An introduction to the Federation of South African Trade Unions

Title: An introduction to the Federation of South African Trade Unions
Creator: FOSATU
Subject: FOSATU
Date Issued: June 1983
Date: June 1983
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/138646
Identifier: vital:37659
Description: The formation of FOSATU is part of a long history of struggle to organise the Black workers of South Africa into independent, non-racial trade unions. Black worker resistance in South Africa is as old as the introduction of wage labour but the first effective recorded trade union organising black workers was started in 1917 to be followed by the more famous ICU (Industrial and Commercial Workers Union) in 1919. Ever since then unions have fought against State and employer hostility to the unionisation of black workers. Other federations rose and fell. The 1950's marked a great rise in political and worker organisation with the emergence of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) as part of the Congress Alliance. Severe State repression led to the 1960's being a low point of worker organisation. However, growing economic problems of inflation, unemployment and poverty plus a very much larger industrial working class led to an upsurge of worker militancy in the early 1970's. This gave rise to new union organisation in Natal, Transvaal and Port Elizabeth. By 1974 new coordinating bodies had emerged in Natal and the Transvaal. The need for greater unity was clear in the face of hostility from the State, employers and established unions - both the racist white unions and those in the Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA).
Format: 10 pages
Format: pdf
Publisher: Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU)
Language: English
Rights: Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU)
Rights: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher

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