Wildcat strikes have been outstripping protected strikes for years in South Africa and are only growing more frequent. What does this say about the state of our unions?
When thinking of ‘wildcat strikes’ in South Africa, one particular image comes forth in most people’s minds – Marikana, August 16, 2012, where 34 striking miners were murdered by the police, live on television for all the nation and the world to see.
This does not include the ten other murders that occurred during the strike, all results of the unbearable tensions between differing unions, workers, and the police.
And despite continuous striking for a month after the massacre, the miners still only ended up with a monthly salary of R11 078 – not the R12 500 they began the strike for; that blood was shed for.
Despite this brutal and horrifying example, wildcat strikes have become an even more regular occurrence on the local labour action scene since Marikana.
While they might differ in size, purpose, and action, wildcat strikes are generally defined as sudden, unauthorised strikes undertaken by workers on their own terms. The origin of the term is vague and unidentifiable, but these types of strikes usually reflect the nature of the animal, wildcats: unpredictable, uncontrollable, and vicious.
Under Apartheid, trade unions were exclusively white and not very powerful. With exceptions such as the 1973 Durban strikes, which demonstrated the potential power of a unionized, multiracial labour force, the Apartheid government made sure unions could not exert any political or economic power.
Coming out of Apartheid and into the dawn of democracy, however, unions surged in power and importance, especially in the political realm. Today, around 3.86 million workers in South Africa are union members – still a significant number of people with the ability to wield mass power. In fact, this number has not shifted drastically in the last forty years or so, but the power and influence of trade unions has shrunk drastically, and everyone can feel it.
Data collected by the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) shows a general decline in strike action since 2018. However, in comparison to strike actions between 2009-2013, the rate in recent years has overall been quite high; the most work stoppages in the 2009-2013 period sits at 114 in 2013. So, strike action is still highly prevalent, but statistics show the specific type of strike action being undertaken by workers is changing.
These statistics clearly show that wildcat strikes make up a major part of annual labour action. “Wildcat strikes have outstripped protected strikes for some years now”, says the CWAO, who have diligently reported each strike across South Africa for the last few years.
In 2020, two-thirds of all labour strikes were unauthorized wildcat strikes, and most were driven by what the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) terms the “community industry”.
Within the community industry, the DEL explained in their 2020 industrial action report that “more strikes were seen from the South African health sector”, as the Covid-19 pandemic crippled a healthcare system that was already burdened by preexisting challenges.
However, the DEL report does not give any reason why these strikes were unprotected. But viewing recent news around trade unions – especially in the service and community industries – it is easy to understand why workers went rogue.
After the shock exposure of corruption at Tembisa hospital and the assassination of whistleblower Babita Deokaran, the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) placed itself squarely in the corner of disgraced hospital chief, Ashley Mthunzi.
The YNITU was headed by Lerato Mthunzi, the wife of Ashley Mthunzi. She allegedly “hijacked” the union and used it as a mouthpiece to defend her husband from corruption charges, against the will of its members and in contravention of the rules of the union.
If such is the case, it makes sense why unionized workers would doubt their representatives’ commitment to workers issues and take matters into their own hands.
Even ex NUMSA Deputy General Secretary, Karl Cloete, criticised trade unions in South Africa for using the concept of worker-controlled unions as “a mere slogan” to garner votes. Instead of exercising real worker’s power, union leaders remain in control so they “may determine the direction of the union and how their own resources drawn from subscriptions should benefit them.”
Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), noted in a discussion document that large trade unions have become comfortable with the status quo, due to their inauguration into the democratic political system. That also includes accepting its oppressive, corrupt aspects.
Vavi says that “the ANC’s commitment to austerity measures and neoliberalism worsens every day, [and] yet COSATU keeps on asking workers to vote for the ANC, as part of the defense of the status quo.”
Thus, it seems unsurprising that, out of all the wildcat strikes that occurred in 2023, the second highest proportion were strikes conducted by workers without any union representation or involvement. Most are non-unionized workers who organised themselves.
Nurses who had their contracts abruptly terminated at Jubilee District Hospital in Gauteng last May went on strike outside the hospital. Massive shortages in employees and resources pushed the hospital to the brink, and yet the nurses were kept on contracts via agencies, and not offered full time employment.
While Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) leader, Bongani Mazibuko, said the nurses should reach out to the union for support, DENOSA itself had no part in the wildcat strike – the nurses acted of their own volition.
With news of YNITU’s woes in the air, who could blame them?
Wildcat strikes organised by workers are the norm in the mining industry in South Africa, where inter-union fighting has dominated the labour scene, often overshadowing worker concerns.
A three-day underground wildcat strike was held by over 2000 miners last December at Impala Platinum Mine in Rustenburg. Fed up with tax deductions on their bonuses and angered over a cage accident that claimed 13 lives that November, the miners went ahead with the strike without approval from their union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
This should seem strange, as NUM is such a powerful union. Three of NUM’s past general secretaries have held important political positions in South Africa. One is even the president today – Cyril Ramaphosa.
And yet, Ramaphosa lives under the shadow of his role in Marikana. Families of the murdered miners hold Ramaphosa liable for their deaths, which even the High Court has acknowledged could be true.
So, perhaps it is precisely because of the bloody memory of Marikana that workers choose to embark on wildcat strikes. Workers will always need representation, especially in a society as unequal and in an economy as dire as South Africa’s.
But if workers feel that their trade unions are not on their side, it must be expected that they will stand on their own.
FEATURED IMAGE: Workers marching to end pay freeze in Cape Town, October 2021. Photo: Ashraf Hendrick for Ground Up.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela, Almost 12 years later and still no justice for Marikana , August 2024.
- Wits Vuvuzela, SLICE: Honouring the struggles of the past while looking ahead, May 2024.
