2005-12-05,+Labour+takes+its+first+steps+to+unity,+Terry+Bell,+B+Report

= Labour takes its first steps to unity =


 * Business Report, Johannesburg, December 4, 2005**


 * By Terry Bell**

Cape Town - The proposed merger of the country's three smaller labour federations, announced this week, is far from being a done deal.

If it fails, it could have a detrimental effect not only on the federations and trade unions involved, but also on business and the government.

But if, as seems likely, it succeeds, it will cause problems within the country's largest federation, Cosatu, which is aligned with the ANC. The existence of a uniting federation of comparable size to Cosatu would be likely to push to the forefront arguments within the latter about the continuation of its alliance with the ruling party.

Doubts have always been voiced within Cosatu about the wisdom of being so closely allied to a government that pursues macroeconomic policies that are, at base, diametrically opposed to those of the union movement.

In a show of independence at its 1997 congress, Cosatu resolved that the SA Communist Party (SACP), and not the ANC, was its chosen "workers' party". The implication is that, if the governing tripartite alliance broke up, Cosatu would link up with the SACP.

This party, which probably has little more than 20 000 active, paid-up members, exercises a dominant influence among the leadership of Cosatu. Both the president, Willie Madisha, and the general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, are leading SACP members.

But the proposed superfederation is resolutely opposed to joining any alliance led by a political party. This poses a major quandary for Cosatu, which does support the concept of a single national labour federation.

Cosatu will have to resolve this issue sooner rather than later lest it suffer damaging internal convulsions.

With this proviso, there is a consensus view that the move towards labour unity is positive. This is summed up by Vic van Vuuren, the chief operations officer of Business Unity SA (Busa), who points out that business prefers an environment of social stability, as do the government and the unions.

"Business needs to worry when unions are disorganised and this causes destabilisation," says Van Vuuren, who points out that the proposed merger "makes sense in business terms".

"Rationalisation and greater efficiency does make sense, and a developing economy needs a better and more efficient union movement because trade unions have a key role to play."

So Busa, along with the government and the bulk of the labour movement, will keep a close eye on the merger project, which is set to go before the union affiliates for approval only in July next year. Until then, there are numerous thorny issues to be thrashed out.

Not the least of these will be who should occupy the driving seats in an umbrella organisation that, in terms of numbers and industrial spread, would be on a comparable footing to Cosatu.

Numbers and financial viability will play a major role here.

The federations acknowledge that one of the first hurdles will be the assessment of their own paid-up memberships and financial health and those of their affiliates.

The division and rationalisation of assets, along with decisions on staffing, will also not be easily resolved, "which is why we have set next July as the target for the launch of the new federation", says Mahlomola Skhosana, the general secretary of the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu).

This founding congress will only be called after all the affiliates of the three federations have been consulted and have agreed to the merger.

"We would certainly have egg on our faces if the project fails, but I don't think it will," says Chez Milani, the general secretary of the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa).

He points out that Fedusa and Nactu have collaborated closely with each other for years and with Cosatu in forums such as Nedlac, saying: "We have walked the walk together, so that makes things much easier."

He notes that the three federations have resolved that unions organising in the same industries should be encouraged, but not instructed, to amalgamate. This potential area of dissension is to be dealt with "in a bottom-up rather than top-down way".

Deciding where an industrial sector begins or ends is often impossible, as the Nedlac demarcation committee has discovered, "so the best way seems to be to let the individual unions be and to allow them to come voluntarily to mergers", says Milani, who has resigned after eight years as Fedusa's general secretary and will not be in the running for any leadership position in the new federation.

What Milani, Skhosana and Kulile Nkushubana, the general secretary of the Confederation of SA Workers' Unions, have continually stressed is that the new federation will not be in competition with Cosatu.

However, a degree of competitiveness is inevitable. And much of this will come down to numbers, since the allocation of seats at tripartite forums such as Nedlac is determined by the size of the federations.

All parties hope there will not be much disruption in the process.

"As far as business is concerned, we will still face the same people across the table [that] we have been dealing with for years," says Van Vuuren.

"Labour is one of the pillars of democracy," he adds. As such, the better health of the trade unions is in the interests of all, even if the voice and influence of labour grows stronger.

From: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=3021736