Abstract
We examine the attempt in a democratic South Africa to shift from an adversarial class struggle approach (with heavy racial overtones) toward a more participatory and cooperative industrial relations system based on workplace forums. We argue that the experiment failed because this attempt at institutional transfer from the successful system of German co-determination did not take sufficient account of the specific social and economic context of South Africa’s distinct industrial relations system. The majority of organized workers in South Africa have over the past three decades opted for engagement with employers on the basis of a union agenda and union independence in order to transform and democratize the workplace. At the center of this strategy has been the shop steward as the instrument for worker participation at plant level. However, our ethnographic account of participation at plant level suggests that workers feel disempowered and unable to significantly shape decision-making.
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Notes
- 1.
Department of Labour. Workplace Forums. http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-workplace-forums, date accessed 19 September 2014.
- 2.
Now known as the Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP) at the University of the Witwatersrand.
- 3.
We would like to thank Christopher Morris, a Chris Hani Institute research intern for conducting the telephonic survey in September 2014.
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Webster, E., Masondo, T., Bischoff, C. (2019). Workers’ Participation at Plant Level: The South African Case. In: Berger, S., Pries, L., Wannöffel, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Workers’ Participation at Plant Level. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48192-4_28
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