Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List Of Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Introduction
- Chapter One Building local power: 1970s
- Chapter Two Power through numbers: 1980–1985
- Chapter Three Power in unity: 1980–1987
- Chapter Four Breaking the apartheid mould: 1980–1982
- Chapter Five Worker action fans out: 1980–1984
- Chapter Six Melding institutional, campaign and bureaucratic power: 1983–1990
- Chapter Seven Conquest of Metal Industrial Council: 1987–1988
- Chapter Eight Auto workers take power: 1982–1989
- Chapter Nine Auto takes on the industry: 1990–1992
- Chapter Ten New directions: 1988–1991
- Chapter Eleven Defeat of Mawu strategy: 1990–1992
- Chapter Twelve Towards a new industry: 1993
- Chapter Thirteen The Cinderella sector: 1983–1990
- Chapter Fourteen Applying vision in auto and motor: 1990–1995
- Chapter Fifteen Applying vision in engineering: 1994–1995
- Chapter Sixteen Independent worker movement: 1980–1986
- Chapter Seventeen Beginnings of alliance politics: 1984–1986
- Chapter Eighteen Weakening the socialist impulse: Civil war in Natal 1987–1994
- Chapter Nineteen Civil war in Transvaal: 1989–1994
- Chapter Twenty New politics: 1987–1990
- Chapter Twenty-One Disinvestment: Pragmatic politics 1985–1989
- Chapter Twenty-Two Compromising on socialism: Legacy of the Alliance 1989–1995
- Appendix
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter Fifteen - Applying vision in engineering: 1994–1995
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2018
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List Of Abbreviations and Acronyms
- Introduction
- Chapter One Building local power: 1970s
- Chapter Two Power through numbers: 1980–1985
- Chapter Three Power in unity: 1980–1987
- Chapter Four Breaking the apartheid mould: 1980–1982
- Chapter Five Worker action fans out: 1980–1984
- Chapter Six Melding institutional, campaign and bureaucratic power: 1983–1990
- Chapter Seven Conquest of Metal Industrial Council: 1987–1988
- Chapter Eight Auto workers take power: 1982–1989
- Chapter Nine Auto takes on the industry: 1990–1992
- Chapter Ten New directions: 1988–1991
- Chapter Eleven Defeat of Mawu strategy: 1990–1992
- Chapter Twelve Towards a new industry: 1993
- Chapter Thirteen The Cinderella sector: 1983–1990
- Chapter Fourteen Applying vision in auto and motor: 1990–1995
- Chapter Fifteen Applying vision in engineering: 1994–1995
- Chapter Sixteen Independent worker movement: 1980–1986
- Chapter Seventeen Beginnings of alliance politics: 1984–1986
- Chapter Eighteen Weakening the socialist impulse: Civil war in Natal 1987–1994
- Chapter Nineteen Civil war in Transvaal: 1989–1994
- Chapter Twenty New politics: 1987–1990
- Chapter Twenty-One Disinvestment: Pragmatic politics 1985–1989
- Chapter Twenty-Two Compromising on socialism: Legacy of the Alliance 1989–1995
- Appendix
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Progress in auto was made through the 1995 agreement, but in engineering, the three-year strategy began to unravel. Numsa was confronted with having to build workers’ control in an environment which did not lend itself to the slow, incremental workings that internal union democracy required. Also, its failure to communicate ideas from the research and development groups in 1990, on which much of the threeyear bargaining programme was based, came back to haunt it.
The early 1990s was a dangerous time for Numsa and for workers. The union was embroiled in intense ideological, political, organisational and bargaining complexities. It remained to be seen if Numsa could win real power for its constituency, or if history would record a weak response at a critical time.
Leadership and organisational weakness
It was in engineering that the strongest expectations of wielding power lay, and where the complexity and contradictions were most sharply expressed. It was here that Numsa had experienced its most rapid expansion, which contributed to the intricacy of its organisational and bargaining approaches. Chris Lloyd believed that the union did not acknowledge important differences between engineering and auto and so neglected a large body of members, and that this weakened its ability to implement its new strategy. He commented:
It seems strange to me that you go to a policy workshop on bargaining and less than 20 000 auto workers dominate, and 150 000 engineering workers, the bulk of our membership, hardly get a say.
We overplay the importance of the auto industry. I remember the auto agreement in 1995 got pages of news coverage, and yet it only covers 25 000 members. And yet the engineering agreement that was signed in 1996, which covers 250 000 people, I don't remember a column of news. That reflects a real bias in the union, employers and government against this industry … We've allowed the union to think that the auto industry is of equal weight with the engineering industry, where our real potential to grow is. If we're going to export anything from South Africa, it's not built-up cars. It's components, tooling, equipment, parts.
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- Information
- Metal that Will not BendNational Union of Metalworkers of South Africa 1980–1995, pp. 294 - 319Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2011