Mayday/ Workers day and Trade Union Disunity

Since the 1800’s Mayday marked the importance of Labour and workers in our society. But most employers and several

Governments have always been opposed to Mayday. For them, it was the start of a serious challenge to their capitalist system, by the workers and their organizations such as trade unions and political parties.

In South Africa, workers celebrate the role played by Trade Unions, the Communist Party and other labour movements in the struggle against apartheid. Following the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, May 1st was inaugurated as an official national public holiday.

 Mayday is the day to celebrate solidarity amongst workers, but we have seen very little of that. What we have seen is disunity, which is quickly bordering on crises, as a former NUMSA deputy SG Karl Cloete put it in his column in daily Maverick “In South Africa, the most powerful trade unions are on the brink of collapse because of the introduction of investment companies into the trade union movement” there are also multiple reasons why unions movement is in the verge of collapse