Cosatu’s old model meets a new world – and finds itself wanting

Labour federation Cosatu has warned that automation, labour broking and the rise of non-traditional forms of employment are making it increasingly difficult for trade unions to organise workers and maintain collective bargaining power.

In its organisational report, the federation said the changing labour market was placing unprecedented pressure on the traditional trade union model, as outsourcing, labour broking, casualisation and platform-based work were creating workplaces that were far more difficult to organise collectively.

Cosatu acknowledged that structural changes in the labour market and the broader economy had put its organisational model under severe strain.

The report said the modern workplace was becoming increasingly fragmented. Workers performing similar tasks might be employed under vastly different arrangements, including temporary contracts, labour brokers, outsourced service providers or digital platforms.

The fragmentation meant workers often had different employers, varying levels of protection and distinct employment conditions, making union recruitment and collective bargaining significantly more complex.

The federation also highlighted declining worker participation in some structures, uneven performance among local structures, financial pressures and organisational disputes as major challenges confronting the labour movement.

While economic growth remains sluggish and retrenchments continue across several sectors, Cosatu said participation within some union structures had weakened.

“At the same time, declining worker participation in some structures, uneven functionality of locals, financial pressures and organisational disputes have exposed weaknesses requiring focused intervention.

“The challenge facing Cosatu is, therefore, not merely one of organisational preservation. It is fundamentally a challenge of rebuilding worker power under new conditions,” the report states.

The findings were expected to be debated at Cosatu’s 15th National Congress before proceedings collapsed on Tuesday after two days of special meetings focused on the status of Cosatu first deputy president Mike Shingange.

Shingange was suspended by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) after accepting a nomination for the federation’s presidency, effectively preventing his participation in the congress.

However, the Labour Court ruled on Tuesday that he should be permitted to participate. The congress was subsequently dissolved and is expected to reconvene within 30 days.

Labour sociologist Karl von Holdt said the collapse of the congress over leadership disputes reflected a growing disconnect between union leaders and ordinary members.

He contrasted the current situation with the worker-control ethos that characterised the trade union movement during the 1980s.

At the same time, unions are grappling with automation, which is reshaping the skills and occupations required across large parts of the economy.

This presents a new battleground for labour organisations seeking to protect workers from the disruptive effects of technological change.

Cosatu’s assessment identified the rise of the gig economy and increasing automation as significant challenges for unions attempting to organise and represent workers effectively.

“Existing affiliate experiences demonstrate that renewal takes different forms depending on the structure of employment in each sector. In some sectors, renewal requires extending organisation to workers who have historically fallen outside collective bargaining structures, such as community health workers, EPWP workers and casual workers,” the report states.

“In others, the challenge is adapting established union power to fragmented supply chains, subcontracting, technological change and new forms of work. The strategic task is, therefore, not a single organising model but the development of sector-specific approaches that rebuild collective power across changing employment relationships.”

Von Holdt said Cosatu’s changing membership profile had also reshaped the federation, with public-sector unions becoming increasingly influential since the advent of democracy.

He noted that public-sector unions operated under different dynamics from those in the private sector because of their relationship with the state and political structures.

Although the private sector accounts for a larger number of union members, at about 2.2-million compared with 1.8-million in the public sector, union density is significantly higher in government employment at 64%, compared with 20% in the private sector.

Von Holdt argued that the growing dominance of public-sector unions was intertwined with Cosatu’s alliance with the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP), despite the federation having been built largely on the strength of private-sector industrial workers.

He said tension in the tripartite alliance were evident in the collapse of the congress, where leadership battles overshadowed the pressing concerns facing workers.

Von Holdt said the alliance played an important role under apartheid by mobilising political opposition but had become increasingly problematic in a democratic era in which the ANC and SACP actively contested political influence.

“The alliance should have been broken a long time ago.

“If you step back and look at it, you would say it was a big mistake to form an alliance with the ANC. But at the time there was a need to mobilise. Now it has an effect on unions at every level,” Von Holdt said.

“What is important to say is that, in as much as the current situation is very remote from workers’ real needs, it is historical.”