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Unions - A Different Ball Game

What are some of the issues facing the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) and how do they feel in terms of their progress and changing role under the new structures in South Africa, which is now part of the global market. Our Western Cape correspondent, Stephanie Platt, has a chat to Millard Xeketwana, chairman of the Western Cape branch of SATAWU to find out the answer to these and other questions.

Unions for black workers originated in Cape Town back in 1919 with the establishment of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union of Africa (ICU) which began by recruiting dockworkers. However, in spite of sporadic growth, government action effectively crushed union activity through the intervening years until the early 1970's when organising efforts began almost simultaneously in Durban, Cape Town and on the Witwatersrand.

The Transport and General Workers Union, formed in 1974 had its roots in Durban. In 1981, the first unity talks which heralded the birth of COSATU were held in Langa, Cape Town when over 100 representatives from 29 unions met. When COSATU was finally launched in 1985 in Durban, the TGWU was one of the founding unions, representing some 11 000 paid-up members.

In May 2000, the amalgamation of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU)) and South African Railway and Harbour Workers Union (SARHWU) saw the formation of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU).

Political role

It is generally accepted that the role of trade unions during the period up to 1994 in South African was mainly a political one, giving the majority of the country's labour force a voice. This position was made clear in 1956 in a statement policy issued by the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Sactu):

"Sactu is conscious of the fact that the organising of the mass of workers for higher wages, better conditions of life and labour is inextricably bound up with a determined struggle for political rights and liberation from all oppressive laws and practises. It follows that a mere struggle for the economic rights of all the workers without participation in the general struggle for political emancipation would condemn the Trade Union movement to uselessness and to a betrayal of the interests of the workers. (Luckhardt and Wall, Organise….or Starve, 97)

Is it a different ball-game now? According to Millard Xeketwana, chairman of the Western Cape Branch of SATAWU, it is. Originally employed at SA Container Depots as a clerk, Xeketwana, through his union involvement on the maritime side, has risen through the ranks to his current position.

When asked what he now sees as the prime issues facing the union in terms of its responsibility to its members, he cites working hours, benefits and family responsibility as the three most important, stating that wage provisions don't change the quality of lives of the long distance drivers.

This is quite a departure from the heady political agendas of the past and given this, do companies still regard the union as a threat or an ally of business?

"Threat," he answers without hesitation. "Companies generally like to have the final word and don't want union intervention. The union's view are seldom considered. In fact, we are trying to maintain our voice as many companies, particularly private companies, are unwilling to sit and negotiate with us. There are no recognition agreements as they employ consultants who block the union."

He insists, however, that the union does not threaten business. "We strongly feel that small businesses in particular must be protected and for this reason we are pressurising government not to drop tariffs."

Productivity

The introduction of the word 'tariffs' brings in the concept of the new global environment in which South Africa has to operate. It is a well known fact that globalisation has heralded in a new era of competition and in this context, South Africa has been harshly criticised for its low rates of productivity. The cry has gone up from both local and overseas quarters that in order for South Africa to be truly globally competitive, it has to bring its productivity levels up. How does the union feel about this?

Xeketwana agrees that industry must become more productive and feels the union can play a constructive role with business in working towards achieving higher levels of productivity. He also puts forward some suggestions as to how to achieve this.

"We would like to see permanent employees working less hours and contract workers taking over shifts, although more permanent staff can be employed on a shift basis. I know that in the transport industry this is not easy but an example for improvement could be in say, instead of a single driver doing a full long haul trip over and over again, centres for driver exchange could be established on long haul routes. This will stop drivers sleeping on the road. What is killing the industry is a driver travelling from Zimbabwe to Port Elizabeth. The man is tired and cannot be expected to be productive when he is in that state."

It is interesting to note that as far back as 1996, the then TGWU recognised productivity as a major challenge facing the union.

Chapter 19 of a 1996 COSATU report quotes the national organiser of the TGWU, Mr T C Dhlamini, as saying: "Productivity is a challenge in the transport industry where a number of workers are retrenched because they are "not productive enough". In most cases, these workers are replaced by sub-contractors. We believe this problem needs to be dealt with proactively by the union. At this point, productivity is not being dealt with the way we would like it to be because there is never any discussion or agreement on production targets or the manner in which these targets are to be achieved."

Does Xeketwana still agree with this? "Yes," he says. "And we are still particularly concerned with all forms of sub-contracting, which starts with tenders. There is no negotiation with workers who are retrenched and replaced by sub-contractors while the company continues to operate as before and under the same management. At our recent National Congress, we discussed labour brokers and are concerned that this just encourages more retrenchments. We need to have the labour brokers work with the unions."

He dismisses the labour broker claims that they comply with Industrial Council agreements and supply their workers with benefits. "This is just window-dressing. The labour brokers are enriching themselves at the expense of the workers," he says. (Ed's Comment : It will be interesting to hear the views of the labour brokers in response to this accusation.)

Retrenchments

It is a well known fact that a major concern of all unions is the number of retrenchments that have taken place across the entire spectrum of industry over the past few years. Xeketwana shares this concern regarding retrenchments as a "massacre of workers".

"In the last 12 months, more than 300 000 retrenchments have taken place nationally and the only employment available to these workers is casual work through labour brokers." He cites Bidwest as an example where they took over a number of Rennies companies and have contracted out labour in most of them.

"In other instances, companies apply for liquidation and then reopen and all former permanent employees are taken on a casual basis. In both cases, benefits are changed and negotiations have to begin again from scratch for recognition agreements, bursaries, adult education and provident fund contributions etc. I believe companies who want to be liquidated should be audited before liquidation. For example, Ramsauer was closed and members have not received anything, and this includes workers who have had over 20 years service."

Road safety, hijacking and HIV/Aids are of concern to all stakeholders in the transport sector. Is the union, through its alliance with the ANC, making representation to Government on these issues?

Xeketwana says hijacking has not been dealt with on its own. "It is a serious problem and we need to take it up soon. The government does not do enough and what is needed are other mechanisms to combat hijacking. Perhaps jointly, with business, we can pressurise government into taking more action."

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS seems be one area where both SATAWU and business is jointly pro-active. "We were the first union to run educational studies back in 1979 and we continue to regularly run workshops and distribute condoms at truck stops around the country. We now plan to set up HIV/AIDs offices between Bloemfontein and Beaufort West. Our members are the most affected of any industry and after our national executive meeting early in May, a decision was taken to take the campaign into the townships to the families of our members."

Where AIDS has claimed lives, the union has also assisted financially. It has, for example, contributed to funeral costs. In addition to that, Xeketwana says union representatives also visit bereaved families.

The area of greatest concern to members today seems to be a perceived weakness of the trade unions to represent them. How does he feel about this perception?

"It is GEAR, not the unions, that is causing job losses. This country is not yet ready for globalisation and the implementation of GEAR instead of the RDP has resulted in members believing jobs have been lost by the unions. It is a difficult situation to explain to members."

Wages also remain an area of on-going disagreement between the union and business. Xeketwana explains why this is so: "We have wage agreements but many smaller companies are not on board. These smaller companies, because they are operating outside negotiated agreements, cut rates. This, in turn, impacts on big companies which are unable to put up rates which, in turn, has an impact on all our negotiations. We must bring all companies on board so that the union can negotiate for all transport workers.

"Agreements made during the apartheid-era have also not yet changed. We are in the process of changing that, as the LRA changes do allow us to review recognition agreements. We should do reviews annually".

Leadership brain drain

An internal problem facing all unions is that they have experienced a brain drain with many of their former skilled leaders having joined the ranks of both government and business. This fact has been recognised by SATAWU in a document titled 'Shopsteward No 8.3', where SATAWU's President, Ezrom Mabiyana, says:

"At the present moment, there is a need on the part of the labour movement to re-think the organisational side of workers' control; ie workers controlling their own organisations - trade unions in this case. As a result of the establishment of democracy in this country, trade unionists had, and still have, to engage in a whole range of civil society institutions to advance workers' interests. Most importantly, many trade unionists are in government and in the business sector. This deployment has, in many cases, led to a detachment of many longstanding and experienced unionists from their constituency and organisations. Hence, the so-called brain drain outcry. New leaders have to take over the reigns whether fully prepared or not."

In this regard, Xeketwana says SATAWU is empowering all its leaders in management skills. It remains, however, a flaw in the ranks of the unions.

(Editor's Comment : FleetWatch feels this is a flaw which should not be exploited by business. Unions are not going to go away and working with them to improve all the structures is the way to go until the next level of skills emerges. We adopt this stance because the shortage of skills is a national problem - not solely a union problem. Business itself can attest to this. In the trucking industry, for example, there is a dire shortage of skilled diesel mechanics. In business in general, there is a dire shortage of IT skills. Working together towards building skills which will end up creating a climate where sensible and practical co-operation reigns is the right way to go. It's a win-win approach which, after all, is the ideal outcome for all union/business negotiations.)

As a matter of interest, further evidence of the overall leadership crisis in union ranks was provided in an address by Cosatu general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, to the sixth congress of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) held last month. In his speech he said:

"Today NUMSA is confronted by organisational and political challenges. The main challenge is to turn the organisation around in order to ensure leadership and organisational cohesion. NUMSA is the leading union within the sector that it organises and therefore sets the pace within the industry. A weak NUMSA will lose this strategic role. At a national level, the union has been plagued by lack of leadership cohesion. The departure of the General Secretary, the untimely departure of his successor and the subsequent resignation of the acting general secretary has clearly created a vacuum at a leadership level. It is therefore imperative that we emerge with a new cohesive leadership collective," Vavi told delegates. At the end of the congress, Numsa emerged with its first woman president, Angeline Moeng.

Leading on from this, another area where the union would like to see more proactive work being done - in partnership with business - lies in the field of worker education.

"The average level of education among our members is Std 6. We would like members to receive adult education but companies do not want to release workers for this. The larger part of education should be the responsibility of companies," says Xeketwana.

Asked what the union itself is doing to improve matters in this area, he says it has a policy of educating shop stewards who are then expected to carry the message onto members. "However," he admits, "we are not sure this is happening. It is one area of failure as we have not re-evaluated the situation."

Editor's Comment : There's many challenges ahead but what strikes me from this interview as giving reason for optimism is that SATAWU sees itself working as a union 'in partnership' with business on many fronts.

Sure there will always be areas of disagreement. Bosses, for example, will always feel they pay their workers far too much money for far too little work while workers will always feel they are paid far too little money for far too much work. That's not new - and it's also not local. It's old, it's a global phenomenon - check out the UK for evidence of this - and it will remain that way until everyone wins the Lotto simultaneously.

However, while there will always be disagreement on that front, let it not inhibit the many areas where unions can work in partnership with business for the benefit of all. Let's face it - workers cannot do without businesses and vica versa. The two are inexorably linked in a sort of prearranged marriage alliance. The best way to go in such an alliance is to try make it work. When one leaves the other, the bed becomes a pretty lonely and unproductive place at night.