Metal That Will Not Bend : The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, 1980-1995

In the 1980s there was a surge of trade union power in South Africa. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) was prominent and innovative in this assertion of muscle.Metal that does not Bend traces Numsa{u2019}s accumulation, from a few small unions in a handful of factories to the staging of national strikes involving thousands of workers in auto and engineering. It examines how the union used its influence in macroeconomic and political arenas. Numsa was Cosatu{u2019}s most radical socialist affiliate, and the book explores its attempts to implement its vision. Historians have framed apartheid{u2019}s downfall as resulting from the activities of the exiled liberation movement, global anti-apartheid boycott strategies and internal township insurrection. This book reasserts the critical role of the internal labour movement In the 1980's there was a surge of trade union power on a scale not previously experienced in South Africa. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) was a highly prominent and innovative union in this assertion of muscle and one of Cosatu's most radical affiliates, and its story is one of astonishing achievements as its activities built workers' rights and deeply eroded the apartheid state. Metal that will not bend-a translation of the union's motto Insimbi ayigobi-tells that story by revisiting the formation of the powerful modern day union movement. The trade union movement The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa was highly prominent in the surge of trade union power of the 1980s. This book tells how its activities built workers’ rights and deeply eroded the apartheid state, by revisiting the formation of the powerful modern day union movement. Kally Forrest. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 547-550) And Index.