Are you for or against worker unions?

[BCoetzer]

Are you for or against worker unions?

 

[My_King]

 

[thestaggy]

Unions very much do have a place, but they can be problematic.

South Africa being a prime example of the dark side of unions, where they actively harm the economy.

 

[Goosfrabba]

While I understand the value that unions can have, the parasites that are SADTU always show the negative side of unions

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

One industry that sorely needs a union is the IT industry

 

[My_King]

One industry that sorely needs a union is the IT industry

Don't give me ideas. I welcome this if I could be 1 of da leadas and sit on my KFC fat ass as well and get paid.

 

[Nom Chompsky]

Unions do have a place, however, the way that they are used in SA is very problematic. Germany seems to have sorted how to have strong unions without completely fscking up the economy.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

unions do work, especially if the industry has a high turnover of staff, difficult to train people for, highly specialized like Commercial pilots ect ect..

problem is all the leeches that take money from their members and deliver nothing but promises and make problems whenever the winds change

 

[konfab]

Unions do have a place, however, the way that they are used in SA is very problematic. Germany seems to have sorted how to have strong unions without completely fscking up the economy.

welll....


But you are right, the main difference comes from the tradition that the unions stem from. Do they come from the christian guild tradition or the communist tradition.



You see it in this country as well. Solidarity (the SA one) is a very different animal to the mongrels in COSATU. They are not engaged in class warfare nor are interested in seizing the means of production.

COSATU has no problem with the state seizing the assets of a factory that their members are working in, whilst Solidarity would assist that employer against the state as they know their member's livelihoods would be threatened.

Solidarity celebrates the Constitutional Court’s ruling today on the Certificate of Need and considers it a huge victory for healthcare practitioners and the broader public.

According to this ruling, parts of the National Health Act that provide for the so-called Certificate of Need have been declared unconstitutional. This Certificate of Need was one of the most important mechanisms by which the government wanted to exercise greater control over the health industry.

It would have increasingly given the state the power to determine which healthcare practitioners may practice where and which services may be provided.

https://www.polity.org.za/article/solidarity-triumphs-as-central-pillar-of-nhi-collapses-2026-05-18

 

[GrootVoet]

Trade unions are too easy to high jack for other purposes like politics'.

 

[neoprema]

Strongly against. Because they are not about helping staff, they're about crippling business to get their way with absolutely no logic or sense or a political agenda - which ultimately ends up with businesses losing money, and having to lay off staff. The Union never loses...

 

[Brian_G]

Had to go with Neutral, certainly can't sat say Mostly For in a country like this. But we need to still lean in the direction of looking after the innocent workers.

 

[notayoba]

One industry that sorely needs a union is the IT industry

We once had to get rid of the most useless programmer I’ve ever encountered in the industry. This is over a period of almost 30 years of working with hundreds of coders, many of whom were drug addicts, alcoholics, or raging lunatics. Guess who had a union and turned a simple “Here’s a payoff, now please leave” into a many, many months-long drama. (Solidariteit nogal)

Edit: Turns out he did the same thing at previous employers, and also at future employers. That thing = doing nothing but take sick leave, play the system, claim he needs training, take study leave, and do more of nothing and then sue the company.

 

[RedViking]

In South Africa it is mostly a Mafia.

 

[die_koos]

Unions in SA are nothing more than political tools to secure votes. They are mostly run by politically connected cadres who get preferential treatment from the ANC to guarantee votes.

If we could amend the laws around the governance of unions to ensure they cannot affiliate themselves with a political party and they cannot be used a vehicles of influence, then they could play a meaningful role in balancing the right s of workers with the needs of the economy.

 

[porchrat]

I'm for unions, but not the raving communist sort we have in SA. Entities like COSATU have played a massive hand in destroying the economy.

A union should look out for workers, but should also be rational enough to see several steps ahead. Unions like COSATU irrationally demanding unrealistic wage increases while the company the workers are employed by clearly cannot afford it, is extremely destructive. This however does not represent all unions.

As has been pointed out, unions like Solidarity are far more rational, constructive entities, out to help both employer and employee reap the benefits of a constructive working relationship.

 

[saturnz]

an appropriate response to organised capital is organised labour

 

[wbot]

Against the way unions operate in SA. They're no different from the taxi mafia.

 

[marine1]

I haqve never had a good experience with any union, they are mostly a bunch of mafia, thugs that work on intimidation tactics, they are mnostly representative of the black majority and they think intimidation works.

 

[marine1]

In South Africa it is mostly a Mafia.

And America? Everywhere they are the same