Lydia: Anthem to the Unity of Women

Dr Kally Forrest, the author of Metal that Will not Bend – a history of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa(NUMSA) – is a former trade unionist and editor of the South African Labour Bulletin. Now she has written a remarkablebiography Lydia: Anthem to the Unity of Women

Metal that will not bend ::National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa 1980-1995 /

In the 1980s there was a surge of trade union power in South Africa. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) was prominent and innovative in this assertion of muscle.Metal that does not Bend traces Numsa's accumulation, from a few small unions in a handful of factories to the staging of national strikes involving thousands of workers in auto and engineering. It examines how the union used its influence in macroeconomic and political arenas. Numsa was Cosatu's most radical socialist affiliate, and the book explores its attempts to implement its vision. Historians have framed apartheid's downfall as resulting from the activities of the exiled liberation movement, global anti-apartheid boycott strategies and internal township insurrection. This book reasserts the critical role of the internal labour movement

The Role of the ILO during and after Apartheid

The International Labour Organization (ILO) at times played an important role in challenging race discrimination in the workplace, both as apartheid legislation intensified and in the new democratic South Africa. The controversy around forced labor, and the participation of independent African countries in the ILO, ultimately led to the withdrawal of South Africa. Subsequently, ILO Conventions and the 1964 Declaration influenced the government to establish the 1978 Wiehahn Commission to examine industrial relations. Its recommendations led to extensive unionization. The ILO was initially reluctant to recognize the independent unions but subsequently worker organizational power led to its support. Later, it contributed to creating a post-apartheid workplace order. However, despite its intention to build an inclusive industrial relations system, many workers remain excluded from the regulatory framework and the labor movement. The ILO’s rigid binary between direct coercion on the one hand and the voluntary recruitment of workers on the other does not capture the continuity from slavery, indentured labor, and the migrant labor system through to use of casual labor in contemporary South Africa. The ILO seems more comfortable with traditional unions and clear-cut employer-employee relationships. </jats:p

Negociaciones de los trabajadores en la economía informal

Negotiations are a valuable and important tool for increasing the voice of workers in the informal economy. This paper provides empirical evidence from Africa, Asia and the Americas on negotiations and collective bargaining by workers in the informal economy. These practices demonstrate that negotiations involving workers in the informal economy, including those that culminate in collective agreements, are key to ensuring the fair distribution of the fruits of economic progress and labour protection to workers in many countries. They are also an important tool for reducing informalization trends. The paper also shows the multiple challenges workers in the informal economy are facing when organi

Les négociations des travailleurs de l'économie informelle

Negotiations are a valuable and important tool for increasing the voice of workers in the informal economy. This paper provides empirical evidence from Africa, Asia and the Americas on negotiations and collective bargaining by workers in the informal economy. These practices demonstrate that negotiations involving workers in the informal economy, including those that culminate in collective agreements, are key to ensuring the fair distribution of the fruits of economic progress and labour protection to workers in many countries. They are also an important tool for reducing informalization trends. The paper also shows the multiple challenges workers in the informal economy are facing when organizing and entering into negotiations and outlines some possible pathways on how these can be reduced

Negotiations by workers in the informal economy

Negotiations are a valuable and important tool for increasing the voice of workers in the informal economy. This paper provides empirical evidence from Africa, Asia and the Americas on negotiations and collective bargaining by workers in the informal economy. These practices demonstrate that negotiations involving workers in the informal economy, including those that culminate in collective agreements, are key to ensuring the fair distribution of the fruits of economic progress and labour protection to workers in many countries. They are also an important tool for reducing informalization trends. The paper also shows the multiple challenges workers in the informal economy are facing when organizing and entering into negotiations and outlines some possible pathways on how these can be reduced