May Day is distress call, not a rallying one

I remember reading an obituary about a decade ago and thinking that, not only was it premature, the death it referred to would not happen. Well, not here anyway.

Written by German economics journalist Gabor Steingart, the obituary began: "The death, though, was never publicly announced - and the tragedy is compounded by the fact that the closest relatives are keeping it a secret. But that does not alter the truth: trade unions, as we knew them, are dead."

Steingart was writing mainly about a phenomenon that was taking place in most of Europe and other industrialised parts of the world. Globalisation had seen employers shifting their factories to countries where labour was perceived to be cheap, technological advancements were rendering certain categories of workers endangered species and the unions' bargaining power was waning rapidly as a result.

"The game is now over," wrote Steingart. "For a while now, this blockbuster movie has been running backwards. Working hours have increased, salaries have stagnated or dwindled ... And what are the unions doing to defend themselves in their hour of affliction? Very little. There is some discontentment here and there, but no real resistance."

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His words seemed to be in direct conflict with what was happening here. Far from being on its deathbed, the South African labour movement - mainly in the form of the ANC-aligned Cosatu - appeared to be in the ascendancy.

Although the local labour market was going through an economic turmoil of its own, with thousands of jobs being shed in the formal sector every year, the trade union movement was thriving.

Cosatu boasted a membership of about two million and unions outside the federation were also showing signs of growth.

At the political level, unlike its European counterparts whose influence had ebbed by the beginning of the 21st century, Cosatu was increasingly playing an agenda-setting role.

Its long-term political dominance seemed a fait accompli by December 2007 when the federation's preferred candidate for the ANC presidency, Jacob Zuma, beat the incumbent, Thabo Mbeki, at its elective conference.

But it has been downhill ever since and, as Workers' Day celebrations take place across the country tomorrow, the local trade union movement should be in mourning.

One of the remarkable results of the Zuma decade in power is that it has achieved what neither the apartheid regime nor the ostensibly neoliberal and "anti-union" Mbeki administration could do: break the back of the once-mighty union movement.

Far from the formidable force it thought it would be under Zuma - using its mass power, coupled with its proximity to power, to influence policy - the trade union movement commemorates this year's May Day as a shadow of its former self.

Cosatu unions are hardly taken seriously by anyone any more, not even by their alliance partner in government.

And this is because the federation allowed itself to be sucked into never-ending ANC faction wars - causing a split within its ranks and the purging of some of its key unions and leaders.

But rather than learning from this mistake, the federation looks set to repeat it.

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Divisions over who should succeed Zuma as ANC president are already evident, with Cosatu president S'dumo Dlamini apparently at odds with the rest of the federation's leaders.

That conflict could play itself out tomorrow if Zuma insists on attending a Cosatu May Day rally where, according to some of the affiliates, he is not welcome.

There are those who believe that from the carcass of Cosatu can be born a new and stronger labour movement.

Some are even pointing to former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's new outfit - the South African Federation of Trade Unions - as that new movement.

But judging by what we have seen of Saftu so far, it is unlikely to save the country's labour movement. The new federation still believes in the same strategies and tactics that have led Cosatu into the cul-de-sac.

There are no new ideas on how to keep trade unionism attractive and relevant to new entrants to the market.

What the new federation seems interested in is fighting it out with Cosatu for dominance in the shrinking sectors, with no viable strategies aimed at organising in growing but casualised sectors, such as the services industry.