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Der virtuelle Treffpunkt der Gewerkschafts- und Betriebslinken
The virtual meeting place of the left in the unions and in the workplace
Business Day
13 April 2000
http://www.bday.co.za/00/0413/comment/e7.htm
Ironically, union officials' actions made it possible for management to get rid of workers it saw as bad elements', writes Reneé Grawitzky
TO MANY foreign investors the events at Volkswagen are yet another example of the deteriorating relations between workers and employers - and a further indication that SA workers are unreasonable and will strike at the drop of a hat.
The illegal strike at VW's Uitenhage plant in January made headlines abroad as it coincided with the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, where President Thabo Mbeki and government ministers were embarrassed by the VW workers' actions.
Some strikes are easier to explain than others. If we are to believe claims by VW management and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the strike was triggered by a "clique of undisciplined shop stewards" calling themselves the indluyengwevu (house of senators), who were hell-bent on undermining the union.
Organisations claiming to represent many of the 1 300 workers dismissed as a result of the strike counter that Numsa ignored its own constitution and democratic traditions.
They cite deals between Numsa and management to restructure work practices to meet VW's R5bn export contract. They say union leaders misled workers in trying to accommodate management and failed to explain the contents of the agreements properly.
The formations that have become prominent in the aftermath of the strike range from "far-left" groups such as the Workers' International Vanguard League to the Oil, General and Allied Workers' Union (Ogawu), led by former Chemical Workers' Industrial Union president Abraham Agulhas. Wilfus Ndandani, a former Goodyear employee, leads the Uitenhage Crisis Committee, but its political agenda is unclear.
Political groups such as the United Democratic Movement, Pan Africanist Congress and SA National Civics Organisation have also been linked to the action.
Some of those speaking for the dismissed workers say there has been a fundamental change within the labour movement, which has become "full of compromise" and is increasingly ignoring the old union traditions of transparency and worker control. They argue that unions such as Numsa have become bureaucratic and increasingly disdainful of their rank-and-file members.
A "militant" or dissident group did not develop overnight in Volkswagen - it has been around in one form or another for many years. Various grievances have been raised, along with what Numsa and VW management call "unreasonable demands" relating to medical aid payments or demands for workers to be paid out pension fund contributions.
Last year it was rumoured that VW management had benefited from the demutualisation of Old Mutual and had failed to pass this on to workers.
There might well be a case for the argument by some unionists that the "far left" is using divisions at VW to push its agenda to establish a "revolutionary trade union movement". Volkswagen is not the first company to be caught in the crossfire between workers and their leaders as splinter or fragmented unions emerge.
When VW boosted its Uitenhage production in the late 1970s and early 1980s, among its recruits were many former student activists who later became involved in union activities.
Many of them, today in their 40s, find themselves unemployed and viewed as militants and ideological die-hards after being dismissed in February.
Ironically, it is as a result of the actions of their union that VW management was finally able to get rid of this group - always viewed as the "bad element" for failing to embrace the spirit of the "new SA".
VW believes that what occurred at its plant is a result of the "shake-out of transformation" that was inevitable and good for SA.
A number of VW's original recruits, many of whom have now been dismissed, are viewed as the "foot soldiers of the revolution". They continued to refer to management, whether white or black, as "boere", and everything was seen in apartheid struggle terms, a management source says.
Management remains the enemy and compromise is not on the agenda. Many agreements entered into between Numsa and management, seen by the business and union mainstream as sophisticated and enlightened, were militantly opposed by this grouping.
A Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) official says management has to understand the pressures union leaders face in selling restructuring initiatives. They are more often than not met with opposition and accusations of selling out workers.
Ironically, it is at times like this that union leaders are most vulnerable to being undermined by management itself. Although management want compromise deals, at times they view this as a sign of weakness and then go out of their way to undermine the union.
A Cosatu official says VW is a case where the "revolution eats its children". The foot soldiers of the 1980s were becoming marginalised as a different type of unionist was required to sit down with management to participate in developing export and industrial strategies.
A Numsa official says that at the heart of the strike was an attempt by dissident shop stewards to take control and achieve power at workers' expense.
The union attributes the recent turmoil to events that transpired from 1990 onwards, where the dissidents created chaos by voicing unachievable demands and raising workers' expectations.
Periodically they would attempt to oust elected shop stewards. The matter came to a head last year when local union structures tried to suspend them pending an internal inquiry. This led to an illegal strike. Renewed attempts to discipline these shop stewards culminated in the strike this year.
Numsa says this group wants to discredit the labour movement and the alliance of the African National Congress, Cosatu and SA Communist Party.
Ndandani denies this. He says the problems are related to the actions of some union leaders and their failure to address bread-and-butter issues.
Numsa says the VW events demonstrate that the union needs to develop new strategies. Numsa spokesman Dumisa Ntuli says the union has to deal increasingly with educated, skilled workers who have different needs.
As the union tries to find a solution for the dismissed 1 300 workers, it faces an internal leadership crisis following the sudden departure of acting general secretary Peter Dantjies, who left under a cloud relating to financial mismanagement.
Since 1994 the union has seen three general secretaries come and go. It now awaits its national congress in August to elect a new general secretary amid much jockeying for power.
The VW situation should be a warning to unions and management across SA. They must rapidly develop the capacity to communicate effectively to workers the pressures and demands of a global economy, which will leave SA - and job creation - behind if domestic responses remain locked in the mind-set of the 1980s.
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