At least five Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) affiliated unions have plans to merge this year, in line with international labour trends.
This new approach towards building more powerful unions comes as a result of challenges posed by globalisation, particularly in relation to retrenchments and wage bargaining issues. Cosatu encourages its affiliates to merge, get larger to exercise more influence and to strengthen their bargaining hands in their respective industries.
Mergers will also help to alleviate some of the financial and administrative difficulties many small unions find themselves in. The resolution for union mergers took place at Cosatu’s seventh annual congress last year and already unions are heeding the call.
The National Union of Mineworkers’ (Num) is merging with the Construction and Allied Workers’ Union (Cawu); a “cartel” is being formed between the South African Textile and Allied Workers’ Union (Sactwu) and the Food and Allied Workers Union with Chemical Energy and Paper Printing and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu). And a possible merger between the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and two other teacher unions is also on the cards.
These amalgamations follow mergers which have already happened: for instance, the Chemical Workers’ Industries Union and Paper Printing Wood and Allied Workers’ Union formed Ceppwawu with a membership of 73 720. Then the newly formed South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union,which has a membership of 100 000, results from the merger of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and the South African Railway and Harbour Workers’ Union.
Unionists say that job losses due to the racing global economy have caused unions worldwide to lose members and get weaker, and worker federations are seizing the initiative by amalgamating unions which have common interests. “Putting Cosatu unions into cartels, as they have done in Germany with a view to amalgamate is significant. It says that Cosatu is preparing for the new world,” Ebrahim Patel, general secretary of Sactwu, said.
He said: “Mergers mean that you can be a big player in the globalised world. The benefits are political influence, extra human resources, leadership and money. Industrial demarcations are blurring, and the world of work is changing, becoming more flexibly defined. So too trade unions are transforming themselves.”
The manufacturing and clothing sector in which Patel is involved is a hard-hit sector with massive job losses, with 12 000 jobs lost last year. Sactwu will form a cartel with food and manufacturing with a view to unite in the near future, Patel said. George Molebatsi, representative for Num, said gains from centralised bargaining have been lost due to job losses and the contracting out of labour.
He said: “Where many people are employed under similar conditions, we are intending to bring them together.” Due to a loss of membership, some unions have been experiencing financial difficulties. This is a further reason for mergers. Cawu is one such union. Cash-strapped and with a membership of under 50 000, over the last month it has found itself under the wing of Num.