Analysing the state of trade union membership in South Africa
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to understand the reason for the decline in trade union density in South Africa. Trade unions worldwide have seen a huge decline in their membership density. South Africa is no different. There has been a lot of research regarding the effectiveness of trade union towards the economy and the country. The importance in understanding the reasons for this decline allow for measures to be put in place by the trade unions in order to reverse this. Trade unions have been around for decades and have given their members a huge number of benefits in the work place. The research was conducted through interviews with members of trade unions as well as leadership members within these trade unions. These participants were chosen at random but had to be a current or past member. This research was qualitative in nature which allowed for more in-depth research. Trade union membership make up currently for 25% of the work force. The majority of members have had some disappointing experience from the trade union due to a lack of service delivery. Even though members acknowledged that they lacked proper service delivery from trade unions, members still would not want to represent themselves against their employer. Members need trade unions for security. The increased knowledge and results against the employer, the trade unions bring, is still creating some benefits for their members. Members are the core and backbone of trade unions. They need to be treated as paying customers, that require the best service from trade union continuously throughout their membership. Trade unions need members in order to gain strength through numbers. The ability for trade union to acknowledge this and focus on not just giving the minimum to their members will allow for a turnaround in the decline of trade union density
Description
A research article submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Johannesburg, 2022
Keywords
Member, Trade Union, Affiliation, Service delivery, Organisation Density, Decline, UCTD
Citation
Orelowitz, Menachem Mendel. (2022). Analysing the state of trade union membership in South Africa [Master’s dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace. https://hdl.handle.net/10539/38855