[Toffs]. That is why we, as a union…]
1992 1992-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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Toffs]. That is why we, as a union, put forward the demand for a moratorium ... Our strike is supposed to threaten the bosses. It seems that with this approach we are more scared of our strike than they are....
"It is our members who are being teargassed by the police and threatened and even killed by Inkatha, risking their jobs and even their lives. More than 20,000 are on strike in this region alone. We therefore strongly believe that it must be those very members who must take any decision on a compromise."
In a general sense, we have seen in recent months a union strategy centered on the search for compromise with the bosses and on the working out of reorganization plans for specific industries. This is in line with the spirit of the CODESA negotiations, but above all it corresponds to the ideas in the union leaderships on the means to employ to overcome the crisis, revive production, and build a "post-apartheid" society.
This is essentially a neo-Keynesian conception based on the negotiation of a new distribution of income and the search for new ways of being internationally competitive. "Consensus" with the employers?
We could see the unions' policy at work ment's plan was to ensure a massive reentry of foreign investment through opening negotiations. On the basis of renewed "confidence," it also hoped that a lot of foreign financial aid would flow into social projects in the townships, calming popular expectations.
In fact, very little of all this has so far been seen. Worse still, the country has slid further into a recession made still worse by the drought that has struck some rural areas.
Bankruptcies rose by 37.7 percent in the first six months of 1992. An annual report from the Central Bank, dated Aug. 26, explains that the country may be into its longest recession since 1908. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has fallen for the third consecutive year-by 0.5 percent in 1991 and 2 or 2.5 percent this year. It is hard to attract foreign capital when South African firms themselves do not believe in investment.
The negotiations are thus going to restart in a new framework-which has been reshaped in a way unforeseen by the two main protagonists. The regime has seen its position weakened by the economic crisis, while the ANC must deal with considerable questioning in its own ranks and beyond.
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