From the politics of resistance to the politics of reconstruction: The union and 'ungovernability' in the workplace

Abstract

South Africa has undergone momentous change over the past decade. The trade union movement in the shape of COSATU has played a central role in that change. During the late 1980s it became the most organised and visible component of the internal mass democratic movement. After 1990 it became the major alliance partner of the unbanned ANC. On the one hand COSATU was an important advocate and organiser of the mass mobilisation campaigns which kept up the momentum of national political negotiations. It was the originator of the Reconstruction and Development Programme [RDP], later taken up by the ANC as the core of its election and governmental programme. COSATU also provided much of the organisation and the personnel for the ANC election campaign in 1994. At the same time the trade unions were trying to develop new policies and new strategies appropriate to the new conditions of a democratic - or democratising - society. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa [NUMSA] was at the forefront of developing such policies, focusing on reform of human resource policies and institutions, and on industrial strategy. These developments have been characterised by labour movement analysts as a shift from 'social movement unionism' to 'strategic unionism' founded on a strategy of 'radical reform', (see Joffe et al, 1992; Von Holdt, 1992b; Von Holdt and Webster, 1992)