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In the Cape and Natal, the overwhelming majority of garment workers have always been Coloured, Indian and Malay, while in the Transvaal, until the Second World War, the European workers, of whom at least eighty per cent were Afrikaners, were predominant. In 1935 the union began to pay special attention to the organisation of Coloured workers. At that time there were not more than a few hundred of them in the clothing industry and they were only employed in six factories-the largest being in Pretoria-on the manufacture of garments of the cheapest type. The definition of "employee" in the Industrial Conciliation Act included these workers and they had the same legal rights of organising and collective bargaining as the Europeans. Indeed, the successive agreements for the industry, made by the union and the employers' association through the industrial council for the industry, always covered the employment conditions of these workers, as nearly all industrial agreements were extended to cover non-parties-i.e., employees who are not members of trade unions and employers who are not members of the employers' organisation. There has never been a colour bar in the constitution of the union, but despite this very few of the Coloured or Indian workers joined the union and they worked under deplorable conditions.
Towards the end of 1935, I addressed a meeting at a factory where twenty-five Coloured workers, men and women, were employed. I was very cordially received. The workers understood the advantages which the union offered to its members and realised they were eligible to join. But they were anxious to find out whether they would have full rights of membership in practice, as well as in theory, whether they would be allowed to attend general meetings along with the European members, and whether they could be elected to serve on committees. Above all, they wanted to know whether they would be able to work in factories where white workers were employed. I assured them that, under the terms of the constitution of the union, they would be entitled to full membership, with exactly the same rights and obligations as the Europeans. I also told them that the central executive committee and the officials and staff of the union would treat them with all the attention and courtesy accorded to Europeans. But I could not speak for the mass of white workers who, although they had proved themselves loyal trade unionists and courageous fighters, were nevertheless imbued with violent prejudices against non-Europeans.
We called meetings of shop stewards and of the general membership to discuss this important question. About ten per cent were in favour of complete equality, without any racial discrimination. Over eighty per cent were in favour of a parallel organisation, which meant that the Europeans and non-Europeans would belong to separate branches, each branch having its own committee and holding its general meetings separately. The overwhelming majority would not agree to mixed meetings, but only an insignificant number opposed the entry of the Coloured workers into the union altogether. The members also agreed that the non-European workers were entitled to the unqualified right to manage their own affairs and finances; to elect their own officials, and to have an equal say in determining union policy and in the making of industrial agreeÂments. Coloured workers would be entitled to take employment anywhere they chose and to perform all classes of work, but the union was urged to be on guard against the employers' taking advantage of the non-European workers at the expense of the Europeans.
We then called a meeting of the Coloured workers and put the position frankly before them, explaining that, although the leaders of the union were in favour of complete equality, the majority of the members had not yet reached a sufficiently high standard of education and tolerance to share this view and had demanded the establishment of parallel branches. The Coloured workers accepted this position and many joined the union.
We established a No. 2 Branch for Coloured workers, which elected its own officials and branch executive committee, with full powers to manage the affairs of the branch. By a unanimous decision, the No. 2 Branch agreed to leave the administration of its finances in the hands of the central executive committee. In this manner, what has become known as "parallel organisation", a pattern which was later followed by other trade unions, began to develop in South Africa. The establishment of separate branches on a racial basis is against all trade union principles, which are diametrically opposed to any form of racial discrimination, and has been much criticised. In practice, it worked well. Members of the No. 2 Branch were free to call at the head office of the union at any time and were always treated in the same way as the Europeans. Branch and executive meetings were held separately and the Coloured workers soon developed a true and enthusiastic spirit of trade unionism. Their meetings, at which officials from the head office were always present, were well attended and run in an orderly and businesslike fashion. The No. 2 Branch executive frequently met with the central executive to discuss union policy and these meetings were always held in a friendly spirit and were quite free from all traces of paternalism or racial superiority.
When we started enforcing the provisions of the agreement for Coloured workers, we experienced great difficulties. Many of the workers were too afraid of losing their jobs to give us truthful information about the low wages they were receiving. They experienced great difficulty in finding any employment in the industry as the majority of employers engaged Europeans in the highly skilled and skilled sections, whilst Africans usually did the unskilled jobs. Thus they had no choice but to take work at very low wages in the few factories that employed Coloured workers.
In 1936, the union received information that, in a large factory in Pretoria, the Coloured workers were receiving only half the wages recorded in the wage register. In due course, Mr. Malan, the agent of the industrial council, and I called at the place to make an inspection. The employer seemed extremely co-operative, handed us the wage register, which appeared to be in perfect order, and put a small office at our disposal so that we could interview the workers. I realised that we would have great difficulty in getting truthful information and that everything depended on creating the right atmosphere and gaining the confidence of the intimidated workers. We called them into the office individually. The first one to come was a young Coloured girl and, after years of experience in interrogating workers. I knew at once, from her extremely worried expression, that she would not tell us the truth.
In the friendliest possible manner, I told her who we were and asked her what her name was. She said at once, without any hesitation: " Two pounds ten." I realised at once what had happened. This poor girl, who was probably the sole supporter of her family, had been told by the employer to say that her wages were £2 10s., as was laid down in the agreement. Desperately anxious not to lose her job and scared nearly out of her wits, she could think of nothing else and, as soon as she was asked a question, without even understanding what was wanted, she blurted out the reply she had been coached to give. It was absolutely essential to get the girls' whole-hearted co-operation if we were to succeed in exposing and eradicating this abominable practice of underpaying and faking wage registers. But how was I to gain the confidence and the co-operation of this very worried and frightened young woman?
I told her very quietly that I wanted some other particulars first and that we would come to the rates of pay later on. After a while, I got her name, address, age, the class of work she was doing, and the experience she had had in the industry. When I at last asked her what wages she had been getting, she repeated, with the greatest relief: "Two pounds ten".
This was what had been troubling her all the time and she was very happy to have got it off her chest. I then asked her for how long she had been getting this amount, but she could not remember the exact period. "Did you get £2 10s. last week?" I asked her, and she said emphatically: "Yes".
"How were you paid?" I asked. "In notes, in silver? How?"
Again the reply came promptly, as she had been taught: "Two one-pound notes and four half-crowns".
I looked at the register in front of me. She had not worked a full week and could not have received so much. The entry in the register showed £1 15s., which meant that she was not paid more than 17s. 6d. I did not ask her any more questions and .she was more than glad when I let her go away.
Ninety-four Coloured and Indian workers were questioned that day, ninety-four women who knew they had been atrociously exploited and robbed of half their wages. And yet every one of them repeated the lies they had been taught for fear they might lose their jobs and the few miserable shillings they were getting. When we had finished questioning the workers, I returned the wage register to the employer, who, with a look of satisfaction on his face, said to me: "Everything in order?"
I said: "You are a dirty scoundrel and you know it. You may have taught your workers to lie, but you did not succeed in teaching them to tell lies without being found out. You will see. We will get you yet".
He seemed frightened, but could not think of anything to say.
Subsequently we visited many of the workers in their homes and at last got down to the truth. We then called a meeting of all the workers and their parents, and explained matters very clearly and carefully to them. They were grateful for what we were doing, but very worried, and asked what they should do if they were sacked. Most of the women, some of whom were very young, were the sole support of their families. We told them that the Industrial Conciliation Act had a provision protecting workers who gave information, against possible victimisation, and we pointed out that the union would give financial assistance to any worker who was victimised. We told them that any one of them who left the factory or was dismissed should come to the union office and we would take up her claim for back pay. They were friendly and grateful, but still not co-operative.
Meanwhile, we instituted several prosecutions against the employer for technical breaches of the agreement, e.g., not paying council contributions in time, failing to display a copy of the agreement in the factory, etc. He was convicted and fined. Some time later, about six of the workers made truthful statements about their wages and again we instituted prosecutions. But, by the time the case came to court, the employer had managed to win over the witnesses with bribes and, in the box, they all went back on their words. We told the employer that we had infinite patience and would continue to prosecute him until he learnt to observe all the provisions of the agreement. It took us some years to reform him, but in the end we succeeded, partly through court action, but mainly through the workers' increased confidence in the union and in themselves.
The Second World War gave tremendous impetus to South African industrial development and, from 1940 onwards, the clothing industry began to expand rapidly. Thousands of garment workers left the industry to work in munitions plants or volunteered for the forces. For over a decade, the industry in the Transvaal had been drawing most of its workers from among the Afrikaner women, but this source was now practically exhausted for a number of reasons. Although the clothing industry paid higher wages than most other industries, garment making is very hard work and many young women preferred to take employment at lower wages in industries where the strain was not so great. Most girls from the towns preferred office and shop jobs to factory work. With an improveÂment in the economic conditions, the flow of poverty-stricken Afrikaner women from the rural areas stopped. More and more manufacturers began to employ Coloured workers. The exclusively Coloured factories had no racial problems, but in the mixed factories the union had to spend much time and energy maintaining peace and harmony. The majority of European workers, when left to them, shed their more extreme racial animosity and many even showed friendliness towards non-European workers. But from 1936 onwards, when the Nationalist Party resolved to capture or disrupt our union, the white workers were subjected to a constant stream of propaganda against the Coloured workers. The Dutch Reformed Churches also played a very active part in encouraging race hatred. Under the pretext of holding prayer meetings, their ministers made regular visits to the factories during the lunch hour intervals, but instead of spreading the message of brotherhood and tolerance, they did their best to incite the white workers against the Coloured. They said it was a shame that white Afrikaner ladies had to work in the same factories with Coloured girls and usually attacked the union for this disgraceful state of affairs. In most 'factories, the Afrikaner workers resented these intrusions. After five hours at the machine or table, they wanted to relax. But in some factories, these prayer meetings caused a great deal of unrest, and the union often had to spend much time settling the racial strife that followed. The Factories Act already makes provision for apartheid. Separate cloak and rest rooms have to be provided for the different racial groups and the Act also obliges employers to set up partitions between whites and non-whites wherever they work together on the same floor. But that did not satisfy the Nationalist Party. In some factories, the mischief-makers would urge the workers to demand separate time clocks and separate entrances and exits as well. The use of lifts was a great source of trouble. Many factories were situated in large buildings, on the fifth and sixth floors, and usually the lifts were marked "Europeans only". The Coloured workers, not wanting to walk those numerous flights of stairs, would also use them. The Coloured workers, whilst resenting insult and abuse, generally behaved quietly and with dignity and rarely retaliated with anti-white abuse. Only in Germiston, a Nationalist stronghold, did the disrupters succeed in causing serious division in the ranks of the union. In Johannesburg, most of the six thousand white workers remained loyal to the union and, while never completely free from race prejudice, tolerated the non-Europeans as fellow-workers, even if they did not accept them as social equals.
After 1936, officials of the union had to devote more time and energy to combating race hatred, settling race conflicts, and defending the union against the pro-Nazi disrupters, than to economic problems. To lead workers who are united in a struggle for higher wages and better conditions is not difficult. But when one finds the very same workers, who are themselves suffering exploitation and poverty, hating and persecuting their fellow-workers merely because they belong to a different race, and supporting the fascists, then one comes very close to despair and needs strong nerves and a cool head to keep one's faith in humanity.
I remember one occasion, when I received an urgent telephone message from a leading employer, informing me that a strike had started at his factory on racial grounds. We had agreed with the employers that union officials would settle all race conflicts and I immediately went to the factory. The employer had to execute urgent orders and, not being able to find European table hands, had engaged a woman, whose name sounded German and lose father was a European. She was a Creole, a widow with two children to support. One hundred and two European workers re employed in the factory, which was modern in every respect and engaged in the making of better-class ladies' dresses. The employer was quite progressive, a ruthless capitalist, but honourable and very much respected by the workers. I saw him at once his office and he remarked ironically: "The members of your union, go and see what they are doing. I engaged one non-European d they all came out on strike".
I went into the large workroom and found all the machines standing idle and two ringleaders surrounded by a crowd of girls shouting wildly and hurling abuse at their victim. The Creole man, attractive and neatly dressed, with a pleasant, dignified appearance, was standing alone, about ten yards away from the others. She was nervous and embarrassed and completely at a loss. The workers, normally disciplined, loyal members of the union, had turned themselves into a disorderly mob, ready to lynch the unfortunate woman, who had done nothing to harm them. I was so taken aback by what I saw that, for a moment, I did not know what to do. Then one of the leaders, her pretty face contorted with rage, shouted in Afrikaans: "We Christians will not allow the Bastermeid to work in this factory. Get the hell out here".
I was filled with horror and disgust. How loathsome and tragic the South African way of life seemed at that moment, as I watched this quiet, poor widow being abused and threatened by a vicious crowd of otherwise decent, well-behaved white girls, solely account of her different colouring.
'If you are a Christian", I shouted, "then I will gladly stay a heathen all my life. What right have you to call yourselves Christians? You abuse that poor woman. You want to throw her into the street. You want to see her and her two children starve. How dare you call yourselves Christians, when you have not a drop of compassion, of love and charity in you and all you want Christianity is another crucifixion?"
As I went on, all the workers in the factory came nearer and I could almost watch their complete change of attitude. The menacing, shouting mob, taken aback by the unexpected violence of my outburst, again became the quiet, orderly girls I had known as members of the union. I called up the shop committee and, in the presence of everyone, demanded to know who had given the workers the right to strike. If they had any complaints, why had they not brought them to the union first? We had an agreement with the employers and strikes were illegal. Some of the more intelligent workers then explained that the whole mischief had been caused by two workers who, although loyal members of the union, were supporters of the Nationalists. I told them that they had had their "fun" and should now decide by secret ballot if they would allow the Coloured woman to work in the factory, or whether they still wanted to throw her out into the street. Sixty-one voted in favour of allowing her to remain, thirty against, and the rest abstained. They went back to their machines, the woman returned to her table, and the incident was over. . .
A month later, when about sixty Coloured people lost their lives in a terrible train disaster and the union organised a collection for the orphans, this factory contributed more per member than any other.
For nearly twenty years now, the Nationalist disrupters have exploited race hatred in an attempt to destroy the union. Strange as it may seem, some of the most vicious disrupters within the union were themselves Coloured, and even looked Coloured. But, if it suits the purposes of the Nationalists, then Coloureds are turned into Whites and accepted within then" ranks.
In 1950, the union held a national conference to adopt a constitution. Thirty-five delegates, including twelve Coloured, from all branches throughout South Africa assembled at the Trades Hall, Johannesburg, to deal with the matter and spent three days drafting a new constitution. After numerous and lengthy debates, a new constitution was adopted unanimously. When the president, Anna Scheepers, was about to close the conference, a delegate from Germiston, a Nationalist agent, moved that the new constitution be circulated among all the white members of the union for then-approval or otherwise. The rest of the delegates were furious and, in the debate which followed, they denounced the racialists in very outspoken terms. The proposal was completely out of order, as the original constitution provided that only branch delegates could amend the constitution. The simple fact that twenty thousand rank-and-file members could not possibly deal with a new constituÂtion made this proposal quite impracticable. It was also irregular, since there was no colour bar in the constitution and all members were entitled to vote in any ballot.
A Coloured delegate, who spoke in the debate, summed up the tragic situation with a joke and said: "Miss X is always harping on the Coloured workers. I should like to remind her that, if her ancestors had paid more attention to the flies in their trousers, there would be no coloured problem today". There was a roar of laughter and the proposal was rejected by thirty-three votes to two.
The spirit of trust and confidence between the European leaders of the union and the Coloured workers has grown stronger over the years, but among the mass of white workers, prejudice and even hatred of the Coloured people is still very much in evidence and is kept alive by the Nationalists. South Africa is so poisoned by race hatred that many of the Coloured workers even consider themselves superior to Africans.
In 1944, for example, when the Supreme Court held that African women were "employees" and could, therefore, be members of registered trade unions, there was some opposition from Coloured workers to their acceptance as members of the No. 2 Branch. The mass of Coloured workers, however, vigorously opposed every form of racial discrimination against Africans. Nationalist policy has caused a terrible division between white and non-white, but it has also had the effect of uniting the African, Coloured, Indian and Malay people. They understand that they may be rich or poor, educated or uneducated, and have great differences in their respective cultural standards, but they are all the victims of the same cruel oppression, for the same reason-because their skins are not white.
When the union was involved in serious conflicts with the employers, workers' solidarity always triumphed over racial division. White and Coloured workers co-operated whole-heartedly in times of strikes or threatened strike action. In the monster demonstration outside the City Hall steps, Johannesburg, on May 24th, 1952, the white workers loudly cheered the twelve thousand Coloured workers as they marched up to the demonstration. Later, when the police charged the demonstrators and injured scores of people, white and Coloured readily rendered assistance to the victims, irrespective of their race.