5 - Union governance: South Africa and its lessons

Summary

ABSTRACT

The South African labour movement's role in the collapse of apartheid in South Africa is renowned. Historically, the unions’ opposition to apartheid can be attributed to their robust internal governance structures, which were premised on democratic workplace organizing rather than solely relying upon their leaders. In the post-apartheid era, workplace governance presented new challenges and, with the pressures to rapidly transform workplaces demographically, many firms targeted shop stewards for management roles, which in turn led to a significant loss of local leadership. Furthermore, the top union leadership structures had to contend with the demands placed upon them due to their participation in the African National Congress-led alliance. This chapter explores in detail how the model of successful union governance, which was centred on dynamic internal democracy, has substantially declined in three key areas of union strength.

Keywords: Union governance; South Africa; challenges for unions

INTRODUCTION

The mixed fortunes of unions around the world have led to increased interest in union governance, and the extent to which this is part of the recipe for success, supplementing earlier interest in union strategy and the organizing model (Visser 2019). The meteoric rise and decline of the South African labour unionism highlights some of the challenges in promoting effective governance of unions and sustaining it in the face of emerging challenges. The South African labour movement is well known to have played a leading role in the demise of apartheid, and was part and parcel of the negotiated transition, leading the promulgation of a highly progressive body of labour legislation. Part of the unions’ success in opposing apartheid was highly effective internal governance structures, founded upon democratic workplace organizing, which reduced a reliance on key leaders, an experience relevant for unions in many countries under repressive rule. This focus made it much harder for the state to repress the labour movement.

However, effective workplace governance posed new challenges in the post-apartheid era. Under pressure to advance Blacks in the workplace, many firms took to poaching shop stewards, leading to the loss of a large strata of local leadership.