The working-class history of
the Republic of South Africa

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The history of the Republic of South Africa in general

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

The South African Communist Party (SACP)

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU)

The history of mine labor in Anzania

The history of farm labor in Anzania

South Africa's Bill on Labour Relations

1 May 1995. The workers of South Africa celebrated the first year of the new democracy and the first May Day under a new government. The proposed Bill on Labour Relations is perhaps one important achievement of the workers because once it is passed, it will provide workers with rights and protection.

Worker Mass Action

Mayibuye, July 1995. Workers took to the streets to press home their demand for a worker-friendly Labour Relations Act. Negotiations between business and labour in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) had by the end of June not yet found a resolution to their differences.

S. African parliament hit by workers' protest

Agence France Presse. 10 June, 1996. Workers protest a decision to dock a day's pay for their participation in a strike held at the end of April in support of the COSATU's national one-day strike against lockouts being written into the new constitution, which was then being negotiated.

Labour Roars Some More

By Gumisai Mutume, IPS, 21 August 1997. South African unions engage in mass action over new labour legislation, the Basic Conditions of Employment (BCOE) bill -- scheduled to go next month before a parliamentary committee on labour -- igniting strike action throughout the country.

Single Mother Fights for Women in the Trades

By Sechaba ka'Nkosi, Mail and Guardian, 10 July 1998. A single mother's mission to ensure that the largely masculine metal industry respect its female employees. She became a crane driver after being employed as a cleaner. Today, Chiya is a health and safety representative at a Germiston company that once tried to frustrate her every attempt to tackle male supremacy.

August 19 strike will open offensive on Gear

Business Report, 6 August 1998. A 24-hour general strike in Mpumalanga is the opening shot in a challenge to the government's macro-economic policies. Because of the bitter battle over water privatisation in Nelspruit, there was also a degree of inevitability about Mpumalanga being the flashpoint.