Strategic Unionism : the political role of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in South Africa and what it means for black workers

This dissertation looks at the political role of trade unions in developing countries. Trade unions and particularly their engagement in political unionism have been absent from the development literature in recent decades. However, recently there has been a renewed interest in the role of trade unions and particularly in their political role as trade union movements in Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil have effectuated regime change by assisting labour based political parties to rise to power. I contribute to this trend by studying the role of the Congress of South African Trade unions (COSATU) and their role in shaping South Africa's transition to democracy. I use the story of COSATU to build on a theory of political unionism that is encompasses the various economic, social and political roles of trade unions and their strategic capability in capturing gains for workers.I examine COSATUs political role by creating five analytical categories to study the federations' experience; a historical review of the Black trade union movement that led to the creation of COSATU, forming alliances with political parties and civil society, building institutions for tripartism and consultation with business and government, mass mobilisation and membership and finally, shaping economic policy. I find that most of COSATUs achievements resulted from the federation's ability to engage in and find the right balance between economic and political unionism and to engage in strategic unionism in either sphere. The federation's unique participatory and democratic shop steward system also facilitated worker militancy and cohesiveness.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Misra, Neeta

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alice Amsden.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46624

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/46624