Between marginalisation & revitalisation? the state of trade unionism in South Africa

This article provides an overview of the structure and organisation of the contemporary trade union movement in South Africa. It identifies seven broad trends in the labour market and their impact on the labour movement. It then examines the variety of initiatives by unions to tackle the problems generated by these trends. The article suggests that these initiatives are largely ad hoc and uncoordinated. It concludes that there is a need to go beyond traditional union structures to explore imaginative ways of engagement with the unemployed, the new working poor, their own members, employers, government, the new social movements and labour movements in other countries. However, it suggests that it is premature to pronounce the marginalisation of labour in post-apartheid South Africa. If well-coordinated and prioritised, the revitalisation initiatives identified in the article open up the opportunity for labour to contribute towards the emergence of a new jobcreating developmental path in South Africa.