By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's organised working class expects the new government to be thoroughly accountable to its supporters and will resort to mass action if workers' interests are betrayed. These are some of the findings of a recent survey of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
The survey found that COSATU members were committed to, and widely practiced, participatory democracy within their trade unions and expected the same form of democracy to be extended to parliamentary politics in the new South Africa.
The findings were presented at the University of the Witwatersrand's History Workshop conference by Johann Maree, a sociologist from University of Cape Town, on July 13. The survey was conducted one month before the April elections.
Academics from several South African universities canvassed the views of 643 members of trade unions affiliated to COSATU in Pretoria Witwatersrand Vaal, northern Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape.
A commitment to a participatory shopfloor democracy, Maree said, was a feature of the modern South Africa trade union movement from its beginnings in the early 1970s. The movement was heavily influenced by intellectuals inspired by the shop-steward movement in British trade unions at the time, as well as concepts of radical democracy that flowed from the 1968 student and workers' revolt in France and other European countries. Workers threw themselves "with zest" into the building of factory committees which brought together elected worker representatives.
Twenty years after the birth of South Africa's militant trade union movement, "shop steward structures and democratic shopfloor practices remain firmly in place. It is fairly homogeneous across the whole country and from union to union", Maree revealed.
The survey found:
- 99% of respondents reported that their workplaces had functioning shop steward structures.
- 76% claimed to have attended at least one union meeting within the last month.
- 84% reported their workplaces elected shop stewards with only 12% appointed. Most shop stewards had been elected within the last six months. Just over 50% had been elected by secret ballot and most of the remainder by a show of hands. Only 8% of workers surveyed had never participated in a shop steward election.
- 99% believed that shop stewards must reflect the views expressed by the shopfloor. Two thirds felt that stewards must consult with workers every time decisions were made that affect them. One third felt this was only necessary when important issues were concerned.
- 77% insisted that shop stewards report back every time they act on workers' behalf. Should the steward fail to carry out his or her mandate to their satisfaction, the respondents were almost unanimous that they should be subject to recall. Almost one third of the workers surveyed had participated in the dismissal of a shop steward.
- 68% of respondents said that political parties had to consult with their supporters on every issue and report back every time; 29% felt this was necessary only on important issues with only 3% prepared to allow a party an open mandate once elected.
- 75% said the new government must consult trade unions on all issues affecting the unions.
- 59% felt that they should be able to recall their parliamentary representatives if they failed to do as their supporters demanded
The survey found that an overwhelming number of COSATU workers supported the ANC. Only in the Western Cape did this support slip to any extent; 35% indicated support for the National Party, a figure well below the NP's overall vote in the region.
The workers had high expectations that the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) would result in increased social benefits despite the fact that only 16% had any precise knowledge of what the program contained. Just 15% had participated in the formulation of the RDP.
While 94% of the workers interviewed believed that trade unions would always be needed to protect workers' interests, there was much greater scepticism about political parties being able to represent the interests of workers with 51% saying yes and 37% saying no.
Workers made it plain that they expected the same degree of consultation and accountability that operates within their trade unions to apply to the parliamentary arena.
The study also points to a willingness on the part of COSATU workers to take action should their representatives fail to act in their interests. A massive 72% said they would resort to "ongoing mass action" to force the government to deliver on its promises. Sixty-five percent supported strikes by trade unions while a similar number agreed with applying pressure to former members of COSATU elected to parliament. Electoral options were less favoured: 40% would consider voting for another party, while 30% would support the formation of an alternative party to promote workers' interests.
The reality of parliamentary politics was unlikely to match the hopes of COSATU workers for consultation and accountability, Maree told conference participants. "We have already seen that the government of national unity tends to take key decisions at cabinet level. There is already a move in the parliamentary caucus of the ANC to democratise that process."
He reminded delegates that the ANC was a multi-class party and the government would come under strong pressure from other classes. "From the petty bourgeoisie, in the form of small business men and women, there will be pressure to remove regulation and drop labour standards. There will be pressure from local and international corporate capital for a climate for investment to be created. There will be pressure for a labour force that is not strike-prone. There is going to be economic discipline imposed from the IMF and World Bank. Budgetary discipline will limit the financial resources that the state has to spend on reconstruction and development.
"There will be times when COSATU perceives the government of national unity to be acting against workers' interests and the only effective way they will have to combat that will be mass action," Maree concluded.