There are no "conclusions" in the middle of the struggle. The original topic for this publication - black trade unionism in the 1970s - seemed at the time of undertaking this writing project to be the correct conceptualization. In getting down to the work itself, however, it becomes more difficult than ever to divide the South African workers' struggle into arbitrary time frames. Or, to put it differently, all time frames, and especially those which deal with the current developments, are inevitably arbitrary. As we pointed out in the introductory chapter, these problems are expected and their very existence is a reflection of the tempo of struggle against apartheid that is occurring inside and outside South Africa.
At the same time, keeping up with the most current information and trying to put some analytical shape to that information is also our task, and for that reason the final paragraphs become frustrating to compose. Of the many directions that could be taken in commenting on the immediate situation, two themes seem to stand out as likely trends over the next few years.
Firstly, the apartheid economy has not only recovered from the crisis described in Chapter Five, but it has entered into a phase of expansion out of keeping with its capitalist counterparts throughout the world. This is a depressing development because of its effect of strengthening the apartheid ruling class and allowing it to buy time; this is also part of the reality that must now be confronted by the entire anti-apartheid movement, not to mention the black people inside South Africa itself. Secondly, and positively, the black people's resistance on both the trade union and political fronts has not been dampened by the economic recovery brought on by the rise in the price of gold. The dialectic between a seemingly strong economy and a definitely strong black resistance will provide the dynamics in present and future struggles. Let us look briefly at each theme.
The economic recovery and expansion are rooted in the gold mining economy to be sure. The increase in the price of gold has meant that South Africa has plenty of hard cash to finance its industrial expansion along the old pattern of importing capital goods. This is proceeding at a rapid rate, especially as the regime wants to waste no opportunity of taking advantage of a more favourable international capitalist impression of South Africa (as compared with the turbulence of the 1970s). Every deal made now - fresh capital investment, bank loans, expanded trade, military collaboration, etc. - allows the regime to protect itself against the inevitable political crisis that looms ever larger on the horizon.
Looking at trade figures, South Africa established a record trade surplus in 1980, including a 50 per cent increase in exports to other African countries. Record trade levels with Britain also characterized the opening of a new decade. This has been attributed in large part to the reactionary policies of Prime Minister Thatcher's Conservative government and the elimination of fears of boycotts or governmental restrictions on investing in apartheid oppression during her tenure in office. Although these trends are certainly disturbing in that they show a greater ability of right-wing capitalist governments to do business with apartheid, it should also be pointed out that South African imports are still rising at a faster rate than exports. While this reflects the power of gold to finance capital goods imports, it also suggests theoretically - and hopefully more than that - a potential solidarity action by the international community in demanding an end to the build-up of industrial infrastructure and production techniques in South Africa.
At the present time, however, the profit rates for investors in the apartheid system have reached phenomenal heights. Gold production, as might be imagined, tops the list. Including all its operations, Anglo-American Corporation's profits were expected to reach $4 billion for the year 1980. Approximately 50 per cent of this amount will go to the South African state, and this would be sufficient to cover the entire budget of the army, navy, air force, the police and the prisons. As SACTU's August 1980 issue of Workers Unity puts it:
It is no exaggeration to say that Anglo American finances all those instruments of oppression which go into the making of the apartheid system, and which thus go into the mining capitalists' oppression of the workers who create this profit with their sweat and blood.
This statement shows clearly the completed circle of exploited labour, super-profits, state repression and the discovery of more efficient means of controlling exploited labour....
For the black miners who produce this gold, they get none of the riches. While profit rates go up 400 per cent for the mining corporations, black workers' wages decline relative to the rate of inflation. A wage rise of less than 15 per cent (on an average base of R155 per month) is more than offset by the over 20 per cent rate of inflation for Blacks in 1980 as reported by the chief economist for Barclays Bank. The price of food increased by the even higher rate of 29.5 per cent. Blacks have no unions and their wages are set unilaterally by the bosses, among whom is the "enlightened" Harry Oppenheimer. Simultaneous with the frenzy of increased gold production is a higher rate of industrial injury and death as greater depths are now being mined. On the estimate of 1.5 deaths per thousand, at least 650 would have been killed in the gold mining industry in 1980 alone. These are the real measures of the "grip of gold fever" that is touching the capitalist community!
Profit levels in other sectors have not matched those in the mining sector, understandably, but they are nevertheless averaging anywhere from (pre-tax) 50 to 80 per cent over the past year. This rate of return on investment has once more made South Africa a haven for foreign capital investment.
Recent data reveal that American fixed investment in South Africa now totals some R1,500 million, or 18 per cent of all total investment. The US is also South Africa's biggest individual trading partner and is heavily dependent on the imports of mineral deposits - especially coal, but also platinum, chrome and manganese. The total volume of US imports is growing at record levels, and the South African shipping company, Safmarine, has increased its scheduled sailings from 37 to 54 per year to meet the demand. The election of Ronald Reagan is looked upon by American corporations and the apartheid regime as another boost to the continuation of this American apartheid axis in the foreseeable future.
Although South Africa is certainly not lacking in money at the present time, the regime considers it wise politically and from a public relations point of view to continue receiving loans from finance houses throughout the capitalist world. It is also important to note that the longevity of these loans is gradually increasing (up to seven years in some cases) rather than decreasing as was the case during the latter years of the 1970s. As the Sunday Tribune commented in July 1980:
... so healthy is the outlook that bankers no longer have to resort
to the undercover methods for obtaining overseas cash. They now compete openly at comparative rates for foreign capital. Trial runs have shown the world is now only too eager to lend money to this country.
All of these indices of capitalist expansion and euphoria are out of touch with the severe crisis that is gripping the rest of the western world. South African growth rates exceeded 10 per cent for the first six months of 1980, replacing Japan as the fastest growing capitalist nation. A projected growth rate of 5 per cent for 1981, if realized, would still greatly outdistance a projected growth rate of only 1 per cent for the remainder of industrial capitalism. Such are the inter-related effects of gold and apartheid!
But amidst all the furore of money-making, the corporate spokesmen for multinationals seem less than truly confident in the South African situation. They have obviously become conditioned to look over their shoulders on the way to the bank -and rightly so. As the Barclays Bank chief economist put it a few months back:
First there is the ever-present danger of a disturbance of confidence as a result of unfavourable political developments both at home and abroad, or by a substantial fall in the price of gold, which is clearly unstable.
[Cape Times, 12 September 1980.]
The Business International Corporation of New York has completed a comprehensive study on the challenges facing foreign subsidiaries in South Africa (an indication of concern?) and concluded that deep uncertainty continues to exist among many businessmen. The chairman of a British corporation with "interests all over Africa" says: "I wish I knew what was going to happen." The BIC report concludes that the biggest threat to multinationals in South Africa remains the black trade union movement and how it is responded to by international firms.
To rephrase this corporate rhetoric, what is being said as strongly today as two years ago is that black workers and their unions are on the move. With or without economic crises, they are engaged in a process of regaining control over their own destiny as they struggle simultaneously against national oppression and capitalist exploitation. While multinational corporations keep telling themselves and others that things are better in South Africa, the real message that comes through is that they remain on the defensive generally and they are not winning in the class conflict with black labour particularly.
No matter how high the profit level, and, more correctly, because of that high level, the black working class has not been brought under the iron fist of the apartheid regime. Wiehahn and Riekert notwithstanding, the daily papers contradict the grand apartheid propaganda being pushed so widely by the regime. Black workers watch their wages remain below poverty levels while profits rise; for example, Blacks earned an average of 79 per cent less than Whites in the mining, manufacturing, construction, electricity, transport and communications field in 1980, according to department of statistics data. Black unemployment rises with each passing month, and with it the increased suffering of the people generally. In the meantime, Whites are being recruited in record numbers from western countries to do skilled jobs. For Blacks, however, unemployment means not only the loss of income but in most cases the intervention of the state in its drive to remove the "unproductive Bantu" from the urban areas. And for those Blacks who do have jobs and form independent black trade unions to protect them, the threat to profits becomes by definition a threat to the security of the "white state". Yet in the background is the increasing strength of the liberation movement - the African National Congress (ANC) - within South Africa itself.
So, there is no reason to despair. In the final moments of writing, figures have just reached us that show that in 1980 black trade union membership has almost tripled. The total number of black workers in trade unions is now 184,000, an increase of 168 per cent compared with January 1980. The fastest growing unions are those affiliated to FOSATU and the unaffiliated-unregistered independents. The latter have gained new members at a faster rate than even FOSATU unions. The South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU), the militant breakaway from the old BAWU, now appears to be the fastest growing trade union in the country with a membership exceeding 20,000 in early 1981, four times its size when compared with one year earlier.
And yet another non-racial trade union coordinating body surfaced in January 1981. The General and Allied Workers Union (General AWU) also constitutes an outgrowth of the demise of BAWU and is presently under the leadership of Mary Ntseke (former general secretary of BAWU) and Rita Ndzanga, both progressive trade unionists with many years of experience. Rita Ndzariga was a SACTU organizer in the Transvaal in the 1950s and early 1960s, and her husband (Lawrence) was a SACTU national executive committee member murdered while in detention in 1976. The General AWU firmly embraces the policies of non-racial trade unionism and rejects registration.
The list of militant and independent trade unions refusing to follow the FOSATU strategy of applying for registration (in order to protect themselves from the "parallels") is growing rapidly. The list now includes the Western Province General Workers Union (WPGWU), the African Food and Canning Workers Union (AFCWU), the South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU), the Black Municipal Workers Union (BMWU), the Motor Assemblies and Components Workers Union of South Africa (MACWU), the Media Workers Association of South Africa, and now the General AWU. MACWU has just had its official launching, in early February 1981, and there is strong evidence that leaders of these various independents are working closely together in the interests of unity.
As South Africa tries desperately to fulfill its twin functions of protecting capital accumulation and legitimizing social relations, more and more internal contradictions are coming to the fore. The IC Amendment Act, the new so-called -dispensation" for labour, is not meeting with the desired approval. An increasing number of black unions are refusing to comply, and as this process unfolds international capital is becoming less certain about political stability inside apartheid. Under these circumstances the state cannot sit idly by and hope that the Wiehahn initiative works.... it must try to make it work. What makes this more difficult is the fact that Minister of Manpower Utilization Fanie Botha must occasionally speak honestly and openly to white workers to assure them that the new laws are really designed to impose greater controls over black labour and black trade unions. Obviously when the minister does this, the black workers and the international trade union community are only reinforced in their suspicions that the legislation is a sham. Legitimization is no easy task for the apartheid state!
Therefore, faced with a crisis of confidence in many circles and confronted daily with more and more strikes and worker community actions, the state has begun to "leak" another package of labour legislation likely to be introduced in this parliamentary session. As proof of our earlier contentions that the Wiehahn-inspired National Manpower Commission is really the invisible government when it comes to labour control, another set of regulations will soon be introduced. These seem likely to tighten the noose around the necks of the unregistered black unions, while also offering more carrots of "reform" to less principled black unions. To be sure, new anti-strike legislation will be brought in, and there is speculation that the minister will also create provisions for deporting contract workers who strike
Yet the state must walk a thin tightrope between increased repression on the one hand and increased ideological persuasion on the other. If only the former is acted upon then, again, everyone would see the new legislation as only a thin disguise for increased repression. If no repression is used, the situation will get out of control very quickly. Hence, it is expected that a few more "liberalizations" will be offered to try to woo more black unions into the state industrial relations machinery. These might include greater flexibility in the area of "mixed" unions, more trade union rights to foreign blacks, and greater emphasis on "representativeness- as the principal criterion for approving applications for registration.
For those black unions that continue to resist these schemes, and no doubt these will grow rather than decrease in number, the state will probably resort to increased intimidation. Unregistered black unions will not be banned, but their activities will be made as difficult to carry out as possible. This will likely include the greater use of security laws against leaders and organizers of the independent unions. The control over financial assistance for these black unions will most definitely be monitored to the maximum extent possible. And, wherever possible, the regime will act through whatever means at its disposal to break down the alliances between black unions and black community organizations that have evolved over the past five years.
These are the options, and there are no easy solutions for the apartheid state. More than ever before the international working class and progressive community must get involved by monitoring the pulse of the black trade union movement. For those who follow developments inside South Africa, it is equally important not to get lost in the many new names and personalities that have emerged over the past decade. While there certainly remains a wide range of tendencies within the black trade union movement, and while these are certainly of great significance in the long run, it is necessary to stress the emerging unity that these new formations express as they combine their working class muscle.
The process of building unity in the above-ground formations has been emphasized by Thozamile Botha, Ford strike leader and SACTU member, since his exile from South Africa. When asked how to view the struggles developing inside apartheid, Botha first of all stressed the necessity of making connections between the present and past struggles, a point also made in our introductory chapter.
I realize one thing - that the struggle that is beginning inside the country is not the beginning, but a continuation of a long protracted struggle that has been waged by the trade unions in the past. So what is being done is not new... To raise political consciousness amongst the people is a process, there is no end.
[Workers Unity, No. 23, Dec. 1980, p.3.]
More specifically, it is important for those who understandably ask what role SACTU plays inside South Africa after being underground and in exile for so many years to listen to Botha's remarks:
It (SACTU) represents all the trade unions that exist inside the country. It doesn't discriminate against trade unions for "not toeing a correct line" except those unions that support the policies of the government. All others are in touch with SACTU. So SACTU must be trusted.
[1bid, p.3.]
In conclusion, it seems that the most appropriate way to understand the whole range of black workers' struggles that have occurred in the 1970s is to think of them as part of a larger and longer process. In taking that "longer" view, these struggles are not just for reforms, they are for liberation. For that reason they form an integral part of the national liberation process itself. As for trade unionism per se, the developments throughout the 1970s and even up to the present moment (February 1981) make sense only in the context of the long history of non-racial and political trade unionism begun in the early decades of this century and institutionalized with the formation of SACTU on 5 March 1955. To reduce the events described in this document to anything less than these two struggles - against national oppression and class exploitation - would be a classic example and a most dangerous one of what we warn against in Chapter Ten: it would be an instance of trying to direct the workers' struggle, rather than following the workers' lead.
Finally, the major issue within black trade union circles today and tomorrow is the question of unity. The South African Congress of Trade Unions, the trade union coordinating body that has struggled and sacrificed more than any other in the interests of a united South African working class, deserves the last word on the present importance of unity:
On the basis of democratic discussion, of give and take, of equality, it is possible for the various trade unions and indeed various federations or groupings, to get together. For a start all should agree to give concrete assistance to workers on strike in defence of their rights and for higher wages and better conditions. All should agree to exchange information and work together on areas of common interest, organizing the unorganized, unemployment, banishments and detentions....
In time a united workers trade union organization will again emerge publicly to confront apartheid and exploitation. The policy on which it will be based is enshrined in our history, our leaders fight for it, in South Africa, in jail, in exile or under conditions of banishment. When the power of organized labour is again strong enough the flag of workers united will again fly openly in our country.
[1bid, p.4.]
Documentation on the Johannesburg Municipality Workers' Strike
Issued by the South African Council of Churches, July 1980
Notes on the Johannesburg Municipality Workers Strike
1. The background of the strike
1. 1: The strike started with electricians and spread from them to the workers of other divisions. The electricians have received an increase only approximately a month ago, but had not yet been informed. They demanded an increase from a minimum of R33 per week to R58 per week.
1.2: The cleaners removing garbage obtained R33 per week plus an annual double cheque. It appears that many of these workers have worked for a considerable time with the municipality, but had not received an increment.
1.3: Nearly all the workers who went on strike are migrant workers from the homelands. They have little power to exert pressure on management. If they lose their work, they also lose their contract which allows them to stay in the so-called "white area---. If they lose their work because of going on strike and if they do not complete their period of contract, they have little possibility of re-employment.
1.4: The lack of bargaining power for the municipal workers who are migrant workers is heightened by the big unemployment rate. Workers who lose their work can easily be discarded into the homelands. At the same time they can be easily replaced by new applicants from the homelands.
1.5: The management committee of the Johannesburg municipality apparently is completely out of touch with the workers. The relatively low turnover in the labour force is understood as a proof of the satisfaction of the workers. According to a report in the Rand Daily Alail of 1 August 1980 council officials claim that they have been congratulated by the department of manpower utilization for paying a minimum wage that compares well with the best in the country.
1.6: The remoteness of the management committee of the Johannesburg municipality from the actual thinking of the workers explained its actions to the strike. They feel hurt that their achievements are not recognized. The dissatisfaction is attributed to instigators. There is no thought of the possibility that the workers might have grievances which are justified. The management committee therefore has not managed to solve the conflict in any other way but by making use of the police force.
According to a report in the Star of 1 August 1980 the important lessons that had been learnt by the municipality from the strike with regard to its future labour policy are the following: - the need to tighten security at all points;
1.7: The management committee attributed the unrest partly to competition between two rival trade unions who enlist support from the municipal workers, the Union of Johannesburg Municipal Workers and the Black Municipal Workers Union. The Union of Johannesburg Municipal Workers receives the backing of management. The executive committee of this union has not been elected by the workers. It was constituted by management calling together the members of the liaison committees in the different branches of the municipality. These liaison committees are appointed by management.
Among the workers of the municipality there was a widespread feeling that the United Johannesburg Municipal Workers Union had been started by the managing council. It could therefore not effectively negotiate on behalf of the workers.
1.8: The leader who started the Black Municipal Workers Union is a black bus driver by the name Joseph Mavi. He has already some time ago organized the bus drivers and succeeded in negotiating better wages for them. His leadership qualities are feared by the municipality. Mr Mavi was asked not to start organizing the workers in other divisions of the municipality's work force, since these workers should be organized for each division separately. Mr Mavi was opposed to this advice. He argued that it was not right that the bus drivers alone had achieved better working conditions. The conditions for the workers in the other divisions also needed to be improved. Therefore an undivided organization was necessary.
1.9: According to the new government legislation trade unions have to be registered with the government in order to be legally protected. Such registration, however, is a very protracted procedure. Moreover a registered union is subject to many strict and cumbersome rules that are to be followed in a labour dispute. It is very difficult to organize a strike legally, that is in accordance with these rules. A strike of a registered trade union is legal only if it has followed the prescribed procedures. As a result of the cumbersome and numerous regulations trade unions are hesitant whether they should register at all. Many feel that legislation on registration of trade unions is meant to subject trade unions and their activities strictly to the control of the government.
Trade unions may also exist as unregistered unions. It is legal for a firm to recognize an unregistered trade union as bargaining partner in a labour dispute.
1.10: At the time the strike began the BMWU as well as the UJMW were unregistered unions. However, when the strike reached its peak, the UJMW speedily achieved official registration on 31 July 1980, in spite of the fact that registration is a lengthy and time consuming process and requires a number of detailed conditions to be fulfilled. One condition is that the workers who are to be registered as members of the union must have paid their contributions.
The management committee argued that it was prepared to negotiate only with an officially registered union. Therefore there was a need to have an officially registered union.
1.11: The organization of the BMWU was started only four to five weeks before the beginning of the strike. The fact that nearly 10,000 to 15,000 members participated in the strike is an indication of the support which the BMWU obtained and of the intensity of the grievances.
1.12: As a result of the rivalry between the BMWU and the UJMW the dispute leading to the strike has to be understood not merely in terms of the demand for better wages, but also as a demand for the participation of elected representatives of the workers in the decision-making processes themselves. The dispute therefore has an eminently political dimension. This explains the sensitivity of the Johannesburg municipality as well as of the central government to the demands of the B~.
1.13: A considerable number of the municipality's workers are employed in "essential services". For workers engaged in these services, strikes are illegal in all cases. Disputes have to be submitted to arbitration by a third party according to a prescribed form.
II. The strike
1. The strike started on Friday, 25 July. On Monday, 28 July, 3,000 municipal workers were on strike. The management committee of the municipality refused to negotiate with the BMWU. Within the next days the number of strikers grew from approximately 10,000 to 15,000.
2. The cleaning of the streets and the removal of garbage came to a standstill.
The strike was finally broken by police action. According to some reports, workers were asked individually at gun point by policemen to state whether they intended to come to work or to return to the homelands. Those who decided to return to their homelands were ordered to pack their belongings and to get on the buses. More than a thousand workers were dismissed. Some reports put the figure at 1,400.
3. While this police action was going on, the president of the BMWU negotiated with lawyers to seek the protection of the Supreme Court for the members of the union. While he waited outside the court room for the hearing to start, he was arrested and taken away by the police. Mr Mavi was arrested in the presence of his lawyers under the General Law Amendment Act. This means that he can be kept in solitary confinement for 14 days; thereafter this confinement can be changed into indefinite solitary confinement under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act.
4. There are reports on an agreement that had been reached between the lawyers of the BMWU and municipality to the effect that no worker would be deported against his will to the homelands. This agreement has not been observed.
III. Meeting of the Representatives of the SACC and Concerned Organizations
At the initiative of the SACC a meeting took place in the late afternoon of 1 August 1980 of representatives of several organizations which were alarmed at the ruthless methods that the municipality had used to break the strike without attending to the real issues. The following organizations were represented: SACC; Black Sash; South African Institute of Race Relations; FOSATU; PFP.
In the discussion the following aspects of the unrest were emphasized:
1. The temporary denial of one's work is an internationally recognized right of the worker. South Africa is a member of the ILO which emphasizes this right.
2. Labour dissatisfaction will continue to have a bearing on relationships between churches and workers.
3. As long as the migrant labour system is enforced, the worker will have little bargaining power.
4. During the strike the police used force to back management and its interests. The next few days will show whether a court case can be initiated against the municipality of Johannesburg.
5. The Johannesburg municipality meanwhile has contacted several homelands with a view to replacing the municipal workers who have been dismissed.
IV. Efforts on the part of the SACC to facilitate negotiations between the partners in the conflict
1. The SACC has offered its services to facilitate negotiations between the partners in the conflict.
2. The offer has not been taken seriously by the municipality. Repeated efforts have been undertaken by the SACC to obtain a response from the mayor of Johannesburg.
3. Contact was made by the SACC with the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce pertaining to the urgency to facilitate negotiations. The representative of the latter claimed that preparations for negotiations were already undertaken. Only after the failure of the visits of the representatives of the municipality to the compounds did there appear to be a little more openness for efforts to facilitate negotiations with the help of the SACC. However, the detention of Mr Mavi made negotiations impossible.
4. Representatives of the BMWU asked the SACC to undertake efforts to facilitate negotiations.
5. As representative of the SACC Rev. Francois Bill and Rev. Buti T1hagale and Rev. Jimmy Palos acted on behalf of the general secretary and of the deputy general secretary and were in contact with the BMWU.
When it proved to be impossible to facilitate negotiations, the BMWU expressed a concern that the SACC and related agencies undertake the following steps;
5. 1: to demand the release of Mr Mavi;
5.2: to demand the reinstatement of the dismissed workers;
5.3: to obtain financial support for re-establishing a BMWU office for organizing the workers;
5.4: to demand that the BMWU be given an opportunity to prove that it enjoys the support of all workers (possibly through a referendum).
V. The significance of the strike
1. The strike of the BMWU could have the effect of indicating the repressive nature of recent labour legislation and of the recommendations of the Wiehahn and the Riekert Commissions.
2. The strike has shown how deeply concerned black workers are to obtain the right of participation in decision-making on labour problems. It has shown that this concern is even stronger among the migrant workers who are more vulnerable than the other workers. The strike therefore has great political significance.
3. It appears that labour issues will be the main issue in conflicts between the black people and the South African government as well as a wide section of management in the South African economy.
V1. Recommendations
1. It is recommended that the way in which the strike has been suppressed be given the widest possible publicity in and outside South Africa and that this type of repression be interpreted within the context of the new labour legislation.
2. It is recommended that the BMWU be assisted financially to re-establish its office.
3. It is recommended that the efforts of students to collect money on a regular monthly basis and to find sponsors who accept the financial responsibility for each of the workers who have been sent back to their homelands be encouraged.
Press Release from a Group of Concerned Citizens, 1 August 1980
A group of concerned citizens of Johannesburg met today to discuss the issues raised by the strike of black municipal workers.
1. The group unanimously agreed on the following:
That
1. 1: All ministers in Johannesburg should this Sunday bring to the attention of their congregations the gross injustices which the people who keep the city going suffer, e.g.:
1.1.1: wage of R33 per week;
1.1.2: 10,000 men did not strike because of intimidation;
1.1 3: police have been used to get the strikers back to work;
1.1.4: Mr Mavi, president of the BMWU, has been detained;
1.1.5: workers have been loaded on to buses and driven out of the city in spite of an agreement made between council and union that nobody will be moved from the hostels.
1.2: All workers be reinstated unconditionally and that no retrenchment be carried out by the city council.
1.3: Mr Mavi, president of the BMWU, be charged or released forthwith.
1.4: An impartial and free referendum be held amongst the black workers to decide which union is truly representative of its interests; the union so chosen by the workers should be recognized by the management committee irrespective of whether it is registered or not.
1.5: The genuineness of the grievances of the black workers should be looked into. As white citizens, we believe that conditions of service are unacceptable. But of greater importance is the need for the city's management committee to listen to the workers themselves through their duly elected representatives.
2. To this end the group agreed to undertake the following tasks:
2.1: To prepare and disseminate information on the true facts of the situation.
2.2: To raise awareness of the Johannesburg public to the plight of the workers and the injustices under which they suffer.
2.3: To help educate white management in participatory democracy particularly regarding employer-employee relations and the handling of labour issues.
2.4: To make a more supportive response to the workers of the city in the event of further strikes.
J. Francois Bill
Chairman of the Group
Readers who wish to pursue the topics covered in this book may want to consider some of the following books and periodicals available in the English language. This list in no way attempts to be exhaustive: it is only a guide to current and regular information sources on black workers' struggle against apartheid.
General materials on apartheid are available through the United Nations Centre Against Apartheid; the Centre puts out a -Notes and Documents" series dealing with foreign investment in South Africa, trade union actions and other aspects of the struggle against apartheid. These materials are available from the UN Centre Against Apartheid, UN Secretariat, Room 3580, UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA. Another excellent source for a wide range of books and pamphlets on apartheid and Southern Africa is the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, Publications Department, 104 Newgate St., London ECI, England.
Periodicals dealing with South Africa that may be subscribed to include: Southern Africa Magazine (17 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011: Facts and Reports (Holland Committee on Southern Africa, Da Costastraat 88, Amsterdam, Holland); and Focus, a news bulletin on political repression in Southern Africa available from IDAF.
The history of trade unionism in South Africa has been documented extensively, although it should also be pointed out that many books focus undue attention on the development of white trade unions. B. Weinbren and 1. Walker's 2,000 Casualties is a good example of the latter. More comprehensive and helpful titles would be the following: E. Roux, Time Longer than Rope (University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1964) and E. S. Sachs, The Anatomy of Apartheid (Collet's Ltd., London, 1965). By far the most detailed and widely consulted source on the history of trade union and political history up until 1950 is H. J. and R. E. Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa, 1850-1950 (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969).
More recently, the first attempt to document the history of non-racial trade unionism in South Africa has been commissioned by SACTU as its official history and 25th anniversary commemoration project. That title is Organize or Starve: the History of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1980) and is available through the SACTU London Office (38 Graham Street, London NI) and the SACTU Solidarity Committee (Canada) (P.O. Box 490, Postal Station J, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4J 4Z2). On specific struggles in the history of black trade unionism, Dan O'Meara has written two excellent articles which appear in academic journals: "Analysing Afrikaner Nationalism: the 'Christian-National' Assault on White Trade Unionism in South Africa, 1934-48", African Affairs, Vol. 77, No. 306 (January 1978) and "The African Mine Workers' Strike and the Political Economy of South Africa", Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol. XIII, No. 2 (July 1975).
The industrial relations legislation which forms such a cornerstone of state repression against black workers has also been researched extensively. The most recent and comprehensive treatment of this complicated subject is SAIRR's Laws Affecting Race Relations in South Africa, 1948-76 (compiled by Muriel Horrell, Johannesburg, 1978). Another excellent article summarizing the relation between the state legislation and South African capitalism is R. Davies, "The Class Character of South Africa's Industrial Conciliation Legislation", South African Labour Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 6 (January 1976). The SALB issued special reports on the Wiehahn Commission (Vol. 5, No. 2, August 1979) and Riekert Commission (Vol. 5, No. 4, November 1979); much of the information regarding the Commissions that appears in Chapters Six and Seven of this document was taken from these two SALB publications.
Literature on black workers and their trade union struggles in the 1970s is also widely available. One of the best sources focusing on labour struggles within South Africa at present is the South African Labour Bulletin, available on subscription basis from P.O. Box 18109, Dalbridge, Durban, 4014, South Africa. Begun in 1974, this bulletin provides the reader with the most in-depth coverage and analysis of all major strikes, working conditions, labour legislation and debates within the trade union movement which have occurred since the mid-1970s.
In recent years, whole SALB issues have been devoted to specific events or important questions facing the black labour movement in South Africa. Some examples which have been useful in compiling this document include: Labour Organisation and Registration (Vol. 5, Nos. 6 & 7, March 1980); Focus on International Labour (Vol. 5, No. 8, May 1980); Working for Ford? (Vol. 6, Nos. 2 & 3, September 1980); and Strikes in the Meat and Cotton Industries: 1980 Strike Series 1 (Vol. 6, No. 5, December 1980).
Essential reading on black workers struggles against apartheid is Workers Unity, the official organ of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). Written for both internal underground distribution as an agitational weapon and for the international community, the paper charts the course of struggle inside South Africa itself. Workers Unity was the official organ of SACTU back in the 1950s and 1960s when the organization worked above ground. Now published in London, it promotes the time-tested principles and policies of the first non-racial trade union federation and provides the reader with information and analysis of all developments affecting black workers in South Africa.
A central theme which consistently comes through the issues is the inextricable link between the economic and political struggle. Recent struggles against legislation and forced removals by black community groups (e.g. Crossroads) as well as agitational pieces on "how to organize" are covered in various issues of the paper. Workers Unity is available through the London Office of SACTU (see address above) on a subscription basis.
Sechaba, the monthly organ of the African National Congress of South Africa, provides the reader with news and analysis of the general liberation struggle being waged against the racist apartheid regime. This publication is available from various ANC offices throughout the world. Write to: ANC, 28 Penton St., London NI, England. Also available from the same address is the weekly ANC News Briefing, a comprehensive compilation of news clippings from South African newspapers.
Another publication from inside South Africa is Work in Progress, initiated by the progressive student movement. This periodical covers work place and community issues as well as political trials occurring throughout the country. Analyses of strikes are complemented by the occasional theoretical discussion of the nature of these struggles within (and against) the capitalist system. Subscriptions can be obtained from Work in Progress, P.O. Box 93174, 2143 Yeoville, South Africa.
On the subject of international solidarity, this is an area which is desperately in need of more research and publication. An excellent beginning has been made by Don Thomson and Rodney Larson, authors of Where Were You, Brother?: an Account of Trade Union Imperialism, published by War on Want, 467 Caledonian Road, London N79 BE, England. Their book deals only perfunctorily with the South African situation, but it nevertheless provides the reader with a clear picture of the negative role played by the top levels of the western international labour movement in relation to the oppressed people of the Third World.
For those interested in studying the historical background of international labour activity with South Africa's black workers, Chapter 11 of Organize or Starve summarizes relevant information on this topic. It documents the role of the WFTU and the IMU in promoting and inhibiting solidarity during the 1950s and 1960s.
A useful periodical for keeping up to date on research and publications on international labour is the Newsletter of International Labour Studies (NILS). This publication is available from NILS, Galileistraat 130, 2561 TK The Hague, Netherlands.