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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008
The article deals with “racial” aspects of the labour market and labour relations in South Africa's building industry, focussing largely, though not exclusively, on skilled building workers on the Witwatersrand (Southern Transvaal). Different trade-union strategies are examined, as pursued by building trade unions in the Transvaal as well as the Eastern Cape and Natal, in order to add a comparative dimension. In the latter areas, shortly after World War I, a white-exclusionist organizing policy was replaced in some urban centres by a pragmatic strategy of incorporating “coloured” artisans (Africans and Indians continued to be excluded). In the Transvaal, on the other hand, the relatively strong position of white building workers and a deeply-ingrained racism ensured the maintenance of racially-exclusive trade unionism in the building industry.
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4 Dominions' Royal Commission, Minutes of Evidence, 1914, Part II (Cd. 7707): evidence by Thos, Matthews, p. 73.Google Scholar
5 This colour bar has been referred to as “industrial colour bar” (e.g. Doxey, G.V., The Industrwl Colour Bar in South Africa (Oxford, 1961)) or “job colour bar”Google Scholar (e.g. Johnstone, , Class, Race and Gold). I think it is better to speak of “occupational colour bar”, i.e. a usually informal, customary and imperfect arrangement or policy aiming at the exclusion of non-whites from specific skilled or semiskilled occupations or clusters of occupations that were seen as the preserve of white wage earners.Google Scholar
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8 For examples of the first approach see Lewis, Jon, Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation in South Africa 1924–1955. The Rise and Fall of the South African Trades and Labour Council (Cambridge, 1984);Google Scholar Eddie Webster, , Cast in a Racial Mould. Labour Process and Trade Unionism in the Foundries (Johannesburg, 1985).Google Scholar For the second approach see Elaine, N. Katz, A Trade Union Aristocracy. A History of White Workers in the Transvaal and the General Strike of 1913 (Johannesburg, 1976);Google ScholarCharles van, Onselen, Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand. Volume 1: New Babylon. Volume 2: New Nineveh (London, 1982). The latter work is not primarily concerned with organized workers, but with a number of “pforgotten” social groups in the margin of the social structure.Google Scholar
9 In this paper the Western Cape, which was rather isolated from the rest of South Africa, is largely left out.
10 The figures on building and contracting and the manufacture of building materials (classes II, III and XVI in the industrial census) are from 1919–1920 somewhat inflated by the inclusion in building and contracting of persons employed on railway construction and other public works. If by means of comparison with the figures of before 1919–1920 the approximate numbers of the latter category are deducted, we arive at the figures given above. Figures for 1920–1921 and 1936–1937 are given because these were both years of relatively good employment in the building industry. See Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa, No. 2 (1918), p. 535; No. 5 (1921), p. 638; No. 20(1939), p. 906.Google Scholar
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20 Rules of the South African Operative Masons' Society (1924).Google Scholar That this rule was inserted already in the earliest version of the union's constitution appears from Harrison, W.H., Memoirs of a Socialist in South Africa, 1903–1947 (Cape Town, 1947), p. 17.Google Scholar
21 This was even the case in Cape Town – van Duin, “Cape Town building industry”, pp. 99–100, 106–107.
22 This resolution was passed with 26 of the 27 members present voting in favour, and none against– Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners' Monthly Report, 08, 1904, p. 382.Google Scholar
23 Katz, , A Trade Union Aristocracy, pp. 64–65, 240, 485;Google ScholarSimons, and Simons, , Class and Colour, p. 174.Google Scholar
24 Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners' Monthly Report, 09 1899, p. 317; 03 1903, p. 89; 04 1903, p. 146.Google Scholar
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26 Report of the Transvaal Indigency Commission (hereafter: TIC) (Pretoria, 1908) (T.G. 13-'08), pp. 26–28.Google Scholar
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28 TIC, p. 47.Google Scholar
29 TIC, evidence by Sampson, H.W., p. 94. Evidence was given to the Commission during the first half of 1907.Google Scholar
30 Ibid., p. 96.
31 Ibid.
32 TIC, evidence by Colonel O'Brien, , p. 64; Major Fuge, Pretoria Police, p. 108.Google Scholar
33 TIC, evidence by Fuge, , pp. 108–109, 114.Google Scholar
34 TIC, see for instance the evidence given by Dr. Boyd of the Pretoria Municipality, p. 120.
35 See the South African Architect, Engineer and Surveyors' Journal, 12 1906, p. 49; 03 1907, p. 95;Google Scholar the South African Master Builders' Federation Journal, 01 1907, p. 1907 1907, pp.9, 14; 10 1907, p. 19; 11 1907, p. 17.Google Scholar
36 TIC, evidence by Boyd, , p. 120.Google Scholar
37 TIC, evidence by Hodkinson, F.H., p. 71.Google Scholar
38 Sampson even suggested to the Transvaal Indigency Commission that it was possible for the white man to undertake all manual labour in agriculture – TIC, p. 93.
39 TIC, evidence by Sampson, , p. 96.Google Scholar
40 TIC, memorandum submitted by the Chief Detective Inspector, Kimberley, , p. 400.Google Scholar
41 South African Builder, Johannesburg Supplement, 09 1932, pp. xxx–xxxi;Google ScholarSouth African Builder, National Federation Golden Jubilee 11, 10 1954, p. 21.Google Scholar
42 See for instance the South African Architect, Engineer and Surveyors' Journal, 03 1907, p. 95;Google ScholarSouth African Master Builders' Federation Journal, 04 1907, p. 13.Google Scholar
43 See the Annual Reports of the Johannesburg MBA, which convey much of the niceties and intricacies of relations between masters and men.
44 To the working-class background of many a master builder frequent reference is madein reports in the Federation Journal and in other business journals. See also the Report of the Industrial Legislation Commission (U. G. 37-'35, p. 71).Google Scholar
45 South African Master Builders' Federation Journal, 04 1907, p. 31;Google Scholar TIC, evidence by Sampson, , p. 95.Google Scholar
46 Cf., Bill Freund, “The Social Character of Secondary Industry in South Africa: 1915–1945”, in Mabin, Alan (ed.), Organisation and Economic Change. Southern African Studies (Johannesburg, 1989), vol. 5, p. 104.Google Scholar Freund rightly criticizes Merle Lipton for suggesting that manufacturers generally opposed racism and segregation – Merle Lipton, , Capitalism and Apartheid. South Africa, 1910–1986 (London, 1986), ch. 6.Google Scholar
47 South African Master Builders' Federation Journal, 04 1907, p. 25. See also TIC, evidence by Hodkinson, who said that the coast wood-working industry was mainly carried on with “coolie labour”, and that this was “killing” the industry in the Transvaal.Google Scholar
48 South African Master Builders' Federation Journal, 11 1907, p. 17.Google Scholar
49 Ibid., pp. 23–24, quoting Johannesburg newspapers.
50 South African Master Builders' Christmas Annual, 1909, p. 21.Google Scholar
51 Cape Times, 04 25, 1908.Google Scholar
52 See note 50.
53 Ibid.
54 Ibid., p. 26.
55 Johannesburg MBA, General Meeting, April 127, 1906 (Minute Book housed at Office of the Association, Fairview, Johannesburg). It should be noted once again that, in the Transvaal context, it is not always clear whether “coloured” refers to “Cape coloured”, has the connotation of “non-white”, “black”. Nevertheless, after 1900 there was a growing tendency even in the Transvaal to distinguish between “coloured” and “native”, African.
56 Johannesburg MBA,Third Annual General Meeting,31 January, 1907; 19 February 1907.Executive Committee Meeting,19 February 1907.Google Scholar
57 MBA, Johannesburg, Seventh Annual Report, 31 12 1910, p. 8;Google ScholarEight Annual Report, 31 12 1911, p. 8.Google Scholar
58 Hallack, R.K., “White Labour Policy in South Africa, 1900–1914” (MA thesis, University of Cape Town, 1932), pp. 69–70.Google Scholar
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60 Roux, , Time Longer Than Rope, p. 146, citing The International.Google Scholar
61 Hallack, , “White Labour Policy”, p. 60.Google Scholar
62 Master Builders and Allied Trades' Association, Johannesburg, Tenth Annual Report, 31 12 1913, p. 9.Google Scholar
63 Simons, and Simons, , Class and Colour, p. 163.Google Scholar
64 E.g., Roux, Time Longer Than Rope, pp. 124–125;Google ScholarKatz, A Trade Union Aristocracy, pp. 354–355.Google Scholar
65 Katz, , A Trade Union Aristocracy, p. 456.Google Scholar
66 Katz, , A Trade Union Aristocracy, pp. 282 n. 100, 358.Google Scholar See also Roux, , Time Longer Than Rope, p. 127.Google Scholar
67 Roux, , Time Longer Than Rope, p. 127.Google Scholar
68 E.g., Cope, Comrade Bill, p. 149.Google Scholar
69 According to Katz (p. 448) the only craft union in the Transvaal admitting coloureds was the Typographical Union. However, there were hardly any coloured printers in the Transvaal at all, and other evidence reveals that dark-skinned coloureds were in effect excluded from skilled jobs in the printing industry: Archive of the Economic and Wage Commission, evidence by African National League, Johannesburg.
70 Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners' Monthly Report (Johannesburg), 06, 1916, p. 12;Google ScholarGitsham, and Trembath, , Labour Organisation, pp. 71–3, 162–163, 171, 178;Google ScholarSimons, and Simons, , Class and Colour, p. 197; Records of the Trade Union Council of South Africa (hereafter: TUCSA), SAIF, Bc 8, Bd 2; Records of the Garment Workers Union (hereafter: GWU), Dba 66: Constitution of the Building Workers' Industrial Union of South Africa (1947). On BWIU activity among unskilled whites, see in particular TUCSA, SAIF, Bc 1.2; GWU, Dba 11;Google ScholarMaster, Builders and Trades, Allied Association of the Witwatersrand, Annual Report, 1922, p. 12.Google Scholar
71 Report of Special Trade Union Congress, held at Bloemfontein, May 5–9, 1919 (Archive of the Department of Mines and Industries, MNW 474 – National Archives, Pretoria).Google Scholar
72 TUCSA, SATUC, Ca 1.4, report of South African Trade Union Congress, March 1929; Cc 6.3, correspondence September 1928; Cc 1.5, correspondence August–October 1928.
73 TUCSA, SAIF, Ba 1.1.
74 TUCSA, SAIF, Ba 6.2, Ba 6.3: Simons, and Simons, , Class and Colour, p. 228.Google Scholar
75 E.g. TUCSA, SATUC, Cc 1.5, C.B. Tyler to Secretary SATUC, 5.11.28; SATLC, Dc 2.8, W. Blake to C.B. Tyler, 13.11.34, and C.B. Tyler to Secretary SATLC, 4.3.35. See also The Building Worker, Official Organ of the BWIU of South Africa, 06 1940, pp. 2–3.Google Scholar
76 Gitsham, and Trembath, , Labour Organisation, p. 21;Google ScholarWalker, IL. and Weinbren, B., 2.000 Casualties. A History of the Trade Unions and the Labour Movement in the Union of South Africa (Johannesburg, 1961), p. 190.Google Scholar
77 Cape Times, 13 03 1919.Google Scholar
78 Ibid.
79 Cape Times, 24 03 1919.Google Scholar
80 Simons, and Simons, , Class and Colour, p. 247.Google Scholar
81 GWU, Aab 2.6.
82 Archive of the Economic and Wage Commission (hereafter: AEWC), National Archives, Pretoria: memorandum by H.R. Morgan, 12.10.25.
83 AEWC, evidence by HR. Morgan, Kingwilliamstown, 4440jj-4440uu; memorandum by Morgan.
84 Report of the Economic and Wage Commission, Pretoria 1926 (U.G. 14-'26), pp. 290–291; AEWC, report submitted by the Kimberley and District Trades and Labour Council. It would seem that trade-union policies in Kimberley were more like those in the Transvaal than in the coastal centres.Google Scholar
85 Report of the Economic and Wage Commission, p. 124.Google Scholar
86 AEWC, memorandum by ANB, Johannesburg, September 1925; evidence by Messrs. Rev. J.A. Rogers. G.W. Crowe, R.A. Goodman, J.W. Ontong and G.S. Rasdien, Johannesburg, 3141–3190. According to the ANB witnesses there were some 8,000 coloured people in the municipal area of Johannesburg, and 32,000 in the Transvaal Province.
87 AEWC, evidence by Rogers, Crowe, Goodman, Ontong and Rasdien.
88 AEWC, evidence by Tyler, Johannesburg, 1180–1198a; TUCSA, SATUC, Ca 1.4, report of South African Trade Union Congress, March 1929. Tyler belonged to the small group of progressive white trade union leaders, who were more enlightened on racial matters than their own rank and file.
89 See note 87.
90 Ibid..
91 Ibid..
92 AEWC, memorandum by BWIU, 20.8.25.
93 As a result, by 1938 fifty-five per cent of the 46,130 workers in the building industry covered by agreements under the Industrial Conciliation Act in the seven largest cities were African. By this time semiskilled and unskilled workers were provided for in the agreements as well. Annual Report of the Department of Labour for the Year 1938, p. 53;Google ScholarReport of the Industrial Legislation Commission (U.G. 37-'35), p. 15.Google Scholar
94 Annual Report of the Department of Labour for the years 1934–1938.Google Scholar
95 Annual Report of the Department of Labour for the Year 1938, p. 53.Google Scholar
96 See for a recent account of the evolution of the policies and ideology of organized white labour during the pre-World War I period Piete, van Duin, “South Africa”, in Marcel, van der Linden and Rojahn, Jurgen (eds), The Formation of Labour Movements 1870–1914. An International Perspective, 2 vols (Leiden, 1990), 2, pp. 623–653.Google Scholar
97 Cf., Katz, A Trade Union Aristocracy, p. 448, who arrives at similar conclusions.Google Scholar
98 Lewis, , Industrialisation and Trade Union Organisation, Ch. 4;Google ScholarSachs, E.S., Rebels' Daughters (London, 1957), pp. 118–120.Google Scholar
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