The limits of transnational solidarity: the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Swaziland and Zimbabwean crises
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Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Wood, Geoffrey
Dibben, Pauline
Klerck, Gilton
Year published
2013
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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the main union federation in South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid. This paper evaluates COSATU's post-apartheid role in working for democracy elsewhere in Southern Africa through deepening transnational solidarity, focusing on its role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Although the federation successfully mobilised trade union members to oppose the contravention of human and labor rights, its ability to affect lasting change was limited by contradictory messages and actions by the South African government, the dualistic nature of institutional formation in these ...
View more >The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the main union federation in South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid. This paper evaluates COSATU's post-apartheid role in working for democracy elsewhere in Southern Africa through deepening transnational solidarity, focusing on its role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Although the federation successfully mobilised trade union members to oppose the contravention of human and labor rights, its ability to affect lasting change was limited by contradictory messages and actions by the South African government, the dualistic nature of institutional formation in these countries, strategic miscalculations and structural limitations on union power.
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View more >The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the main union federation in South Africa, was instrumental in ending apartheid. This paper evaluates COSATU's post-apartheid role in working for democracy elsewhere in Southern Africa through deepening transnational solidarity, focusing on its role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Although the federation successfully mobilised trade union members to oppose the contravention of human and labor rights, its ability to affect lasting change was limited by contradictory messages and actions by the South African government, the dualistic nature of institutional formation in these countries, strategic miscalculations and structural limitations on union power.
View less >
Journal Title
Labor History
Volume
54
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Taylor & Francis (Routledge). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Labor History on 30 Oct 2013, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/0023656X.2013.849925
Subject
Industrial and employee relations
Historical studies
History and philosophy of specific fields