Migrancy and Militance: The Case of the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa¶

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Jonathan Crush (1989). Migrancy and Militance: The Case of the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa. African Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 350. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society.


Type	journal article
Scope	Economics and economic history of apartheid
Method	mixed
Period studied	1973–1987
Regions	South African gold mines, Orange Free State goldfields, Carletonville, Klerksdorp, Lesotho, Transkei, Southern Africa labour-sending areas
Themes	mining migrant labour, unions strikes, labour markets wages, resistance social movements, business and state, bantustans removals influx
Citation key	`crush1989`

Argument¶

Crush tests the conventional wisdom (Southall) that migrancy blocks unionisation, using the rapid growth of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) after 1982. He argues that the union overcame the supposed obstacles for three reasons: the mining industry's shift towards accepting black unions and bureaucratic bargaining, the NUM's tactical skill and responsiveness to grassroots concerns, and a significant change in the form of the migrant labour system itself. Labour oversupply, 'career' migrancy and the growing share of South African workers made miners more proletarianised, more wage-sensitive and more prone to collective action, and the compounds became sites of organisation. Migrancy nonetheless remains the union's greatest weakness, since the companies use mass dismissals, blacklisting and unemployed replacements, and foreign and South African members have diverging interests over abolishing the system.

Evidence and method¶

Anglo American Corporation data on recognised NUM membership by mine, source area and Paterson job grade (1985-88); SAIRR Annual Survey 1985; secondary literature, including South African Labour Bulletin and South African Review articles; union and management statements, press reports (Business Day), Industrial Law Journal depositions; personal communication with Jean Leger; Ramaphosa's 1985 address.

Place in the debates¶

Does migrant labour inhibit unionisation (Southall's conventional wisdom)? (see Black trade unions: growth, wage effects, Wiehahn and strategy). Rejects the strong version as 'now clearly untenable'. Migrancy has changed form and compounds can aid organising, though migrancy still limits union cohesion and exposes it to dismissal and replacement.
Compound system and worker solidarity (labour-history orthodoxy) (see Black trade unions: growth, wage effects, Wiehahn and strategy). Argues the compound, long thought to inhibit solidarity, has been turned into an organisational asset for recruitment, meetings and strike enforcement.
Docility of black mineworkers / role of corporate policy (see Black trade unions: growth, wage effects, Wiehahn and strategy). Holds that access and recognition depend on mining-house policy (reformist Anglo American vs reactionary Gencor and Goldfields) and are necessary but not sufficient for unionisation; the old docility thesis is called into serious question.

Findings¶

NUM grew very rapidly after 1982, reaching 360,000 members by end-1987. (p. 5)

By the end of 1987, the union had been through three major strikes and claimed a membership of 360,000
Uneven union penetration across goldfields is explained by differing corporate attitudes. (p. 6)

The reasons for this are located, quite simply, in differing corporate policies towards unionization.
Anglo American mines accounted for the great majority of NUM's recognised members in 1985. (p. 6)

By mid-1985, for example, over 80 per cent of the NUM's membership on the goldfields worked on Anglo American mines (Table 1).
Basotho and Transkeian workers dominated NUM membership on Anglo mines. (p. 8)

By early 1986, almost 70 per cent of the total recognized membership on Anglo mines were from Lesotho (36 7 per cent) and the Transkei (31 6 per cent).
Unionisation was strongest in the better-paid skilled grades, and later the union organised unskilled workers. (p. 9)

In the better-paying, more-skilled posts (Paterson job grade 5 and above) the NUM commanded the loyalty of well over half of the workers.
Compounds have been used as organising spaces by the union. (p. 14)

The compound environment has facilitated union recruiting, mass attendance at union meetings is ensured, and solidarity during industrial action can be more readily enforced.
Despite the union's success, nearly the entire workforce remains migrant. (p. 15)

are still migrant workers who oscillate periodically between the mine compounds and distant rural reserves.
Migrancy has shifted towards stable 'career' mining, which underpins new solidarity. (p. 16)

A steadily increasing proportion of black miners are stable 'career' workers, employed on the mines on an almost continuous basis.
The mines moved from labour shortage to oversupply from the mid-1970s. (p. 16)

the mines have moved from a position of perennial labour shortage to one of perpetual oversupply.
The workforce became predominantly South African, and so more proletarianised. (p. 17)

the mine labour force is now 60 per cent South African (compared with less than 20 per cent in the early 1970s).
Employers answered the 1987 strike with mass dismissals, exploiting unemployed replacements, showing migrancy's remaining weakness for the union. (p. 18)

over 40,000 workers were fired and bused back to the bantustans and surrounding states in a heavy-handed effort to break the strike.
Foreign and South African members' interests may diverge over abolishing migrancy. (p. 19)

Severe divisions of interest may open up within a workforce which is divided geographically into stabilized, skilled South African workers and migrant, unskilled foreigners.

Evidence ledger¶

Sources used¶

Source	Kind	Period	How used
South African Institute of Race Relations, Annual Survey (1985), recognized NUM membership by mining group, August 1985 (Table 1)	official statistical series	August 1985	Shows that over 80 per cent of recognized NUM members on the goldfields worked on Anglo American mines, and that union density varied sharply by mining group.
Anglo American Corporation data on recognized (paid-up) NUM membership by mine, February 1986 (Table 2)	company records or reports	February 1986	Establishes the variation in unionization across Anglo mines, with Vaal Reefs at only 22 per cent, supporting the claim that access and corporate policy drive membership patterns.
Anglo American Corporation data on NUM membership by geographical source area (Table 3), 1986	company records or reports	1986 (early)	Shows that Basotho and Transkeian workers had the highest unionization rates and made up almost 70 per cent of recognized members.
Anglo American Corporation data on unionization by mine among Lesotho and Transkei workers (Table 4), 1986	company records or reports	1986	Shows up to 75 per cent of Basotho workers unionized on some Free State mines versus below 30 per cent at Vaal Reefs.
NUM signed-up membership figures 1982-7 (Figure 1) and union claims of 14,000 members at December 1982 and 360,000 by end 1987	union or movement records	1982-1987	Documents the rapid growth of the NUM from 1982 to 1987 and its claimed share of the mine workforce.
Anglo American Corporation 1987 survey of married South African employees	company records or reports	1987	Supports the claim that South African miners are more proletarianized and would move with families to the mines if allowed.
Industrial Law Journal, 7 (1986): Kloof Mine disciplinary code and management deposition	legislation gazette	1986	Quoted to illustrate management attitudes to union involvement in discipline and the 'tinderbox' view of the workforce.
Business Day newspaper articles (3 March 1987; 23 September 1987)	newspapers periodicals	1987	Source for Goldfields and Gencor management statements on hostel administration and talks with the NUM.
South African Labour Bulletin articles on NUM, mass dismissals and strikes (Friedman 1983; Golding 1985; Markham and Mothibeli 1987; 1987 congress reports)	newspapers periodicals	1983-1987	Used for the NUM's founding, the 1987 strike, mass dismissals, and the union's 1987 congress resolutions.
Horner and Kooy, 'Conflict on South African Mines 1972-1979' (SALDRU Working Paper 29, 1980); McNamara PhD thesis, Wits, 1985	secondary literature compilation	1972-1982	Supports the statement about the escalation of unrest on the mines after 1973, with over 200 deaths and 1,000 injuries.
Maree (1985, 1986) and Friedman (1987) data on independent trade union membership	secondary literature compilation	1973-1986	Provides the context figures for independent union growth (70,000 in 1979, 300,000 in 1983, 717,000 in 1986).
Personal communication, Jean Leger, March 1988; Ramaphosa address to SAIRR, July 1985	interviews oral history	1985-1988	Supports the claim that Basotho skilled miners and BCP structures were central to early NUM organizing, and the NUM's 1985 policy shift against migrancy.

Inference¶

Quantification: Descriptive tables.

Descriptive, cross-sectional analysis of NUM membership patterns (by mining group, mine, source area and job grade) drawn from Anglo American company data and SAIRR figures. These are combined with secondary literature, press reports and Industrial Court documents to argue that migrancy has changed in form, and to refute the claim that migrancy is incompatible with unionism. No regression or formal tests are used.

Key claims¶

Claim	Basis	Strength
NUM growth was uneven across the goldfields and mining houses, driven mainly by differing corporate policies on union access and recognition. (p. 9)	SAIRR Annual Survey 1985 (Table 1) and Anglo American mine-level data (Table 2) comparing union density by group and mine.	Partial data
Basotho and Transkeian miners were the most heavily unionized and dominated NUM's membership and leadership, partly because of militance and partly because of Anglo's labour mix. (p. 8)	Anglo American data by source area (Tables 3-4) plus a personal communication on the role of the BCP.	Partial data
The NUM has built a mass base among less skilled workers, which helps keep it responsive to grassroots concerns and not a labour aristocracy. (p. 10)	Anglo American job-grade membership data for February 1986 and June 1988 (Tables 5-6, Figures 2-3).	Partial data
The mine migrant labour system has changed in form: stable 'career' migrants and labour oversupply now dominate, and this helps explain new militancy. (p. 16)	Secondary studies, a labour-surplus argument and the 60 per cent South African workforce share; no systematic turnover data are presented.	Illustrative or anecdotal
The traditional view that migrancy is incompatible with unionism is untenable, given that over 97 per cent of the workforce are migrants yet the NUM grew rapidly. (p. 18)	NUM membership growth (Figure 1) set against the migrant share of the workforce, which is asserted without a cited source.	Partial data
Migrancy and compounds remain the NUM's main weakness, as seen in mass dismissals of 40,000 in 1987, available scab labour, and divergent interests between foreign and South African members. (p. 21)	Press and labour bulletin accounts of the 1987 strike and dismissals; observers' reports on foreign workers' attitudes; no systematic survey data.	Illustrative or anecdotal
Compounds have become sites of union organization and conflict, with mine management reporting a loss of control and compound structures in disarray. (p. 17)	Anecdotal spokesman statements, Industrial Court documents and secondary literature.	Illustrative or anecdotal

The author's caveats¶

Notes that company figures are for paid-up members while the NUM cites signed-up membership, so there are major discrepancies, with company figures invariably lower. Also states that union commitment is conceived largely in quantitative terms, and that the generalization about proletarianization needs local area studies of rural resources.

Gaps in the evidence¶

The argument relies on Anglo American data from a single firm and two time points, and cannot show individual-level links between migrancy patterns (tenure, return rates, rural resources) and union joining or militancy. Mine-level turnover and contract-continuity records from the Chamber of Mines or recruiting organizations, which existed at the time, together with worker surveys or interviews, would test the claim of rising 'career mining' directly. Claims about the migrant share of the workforce, labour oversupply and foreign workers' attitudes are unsourced or rest on observer impressions and could be checked with Chamber of Mines employment statistics and union records.

Replicability: Data poorly documented.