On April 30, 2016, at the Workers’ Summit, 1 406 representatives of 29 independent trade unions - and one existing federation, Nactu, with 22 affiliates - supported by civil society and community organisations, committed themselves to building a new, worker-controlled, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist, independent, internationalist, socialist-orientated and militant union federation.
An intense process of discussion and consultation around five policy discussion documents is now under way within all the unions involved, and it is hoped that the wider working-class movement will also become involved, writes Mphumzi Maqungo.
The birth of Cosatu in 1985 was a huge victory for the working class. A giant arose, built on the principles of democratic worker control and committed to the cause of the workers.
Over the years, however, as the federation became more and more embedded in the tripartite alliance, the giant began to stumble and finally internal struggles replaced the workers’ struggle and led to splits. The giant had fallen.
The struggle culminated in the expulsion of 340 000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the eventual dismissal of Cosatu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.
Any new formation entering this vacuum must learn lessons from this history and be prepared to break new ground, particularly since it must turn its attention both to those workers who are already organised and the 76 percent who are not in trade unions.
A document on the founding principles of the new federation had 10 key principles. The federation must be:
* Worker-controlled at all levels.
* Democratic.
* Non-racial.
* Non-sexist.
* Independent.
* Financially self-sufficient, accountable and opposed to corruption, fraud and maladministration.
* Anti-imperialist and promoting international solidarity.
* Socialist-oriented.
* A militant and fighting working-class organisation.
* Appropriate for organising workers given how capital has restructured.
Apart from that last point, these are not so different from the founding principles adopted by Cosatu in 1985. So how do we ensure that our new federation does not, like Cosatu, have noble principles but fail to maintain any of them?
The document quotes a 1988 article by Joe Slovo: “A trade union is the prime mass organisation of the working class. To fulfil its purpose, it must be as broad as possible and fight to maintain its legal status. It must attempt, in the first place, to unite, on an industrial basis, all workers (at whatever level of political consciousness) who understand the elementary need to come together and defend and advance their economic conditions.
“It cannot demand more as a condition of membership. But because the state and its political and repressive apparatus is an instrument of the dominant economic classes, it is impossible for trade unions in any part of the world to keep out of the broader political conflict.”
The historic role of the working class is, on the one hand, to fight for the best wages and conditions for its members but also to be aware that this fight is influenced by the political and economic conditions in which members live.
A trade union and a federation can be non-aligned in party terms but they can never be apolitical.
At the heart of the federation must be a total commitment to democratic worker-control at all levels. All important decisions must be taken to the factory floor and the union locals, who must then mandate their elected representatives, who must carry these into constitutional meetings after which they must report back.
Leaders who fail to follow these rules must be subject to immediate recall by the structure that elected them and not be protected by the federation’s leadership.
Controversially, the document proposes that any paid official of the federation should receive no more than the average wage of a skilled worker.
Much has been written about the social gap which is widening between leaders and members. Not only are the leaders not reporting back to the members and being accountable but some even use the unions as ladders to careers in Parliament or business. It is time to return to the idea of service to the class, not by the class.
The federation must stay committed to non-racialism, which is rooted in the need for the working class to unite against the common enemy.
Racism is rooted in imperialism, colonialism and the capitalist system. It will be eradicated by the working class in the victory of socialism.
Sexism too is deeply embedded in capitalism and it must be fought in individual unions and the federation. This means a real campaign to end the exploitation of women not only in the workplace, but in society in general. As the document says, this means opposing the reduction of women to subjects who can be oppressed by religion, culture and tradition.
This does not mean that we sit back and wait for socialism. Both racism and sexism must be fought whenever they raise their heads.
This is one of many issues outside traditional trade union matters on which workers must campaign. No trade union or federation can be apolitical. Education, housing, social security and the economy are other areas where workers’ demands must be advanced.
The battle for liberation is an international struggle. Anti-apartheid movements throughout the world showed solidarity with the oppressed majority in South Africa. Workers were at the forefront of these movements and workers such as those in Dunnes stores in Ireland, who refused to handle South African goods, kept internationalism alive.
It is vital that the new federation renews ties with unions and workers throughout the world, not just through membership of international federations but through support for workers in struggle in other countries, like the Palestinians, Syrians and workers on strike elsewhere.
But it can’t simply be words; we must begin to tackle the multi-nationals that try to pit workers in one country against workers in another.
Some reading the document may wonder how we reconcile the issue of non-alignment to our support for socialist orientation, but there is no contradiction. While unions and federations cannot demand particular party affiliation from individuals, neither can it avoid an ideological viewpoint.
The federation must be the consciousness of the working class that the struggle is not just for bread-and-butter issues. Capitalism cannot provide the bread and butter, but only the crumbs.
But we don’t just want the bread; we want the bakery.
This new federation must not become a talk-shop holding cosy meetings with the government and business, but a campaigning organisation where workers win the day, not in courts, but on the streets.
The Workers’ Summit was the beginning of a process. Now the real work begins. There must be the fullest possible debate on political issues and an acceptance that individual unions always retain the right to pursue political differences and their own ideology without threat of kangaroo courts and expulsion.
We are determined to build not just a new federation, but a fundamentally different type of federation, democratically controlled by the workers and uncompromising in its pursuit of the liberation of the working class and society as a whole from the chains imposed by capitalism.
* Mphumzi Maqungo is Numsa’s national treasurer.
** The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Media.
THE STAR