Johannesburg - The last day of an extraordinary meeting by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is likely to be consumed by whether the expulsion of the federation’s largest union, Numsa, should be on the agenda.
While the metalworkers’ union says any move against it would be unconstitutional and unprocerdural, a number of Cosatu’s 19 unions believe otherwise.
According to insiders, the South African Transport Allied Workers’ Union, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union and the National Union of Mineworkers have spoken out against Numsa.
It is understood that Cosatu’s other affiliates will be given a chance to make their submissions on Thursday.
Numsa has been facing expulsion for a variety of reasons, including not supporting the African National Congress during the elections and “poaching” members from sister affiliates.
It has already told Cosatu in a letter that if its special central executive committee meeting (CEC) moves to expel it, it will go to court.
It believes that according to procedure, the CEC may only discuss what is on its agenda, which is an ANC report and a secretariat report for Cosatu’s central committee next month.
However, its opponents maintain that all issues that were deferred as a result of the ANC mediation should be back on the agenda. These include the expulsion and a range of charges against Numsa ally, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Numsa also believes an expulsion would be unconstitutional because it maintains it has never been given the opportunity to make its case at the correct Cosatu forum.
The “poaching” accusations against Numsa are considered the most serious. A number of unions have seen their membership figures drop as Numsa’s rises.
Even the ANC, which has attempted to mediate a peace deal for Cosatu, has recommended that Numsa drop its plans on “poaching” workers from other industries.
“There is overwhelming consensus that affiliates need to operate within the principle of ‘one union, one industry’ and that poaching wars between affiliates of the same federation will fatally undermine its cohesion and ability to act in a united manner on any issue,” the ANC said in a report presented to Cosatu’s special CEC meeting this week.
“The December 2013 decision of Numsa to extend its constitutional scope… is clearly a step too far and Numsa needs to reverse this decision.”
The ANC report says that until the extension of scope is discussed and agreed to at a duly constituted Cosatu congress, all of the federation’s affiliates should agree to confine their current organising work to where previously agreed to.
Group Labour Editor