndou said.

“If union bosses occupy positions for a long time, they may run out of ideas. There needs to be more people who will bring new ideas. Unions in SA were associated with certain individuals and that needs to change.”

The protests were against soaring costs of living, power cuts and high unemployment rates.

‘Personal agendas and powerplays’

But Dawie Roodt, chief economist at the Efficient Group, said with things not going well in SA, it was important to note any kind of disruption could lead to a significant increase in public violence.

“We know there are many questions, especially with finances, but trade unions need to be careful. They need to work in reinventing themselves and become modern representatives of labour and labour interests,” he said.

“There are a lot of personal agendas and powerplays [among union bosses] and the people who are paying the price include the unemployed and workers,” Roodt said.

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Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said of the low levels of strike participation, it was clear workers understood they could not take forward commitments and principles alone. Pamla said the federation was the only weapon they had to confront class enemies.

“The strike was about commitments needing to be honoured and the outcome of the work we have with businesses. The strike was not about Cosatu issues, but issues of SA.”

– lungas@citizen.co.za