Overview

Images of striking COSATU workers, singing, marching and toyi-toying are a familiar sight for most South Africans and external observers of the country's politics. Similarly, COSATU's feisty general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi has become a household name, commanding respect and admiration among millions and loathing and fear among his enemies and those who are on the receiving end of his fiery political oratory. But how much do we know about what COSATU workers think about their workplaces, their unions, politics and the economy? What influences COSATU members' decisions to vote for a particular political party? Why has COSATU women members' support for the ANC declined? Why do some union members think there may be good reasons to assault non-strikers and scabs during strikes? What do unionised workers think of service delivery and what role did they play in the recent spate of service delivery protests? These and many other questions are examined in this volume which is based on the fourth run of the COSATU Workers' Survey conducted a few months before the 2009 elections. Contrary to stereotypes reproduced in the media and other public platforms which portray trade union members as a herd led by all-powerful 'union bosses', A Contested Legacy deftly presents a picture of a multifaceted organisation whose members are steeped in the traditions of internal democracy, leadership accountability and mandated decision-making. But these traditions are not static. They are fiercely contested among different groups and categories of union members - women and men; migrant and urban workers; skilled and unskilled workers; blue collar and white collar and professional workers; permanent and part-time and casual workers. The contributors to COSATU's Contested Legacy are all eminently qualified researchers and scholars from diverse backgrounds who share a passion for rigorous analysis that takes labour seriously.

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Sakhela Buhlungu is professor of Sociology at the University of Pretoria. In 2011 till 2012 he was Ela Bhatt Visiting Professor in the International Centre for Development and Decent Work at the University of Kassel, Germany. He previously taught sociology at the University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was co-director of the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP). In the 1980s and early 1990s he worked in the unions and in labour-supporting organisations. He has published widely on a variety of subjects. His most recent publications include, A Paradox of Victory: COSATU and the democratic transformation in South Africa (UKZN Press, 2010) and Trade Unions and Party Politics: Labour Movements in Africa (edited with B. Beckman and L. Sachikonye) (HSRC Press, 2010). Malehoko Tshoaedi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of South Africa. She previously worked at the University of Johannesburg as a lecturer; and as a researcher in the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and Fafo (Institute for Social Research in South Africa). She has done research on labour movements and labour markets in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Mauritius. She has written and published widely on the Southern African labour movements and issues of gender and gender equity in the trade unions. Her recent publications include, (with H. Hlela) The Marginalisation of Women Unionists During South Africa's Democratic Transition , in Buhlungu, S. (ed.) Trade Unions and Democracy: Cosatu Workers' Political attitudes in South Africa. (HSRC Press, 2006); '(En)gendering the Transition in South Africa: The

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