Cosatu puts workers aside for politicking

WORKERS’ INTERESTS IGNORED With politics in the spotlight, real issues affecting the rank-and-file members are set aside.

Tripartite alliance issues dominate at last week’s congress.

Talks about reconfiguring the tripartite alliance took priority over worker issues at last week’s Cosatu congress, amid an economy that is shedding jobs and seeing workers join the unemployed. In its preoccupation with its alliance partner relationships, Cosatu has exposed itself to further weakening.

More so than usual, politics took centre stage at the expense of debating practical policy issues that will serve members.

In the process, Cosatu is becoming the weakest link in the alliance. It has abandoned its strong position of speaking for the exploited working class and entered politics, where the terrain shifts depending on who’s in charge. It’s now wondering “why are they not adopting any of our policy proposals?” and feeling bewildered that its attempts aren’t quite working.

The favoured approach of ingraining the federation in the skirmish for access to and influence among the ANC elite has neither benefitted the ordinary union member nor defeated capitalism.

What’s the rationale behind Cosatu remaining in the alliance today?

Perhaps more than the previous ones, the 13th congress focused on dealing with internal challenges and considering its role in the alliance. The former was encouraging, indicative of an organisation that is taking steps towards fixing weaknesses. The latter indicates that politics are regarded as far more important. Waiting to see what the ANC will do The idea that a federation facing serious organisational challenges will look to the ANC as it reconfigures the alliance is baffling, and at the same time not.

Surely it should be the other way around, where Cosatu looks at itself and reconfigures its own position within the alliance? This idea of waiting to see what the ANC will do about the alliance is both tragic and damaging to a federation that has always claimed to be independent.

Whatever the outcome of this reconfigured alliance, the interests of workers will not take priority over national economic reality. Not if the ANC wants to continue being the governing party.

There appears to be a belief within Cosatu that being in the alliance serves workers, but this is a fallacy. There hasn’t been a key policy from the ANC that is aimed at better supporting Cosatu.

Politics hogs the spotlight, keeping attention away from issues affecting the rank-and-file member across industries, in the face of volatile work as the economy continues to slide deeper into recession.

Besides the one historic moment – Cosatu electing a woman president – there was hardly any forward-looking vision about the future of unions.

Cosatu acknowledged its weakened status, with its political report referring to “the phenomena of business unionism, the growing distance from the rank-andfile, the creation of networks of patronage and these becoming decisive in determining leadership outcomes at congresses”.

Its preoccupation with politics has proved to be its undoing. Perhaps it’s time for Cosatu to step out of the alliance.