Industrial Action in South Africa (2000-2018): How to read strike statistics qualitatively. Presented by Eddie Cottle, and Crispen Chinguno as the discussant.
Date: 11 August 2021
Time: 14h00 - 15h30
Abstract:
The presentation analyses strike statistics over the last twenty years in an effort to have a concrete understanding of the state of labour (organised and unorganised). A key aspect of this webinar is to show how one can use the quantitative method to assist in reading the qualitative aspects of worker mobilisation, an aspect which is markedly absent from contemporary analysis of labour. By utilising the quantitative method, the presentation will show whether the labour movement as an agent of social change is withering away; who the leading sections (per industrial sector) of the labour movement are and the shifts over time; including the relative performance of blue-collar workers to white collar workers. Finally, the presentation will show that strike action in South Africa must be located within a long-term perspective, within the ebbs and flows of class struggle failing which short-term analysis will give way to mistaken conclusions.
