It was reminiscent of the 1992 crime thriller Hoffa, which tells the story of how a once-respected leader of the Teamsters — Jimmy Hoffa — became embroiled in the violent, corrupt and criminal US underworld.
In Limpopo’s Thulamela municipality, branch leaders of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) sided with municipal bigwigs in August and passed a resolution to hunt down the whistleblower who revealed alleged tender corruption of R61m involving the highest levels of the municipality.
At first glance, this is an astonishing stance for the union to take. Why would municipal workers agree to conceal wrongdoing when they have suffered significantly as a result of the fightback waged by individuals determined to steal public funds?
But the unsettling position taken by the union’s branch leaders at the Thulamela municipality is consistent with the story of how unions have strayed from their purpose.
Why would municipal workers agree to conceal wrongdoing when they have suffered significantly as a result of the fightback waged by individuals determined to steal public funds?
Some years ago, in one of the activist schools I facilitate, I designed a session on the role of unions in South Africa that included analysing five case studies involving dubious trade union activities.
One of the case studies was that of Simon Mofokeng, former general secretary of the Chemical‚ Energy‚ Paper‚ Printing‚ Wood & Allied Workers Union. According to evidence at the Zondo inquiry, Mofokeng, in return for a generous monthly supply of groceries, connived with Bosasa to help it win contracts at Sasol. While this was going on, the union was struggling to serve its members and faced deregistration.
The second story was about a teacher union’s elaborate scheme to extort cash for senior teaching posts, and the third looked at the assassination of the provincial leader of a transport union, a hit that many believed was linked to internal union strife.
By the time we were ready for reports on the last two stories, the students decided they had heard enough. “Unions are no longer doing what they were meant to do,” exclaimed one student. Asked another: “How is it possible for union leaders who represent some of the poorest people in the country to lead such lavish lives?”
We all agreed that the naked class interests of the leadership of the labour movement had led to trade unions losing their way. There are many more contemporary cases of unions colluding with corrupt networks and receiving rewards for betraying workers’ interests.
Think of the curious case of the corruption at Tembisa Hospital that was highlighted by whistleblower Babita Deokaran. Turning a blind eye to the criminal network fleecing the hospital, the Health & Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union sided with the hospital CEO after he was suspended during an investigation.
Such events lead many to conclude that trade unions are a spent force — too removed from ordinary people and too wedded to narrow interests to make any real contribution to social change.
So, what will it take to renew their relevance?
It is important not to be overwhelmed by cynicism. There are promising signs on the horizon.
For one, there was the response by Samwu’s Limpopo leadership to the Thulamela case. “We do not want to see municipalities hell-bent on eliminating workers who expose greedy politicians and officials who enrich themselves through municipal resources,” it said in a statement. “We condemn the victimisation of whistleblowers.”
At a time when we have become accustomed to unions playing the role of shop stewards for management, this strong statement from the union’s leadership is encouraging.
In the Western Cape, Samwu’s Back to Work campaign is an appeal to broad sections of the working class to fight for insourcing and better resourcing of clinics, public parks and libraries.
In the US, the Los Angeles chapter of Unite Here!, a union organising hospitality workers, has found new ways to bargain in the public interest. In one initiative, it has proposed that hotels rent out vacant rooms to house the homeless.
Unsurprisingly, this idea has earned the ire of hoteliers and conservative public representatives, who argue that the union is neglecting workplace struggles for political point-scoring. But with hotel workers frequently facing evictions and tenants being priced out of the housing market, this proposal will strengthen the union’s appeal to a broad range of social groups. This story gives us a hint of what is possible when unions act with the interests of both their members and the general public at heart.
For renewal to happen, unions need to strike new alliances and attract new members who can bring fresh ideas and a new culture. This is exactly what Unite Here! did with its “hands off, pants on” campaign, which is aimed at ending sexual harassment in the hospitality industry.
We do not want to see municipalities hell-bent on eliminating workers who expose greedy politicians
— Samwu statement
The union made connections between broader demands, such as workplaces free of sexual harassment, and immediate needs, such as giving housekeeping employees access to panic buttons and the choice to opt out of tasks that place them at risk of sexual assault. This had a substantial impact on union membership, with many African-American, Latina and immigrant women joining in considerable numbers.
What do these lessons mean for unions in our context?
What if our nursing unions bargained with the public in mind and took reports about pregnant women suffering verbal abuse at the hands of nurses at public hospitals seriously?
One can only speculate on what might be possible if deliberate efforts were made to link the government’s budget cuts with the bizarre yet desperate attempt by a nurse at Rahima Moosa Mother & Child Hospital to mix her own sterilising solution to clean patients going into surgery. This led to more than 10 infections.
What if Tshwane’s striking municipal workers — among them workers tasked with operating the sewerage network and water treatment plants — didn’t just call for a wage increase but publicly addressed the real and long-term causes of the cholera outbreak that recently engulfed Hammanskraal?
To tap into new sources of power, unions must revisit their history of waging campaigns that go beyond the shop floor. They have to get real about the corrosive impact of money and cut ties with the moneybags who manipulate tender processes and pilfer public resources. Above all, unions must model a new ethos of service.
Otherwise, they will continue to draw the ire of ordinary people who view them as ladders to wealth for a labour elite or as megaphones for the corrupt.
• Kunene is an educator and programme manager for democracy and political culture at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
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