Are Black Unions the Key?
Gould, William B.
with the infamous wage gap--a black-white differential, sometimes exceeding a ratio of 10:1--far more inegalitarian than anything known in this country or Western Europe. .9Third, black unions...
...In such circumstances, if a black worker displeases an employer--or worse yet strikes--he can be immediately "en- dorsed out" of the white area and sent to the tribal "home- land" in rural South Africa...
...Finally, of course, black unions may commend themselves to anyone interested in peaceful change as an institution which would support such through nonviolent means...
...When a strike is unlawful, the workers are quickly imprisoned and bail is often denied...
...Moreover, detentions as well as bannings instituted against black union leaders in 1974 and 1976 have had a chilling effect on labor organization...
...But even after the cooling off period, the government can delay the strike indefinitely...
...The practical reality is that South Africa's racial history coupled with the current distrust of TUSCA means that black unions which have a voice at all levels of union-employer relation- ships are the best vehicle for the expression of majority rule in the unions...
...At the same time they do not promote or support general boycotts 9n the ground that their members will be the first to be hurt...
...Even short of that, the problems facing black unions are formidable...
...If integration of union structures takes place--something which would be advertised to the West as the phasing out of segregation--some form of effective black union power and thus black majority rule would be properly required...
...But there is no work in the homelands...
...Under the laws which support it, no black worker may be in "white" South Africa more-than 72 hours unless: (1) he was born there...
...For one thing, those who are banned not only cannot converse with more than one person at a time or be quoted or named in the press, but they are also required to give up their union work...
...And where the union organizers are white (a number of whites have worked with black unions) by definition, under the Group Areas Act, which requires that each racial group must live in its own area, such organizers cannot lawfully enter the township without authorization...
...9Third, black unions will always be more effectively equip- ped than any outsider every can be to assess objectively the extent to which any phasing out of discriminatory policies is satisfactory, as well as to monitor the implementation of changes...
...The government does all that it can to informally discourage black trade union organization...
...Penultimately, although black workers not employed in essential services have had the legal right to strike since 1973, the hard reality is that this is not a right which exists in practice...
...Fourth, after the October 19 bannings, black unions are about all that is left of any representative black institution in the big cities...
...The unanswered question, of course, is whether the trium- phant Nationalists now possessing an unprecedented majority will crush the black unions before they can get moving...
...This means that union representatives must spend valuable time collecting this money on their own initiative and thus the inability to provide a steady income flow to the union treasury--and this in turn makes it difficult to provide services which are the sine qua non for gaining new members...
...The South African Security Branch has visited plants to interrogate management officials about seminars held on plant premises in conjunction with black unions...
...With some 60 individuals, 18 organizations, and 3 newspapers affected by the government's crackdown, there are few if any alternatives...
...Meanwhile, black unions must tread a narrow path between the apolitical stance they currently adopt for obvious reasons and growing militancy...
...Unless unions are able to organize workers at plant facilities, they must gain access to them at their homes in the black townships...
...In Soweto, race rather than residency determines whether one must gain permission to enter...
...To the extent that black unions are recognized by law, an attempt may be made by the government to subordinate thetn to the existing white trade union structure...
...Even in the unlikely event that all of the problems set forth above were dealt with adequately through reform, it is doubt- ful whether black labor unions will ever gain real strength until the migratory labor system is altered...
...Since most black strikes are spontaneous and without any kind of formal union authorization, this means that most do not even meet the cooling off period requirement...
...Before striking, blacks must wait for the expiration of a 30-day cooling off period...
...3) obtained special permis- sion from government authorities...
...The government can bring pressure to bear through delay or refusal to provide necessary business permits--and it is generally thought ~hat the failure of British multinational Smith & Nephew to renew its important and innovative collective bargaining agreement with the black Textile Workers' Union was attributable to discouragement from official sources...
...There are yet other obstacles beyond overt government harassment...
...If, on the other hand, such trade unionists stress their unwillingness to temporize with apartheid they may find themselves behind bars...
...Black trade unionists have been militant enough to disas- sociate themselves from white trade union opposition to the boycott of South African goods...
...At least half of the existing black work force falls into category (3)--and this coupled with an embargo on black women in white areas means that such blacks are employed on a contract labor basis and are therefore temporary sojourners...
...Equally troublesome for black unions is the requirement that an unregistered union under law cannot negotiate check-off provisions which permit employees to authorize the deduction of union dues from their paycheck...
...Unless the organizers are residents they must obtain permits to enter the township,permits which are unlikely to be forthcoming for trade unionists...
...2) has lived there for 15 consecutive years or been employed by one em- ployer for 10 consecutive years...
...But a new tide of radicalism amongst black South Africans--engendered in large part by government policies--could easily push them aside as defenders of the system...
...The power held by management means that blacks will always be uncertain and insecure--and thus reluctant to protest employment conditions in any manner...
...But even if 10 November 1978:719...
Vol. 105 • November 1978 • No. 22
