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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 Africa, Witwatersrand and Orange Free State goldfields, Lesotho, Transkei
Themes mining migrant labour, unions strikes, labour markets wages, business and state, resistance social movements, bantustans removals influx
Citation key crush1989a

Argument

Crush tests the conventional view (Southall) that labour migrancy blocks unionization, using the rapid growth of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 1987. He argues the NUM overcame migrancy's traditional obstacles for three reasons: a shift in corporate attitudes toward a bureaucratic industrial-relations model, the union's tactical skill and responsiveness to the rank and file, and a change in the form of the mines' migrant system itself. The key change is the rise of stable 'career' migrants in a context of labour oversupply and a more proletarianized, increasingly South African workforce. Migrancy and the compounds nonetheless remain the union's greatest weakness, as shown by mass dismissals and divisions between South African and foreign members.

Evidence and method

Secondary literature, union and company documents, and press reports. Quantitative evidence is mainly Anglo American Corporation data on recognized NUM membership by mine, source area and Paterson job grade (Tables 1-6), supplemented by South African Institute of Race Relations figures, NUM membership figures, personal communications and union speeches.

Place in the debates

Findings

  • Crush argues that three factors explain how the NUM overcame the traditional obstacles of migrancy. (p. 4)

    argues that the union has been able to overcome the traditional geographical and social obstacles to unionization for three basic reasons

  • NUM growth was very rapid, 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

  • Membership patterns reflected mining-house policy on access and recognition, with Anglo American mines dominating. (p. 6)

    By mid-1985, for example, over 80 per cent of the NUM's membership on the goldfields worked on Anglo American mines

  • Basotho miners were far more unionized than the Anglo American workforce average. (p. 8)

    In early 1986, when 43 per cent of the Anglo American workforce were recognized NUM members, the proportion of unionized Basotho workers stood at 57 per cent

  • The compound environment became an organizational resource for 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.

  • The NUM moved to demand abolition of the compound and migrant systems. (p. 15)

    At its 1987 congress, the NUM called for the total abolition of the compound and migrant labour systems

  • Almost all miners remain migrants despite the union's success. (p. 15)

    (and most NUM members) are still migrant workers who oscillate periodically between the mine compounds and distant rural reserves.

  • The mines shifted from labour shortage to labour surplus, which helped produce career mining. (p. 16)

    in the last ten years the mines have moved from a position of perennial labour shortage to one of perpetual oversupply.

  • Migrant behaviour became more uniform as stable career workers increased. (p. 16)

    A steadily increasing proportion of black miners are stable 'career' workers, employed on the mines on an almost continuous basis.

  • The workforce became far more South African, hence more proletarianized. (p. 17)

    the mine labour force is now 60 per cent South African (compared with less than 20 per cent in the early 1970s).

  • Mass dismissals during the 1987 strike show migrancy's continuing vulnerability 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.

  • Interests diverge between South African and foreign miners over migrancy. (p. 19)

    In contrast to foreign workers, the South African miner can see little benefit in the perpetuation of the migrant labour system

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source Kind Period How used
Anglo American Corporation data on recognized NUM membership by mine, source area and job grade (Tables 2-6), February 1986 and June 1988 company records or reports February 1986; June 1988 Establishes patterns of paid-up NUM membership by mine, by geographical origin of workers, and by Paterson job grade.
South African Institute of Race Relations, Annual Survey (1985), p. 199 official statistical series August 1985 Supplies recognized NUM membership by mining house, showing Anglo American dominance (83%) and near-absence on Gencor mines.
NUM signed-up membership figures, 1982-87 (Figure 1) and NUM claims of 14,000 members at first congress and 360,000 by end 1987 union or movement records 1982-1987 Documents the rapid growth of the union's membership as the fastest growing union.
Anglo American Corporation 1987 survey of married South African employees company records or reports 1987 Shows that over half of married South African employees would move with families to the mines if allowed, indicating settled orientation.
Industrial Law Journal, 7 (1986) – Kloof Mine disciplinary code and management deposition legislation gazette 1986 Quoted to show management's resistance to union role in discipline and primitive attitudes toward workers.
Business Day newspaper articles (3 March 1987; 23 September 1987) newspapers periodicals 1987 Used for Goldfields and Gencor spokesmen's statements on hostel administration and union talks, and for Anglo's family survey.
Cyril Ramaphosa, 'Organizing on the Mines', Address to South African Institute of Race Relations, July 1985 union or movement records July 1985 Supports claim that NUM in 1985 decided to challenge the whole migrant labour system.
Personal communication, Jean Leger, March 1988 interviews oral history March 1988 Supports claim that early NUM leaders from Lesotho used Basutoland Congress Party structures to mobilize workers.
Horner and Kooy, 'Conflict on South African Mines, 1972-1979' (SALDRU Working Paper No. 29) and McNamara PhD thesis on gold mine worker conflicts 1979-82 secondary literature compilation 1972-1982 Source for scale of 1970s mine unrest (property damage, 200 deaths, 1,000 injured) and failure of control structures.
Markham and Mothibeli, 'The 1987 Mineworkers' Strike', South African Labour Bulletin 13 (1987) secondary literature compilation 1987 Supports description of the 1987 strike scale and mass dismissals of over 40,000 workers.
Leger and Mothibeli, 'South African Gold Miners' Perceptions of Safety 1984 to 1987', Mine Safety and Health Congress paper author survey or fieldwork 1984-1987 Cited for claim that union existence has curbed arbitrary discipline by white bosses underground.
Southall, 'Labour Migrancy and the Independent Unions in South Africa' (1983) and Maree/Friedman union membership estimates secondary literature compilation 1973-1986 Provides independent union membership totals (70,000 in 1979, 300,000 in 1983, 717,000 in 1986) and the conventional wisdom being tested.
Industrial conciliation legislation (1981 inclusion of migrants) and Chamber of Mines 1982 announcement permitting union access legislation gazette 1981-1982 Establishes that legal and company barriers to organizing migrant miners were removed, creating the test case.

Inference

Quantification: Descriptive tables.

Descriptive comparison of NUM recognized membership across mining groups, mines, source areas and job grades using Anglo American and SAIRR tabulations, combined with narrative argument and secondary literature on corporate policy, migrant labour changes and the 1987 strike; no statistical testing.

Key claims

Claim Basis Strength
NUM's uneven growth across goldfields is explained mainly by differing corporate policy on access and recognition, with Anglo American mines highly unionized and Gencor mines almost not at all. (p. 9) Table 1 (SAIRR Annual Survey 1985) and Table 2 (Anglo data) on membership by group and mine, plus narrative. Partial data
Basotho and Transkeian miners were disproportionately unionized and dominated the NUM's leadership and rank and file on Anglo mines. (p. 8) Tables 3 and 4 from Anglo American data on membership by source area; Leger personal communication on BCP mobilization. Partial data
The union expanded from skilled workers to unskilled grades; by 1986 most members were in job grades 1-4 and unionization rose further by 1988. (p. 13) Tables 5 and 6 and Figures 2-3 from Anglo American job-grade data. Partial data
Migrancy is not incompatible with unionism: over 97 per cent of the workforce are migrants yet the NUM grew rapidly and militantly, making Southall's traditional view untenable. (p. 18) NUM membership growth figures and workforce migrancy share, asserted with secondary references. Partial data
The migrant system has changed toward stable 'career mining' driven by labour oversupply, rising South African share of the workforce and stricter migrancy regimes, and this helped build solidarity and militancy. (p. 19) Secondary literature (Yudelman and Jeeves, Crush, James, Murray) and Anglo family survey; no systematic turnover data presented. Illustrative or anecdotal
Compound system has been turned into an organizational resource for the union, and mine management resists, with conflict over control of compounds. (p. 17) Quotes from management statements, Industrial Law Journal depositions, and secondary accounts of the 1987 strike. Illustrative or anecdotal
Foreign and South African members have diverging interests on abolishing migrancy, creating a major challenge for the NUM. (p. 22) Secondary observations (Leger, James, Edgar) and reasoning about state policy; asserted rather than measured. Asserted

The author's caveats

Notes major discrepancies between company paid-up membership figures (lower) and NUM signed-up figures, so tables understate union membership. Also notes that generalizations about South African miners' rural resources need disaggregation through local area studies, and that unionization is treated largely in quantitative terms.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument that career migrancy produced militancy lacks direct data on turnover, tenure, re-engagement rates and rural resources, which Chamber of Mines and recruiting records (TEBA) could supply. Membership data cover only Anglo American mines in 1986 and 1988, so inferences about other groups and about worker motivations rest on narrative; worker surveys or oral histories would test them. Strike participation data by origin and grade for 1985-87 would better link migrancy to militance.

Replicability: Data poorly documented.