The Politics of Solidarity

AcknowledgementsEthnographic research is a journey - intense, time-consuming, surprising and rewarding. I am grateful to many people on this journey. First and most importantly, I am indebted to all the workers who shared their time and their stories. Their struggle for a better life and a just society in South Africa continues.I would like to thank shop stewards and officials from the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU), many of whom were expelled or dismissed for raising legitimate concerns about the financial management of the union, seeking to increase the political independence of SAMWU and the notion of worker control. Some of them now form part of the new federation, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU). I am not able to name all Comrades with whom I had the privilege of spending time and of working together, particularly in the two SAMWU regions, Johannesburg and Cape Town. I trust you know who you are.I am particularly indebted to Stephen Faulkner, a dedicated unionist, for his support and friendship. I would also like to thank Hilary Wainwright and Lawrence Ntuli, with whom I conducted some of the interviews together, for the fruitful research collaboration. I extend my thanks to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO), the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG) and in particular, the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) for its hospitality and the continuing cooperation.This project and the extended period of field research would not have been possible without the generous support of the Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS) who provided me with a dissertation fellowship. I am also grateful to the HBS liaison lecturer, Leo Kissler from Marburg University, for his excellent support. This project also greatly benefited from a stimulating research environment at the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP) at the University of the Witwatersrand. From 2012 to 2014

Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 91 Introduction 131.1 Central Research Question and Aims of Research 161.2 Overview of the Book 182 Theoretical Framework: Solidarity and Trade Union Power Resources 212.1 Scales of Power: Conceptualising Workers' Power Resources 212.2 Power through Organisation 312.3 The Power to Disrupt Within and Outside the Workplace 352.4 Society as an Ally 372.5 The Dual Character of Institutional Power 402.6 Trade Union Strategies between Inclusive and Exclusive Solidarity 422.7 Interim Conclusion and Stages of Inquiry 443 Methodology and Research Design 473.1 Setting the Stage: The Selection of the Three Research Sites 483.2 Participant Observation and Problem-centred Interviews 513.3 Analysing the Field with the Extended Case Method 613.4 Conducting Research in a Contested Field 644 From Apartheid to Post-Apartheid: Labour in a Contested Terrain 694.1 Contesting the Labour Regime, Building Associational Power: A Brief History of the South African Labour Movement 694.2 From the Freedom Charter to GEAR: Conflicts within the Alliance on Macroeconomic Policy 784.3 Privatising Local Government: The Legislative Framework 834.4 The Fragmentation of the South African Labour Market: Core, Non-core, Periphery 894.5 The South African Labour Movement at a Crossroads 965 Privatisation and the Commodification of Public Services in Johannesburg and Cape Town 1055.1 The Post-Apartheid Challenge: Restructuring Johannesburg 1065.2 Hollowing out the local state: iGoli 2002 1105.3 The SAMWU Response to iGoli 2002 1165.4 Restructuring and Privatisation in Cape Town 1275.5 The SAMWU Response to Privatisation 1366 A Partial Inclusive Union Strategy: Organising a Fragmented Municipal Workforce in Johannesburg 1416.1 Facing the Divide: The increasing Fragmentation of the Workforce in Pikitup 1416.2 Contesting what a Labour Broker is: The Triangular Employment Relationship in Pikitup 1536.3 The Manufacturing of Insecurity in the Workplace 1606.4 The Pikitup Strike

Carmen Ludwig ist wiss. Mitarbeiterin an der Universität Giessen und assoz. Mitglied am Society, Work and Development Institute der Witwatersrand Universität Johannesburg.