TOWARDS BUILDING LINKAGES BETWEEN TRADE UNIONS AND THE EMERGING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Mthetho Xali looks at a study conducted by ILRIG on the AEC and SAMWU, examining the relationship between trade unions and social movements in the Western Cape. The article is a contribution to the current database about a lack of trade union presence in community struggles.

One of the most important developments in the “new” South Africa is the emergence of community movements like the Western Cape Anti-Evictions Campaign (AEC) that are engaged in struggles against the neoliberal Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy.

The ANC government has led a general attack on the working class and the poor in urban and rural areas.

Government’s cost-recovery measures such as attaching property, water cut-offs and evictions have been condemned and resisted through struggles which have resulted in the emergence of new social movements. However, the trade unions have not been part of these struggles though in some unions’ resolutions neoliberal policies have been condemned. This is unlike in the 1980s when trade unions, particularly shopstewards, played an important role in community struggles.

Possibilities for and experiences of collaboration

There are a number of possibilities for collaboration between the AEC and SAMWU (South African Metal Workers Union), which showed that if they both work consciously then linkages between them could be consolidated.

SAMWU, being a relatively well-established and well-resourced formation, has assisted the AEC in a number of ways: providing a hall at its Athlone offices for the AEC to hold general council meetings; providing the AEC with photocopying facilities to print posters and pamphlets for their protest marches; SAMWU shopstewards have held education programmes on water issues and basic plumbing for community activists from areas affected by water cut-offs which have dealt with policies that undermine access like the government’s cost recovery principle.

SAMWU‘s formal rejection of commercialisation and the involvement of private sector in service provision opened up opportunities for having joint campaigns with the AEC. At its seventh national congress, SAMWU resolved “to campaign for the immediate outlawing of prepayment meters for water and electricity”.

Many of the SAMWU members are located in the same residential areas where AEC is organised. The location of some of the council depots workplaces for many SAMWU members – makes linkages between AEC and SAMWU possible.

There is awareness among some of the SAMWU shopstewards and members as well as AEC members of the need to work together. For example some of the workers and shopstewards had the following to say: “SAMWU needs to have a tactical relationship with the AEC so that we can deal with the issues that affect our people. South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) has been silent on cut offs and evictions and the AEC has occupied the vacuum. SAMWU’s view on basic services is that people have a right to access water and cut offs are undermining that right.

The relationship with the AEC becomes relevant”. Another shopsteward commenting on evictions said, “I am in solidarity with those that are being evicted and resisting evictions because if I lose my job I can also lose my house.”

AEC members interviewed had the following to say about SAMWU: “We think the relationship with SAMWU can assist the community. Since they are council workers they can provide us with relevant information that can help our struggle. They can help us with relevant people within the council where we can take our problems and demands. We can also assist them in their strikes by appealing to community members not to take council workers’ jobs when they are on strike action.”

Lastly, many of the interviewees raised the issue that their members and supporters are the targets of the local government. As one respondent said, “When privatisation is implemented both workers and community members are affected. The quality of services declines as the private provider is more concerned with how much profit they must make and this affects the whole community, including workers. Some of the workers lose their jobs as a result of privatisation. Alliances between community organisations like AEC and unions like SAMWU are in the interest of both formations.”

However, there is little evidence that SAMWU members actually play an active role in AEC activities even where they live in the same communities. The collaboration that has existed so far is adhoc and limited to the initiatives of some individuals.

Current obstacles to consolidating linkages between SAMWU and the AEC

The current SAMWU constitution limits membership of SAMWU to workers employed in local authorities/council and the allied undertakings of the economy. It excludes retrenchees and the retired. If membership was open to the unemployed that would facilitate linkages between labour and the emerging movements.

The process of allowing due process within the national structures of trade unions is an obstacle. When the members of a branch want to endorse a local social movement’s campaign this has to go through a process of national discussion and ratification which militates against joint local action.

The AEC and SAMWU adopt different attitudes towards the ANC government and SANCO. The AEC sees its struggles as a direct response to the policies that are passed by the ANC government. The effects of these policies on local poor communities have made the emerging movements extremely critical of the ANC government. As a result of their experiences they have developed an oppositional attitude to the government. Informed by their experience with the ANC some of the AEC activists and supporters opted to stay away from the 2004 elections citing the absence of pro-poor policies from the contesting parties. Meanwhile SAMWU at its 7th National Congress declared its support for the ANC in the elections. It also re- affirmed its alliance with the government.

The two formations also have differing attitudes to SANCO. AEC members have serious problems with SANCO while some SAMWU members are either supporters or active members of SANCO. The AEC emerged because of the failure of SANCO to take up struggles against water cut-offs and evictions. In communities such as Khayelitsha SANCO is viewed as part of the problem. Meanwhile, COSATU (to which SAMWU is affiliated) acknowledges the failure of the Tripartite Alliance to take up issues affecting communities, but resolved to help build and strengthen SANCO in order to lead community-based issues.

Another obstacle relates to different methods of organising and campaigning. SAMWU workers are critical of the direct action methods of the AEC which sometimes result in the destruction of council Towards building linkages between trade unions and the emerging social movement property, for example council vehicles. The direct action of the emerging movements is also different to the kind of legalism adopted by trade unions towards the issues they take up. This legalism within the unions contrasts with the militant methods of AEC activists in re-instating evicted households. On the other hand the AEC activists are finding it difficult to sustain such forms of direct action against police repression and uncertain community support.

The two formations have differing views on community projects. Some of the AEC affiliates have initiated projects like street sweeping, meter reading etc, which improve poorly serviced community areas and give opportunities for earning an income in these high unemployment communities. SAMWU members, on the other hand, view these community projects as exploitation of cheap labour that cannot be sustained given the economic situation in poor communities. SAMWU also insists that the council should instead employ additional workers to clean the streets.

The last obstacle is the differing gender composition of the membership of SAMWU and that of the AEC. The majority of active members in the AEC are women (even though the key leaders are male) while men are dominant in SAMWU. SAMWU is not sensitive in its actions and views to the active female base of the AEC.

Conclusion

To overcome the above obstacles and build linkages between trade unions and the emerging movements much more will be required than positive comments and formal commitments.

Both AEC and SAMWU will have to look at practical solutions that they can act on, in order to realise the potential of alliances between organised labour and the social movements. Such efforts will clearly contribute to promoting a broader unity of the working class.

Patiently engaging trade union members and their shopsteward structures and being sensitive to some of their concerns must be a priority for the emerging movements. The movements must familiarise themselves with the experiences of the workers.

Locally based community formations that are engaged in struggles must find ways of initiating discussions with SAMWU or council workers at various levels. This might take the form of requesting for a meeting with SAMWU or council workers based in a particular depot to discuss issues relevant to the struggle being waged in that particular community. The roles of

SAMWU or council workers can also be discussed at these community meetings. Such an approach goes beyond the meetings of national or regional leaderships of various formations and promotes interaction of the broader layers of activists and the ordinary members. Such developments would put pressure on the trade unions to debate changes to their structures where these act as potential barriers to the building of solidarity and joint struggles.

Mthetho Xali is an activist in the Anti-Privatisation Forum in Cape Town and works for the International Labour Research Group in Cape Town. This article is based on ILRIG research for the Centre for Civil Society.