Labour Beyond Cosatu

Mapping the rupture in South Africa's labour landscape

Andries Bezuidenhout, Malehoko Tshoaedi, Christine Bischoff, Janet Cherry, Nkosinathi Paul Jikeka, Boitumelo James Malope, Johann Maree, Sandla Nomvete, Ntsehiseng Nthejane, Ari Sitas, Bianca Tame, Andries Bezuidenhout, Malehoko Tshoaedi, Christine Bischoff, Andries Bezuidenhout, Malehoko Tshoaedi, Andries Bezuidenhout, Malehoko Tshoaedi, Christine Bischoff

• Publisher: Wits University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781776140534
• eBook ISBN: 9781776141517
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Labour Beyond Cosatu is the fourth volume in the series Taking Democracy Seriously – a ground-breaking, textured and nuanced study on workers and democracy – which was established in the 1990s. The series looks at members of trade unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and provides a rich database of trade union members and research conducted over the past twenty years. It is one of the very few such resources available to researchers anywhere in the world.
Labour Beyond Cosatu paints a complex picture. The 12 chapters of the volume explore various rebellions and conflicts in the trade union sector, starting with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and rivalries between Cosatu affiliates. Unpacking the conflicts between state-sector and private-sector workers, contributors look at the impact of generational and educational shifts, seen by some commentators as proof that Cosatu is now 'middle class'. The book also raises the issue of gender in the unions by usefully locating the controversy around charges levelled at Zwelinzima Vavi in 2013 in the larger context of serious problems in the gender politics within parts of Cosatu.
Refuting the image of a union federation solidly committed to the ANC, Labour Beyond Cosatu presents evidence of a sharp decline in support for the ANC within Cosatu, and growing scepticism towards the Alliance. It shows that attempts to understand the labour movement in South Africa in the future will need to include research of smaller, independent unions and social movements. The volume's contributors make a major contribution to key debates on labour and democracy, providing new material that can potentially shift the discussion in important ways.
This book will be of great value to students and researchers in Industrial Sociology, Political Studies, Industrial Psychology and Economics and Management.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents 
• Figures and Tables
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Preface
• Chapter 1. Democracy and the Rupture in South Africa’s Labour Landscape
• Chapter 2. Research in a Highly Charged Environment: Taking Democracy Seriously, 2014
• Chapter 3. The Social Character of Labour Politics
• Chapter 4. Is Cosatu Still a Working-Class Movement?
• Chapter 5. Labour Aristocracy or Marginal Labour Elite? Cosatu members’ income, other sources of livelihood and household support
• Chapter 6. The Politics of Alliance and the 2014 Elections
• Chapter 7. Cosatu, Service Delivery, Civil Society and the Politics of Community
• Chapter 8. The Politics of Male Power and Privilege in Trade Unions: Understanding sexual harassment in Cosatu
• Chapter 9. Internal Democracy in Cosatu: Achievements and challenges
• Chapter 10. Public Sector Unions in Cosatu
• Chapter 11. Are Cosatu’s Public Sector Unions Too Powerful?
• Chapter 12. Labour Beyond Cosatu, Other Federations and Independent Unions
• Contributors
• Index