Trade unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), were amongst the primary targets of the detentions carried out during the first weeks of the State of Emergency.
Between 12 June, when the emergency was declared, and mid-July 269 elected union leaders and officials were known to have been detained, representing a tenth of known detainees. These figures do not include mass detentions of unionists during shopfloor protests at the State of Emergency which brought the total number of trade unionists detained by mid-July to over 2,600, according to the Labour Monitoring Group. (Star 8.7.86)
The scale of the detentions represented a marked increase in repression of the trade union movement. During the first five months of the State of Emergency imposed in July 1985 an average of 24 unionists were detained each month, just over two per cent of all those detained. Even these figures represented an escalation of repression against unions when compared to the period before the 1985 emergency. (FOCUS 65 p.12; WM 14.3.85)
More than 80 per cent of unions affected were in COSATU, in particular its larger industrially based affiliates. A fifth of those known to be detained were from the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU) and over a tenth from the Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union of SA (CCAWUSA). The detentions continue a trend of action against unions which have moved beyond the shop floor and become involved in broader political campaigns, particularly in the second half of 1984 and later. This trend was accentuated with the formation in November 1985 of COSATU, which committed itself to active participation in the wider liberation struggle. COSATU was the driving force behind the successful nationwide stay-away on May Day when over a million and a half workers stayed away from work – the largest response of its kind ever. (FOCUS 65 p.12; Star 1.7.86)
During the previous State of Emergency the targets of detention were leading union organisers and individual shop stewards involved in local community struggles. Repression during the current emergency has been much more systematic. In several areas of the country entire shop steward structures have been held. In Brits, Transvaal, at least 14 shop stewards and union members have been detained. In Empangeni, Northern Natal, 18 shop stewards from COSATU, its affiliates and regional structures have been detained. Similar sweeping action occurred in Harrismith, Natal, Howick, Natal, (directed against strikers at the BTR Sarmcol plant), Kimberley (where the NUM was the main target) and Cape Town (where the Clothing Workers Union (CLOWU) was particularly affected). In some of these areas key worker struggles have been fought during the last three years, notably the dispute over recognition of MAWU at BTR Sarmcol in Howick and the Empangeni bus boycott. At Brits there has been an ongoing struggle against removals.
RESPONSE BY WORKERS
The detentions provoked strong shop floor responses. Between 16,000 and 20,000 workers were involved in strikes protesting at the detentions, initially in the retail sector, in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area and the Orange Free State. (Star 30.6.86; CT 3.7.86; MS 11.7.86)
Industrial action spread to the mining sector in the second week of July. Up to 16,000 miners were involved in go-slows and stoppages at diamond, coal and gold mines. The NUM also called for a boycott of concession stores and liquor outlets owned by the mining companies. Strikes spread to the Toyota Car plant near Durban and Mercedes Benz near East London. (Star 3.7.86; FT 9/11.7.86; Star 10.7.86)
Meeting in secret in the first week of July, the COSATU executive issued an ultimatum for the release of detainees, failing which it would organise a day of shop floor action. On 14 July workers took action in factories across the country. In the Eastern Cape there was an almost total stay-away. Restrictions on the media and the disruption of channels of communication through repression have made it difficult to gauge the extent and nature of actions elsewhere. (FT 15.7.86)
In the face of strikes, imminent legal action by unions and pressure by employers the authorities exempted trade unions from regulations prohibiting 35 organisations from holding meetings in Johannesburg and Roodepoort magisterial districts. (GN 9.7.86; Star 10.7.86)
