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I had the privilege of making a flying visit to South Africa in May, at the suggestion of Uni-MEI General Secretary Jim Wilson. BECTU’s long involvement in the struggle against apartheid gives us an enduring interest in South Africa. And we also have a practical industrial interest because it is a popular destination for UK-financed commercials and feature films, and because an organising drive is now under way across the country’s creative industries.



Some background. South Africa’s ANC Government is powerfully linked to the main trade union confederation COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions). Organised workers in industries such as mining played a key role in overthrowing apartheid and the Government supports trade unions and has created a favourable legal framework for them. But there is still a lot of hard work to be done in some industries to establish a union presence and win employer recognition.



The creative industries, including broadcasting, film, and theatre, are a good example. There are some areas where unions have a history of effective organisation: among staff in the main public service broadcaster SABC; in some theatres such as the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town; and among musicians who have been organised for many years. But this still leaves major gaps, not least among freelance technicians in film and TV who until recently had no union to represent them.



That has now changed. In the autumn of 2007 COSATU sponsored the formation of the Creative Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), aiming to bring together musicians, actors, technicians and others across a broad front. Given their past record of successful organisation, musicians figure prominently: CWUSA’s General Secretary Oupa Lebogo made his name as a jazz saxophonist. Well-known actors are also associated with the union including the popular veteran Boikie Mohlamme, and Mangaliso Ngema, a star from the country’s favourite soap opera Generations. This sort of celebrity support helps give CWUSA a valuable public profile.



Another vital source of support is international. The Finnish media union TEME and the Labour Solidarity Centre SASK, together with Uni-MEI, have helped fund an organising post specifically to build up membership among technicians.



Jim and I spent most of our visit with the technicians’ organiser, Tom Mokgolobetse, including a day in Johannesburg with his steering committee exchanging views and experiences on rogue employers, working hours, health and safety, skills and training, and insurance. This led to a positive meeting with a leading member of the Independent Producers Organisation – the South African equivalent of PACT – about the prospects for recognition and a formal collective agreement.



In Cape Town we met with Sarel Daniels, CWUSA’s local rep and steward at the Artscape Theatre, and with a number of technicians active in commercials and feature film production. Until now they have relied on their crewing agencies to represent them – a situation fraught with contradictions, which has no real equivalent in the UK.



Tom and his colleagues face a daunting challenge. Apartheid has gone, but its poisonous legacy endures. Much of the majority black population is still desperately poor and unemployment is high – which partly explains, but does not justify, the recent xenophobic violence against immigrants from Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. There are also significant regional tensions: ethnically and politically, Johannesburg is very different from Cape Town. Building a union which enjoys genuine grassroots support across these different environments will not be easy – but the signs are that CWUSA will give it a pretty good try.



MARTIN SPENCE