The union unity talks which resulted in Cosatu's formation took place between 1981 and 1985. These "four solid years of painstaking deliberations", as Cosatu's first assistant general secretary, Sydney Mufamadi, labelled them, were marked by mistrust and conflict. Differences of interest, of political outlook, of organisational methods and of personality had to be overcome before Cosatu could be born.
Talks began in earnest during August 1981, when over 100 representatives from 29 unions met in Langa, Cape Town.
Convened by the General Workers Union (GWU), all major independent unions attended the meeting. This included Food & Canning Workers Union (FCWU), African Food & Canning Workers Union (AFCWU), South African Allied Workers Union (Saawu) and the affiliates of Fosatu and Cusa.
It was a time of rapid growth for the unions, and the Langa summit was aimed at developing a united response to the Wiehahn report. The report had been released in 1979 and it recommended, for the first time in South Africa, the recognition of African workers' right to form and belong to trade unions. But, as the emerging unions were aware, the provisions in the report also aimed to divide and control them.
The summit passed a unanimous resolution rejecting "the present system of registration insofar as it is designed to control and interfere in the internal affairs of the union." But this statement concealed deep differences. Some Fosatu and Cusa affiliates intended to register while other unions were opposed to registration.
When Neil Aggett died, while in police custody, on 5 February 1982 at John Vorster Square, a shocked union movement decided to arrange a protest action. If unity meant anything, it should include united responses to atrocities such as this.
All union members were called to stop work for 30 minutes on 11 February. A hundred thousand workers responded to the call, the majority of them members of Fosatu affiliates.
While the Aggett stoppage was a limited action compared to some of the massive stayaways which occurred subsequently, it was the first union-organised initiative since the fifties attempting to mobilise workers nationally at their places of work, over an issue beyond the factory floor.
Registration debate
The second unity summit took place in April 1982 at Wilgespruit and the registration debate dominated the meeting.
The anti-registration faction warned that registered unions would get caught up in a web of controls and would end up becoming reformist.
The registration faction claimed to be aware of the dangers of co-option, arguing that it would be wrong to ignore the space opened up by workers' pressure on the state and employees.
Despite these disagreements, the summit resolved to continue to work towards a union federation.
The anti-registration camp - consisting of the seven 'community' unions: Saawu, Gawu, Macwusa, Gwusa, the Black Municipality Workers Union (BMWU), South African Textile and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the Orange-Vaal General Workers Union (OVGWU) - met to confirm their opposition to registration, but reaffirmed their obligation to forming a progressive federation. Positions were beginning to crystallise.
The third summit, in July 1982, in Port Elizabeth, was the most bitter of all. The seven 'community' unions put forward seven 'non-negotiable' principles as the basis of the new federation. These were: non-registration, shopfloor bargaining, binding federation policy, worker control, non-racialism, participation in community issues and the rejection of national and international reactionary bodies.
Fosatu, FCWU and GWU felt that non-racialism, worker control and industrial unionism were non-negotiable principles. The Cape Town Municipal Workers Association (CTMWA) agreed, but felt that the new federation could include industrial and general unions. Cusa's principles included black worker control, industrial unionism and a loose federation.
The only principle the meeting could agree on was worker control, and even this was qualified by Cusa's emphasis on 'black worker control'.
The summit deadlocked and a terse press statement said it all: "It was decided that there is no basis for the formation of a federation of all unions represented at this stage. No further meeting is planned."
After the PE summit, blocs within the union movement began to harden. The Fosatu bloc grew as GWU and FCWU/AFCWU moved closer to it.
The group of seven unions affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF). And tensions developed between Fosatu and its allies on the one hand and Sactu and the ANC on the other.
Common ground
But the need for unity meant that talks would have to continue, sooner rather than later. GWU initiated a fourth summit to discuss the practicalities of forming a federation. Held in Athlone, Cape Town, this was well-attended, with large worker delegations.
Fosatu came to the meeting declaring that it would never sacrifice worker control and non-racialism. The group of seven, retreating from their earlier position, accepted a proposal that the federation could include unions with differing policies.
With this as a basis to move forward, the summit started to discuss the steps needed to establish a federation.
Two basic positions were hotly debated. The community unions argued that the federation should be built organically, from the bottom up. Fosatu and its allies argued for immediate practical steps to form the federation.
In the end, all the unions present, except the OVGWU, agreed to participate in the formation of the new federation and a feasibility committee was established.
The feasibility committee's first meeting was concrete and fruitful and, among other things, agreement was reached on demarcation. Participating unions agreed to inform each other where they were organising.
But the talks deadlocked again when Macwusa, Gwusa, Saawu, Gawu and the Cusa affiliates failed to provide membership information needed to continue demarcation discussions.
Allegations of poaching flowed thick and fast. The emerging unions were competing for membership. More fundamental problems were raised of how the general unions could transform themselves into industrial unions.
At this point, the talks nearly floundered again, for a number of reasons. Firstly, Fosatu felt little pressure to form a new federation as its affiliates had a rapidly growing membership and were benefiting from the well organised federation. There was a feeling that unity talks were a waste of time and that those unions wanting unity should simply affiliate to Fosatu.
Secondly, the group of seven 'community' unions were considered weak at building and consolidating shopfloor structures and it seemed to those in the Fosatu bloc that they were half-hearted in their commitment to industrial unions.
However it was decided to hold one further meeting, which Ccawusa convened. At this meeting, FCWU threw down the gauntlet, saying the talks could only continue with unions who had made an unconditional decision to join the new federation. In the case of general unions, they must be in the process of dividing into industrial unions and all federations must have taken a decision to disband in favour of the new federation. Those which could not meet these criteria would have observer status until they could do so.
The Municipal and General Workers Union (Mgwusa), Saawu and Gawu objected to this and the seven community unions left the meeting and effectively the unity talks.
But the process continued, and those remaining in the talks, representing about 300,000 workers, committed themselves to forming a new federation in the course of 1984. It was still not clear how united the remaining unions were - the issue of non-racialism versus racial exclusivity was still unresolved.
There were also rumblings of countrywide uprisings and major realignments, particularly in Fosatu and Cusa, were taking place.
The newly formed UDF gained momentum during 1984. Students were boycotting classes in growing numbers and by mid-year conflicts over high rentals were developing in a number of townships.
Political and community organisations, together with trade unions, began campaigning against the election for a new tricameral, racially based parliament.
As the elections neared, conflict increased. Unrest erupted in the Vaal Triangle townships. Unpopular councillors and mayors were called on to resign, their homes were petrol bombed and some were killed. The protests spread countrywide. In response, the state moved troops into the townships.
It was clear that unity talks could not continue in a vacuum, isolated from the growing township uprisings. A turning point came with Fosatu's participation in the November 1984 Transvaal stayaway, alongside Cusa and the UDF-affiliated unions. The two-day stayaway, initiated by Cosas, was an overwhelming success with 800,000 workers joining in.
But Fosatu's participation was not without its tensions. Many established leaders argued the federation was bowing to populist pressures, while rank-and-file members were impatient with what was perceived to be Fosatu's political hostility to mass action.
Cusa was also affected by the developments - it had a poor reputation on the shopfloor and its leadership ranged from the a-political, to pro-Inkatha to black consciousness supporters. In mid-1984 the Num conference, believing that Cusa leadership was not serious about union unity, decided to join the federation, even if Cusa did not.
Meanwhile, the practical aspects of launching the federation were progressing smoothly and a draft constitution was circulated for discussion - without the community unions.
Following the November stayaway, Sactu stepped in, trying to persuade the UDF-affiliated unions to rejoin the unity talks and not to rely on ANC support to avoid building strong industrial unions on the ground. Sactu also called on the feasibility committee to assist the general unions in this process and not to make industrialisation a condition for participation in the talks.
Fosatu bowed to pressure to include the UDF unions in the talks, realising that it would be counter-productive to form a new federation without the support of the ANC and Sactu.
So unity talks were re-opened to both the UDF unions and groups like Azactu, which had emerged since the first summit.
Delegates to the Ipelegeng summit, 8-9 June 1985, were asked to set out their standpoint on two issues - the draft constitution which proposed a tight federation, and the five unifying principles: non-racialism, one union one industry, worker control, representation on the basis of paid-up membership and national co-operation.
The most hotly debated principle was that of non-racialism. Azactu and some Cusa affiliates counter-posed with the concept of anti-racism. This was in fact an objection to being part of a federation dominated by the politics of the 'non-racial democratic' tradition.
The Ipelegeng summit separated out those unions wanting to be part of the launching congress and those wanting to stay out. There were still a number of distinct strands in the unions moving towards the launch, represented in the varying strengths and weaknesses in shopfloor organisation and involvement in political issues beyond the shopfloor.
But these and other issues were left unresolved, to be debated and ironed out within the new federation.
During the final feasibility meeting, delegates discussed a name for the new federation. Proposals included Sactu, Saftu, Fotusa and Cosatu - all based on some combination of the words federation or congress of South African trade unions. Nobody felt particularly strongly about it. 'Federation' was a more accurate description of the structure, while 'Congress' represented an association with the congress tradition of the ANC. Eventually a FCWU delegate said as long as the word Congress was included in the name, he was happy. Most delegates agreed with the sentiment - Cosatu was about to be born.
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