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Black Unions in South Africa: Labor Law Reform and Apartheid

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William B. Gould (1981). Black Unions in South Africa: Labor Law Reform and Apartheid. Stanford Journal of International Law, vol. 17. Stanford Law School.
Type journal article
Scope Economics and economic history of apartheid
Method policy analysis
Period studied 1910–1980
Regions South Africa, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Bantustans
Themes unions strikes, labour markets wages, bantustans removals influx, business and state, sanctions divestment, politics ideology elections, origins segregation, resistance social movements, mining migrant labour
Citation key gould1981

Argument

Gould, a labour-law scholar, argues that the Wiehahn Commission and the Industrial Conciliation Amendment Act of 1979 admitted black workers into the formal industrial relations system but left apartheid's labour control framework largely intact. Registration, provisional registration, the industrial-council veto, strike restrictions, bannings, the Fund Raising Act and influx control are used to channel and contain black unions. The state favoured tame 'parallel' or company unions and aimed to co-opt and control, partly to convince the West that reform was occurring. He argues the Sullivan Principles and the EEC Code, being voluntary and poorly monitored, have done little, and calls for a legally enforceable US code requiring employers to recognise black unions whatever their registration status. The method is a statutory and case-law walk-through, supplemented by interviews and secondary and official sources.

Evidence and method

South African statutes (Industrial Conciliation Act 1956 and 1979 Amendment, Black Labour Relations Regulation Act, Black Urban Areas Consolidation Act, Riotous Assemblies, Terrorism, Internal Security and Fund Raising Acts), the Wiehahn and Riekert Commission reports and the 1979 White Paper, de Kock's Industrial Laws, the P.E. Bosman case, ILO special reports, Anglo-American's survey of industrial councils, corporate code-of-conduct reports (British, EEC, Sullivan), newspaper reports, and the author's interviews with unionists, employers and officials during three visits (1977, 1979). Some government data are uncitable by the author's own admission.

Place in the debates

Findings

  • Before 1979 black workers were excluded from the industrial council system, yet most council agreements covered them; wage decisions for blacks were made by registered unions. (p. 38)

    Approximately 90 percent of the council agreements covered black employees who were not represented by their unions, but by workers and work liaison committee leaders selected by the Government.

  • Bannings and other repression thwarted the growth of black unions, which represented under one percent of the workforce. (p. 17)

    It has been a major reason for the limited growth of such unions, which accordingly represent less than one percent of the work force.

  • The racial wage gap was very large and widening in absolute terms even as percentage black wage increases exceeded white. (p. 27)

    Of almost equal importance is the wage gap between whites in skilled and blacks in unskilled jobs, which has been more than ten to one.

  • Statutory job reservation covered only a small share of jobs; closed shops and apprenticeship practice were also instruments of exclusion. (p. 28)

    Yet, statutory job reservation has accounted for only 3 percent of the jobs in the economy.

  • Virtually all black strikes were unlawful because the procedures were unworkable for spontaneous action. (p. 48)

    Since most strikes by blacks have been spontaneous, it hardly comes as a surprise that vir- tually all of them-all, that is, except for one-have been unlawful.

  • Under the 1979 Act, registration of mixed unions remained restricted, preserving segregation and white leadership. (p. 39)

    the racial wall of segregation has hardly been broken by the Industrial Conciliation Amendment Act of 1979, although Wiehahn clearly contemplated this possibility.

  • Most registered black unions were parallel unions linked to white or colored unions or companies, and employers encouraged them. (p. 40)

  • The Wiehahn Commission itself warned that banning black unions would radicalise them and raise the risk of international sanctions. (p. 32)

    It would certainly add fuel to the flames of radicalism on the part of those who wish to overthrow the system.

  • Collective bargaining with black unions in multinational firms remained almost non-existent; only eight reporting British companies recognised unions. (p. 60)

    only 8 companies reported that they have recognized trade unions representative of their black African employees, one of which is an in-house union

  • The Riekert reforms favoured urban insiders over rural homeland workers, dividing urban and rural blacks. (p. 11)

    the Riekert recommendations were designed to promote the interests of urban blacks with Section 10 rights at the ex- pense of rural blacks in the homelands who seek work in the cities.

Evidence ledger

Sources used

Source Kind Period How used
Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Labour Legislation (Wiehahn Commission), Part I, 1979, with 1980 second report reported via press commission or official report 1977-1980 Main object of analysis: recommendations on freedom of association, migrants, registration, industrial court; also supplies data on committees and migrant numbers.
Riekert Commission Report on Legislation Affecting the Utilisation of Manpower (1978) commission or official report 1978 Establishes recommendations on influx control, Section 10 rights, 72-hour rule and employer penalties for illegal workers.
White Paper on Part I of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Labour Legislation (1979) commission or official report 1979 Shows which Wiehahn recommendations the Government accepted or rejected (migrants, registration, job reservation, committees).
Industrial Conciliation Act 1956 (No. 28) and Industrial Conciliation Amendment Act 1979 (No. 94), as reprinted in de Kock legislation gazette 1924-1979 Statutory text on registration, mixed unions, strikes, industrial councils, Industrial Court, job reservation; basis for the legal analysis.
A. de Kock, Industrial Laws of South Africa (2d ed. 1979) secondary literature compilation 1979 Principal compendium of labour statutes and commentary cited for texts of the Acts.
Black Urban Areas Consolidation Act (1945), Black Labour Act, Group Areas Act (1966), Factories Act (1941), Black Building Workers Act (1951) and related apartheid statutes legislation gazette 1945-1978 Shows the statutory framework of influx control, residential and workplace segregation that constrains black workers and unions.
Internal Security Act, Suppression of Communism Act, Terrorism Act, Riotous Assemblies Act, Fund Raising Act and Black Labour Relations Regulation Act legislation gazette 1950-1978 Establishes the legal tools for banning, detention, restriction of strikes, picketing and foreign funding of black unions.
Hansard 1976 (Minister of Justice on Internal Security Act) parliamentary debates 1976 Quotes the Minister to show the Act targets subversion generally, not only communists.
Bosman case: P.E. Bosman Transport Works Committee v. Transport (Pty) Ltd (Transvaal Provincial Division, 1978) other 1978 Court judgment used to show unregistered unions and works committees lacked standing to sue.
Anglo-American Corporation of South Africa, A Survey of the Industrial Council System (1977) company records or reports to end 1975/1977 Source for share of bargaining at regional level and for racial breakdown of employees bound by council agreements.
ILO Thirteenth and Fifteenth Special Reports of the Director-General on apartheid (1977, 1979) and Addendum to Sixteenth (1980) commission or official report 1976-1980 Supplies data on strikes in 1977, wage gaps, banning orders and Soweto.
Goverment statistics and information from Director General of Manpower Utilization, relayed via Golino (Labor Attache) unpublished papers secondary literature compilation 1979-1980 Source of counts of registered unions (183 as of Sept 1980) and Industrial Court developments.
Author interviews with trade unionists, employer representatives, government officials, and academics (three visits to South Africa, 1977 and 1979) interviews oral history 1977-1979 Background for the whole analysis, including skepticism about Sullivan Principles reports.
Unpublished and non-citable government sources other c. 1977-1980 Unspecified facts and figures on the labour situation used throughout without citation.
Third Report on the Signatory Companies to the Sullivan Principles (Oct. 15, 1979) company records or reports 1979 Counts union representation in signatory firms to assess compliance.
British Secretary of State for Trade summary of company reports under the EEC Code (Written Parliamentary Reply, Feb. 1979/1980 period) and UK Guidelines, Cmnd. 7233 parliamentary debates 1978-1979 Shows few firms recognized black unions and most used liaison committees.
Newspaper and periodical reporting (N.Y. Times, Financial Times, Rand Daily Mail, The Times, Johannesburg Star, Business Week) newspapers periodicals 1976-1980 Evidence for strikes, bannings, Fund Raising Act use, funding, parallel unions, and company behaviour.
South African Labour Bulletin articles and unpublished papers (Lever, Bonner, Ensor, Cooper & Ensor, Horner, Bloch, Klein, Lewsen, Hendler, Maree, Thonneson) secondary literature compilation 1975-1980 Source of data on union histories, parallel unions, black union membership and Port Elizabeth strikes.
M. Horrell, South African Workers (1969) secondary literature compilation to 1969 Source for early black union membership and registered union composition.
J. Kane-Berman, Soweto: Black Revolt, White Reaction (1978); Dugard, Human Rights and the South African Legal Order (1978) secondary literature compilation 1970s Source for prosecutions under 72-hour rule, property rights and detention statistics (217 held under Terrorism Act).
Trade union delegation reports and codes (TUC 1973, LO/TCO Swedish 1975, EEC Code 1977, Sullivan Principles, AFL-CIO statements) union or movement records 1960-1979 Documents Western responses and codes of conduct.

Inference

Quantification: Illustrative figures.

Doctrinal and institutional legal analysis of statutes, commission reports and the White Paper, supported by secondary literature, press reports, a few court cases and the author's interviews; figures are used illustratively and the conclusions are normative policy judgments.

Key claims

Claim Basis Strength
The 1979 labour reforms leave the racial segregation and state control of unions largely intact; registration is tightly controlled and favours parallel/company unions. (p. 136) Statutory text of the Industrial Conciliation Amendment Act 1979 via de Kock, Wiehahn report and White Paper; Golino for registration counts. Partial data
Black unions were weak and small, representing under one percent of the work force, with banning of leaders a major reason for limited growth. (p. 114) Estimated membership figures from secondary and unpublished sources, plus counts of banned trade unionists; no systematic census. Illustrative or anecdotal
Until 1979 industrial council agreements bound mainly black workers who had no representation in the councils. (p. 135) Anglo-American survey of industrial councils, end-1975 racial breakdown of employees bound by agreements. Partial data
The state's labour framework (strike procedures, Riotous Assemblies Act, Fund Raising Act, bannings) makes virtually all black strikes unlawful and restrains union growth. (p. 145) Statutory texts, ILO special reports, press reports of Armourplate and Heinemann strikes. Partial data
Wage gaps between white and black workers widened in absolute terms despite faster percentage black wage growth. (p. 125) ILO Fifteenth Special Report and Thonneson report; no underlying wage series presented. Partial data
Works and liaison committees far outnumber and were intended to substitute for black unions. (p. 112) Wiehahn Commission count (2,626 liaison committees covering ~690,000 workers vs 302 works committees covering 74,000), DURBAN STRIKES and a former Minister's statement. Partial data
Western codes of conduct (EEC Code, Sullivan Principles) have lacked effective monitoring and produced only nominal progress in recognizing black unions. (p. 158) British Secretary of State's summary of company reports and Third Sullivan Report, plus author's own observation. Partial data

The author's caveats

Author states some facts came from government sources that cannot be cited and that accuracy may be disputed, though the data are the best available; he notes the 1980 Wiehahn report was unavailable in the U.S., that no accurate census of black townships exists, and that the Sullivan report claims should be viewed with skepticism.

Gaps in the evidence

The argument relies on statutes and commission reports with few primary quantitative series; it lacks systematic union membership, strike and wage data from the Department of Manpower Utilization and the Industrial Registrar, plus firm-level recognition data. Archival records of the Labour Department, Security Police banning files, and surveys of black workers' views were mostly unavailable then but some now exist in archives and later publications. Evidence for claims about government intent is inferential rather than documentary.

Replicability: Data poorly documented.