Maximum Working Class Unity? Challenges to Local Social Movement Unionism in Cape Town

Abstract

Joint political mobilisation between trade unions and community groups, often referred to as ‘social movement unionism’, has been upheld as a way forward for organised labour in a neoliberal world economy. Analysing the interaction between unions and communities is critical for understanding the potential and actual roles played by trade unions in voicing the concerns of marginalized workers and poor communities. This article examines the efforts of organised municipal workers and urban social movements trying to unite their forces in post‐apartheid South Africa, by looking at the politics of the Cape Town Anti‐Privatisation Forum (APF). While the participants of the APF have in common their opposition to commercialisation and privatisation of service delivery, their political unity is fragile. By contrasting the ‘ideal‐type’ social movement unionism depicted in the contemporary literature on labour and globalisation with the findings of this particular case, we uncover some main dimensions along which this organisational cooperation is challenged. In contrast to the political unity experienced during the anti‐apartheid struggle, the APF initiative operates in a restructuring post‐apartheid economy where bridging internal organisational differences and confronting the hegemonic position of the African National Congress (ANC) in civil society have proved particularly challenging.

Democratization in the Global South

“…Since its inception in 2000, the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) in Cape Town brought together various organizations and activists to mobilize politically against the privatization, outsourcing and subcontracting of municipal services in the city. The APF was significant as it represented a continuation of the social movement unionism tradition of the union and its renewed relevance in the post-apartheid era (Lier and Stokke 2006;Lier 2007). At the same time, SAMWU's alliance building initiative soon faced obstacles stemming from the deeply divided civil society that had emerged in the second decade after apartheid.…”

“…1 The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in Cape Town has tried to maintain its culture of shop-floor democracy and social activism within the imperatives of a liberal democratic and neoliberal order. The multifarious strategies of SAMWU have been analysed both in terms of progressive alliance building with civil society formations in Johannesburg (Buhlungu 2006;Barchiesi 2007) and Cape Town (Lier and Stokke 2006;Lier 2007;Stokke and Lier 2008) and its relatively new strategy of recruiting private company employees to counter the outsourcing of municipal services in Cape Town (Samson 2004;JordhusLier 2010). But the case of SAMWU also raises some wider questions about the potential for trade unions to act as political agents in young liberal democracies in the Global South (see Seidman 2010 and 2011 for a critical comparison of South Africa and Brazil).…”

Political geography in Norway: Current state and future prospects

“…This is a central theme in Lier's research on public sector trade unionism in South Africa (Lier & Stokke 2006;Lier 2009). Extending the field of labour geography into contextual political analyses, Lier shows that attempts to overcome local fragmentation through institutionalised collaboration between trade unions and social movements are often hampered by organisational and political obstacles.…”

Places of Work, Scales of Organising: A Review of Labour Geography

“…An interesting case study‐based literature has emerged in labour geography focusing on union‐community initiatives (Lier and Stokke 2006; Savage 1998; Tufts 1998; Walsh 2000; Wills 2001a). While still consisting of relatively few journal articles, these case studies examine a diverse set of cases and contexts.…”