Strike action in South Africa has evolved over the past five years. While official statistics show an annual decline in industrial action since 2005, the level of violence and national disorder is on the rise.
Protests that were once taken on a regional scale, or were industry specific, have now become far more co-ordinated and are orchestrated on a national scale with larger bodies such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) co-opting smaller affiliate unions into solidarity protests.
Strike action in South Africa has evolved over the past five years. While official statistics show an annual decline in industrial action since 2005, the level of violence and national disorder is on the rise.
Protests that were once taken on a regional scale, or were industry specific, have now become far more co-ordinated and are orchestrated on a national scale with larger bodies such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) co-opting smaller affiliate unions into solidarity protests.
Still battling to recover from the recent recession, South Africa has been hit by another round of national strikes.
The country and its citizens are once again thrust into debilitating fear as the protesters now backed by Cosatu are making headway in their threat to bring the country to a halt.
Zwelinzima Vavi, the General Secretary of Cosatu, was quoted by the Mail & Guardian Online as saying, “So by next Thursday [25 August] if the current strike is not resolved, the entire economy of South Africa will be shut down.”
This strong armed solidarity presented by the trade unions over recent years appears less like counter-party bargaining and democratic dispute resolutions but more like intimidation tactics.
The violent protests that are currently underway and involve members of the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the SA Democratic Teacher’s Union (Sadtu), have been condemned by government officials.
Fresh from their own recent strike, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), has threatened to strike in solidarity.
Samwu spokesperson, Tahir Sema, was quoted in a statement to SAPA as saying, “The largest local government union, Samwu, would like to send its unconditional solidarity and support to the ongoing strike by comrades of the publicsector unions.”
With a striking labour force, international investors may grow more reluctant to invest in the country’s economy, despite the previous five years showing a marked decline in incidents of industrial action.
The Department of Labour’s Industrial Action Report for 2009 shows a decrease in such incidents from the high of 102 in 2005 to a relatively low amount of 51 in 2009.
While a steady decline in the occurrence of industrial action seems to mark a turning point in worker disputes in South Africa, an analysis of the working days lost over this period brings to light a more growing concern.
From 2008 to 2009 there has been a large increase in work days lost due to industrial action. The change has come about in the nature of the strikes as South Africa is once again facing protests on a national level with large unions such as Cosatu bringing in allies in solidarity, bringing the amount of work hours lost in the economy to a sharp rise.
The troubling question that faces the public and government in 2010 has been incidents of increasing violence and disregard for human dignity and safety in the current strike by Nehawu, Sadtu and affiliates, as well as the strike by Samwu earlier in the year.
The level of violence and intimidation has reflected poorly on workers who are described as a cornerstone of our society.
The behaviour exhibited by Sadtu teachers may just have lost them their credibility with students, as once again the picket line is set close to matric trials.
While government raises the tabled offer by 1.5% to meet the captive demands of the union, the real question surrounding the return of workers to their posts is, will they go quietly?
