What Has Happened to Organized Labor in Southern Africa

Bibliographic Data

ID11212388
AuthorsM Anne Pitcher (0000-0002-2182-1460, Colgate University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume72
Issue1
Pages134-160
Publication date2007-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Labor and Working-Class History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0147-5479 • E-ISSN: 1471-6445
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0147547907000579
OpenAlexW2036587454
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited34

Why have labor movements in Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa increasingly been marginalized from the economic debates that are taking place in their countries, even though they have supported ruling parties? Policy reforms such as trade liberalization, privatization, and revisions to labor legislation in all three countries partially account for the loss of power by organized labor as many scholars have claimed. Yet, these policy “adjustments” have also interacted with long-run, structural changes in production, distribution, and trade of goods as well as with processes of democratization to undermine the position of trade unions across much of southern Africa. The article explores this puzzle by first examining the different historical trajectories of organized labor in Mozambique, Zambia, and South Africa. It then analyzes how policy reforms, global restructuring, and democracy had similar consequences across all three cases; collectively, they produced declines in trade-union membership and weakened the influence of organized labor. Although trade unions face a number of daunting challenges, the conclusion traces emerging opportunities for labor to recover from its current malaise

Commercial policy · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Free trade · International economics · Labor relations · Labour economics · Legislation · Liberalization · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · Trade union · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Labor Movements and Unions

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