A contested legacy: organisational and political challenges facing COSATU

Abstract

This chapter engages in an exposition that maps the theoretical field of union organization and action. Labour studies scholarship in South Africa has produced some of the best contributions to knowledge. However, there is scope for this scholarship to be more theoretically robust than it currently is. In particular, scholarly endeavours in the following areas of labour studies require attention: (1) power relations within labour organisations; (2) the mobilization of collective action; (3) the changing nature of trade unions; (4) the politics of social mobility; and (5) the political role of trade unions. The chapter provides a discussion of the different dimensions of the contestation of the legacy of Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The chapters in the book are intended to inform, provoke, debunk conventional wisdoms, and challenge others to see the contradictions, complexity, fluidity and contested nature of COSATU and the labour movement in general. Keywords:collective action; COSATU; labour organisations; power relations; social mobility; trade unions

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