Alan RycroftUniversity of Cape TownAlan.Rycroft@uct.ac.za

Violence and dismissals in the strike

context

The context• 181 people killed in strike violence in SA in

the past 13 years.

• At least 313 people were injured

• More than 3 058 were arrested for public violence.

• 1 377 people arrested between 1 Jan 2009 and 31 July 2011

• 217 cases of public violence made it to court

• 9 people were convicted.

Sociological, economic and political factors

• Inequality in South Africa increased in the period 1995-2005

• Service delivery protests speak of poverty, frustration and conflict over scare resources

• A 'culture of violence‘’

The anatomy of one strikeFAWU obo Kapesi & 31 others v Premier

Foods Limited • Houses of non-strikers firebombed, ransacked• Cars and possessions set alight• A female employee, dragged from her home at

night, assaulted with pangas and sjamboks• A witness was shot & killed• Money collected to assassinate Director• Company’s main witness disappeared

Assumptions implicit in SA strike law

• An inseparable link between collective bargaining and the right to strike

• A strike must be orderly

• The strike must not involve misconduct

The failure of the ‘Golden Formula’

1. Refer a dispute the CCMA or BC for conciliation.

2. The CCMA or BC must issue a certificate that dispute remains unresolved, or a period of 30 days has elapsed.

3. At least 48 hours notice of the commencement of the strike must be given to the employer.

Success rate of CCMA

• CCMA conciliation - 57% success rate in interest disputes

• ie in 43% of mutual interest disputes the failure in conciliation allowed the parties to proceed to industrial action.

• Progress in s 150 intervention in strikes – cohort of trained conciliators available.

What the law offers

• Interdict

• Prosecution for contempt of court

• Damages

• Withdrawal of protection

• Prosecution for criminal offences

• Police or army control

The strike dynamic

• the strike as protest

• the strike as warfare

• the strike as stratagem

• the strike as group process

• the strike as organizational change

(Nicholson & Kelly (1980)

Psychological factors

frustration & acute deprivation

anger

aggression and violence

• There are three features of strikes which can be perceived in this way:

• the intransigent employer • the presence of police • the existence of non-strikers

The role of the police

The role of non-strikers & scabs

Mob theory – le Bon

• Authorisation • Routinisation • DehumanisationCourts in SA, since the 1990s, have

accepted conformity, obedience, group polarization, deindividuation, bystander apathy, and other psychological phenomena as extenuating factors

The power of the toyi-toyi

In the tradition of the anti-apartheid struggle

Criticism of mob theory

Reicher: ‘individuals do not lose identity in the crowd but rather shift from personal identity (what makes me as an individual distinctive from other individuals) to social identity (what makes my group distinctive compared to other groups)… they do not lose values and standards but rather shift to acting in terms of the values and standards associated with the relevant group’

Is there a different approach?

• A shift from positional to mutual gain negotiation

• Joint training in modern negotiation theory and practice.

• Use of an independent and trusted facilitator from the outset

• A proper analysis of the problem before moving on to seek and evaluate potential solutions. 

• Delaying the mandating process until after the problem

analysis stage. 

• Pre-negotiation meeting for problem analysis, issue identification, interest exploration and solution search

• The use of small task teams to promote lateral & creative thinking

• Encourage thinking about possible trade offs across issues

• A working document which ‘grows’ from the commencement of the negotiation into the final agreement at its conclusion - to record and reflect progress in the negotiations

• Strategies to counter bad faith negotiation and to curb strike related violence

The End?