The Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA) was a

national trade union federation A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

in South Africa.

History

The council was founded in October 1954 by 61 unions which split from the

South African Trades and Labour Council The South African Trades and Labour Council (SAT&LC) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was founded in 1930, when the South African Trades Union Council merged with the Cape Federation of Labour Unions. ...

. They decided that only registered unions would be permitted to affiliate. Because unions representing black workers were not permitted to register, this meant they were excluded from the council. A few retained links with TUCSA affiliates, and established the parallel Federation of Free African Trade Unions of South Africa. The federation was initially named the South African Trades Union Council. In 1957, it affiliated to the new South African Confederation of Labour, which aimed to bring together all registered unions in the country, but it withdrew the following year, finding many of the other unions were explicitly white nationalist. The experience led it to change its name to the "Trade Union Council of South Africa", to avoid any similarity of names with the confederation it had left. In 1962, TUCSA changed its statues to allow "black unions" to affiliate, but in 1965 the

Amalgamated Engineering Union of South Africa The Amalgamated Engineering Union of South Africa (AEU) was a trade union representing white manufacturing workers in South Africa. The British Amalgamated Society of Engineers established its first branch in South Africa in 1886, and in 1893 its ...

(AEU) disaffiliated in protest at this. Two years later, the

South African Typographical Union The South African Typographical Union (SATU) is a trade union representing workers in the printing and media industries in South Africa. The union was founded on 5 January 1898 by six local unions, including the Durban Typographical Society. Man ...

proposed splitting the council into two sections, one with registered unions only, and one with the more inclusive policy. Instead, the thirteen black unions decided to disaffiliate, in order to prevent a split. Many of the pro-government

craft union Craft unionism refers to a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the s ...

s then followed the AEU in resigning, and faced with collapse, in 1969, TUCSA decided to once again restrict its membership to registered unions. This led some craft unions to reaffiliate. With TUCSA's African affairs section closed, some of its officials formed the Urban Training Project, to encourage black workers to form new unions. From 1973, TUCSA recommended that its affiliates form parallel unions to represent black workers, but their weak position led independent black unions to argue that the parallel unions were simply puppets controlled by the registered unions, the registered unions hoping to preserve wage differentials and reduce militancy and political activism among black workers. In 1974, TUCSA once again began admitting black unions, and some unions which had emerged from the Urban Training Project did join. From 1979, unions were legally permitted to represent all workers, and several TUCSA affiliates began to do so. In 1982, the council refused to join a general strike following the murder of

Neil Aggett Neil Aggett (6 October 1953 – 5 February 1982) was a doctor and trade union organiser who was killed, while in detention, by the Security Branch of the Apartheid South African Police Service after being held for 70 days without trial. Life a ...

, and this led many unions to disaffiliate. In December 1986, with 32 affiliates remaining but only 170,000 members, the council decided to dissolve.

Affiliates

In 1982, the following unions were affiliated:

General Secretaries

:1954:

Dulcie Hartwell Dulcie Marie Hartwell (18 October 1915 – 30 October 2012) was a South Africa trade union leader. Born in Johannesburg, Hartwell's mother died when Dulcie was three years old. The family then struggled for money, and Hartwell had to leave sc ...

{{cite web , title=TRADE UNION COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA, PART 2, 1955-1985 , url=http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/?inventory/U/collections&c=AH1426/R/8185 , website=Historical Papers Research Archive , publisher=University of the Witwatersrand , access-date=21 March 2021 :1962: Terence O'Donoghue :1965: Arthur Grobbelaar :1985: ''Position vacant''

References

National trade union centres of South Africa Trade unions established in 1954 Trade unions disestablished in 1986