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Trends in Mobilisation and Unionisation in South Africa and Germany: A Comparative Analysis

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Julianne Beverley Whiteley (2000). Trends in Mobilisation and Unionisation in South Africa and Germany: A Comparative Analysis. MSocSci dissertation, Department of Sociology, Rhodes University East London. Rhodes University.
Type thesis
Scope Comparative and methods
Method synthesis review
Period studied 1865–2000
Regions South Africa, Germany
Themes unions strikes, comparative theory, resistance social movements, labour markets wages, inequality poverty unemployment, politics ideology elections, transition post apartheid, origins segregation
Citation key whiteley2000

Argument

The thesis asks whether union growth and decline are purely products of economic long waves (Kelly) or also of political context, labour-market change and union identity. Applying Valenzuela, Hyman and Kelly to South Africa and Germany, it finds that long waves explain much mobilisation, with exceptions (the 1980s in South Africa, 1939-45 in Germany) pointing to political causes. South African unions aggregated in the 1990s despite recession, poverty and unemployment, while German unions disaggregated. The author attributes the difference to South African unions' social-movement legacy, a clear opponent and a broader agenda, set against German consensus and co-determination. Only the South African historical sections (Ch. 4, 6, 8) bear on the apartheid economy, and they rest on secondary sources.

Evidence and method

Mainly secondary and grey literature: South African Labour Bulletin, The Shopsteward, Cosatu and ANC documents, Department of Manpower and Labour statistics, ILO reports, newspapers. For Germany: DGB, DAG and SPD publications, Statistisches Bundesamt data, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung papers, and one interview with a works-council vice-chairman. Skocpol's 'method of difference' is the design.

Findings

  • The Industrial Conciliation Act (1924) excluded black workers from the formal bargaining system and barred their unions from registering. (p. 37)

    In terms of the Act, no union representing black workers could register. (Mashisi, 1996:88). Black unions were excluded from the right to strike and the right to organise.

  • The 1953 Native Labour Act's works committees were rejected by African workers and were few in number. (p. 39)

    The unpopularity of these committees is illustrated by the fact that nearly twenty years later, (1969), only 24 committees had been formed.

  • The wage gap narrowed in the early 1970s amid skill shortages, strengthening black workers' bargaining position before the 1973 strikes. (p. 42)

    By the mid 1970s, the wage ratio between African and white wages had narrowed to its lowest point, and real white wages were falling for the first time since the 1930s.

  • Soweto and the threat of sanctions pushed the state to the Wiehahn route of controlled incorporation of black unions. (p. 43)

    The result was the Wiehahn Commission which was instructed to consider a method by which black trade unions could be controlled and incorporated into the industrial relations system without creating too great a disruption.

  • Registered union membership grew strongly in the 1980s, with Cosatu reaching 924,000 members by 1990. (p. 45)

    Although representing less than half a million members at inception, support of Cosatu's labour and political aspirations resulted in a membership that had increased to 924,000 members by 1990.

  • The 1980s recession (negative GDP growth in 1982-83) coincided with union growth, contradicting Hyman and Kelly. (p. 79)

    Consequently, and in spite of the recession, the 1980s proved to be years of consolidation and steady growth for the emerging unions.

  • Union membership expanded sharply during the recession, from 673 thousand in 1976 to over 1.2 million in 1983. (p. 80)

    union membership expanded from 673 thousand in 1976 to just over 1,2 million members by 1983 (See Table 6.3).

  • Unemployment is treated as structural and rooted in the apartheid economy. (p. 87)

    Unemployment in South Africa is primarily a structural problem, derived from the historical legacy of the Apartheid economy.

  • Apartheid-era Racial Fordism, a capital-intensive and protected mode of regulation, is said to have held back technology and mass production. (p. 114)

    Racial Fordism tempered the development of mass production methods, which in turn prevented the introduction of advanced technology required to engage in the global economy.

  • Union density rose sharply from 1985 to 1999 while the DGB lost members. (p. 94)

    With a union density that has increased from 18% in 1985 to 51% in 1999, it can be seen that a shift from collectivism to individualism has not taken place in South Africa

  • The overall conclusion is that political context matters alongside the economic cycle. (p. 173)

    the fortunes of unions are not, as Kelly suggests, purely a product of economic cycles.