Unions shrink; watch out for recruitment drives
There are at least 230,000 fewer union members in South Africa than there were at the beginning of the financial crisis and accompanying recession, if Business Report’s numbers add up. The paper polled union organisations and found they were rapidly moving to shore up their memberships by recruiting outside of their normal stomping grounds. Unions are also, surprise surprise, targeting labour brokers and others who supply casual labour because such non-employees don’t make for easy unionisation. The surprising number comes from Cosatu, which last month said it had grown by more than 125,000 members since 2006, and that nearly all its constituent unions had grown. Really? Well gosh, if you say so. A truth for one is a truth for all.
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