SA’s top unions group fears for its future
- Category: Africa
- Written by Reuters
A top South African labour leader urged a fresh start for the country’s biggest unions on Tuesday, saying change was needed in the wake of recent violence and the challenge posed by the rise of the militant AMCU union.
Forty-five miners died in clashes between competing unions last month, including 34 miners shot dead by police in the deadliest security incident since the end of apartheid.
“We need a shift in our mindset to recognise that the labour movement needs to renew itself and re-establish its very purpose of existence,†Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), told the group’s national congress.
“If we lose touch with our members’ concerns, there is the danger of finding ourselves ...outflanked by the new independent unions which are emerging as a result of dissatisfaction from the shop floor.â€
A member of the country’s African National Congress-led (ANC) ruling alliance, Cosatu, has used thuggish behaviour in labour disputes in the past but now finds itself the target of intimidation from rivals.—Reuters
