Cast in a racial mould : labour process and trade unionism in the foundries

Abstract

An examination of labour resistance in South Africa's metal industry, revealing how racial dynamics and worker organization transformed industrial relations between 1976-1989. First published by Ravan Press in 1985, Cast in a Racial Mould was a pioneering book. It is now republished by Wits University Press with a new foreword by Michael Burawoy and with support from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Entering what Marx called 'the hidden abode' of capitalism 'the labour process' this book analyzes the nature of work and worker resistance in the metal industry which lies at the core of South Africa's manufacturing industry. In an introductory chapter Webster points out that most studies of the labour process have neglected worker resistance. He challenges Braverman's depiction of mass production as a juggernaut which inherently imposes progressively tighter controls on workers, and points to two forms of worker resistance which have been important in the history of South Africa's foundries

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