Solidarity originated in 1902 in the mines of the Witwatersrand as the Transvaal Miners’ Association. The official founding of the TMA took place in Johannesburg on June 22nd, 1902 with AJ Strong as the first president and W Mather the first general secretary. Strong and Mather were succeeded by Edward Perrow and SW Fursey in 1903.
Membership of the TMA consisted mainly of workers of British descent, but also included Australians, Italians, Germans, Greeks, English-speaking South Africans and a handful of semi-skilled Afrikaners. Membership was exclusively confined to white underground mineworkers in possession of a (dynamite) blasting certificate, issued by the Inspector of Mines. This certificate was regarded as the equivalent of a trades test.
In 1903 one of the most important figures in the early white labour movement in South Africa joined the TMA. Mary Fitzgerald, who was appointed as typist and stenographer, was a born rebel and became a mighty force in labour and trade union ranks. In later years, the appointment of officials and organisers in the TMU happened largely at her behest. She played a prominent role in the mine strikes of 1907 and 1913 and the general strike in 1914, as well as the Johannesburg tram strike in 1911.
The TMA’s members worked in dreadful conditions. There were numerous mining accidents; phthisis was rife, as a result of the world’s highest deposits of quartzite and silica, and the TMU struggled financially. Practically an entire generation of pioneering miners from abroad dies of phthisis in South Africa.
In spite of its modest membership, by 1904 the TMA had established itself on a more stable and viable base.
Tom Matthews was another prominent leader in the early South African labour movement. In 1908 he was the general secretary of the TMA. In 1913 the Transvaal Miners’ Association was renamed as the South African Mineworkers Union (MWU), and gained recognition as a trade union from the Chamber of Mines.
Two events that greatly affected the future of the trade union were the increase in Afrikaner membership and the militant strikes in 1907, 1913, 1914 and 1922. At the time of the 1922 strike Rasmus Pieter Erasmus was chairman of the Fordsburg branch of the MWU and a leading figure in the strike. He saw the struggle for a white South Africa as a national issue. In 1948 was elected vice-president and he subsequently served as president of the MWU from 1951 to 1954.
The 1922 rebellion had mixed results for the white working class as a whole and white mineworkers in particular. The wage scales of white mineworkers were cut by 25% - 50% and many of them were replaced by blacks. In the end, around 2 200 white mineworkers lost their jobs to black replacements. The strike also destroyed the bargaining power of trade unions in the mines and left many people in penury. Even the president of the MWU, WS Lewis, was forced out of his position as a member of the Benoni Town Council in January 1923.
The Department of Labour even considered prohibiting the union, unless it improved its administration.
The struggle for control of the MWU and its executive played out against a background of political and economic developments in the period 1929 to 1948. The heightened role of the state neutralised the militant white workers and the MWU became a pro-government trade union.
In the 1930s and 1940s MWU was part of the intense political leadership struggle between the National and United Parties. The mining population of the Witwatersrand was embroiled in fierce fighting in the general elections. The declaration of WW2 in September 1939 led to further political division between Afrikaners, most of whom turned against the United Party. The United Party managed to alienate the white working class during the war years.
Afrikaner support for trade unions increased and white workers returning from the front found that many jobs had been given to blacks. The MWU eventually became a political pawn of the purged National Party and organising of the Afrikaner mineworkers played an important role in the NP’s election success of 1948. In the 1930s and 1940s the political affiliations of Afrikaner mineworkers were split between at least three parties: the National Party, the Unite Party and the South African Labour Party.
By 1934 the MWU’s membership stood at a scant 3 500. In 1935 Charles Harris was elected as general secretary, but there were allegations of election irregularities. Many MWU members and mineworkers were unhappy with his authoritarian ways. Those who dared to criticise Harris lost their membership. Harris became a petty dictator and the union did little to improve conditions of service or to promote the interests of workers.
The Afrikaner League of Mineworkers was founded in 1936. The MWU was critical of the divisions caused in the ranks of mineworkers by the formation of the ALM, because of the harm it caused to the formation of a strong united front in trade unionism. To prove that the MWU had indeed managed to achieve something of lasting value for its members and that there was no justification for the existence of the ALM, management pointed out the employment benefits that it had negotiated on behalf of members. These included reduction of the working day from twelve to eight hours, increased phthisis payouts from £96 to £500 per incident, and the gradual increase of the starting wage from 10s per week to and average monthly wage of £64. The MWU saw the ALM as a threat. In order to neutralise the potential risk that a rival trade union would pose to the survival of the MWU, the general council resolved at its annual meeting in February 1937 to expel all members with ties to racist unions. This ushered in a new era in the battle between the MWU and the ALM, i.e. the closed shop principle. The primary objective of a trade union is, after all, to create a collective bargaining force to obtain better service conditions for its members.
The Gold Producers Committee recognised only the MWU for purposes of negotiation. The Department of Labour declined to register the ALM as a recognised trade union. On June 1st, 1937 the closed shop principle was replaced by the free access principle. Mineworkers were given the opportunity to join one of the recognised trade unions. The practical implication of this step for the white mineworkers was that they were compelled to join the MWU as sole recognised trade union. The ALM did not, however, throw in the towel and continued its activities.
The battle for control of the MWU took a dramatic turn when Charles Harris was shot and killed in his car by Jacob Moller Hugo on Saturday, June 15th, 1939 right opposite the MWU offices in the Trades Hall in Church Street, Johannesburg.
One of the factors that led to a thorough investigation of the affairs of the MWU was the election of a general secretary in the place of Charles Harris. As with all previous MWU election, the proceedings were characterised by large-scale lobbying and mutual accusations by the opposing factions. FH Kukkuk was elected as new general secretary in April 1940.
A commission of Inquiry found in 1941 that the MWU had been guilty of financial mismanagement, with Kukkuk and the accountant in a secret agreement. At a general council meeting in April 1941 Kukkuk was summarily dismissed a general secretary and replaced by Bertie Brodrick. Brodrick instituted measures to eliminate all irregularities and mismanagement, also in the future.
In politics, the Reunited National Party won the 1948 general election. The
two decades of National Party rule that followed were characterised by a period of rapid economic growth. In 1950, employment in the mining industry represented 18% of all jobs in the so-called “modern sector”, and goldmines employed 74% of all miners. 1956 saw the amendment of the Industrial Reconciliation Act, which gave preferential treatment to white workers in terms of job reservation.
In 1948, Daan Ellis was appointed as general secretary of the MWU and immediately launched a clean-up of the organisation’s administration. The Mineworker became a weekly newsletter.
Towards the end of the 1960s and early 1970s economic and political factors put the NP government under pressure. The seventies were characterised by a violent and militant struggle against the government by the black labour force. Strikes by black workers were commonplace.
In June 1997, government appointed the Commission of Inquiry into Labour Legislation (also known as the Wiehahn Commission). The Commission had to investigate labour legislation and the entire labour relations system in South Africa, and make recommendations to try and ensure future labour harmony.
The MWU stated in a memorandum to the Wiehahn Commission that it supported the policy of separate development and separate employment areas for white and black workers. The status quo as contained in the Mines and Industries Act should be maintained, since job reservation offered the only protection for minorities against black oppression. This statement by the MWU was the beginning of the trade union’s strong reaction to the findings and recommendations of the Wiehahn Commission.
Notable recommendation included the registration of black trade unions and the abolition of statutory job reservation. The MWU, having for so long enjoyed government protection, was quite unprepared for socio-economic reform and black advancement, and regarded such steps as a direct threat to its position.
In the period 1979 to 1981 labour reform gained important momentum. Political and economic factors brought immense pressure to bear on the apartheid government. The NP was obliged to tackle radical legislative negotiations and reforms. The MWU could not escape these significant changes in the South African political, social and economic landscape. The trade union was forced to rethink, reformulate and redesign its vision, strategies and structures if it were to remain a relevant labour organisation.
Peet Ungerer was appointed new general secretary on October 1st, 1987. Ungerer favoured co-operation with other trade unions in order to ensure better protection for MWU members. He also believed that the MWU should not involve itself in party politics, since he regarded politics and trade unionism as irreconcilable. During the course of 1990 MWU implemented its strategy to achieve the ideal of one large white trade union (a “super white trade union”, as it was called).
By 1992 the MWU had 44 000 members, making it the country’s largest trade union for white workers. A new name was also envisaged, since the MWU had long not been confined to the mining industry, but it was decided not to undertake a name change at the time.
Issues such as affirmative action, cultural matters and the abolition of Afrikaans as official language compelled the MWU to come out as a champion for the interests of white workers. The trade union fought to preserve and promote the language and culture of its members, both in the workplace and in public life. When the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was convened after 1994, the MWU refused to testify on the grounds that it had not been guilty of economic sabotage through irresponsible strike action and violence.
In 1997 the first ever MWU president was elected from a non-mining background. Leon Viviers, an air conditioning technician and qualified electrician, succeeded Cor de Jager as president.
On July 11th, 1997, Flip Buys was appointed as general secretary of the MWU. His background, education and experience contributed to the modernisation of the trade union’s management. Buys did not see his position as a job, but rather as a calling. He pointed out that the MWU, in addition to being confronted with political change, also faced a crisis that would require drastic and thorough policy changes if it were to survive. The new labour dispensation saw new legislation like the Labour Relations Act, the Skills Act, the Employment Equity Act and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
Buys resolved that the MWU would not occupy itself with party politics, but this did not mean that the trade union would detach itself from the “broad national interests” of its members.
The MWU had to be transformed from a trade union to a labour movement, which included the implementation of more up to date systems. To this end the trade union developed a bilingual website, distributed an electronic weekly newsletter called Soldeer to its members and developed a comprehensive financial services group.
In 2001 a medical services company and brokerage called Solmark (currently Solidarity Healthcare) was established to provide affordable quality health care for MWU members and their families.
Netmark, a labour brokerage and personnel agency, was founded in May 1999 as part of MWU’s job creation network. By 2001 Netmark had found employment for 1 600 people. This role has now been assumed by Express Personnel.
A training college, Sol-Tech, was established in 2006 as part of the trade union’s contribution to the prevention of skills shortages in South Africa. Despite having a reputation for reactionary conservatism, the MWU has managed since the late nineties to adjust systematically to the changing political and economic circumstances and demands of our times.
On February 27th, 2001, five trade unions amalgamated to form the larger MWU-Solidarity. These trade unions were the MWU, the Iron, Steel and Related Industries Union (SAWU), Denel Union, The Transporters Union and the Forestry and Plantation Management Union.
At the beginning of 2001 it was decided to move the MWU-Solidarity head office to Centurion, after thirty years in Braamfontein.
To signify a complete break with the mining only association that was still implied in its name, the trade union decided in September 2001 to rename itself Solidarity.
By 2002, Solidarity had indeed undergone a complete transformation into an entirely redesigned, dynamic labour movement with a federal character. By that tine Solidarity could already rely on an estimated annual income of R50 million. The trade union was fully equipped to face the challenges and demands confronting organised labour in the new millennium. In 2002, one hundreds years after the founding of the TMA, Solidarity could justifiably claim to be not only the largest and oldest independent trade union in our country. But also the largest single trade union for skilled and highly skilled workers.
The liquidation of the DRD mine in Stilfontein in 2005 left 6 513 workers destitute. Solidarity, through its Helping Hand Fund, launched an aid action with a donation of R100 000 to approximately 3 000 families and individual mineworkers of all races.
At the end of 2005 Solidarity purchased its own head office building in DF Malan Drive, Centurion. The union has been a member of the trade union confederation Consawu (Confederation of South African Workers Unions) since 2006.
Membership growth continues and currently stands at between 130 000 and 140 000.
Sources:
VISSER, WP. 2002. Van MWU tot Solidariteit – ʼn Politieke en ekonomiese geskiedenis van die Mynwerkersunie, 1902 tot 2002.
VISSER, WP. From MWU to Solidarity – A trade union reinventing itself. (South African Journal Labour Relations, Vol.30, No.2, 2006, pp.19-41.)
© 2005 - 2009. Solidarity. Allrights reserved.
|
[Home] [Who are We] [Management] [Benefits] [Join us now!] [My info] [Contact Us] [Search] |
Disclaimer | Terms & Conditions
