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OCT 2 0 2008 Mrp Strategic Unionism: The Political Role of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in South Africa and What it Means for Black Workers by Neeta Misra B.A. Economics MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE San Francisco State University, 1997 QF TECHNLLOGY OCT 2 0 2008 Mrp. City and Regional Planning Cornell University, 2000 LIBRARIES Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY IN URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY September, 2008 ©2008 Neeta Misra. All Rights Reserved. The Author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known of hereafter created. Signature of Author: DQ_ rtment of Urban Studies and Planning September, 2008 Certified By: V / Alice Amsden Bar . Weller Professor of Political Economy Authorised By: Eran Ben-Joseph Professor of Urban Planning Chairman PhD Committee ARCHIVES Strategic Unionism: The Political Role of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in South Africa and What it Means for Black Workers By Neeta Misra Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on February 2009 in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban and Regional Planning Abstract This dissertation looks at the political role of trade unions in developing countries. Trade unions and particularly their engagement in political unionism have been absent from the development literature in recent decades. However, recently there has been a renewed interest in the role of trade unions and particularly in their political role as trade union movements in Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil have effectuated regime change by assisting labour based political parties to rise to power. I contribute to this trend by studying the role of the Congress of South African Trade unions (COSATU) and their role in shaping South Africa's transition to democracy. I use the story of COSATU to build on a theory of political unionism that is encompasses the various economic, social and political roles of trade unions and their strategic capability in capturing gains for workers. I examine COSATUs political role by creating five analytical categories to study the federations' experience; a historical review of the Black trade union movement that led to the creation of COSATU, forming alliances with political parties and civil society, building institutions for tripartism and consultation with business and government, mass mobilisation and membership and finally, shaping economic policy. I find that most of COSATUs achievements resulted from the federation's ability to engage in and find the right balance between economic and political unionism and to engage in strategic unionism in either sphere. The federation's unique participatory and democratic shop steward system also facilitated worker militancy and cohesiveness. The federation has failed and faces challenges to both membership and organisation because it has inadequately confronted the material conditions of capitalism which have resulted in structural issues such as the informalisation and casualisation of the work force. Political engagement has had costs for COSATU, the most significant of which have been the class mobility of unionists into government and the opportunism that comes with the possibility for class mobility. The union is also drawn into the internal politics of the ANC government and likewise has seen its own internal leadership battles affected by this relationship. The federation has also failed in being adequately strategic and independent in its relationship with the ANC and risks getting consumed and distracted from its strategic and tactical goals through cooptation by the ANC. Thesis Supervisor: Alice Amsden Title: Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 11 1.1 THE SUBJECT ......................................................................................................... 11 W HITHER U N ION S? .................................. ................................................... ............... .. .. .. .. .. 11 1.2 THE SOUTH AFRICAN CASE ...................................................... 14 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION, HYPOTHESIS AND METHODOLOGY .............. 20 R ESEARCH Q UESTION ...................................................................................................................... 20 HYPOTHESIS ........................................ .................. 21 T HE C ASE STUD IES ........................................................................................................ .................. 24 M ETHODOLOGY .................................... .............................. ................. 26 W hy C OSA TU ?..................................................................................................... ...................... 30 The Tri-partite Alliance .............................................................. 33 A Note on the SACP ....................................................... ............................ ................. ..... 35 Som e Data Issues ............................................................. 38 1.4 CHAPTER OUTLINE ............................................................. 39 CHAPTER 2: DEFINING POLITICAL UNIONISM ....................................... 41 2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 41 2.2 THE POLITICAL NATURE OF TRADE UNIONS ...................................... 41 2.21 INTRODUCTION ................................................. ........................... 41 2.12 THE THEORY................................ .................................................................... 54 2 .13 C O NCLU SIO N ................................................................................... .... ................... 54 2.3 THE DEVELOPMENT LITERATURE ............................................................. 55 The Beginning ........................................... ........... ............. 55 W hat R ole for Unions? ......................................................................................................... ..... 56 The Downfall....................................... ......... 59 The R egim e............................................................................................................ .................... 59 An Aristocracy...................... ....................... ................................... 63 The Neo-liberal Death Knell......................................... ............. ........... 64 The Left Death Knell .................................................................................................................. 66 A New Role for Unions?.................................... ............... .......... 68 The Fight B ack.................................................................. ......................................... 73 The Way Forward............................................................ 76 2.4 THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE ................................................................. 77 THE GLOBAL CONTEXT............. ... ...................................................... 77 THE COLONISATION OF AFRICA ...................................................................................... 78 AFRICAN TRADE UNIONS ......................................................... 80 THE NATURE OF PRE-COLONIAL ALLIANCES ....................................................... 82 C ONCLUSION .................................................................................. ........................ 87 FOUR CASE STUDIES ........................................... ... ...... 88 WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SOUTH AFRICA .................................................... 100 CHAPTER 3: THE STORY OF COSATU ........................................ 103 3.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................... 103 3.2 APARTHEID ........................................ 103 EARLY HISTORY ...................................... .................... 103 THE FIRST TRADE UNIONS ......................................... 106 THE RISE OF GRAND APARTHEID............................................................................. .................... 108 CO-OPTATION AND SEPARATION ............................................................................. 109 THE BLACK TRADE UNIONS ............................................................. 112 THE TOTAL AND FINAL ONSLAUGHT ........................................ ............... 116 THE CONSEQUENCES ..................................................... .......... ............................... 117 3.3 THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF BLACK TRADE UNIONS ........................... 120 INTRODUCTION ............................................ 120 THE 1973 STRIKE W AVE ................................................ 120 THE HISTORY OF THE 1973 STRIKE WAVE................................................ 125 POLITICAL UNIONISM IS NO LONGER OPTIONAL.............................................. 130 C ON CLU SION ...........................................................................................................
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