The Cape Town Municipal Workers' Association (CTMWA) was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing local government workers in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The union was founded in 1928 to represent "coloured" workers, and adopted a conservative approach, registering with the government. In 1964, the union was taken over by young organisers, active in the

Non-European Unity Movement The Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) was a Trotskyist organisation formed in South Africa in 1943. It had links to the Workers Party of South Africa (WPSA), the first countrywide Trotskyist organisation, and was initially conceived as a broad ...

. They included long-term general secretary John Ernstzen. While they initially focused on limited, industrial, demands, by the 1970s the union was highly critical of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

and more politically active. It was also dominant in local government, representing 84% of unionised workers in Cape Town. In the 1980s, the union supported student school boycotts, and was active in opposition to municipal housing privatisation and rent increases. In 1985, it became a founding affiliate of the

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU or Cosatu) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union ...

, at which point it had 11,097 members. Two years later, it merged with the Municipal Workers' Union of South Africa and sections of other unions, to form the

South African Municipal Workers' Union The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) is the largest union in local government in South Africa. History The union was founded on 24 October 1987, when the Municipal Workers' Union of South Africa merged with the Cape Town Municipal ...

.{{cite book , last1=Musi , first1=Mojalefa , title=Evaluating IMATU and SAMWU policy responses to Igoli 2002 , date=2010 , publisher=University of the Witwatersrand , location=Johannesburg

References

Municipal workers' trade unions Trade unions established in 1928 Trade unions disestablished in 1987 Public sector trade unions in South Africa 1928 establishments in South Africa 1987 disestablishments in South Africa