South Africa & Argentina

Below is a short paper I wrote about S. Africa and Argentina.... it is really brief.... per the assignment. Also, for some reason, none of my endnotes appeared.... I don't understand why. The end notes are still listed at the end, but without their respective numbers....
I'd be happy to email anyone interested in reading the proper article

On the eve of the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, COSATU called a general strike. Protesting the ANC’s plans for privatizing state assets (meaning both a loss of jobs and services for the poor), the timing of the strike was symbolic. The fight boiled down to what kind of post-apartheid South Africa was being built and how South Africa was “to engage with the process of globalization.”

In December of the same year, following a string of general strikes, the whole of Argentina rose up to say “¡Que se vayan todos!” (Throw them all out!). They weren’t only talking about politicians; they were talking about the entire economic model. After five presidents in less than three weeks, Argentina emerged from their crisis with a newfound outlook on their place in the global economy.

These nation specific examples of resistance are symptomatic of a global trend. To be clear, the “globalisation” being resisted is not synonymous with the advances in technology, the notion of a shrinking world and the blurring of cultures. When we talk about resistance to globalisation, we are talking about economics and a specific set of principles.

Challenging globalisation means struggling against modern-day global capitalism and its neo-liberal economic dogma. In its unquenchable thirst for global hegemony, it strives to open new markets by privatizing the ground on which we walk, the air we breathe and the water we drink. It recognizes no international borders and usurps prior ideas of the nation-state. Evidenced by an increase in the gap between the rich and the poor, the slashing of state budgets (and responsibilities), and an explosion of the informalisation of work, we should recognize this for what it is – an attack on the world’s poor.

The last point regarding the informalisation of work has been a massive challenge for trade unions – one that threatens to make us irrelevant. Union power is based on being able to organize and mobilize workers in the formal economy. Yet if the majority of the working class now finds themselves marginalized to the peripheral informal economy, where does the future of union power lie? What have unions done to meet this challenge? In both South Africa and Argentina, we can see a variety of tactics, as the workers in these countries struggle to find their footing in this “newly” globalised world.

South Africa
The trade union movement in South Africa has been wrapped up in a political alliance with the ANC and the SACP since the fall of apartheid. With the birth of so-called democracy, South Africa’s doors swung open to a new breed of capitalist development, while many on the left watched their hopes for revolutionary change dwindle into the neo-liberal market machine.

The strength of COSATU has been able to keep the government from completely embracing the doctrines of globalisation, yet elements of Keynesian economic theory are disappearing as fast as the formal economy. Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU’s general secretary “rejects the allegation that it represents a new ‘labour aristocracy’ of core workers” maintaining that their policy proposals are based on “‘…workers and the poor as a whole, rather than considering only its members.’” In a telling statement to the press, Vavi admits that “‘…if we don’t get better coordination and solidarity between permanent workers and casual workers and the unemployment, we are doomed.’” Unfortunately, rather than engage directly with the growing informal economy, COSUTA has chosen to use their political leverage to influence policy at a governmental level (even if it is at times on behalf of informal workers).

Argentina
“In the mid-1990s…the IMF was still holding up Argentina as a miracle of economic growth”. The ruling Peronist parties had continued the practice of privatization and market liberalisation that began in the 1970s under right-wing military dictatorships. The CGT , Argentina’s largest and most dominant trade union central, has traditionally been tied to these parties despite their modern acceptance of neo-liberalism and privatization. Coupled with typical cronyism and corruption, the CGT was either unable or unwilling to challenge this. By the early 1990s, the largest public sector unions had seen enough of their jobs disappear, and broke away to form the CTA. This new federation would be founded on principles of democracy and social movement unionism, & rising to meet the challenges of informalisation in new and creative ways. For example, in a very unconventional move, unemployed workers can join the CTA directly, allowing the CTA to engage directly with the informal economy.

In December of 2001, Argentina’s economy came to a grinding halt, as the political and economic institutions of the country collapsed into a sea of protesting citizens. The growing informal economy now exploded to be a majority of the population. In the years since, a host of organisations born as seeds during the crisis have emerged as social movements for the working class, arguably doing more to organize the working class than either the CGT or the CTA.

The Challenge
As the nature of work has changed, unions have been slow to adapt to these challenges. In South Africa, there is a clear recognition of this problem within COSATU, yet there has been little action. And while the CTA in Argentina has taken some very concrete steps, such as opening up their membership to unemployed workers, their success has been limited by a lack of vision.

It is often difficult to discern whether unions view the informal sector as a threat or as a potential ally. While the informalisation of work is a clear threat to the formal sector and therefore a threat to the traditional base of organised labour, this threat does not come from the informal worker, but from the system itself. We must be careful not to transfer that fear unto informal workers themselves. Unions have remained confined to the formal sector, as they’ve watched their power diminish, and perhaps worst of all, they seem to have created an “elite” class of formal workers. Consequently, the only real challenge being mounted is from the formal sector on behalf of informal workers. Real change comes from below coupled with solidarity and assistance from the outside. Therefore, the fate of informal workers can and will only be changed by informal workers fighting back.

There is a separate challenge within this that I have yet to touch on. Historically, in addition to improving the livelihood of the working class, unions have been a vehicle for education and class-consciousness, and arguably a method for revolutionary change. There is something unique about the relationship between a boss and his workers in a factory. On the shop floor, ideas of struggle, class, hierarchy and power are all played out like a Shakespearean drama for workers to see. Be it a contract fight, a simple grievance, or a prolonged strike – workers’ education and conceptions of class are born in this theatre. Now that the setting for our drama has shifted, we must ask ourselves how unions can maintain their “revolutionary potential” in this new sphere.

Is the goal of organizing any group of workers simply to improve their standing and buying power, carving out a larger percentage of the surplus value created without challenging capitalism itself? Trotsky put it another way, “Under these conditions trade unions can either transform themselves into revolutionary organizations or become lieutenants of capital in the intensified exploitation of the workers.”

If the answer is the second, we must not only organize in the informal sector for the sake of organizing and union density, but we must develop models that build power while installing a sense of class-consciousness. A union is a collection of workers acting together. Workers can and must mean more than formal workers. And as we toss out our old methods of organisation and tactics rooted in the framework of the expired ‘fordist’ model, let us ask ourselves, how much good did these old models do us anyway?



End Notes:

Confederation of South African Trade Unions
African National Congress
Gevisser, Mark 2001‘The COSATU Strike’, The Nation, 30 August, [online] viewed 14 October 2007, .
Jordan, John & Whitney, J. 2003 Que Se Vayan Todos: Argentina’s Popular Rebellion – An Eyewitness Account of the Financial Meltdown And Ongoing Grassroots Rebellion Kersplebedeb, Montreal
Held, D & McGrew, A. 2003 ‘The Great Globalization Debate: An Introduction’ in The Global Transformations Reader, 2nd edn, eds. D. Held & A. McGrew, Polity Press, London. (pp 3-4)
Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. 2007 (eds) Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? (draft manuscript) (pp 181, endnote 1)
Wade, Martin & Wolf, M. 2003 ‘Are Global Poverty and Inequality Getting Worse?’ in The Global Transformations Reader, 2nd edn, eds. D. Held & A. McGrew, Polity Press, London. (pp 440-446)
Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. 2007 (eds) Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? (draft manuscript) (p 7)
Pillay, D. 2006 COSATU, ‘Alliances and Working Class Politics’ in S. Buhlungu (ed) Trade Unions and Democracy: COSATU Workers’ Political Attitudes in South Africa, HSRC Press, Pretoria (pp 167-198)
Pillay, D. 2007 ‘Chapter 3 – Globalisation and the informalisation of labour: the case of South Africa’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (pp 32-34)
Pillay, D. 2007 ‘Chapter 3 – Globalisation and the informalisation of labour: the case of South Africa’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (p 36)
Vavi, Z. (2005) Addresss to the COSATU Conference Celebrating Ten Years of Democracy and Freedom, Johannesburg South Africa (5 March) as quoted in Pillay, D. 2007 ‘Chapter 3 – Globalisation and the informalisation of labour: the case of South Africa’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (p 37)
Sunday Times (24/9/06) as quoted in: Pillay, D. 2007 ‘Chapter 3 – Globalisation and the informalisation of labour: the case of South Africa’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (p 38)
One very significant exception to this would be the SEWU (Self-Employed Woman’s Association). While now defunct, for a brief period of time this “trade union” of self-employed woman, did have a membership of nearly 5000 members. This organizing took place outside of the formal sector and outside of COSATU. There are hopes to revive the organization with COSATU now. It pains me to point out though, that despite the excitement of organizing in the informal sector, SEWU offers a pure ‘economism’ form of unionism for these workers. Demands see to be limited to economic issues. (Pillay 2007)
Klein, N. 2003, ‘Out of the Ordinary’, The Guardian, 25 Jan. [online] viewed 16 October 2007, .
Confederación General del Trabajo – The General Confederation of Labour
Rauber, I. 2007 ‘Chapter 6 – The globalisation of capital and its impact on the world of formal and informal work: Challenges for and responses from Argentine unions’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (p 64)
Central de Trabajadores Argentinos – The Argentine Workers Federation
Social movement unionism: as defined by Voss & Sherman’s characterization of ‘social movements’
Voss, K. & Sherman, R. 2000 ‘Breaking the Iron Law of Oligarchy: Union revitalization in the American labor movement’ American Journal of Sociology, 106 (2)
Camarero, H., Pozzi, P., & Schneider, A. 1998, ‘Unrest and Repression in Argentina’, New Politics, vol. 7, no. 1 [online] viewed 16 October 2007, .
Rauber, I. 2007 ‘Chapter 6 – The globalisation of capital and its impact on the world of formal and informal work: Challenges for and responses from Argentine unions’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (pp 59-67)
Rauber, I. 2007 ‘Chapter 6 – The globalisation of capital and its impact on the world of formal and informal work: Challenges for and responses from Argentine unions’ in Labour and the Challenges of Globalisation: What prospects for Transnational Solidarity? eds. Bieler, A., Londberg, I., & Pillay, D. (draft manuscript) (pp 59-67)
Isabel Rauber portrays the CTA as a new hope for change in Argentina. Unfortunately, I do not share her optimism. Many of the changes, such as the ability of unemployed workers to affiliate directly with the federation look better on paper than in practice. Rather, I would characterize the CTA as a group of predominantly public sector unions challenging privatization based on their own self-preservation (as public sector workers, privatization hits them the hardest). Their informal workers program is not entirely insignificant, however, it lacks any sort of revolutionary vision. When compared to the CGT, the CTA does appear to be a breath of fresh air, but we must remember how low the bar has fallen.
I would put ‘his/her’ here, however the sad truth is it is usually a ‘he’, but that’s a different paper….
As quoted in:
Clarke, T. & Clements, L. 1977, Trade Unions under Capitalism. Fontana/Collins, Glasgow (p 29)