Introduction
Black workers formed various trade unions to protect their interests. During 1991 an increasing number
of strikes by black workers occurred and these were coupled with riots and burning of passbooks. One
and the most successful trade unions was the industrial and commercial workers union, was found in
Cape Town in 1919 by Clements Kadalie in order to meet the needs of black workers. The union became
involved in politics and was later disbanded. During its existence it had encouraged black workers to
become skills and to participate more fully in the economy. These aspects contributed to the Rand
Rebellion in 1922 an infamous incident in South Africa’s labors history. The seeds of this rebellion were
shown at a time when employees increasingly released that the was no economic justification for the
wages gap between white and black workers.
The Rand Rebellion of 1922
Mining capital policy of substitution of unskilled black labor for white caused growing dissatisfaction.
White unskilled positions were protected by the 1911 Act. In March 1922 the strikes had the
Witwatersrand under siege. Martial law was proclaimed on 10 March and general smuts called in some
7000 troop’s bomber aircraft and artillery. What had started as a general strike ended in a rebellion and
by the end of it as many as 200 people were estimated to have been killed and 534 were wounded. This
more resulted in retaliatory action by white workers because they feared black workers would replace
them. The subsequent strike ultimately led to the bloody rebellion in 1922. The army in the conflict
killed hundreds of workers and thousands were in jail. Politically motivated groups such as the
communist party, capitalized on this opportunity to further their own cause and contributed to intensity
of the conflict for two reasons, the Rand Rebellion was the most critical turning point in South Africa’s
historical pattern of employment relations. It marked the final parting of the way of black workers and it
produced the conciliation system introduced through the 1924 industrial condition Act. Unskilled and
semi-skilled labor was substituted by black labor simply because it was cheaper. The crash gold price in
1921 did little to ease tensions, and mines sight drastic measures to cut costs. Chamber of mine first lay
of costly white workers and second, were feasible, substituted cheaper black workers. This amounted to
an erosion of the 1918 status Quo agreement and eventually to its withdrawal by chamber of mines.
From August to December 1921 mining capital and labor were engaged in intensive negotiations over
wage cuts and changes in working conditions (Davis 198:85). In December capital voice its dissatisfaction
with the proceedings and indicated its intension to cut wages further and retrench some, 2000 worker
which it proceeded to do unilaterally. In January 1922 the miners came out on strike followed by
engineering worker and power station personnel in what became the violent strike in South African
history. This action became known as the Rand Rebellion or the Red Revolt, when 20000 workers came
out against mining capital. The strike was largely organized by white communists who led protests and
arson attacks (Williams 1989:57).
The Wiehahn report of 1979
The 1070’s was a decade marked by a resurgence of violent protest action as black militant opposition
renewed it’s against the repressive policies of the national party government. The years of 1970, 1973
and 1975 saw 274, 189 and 148 respective incident of strike action amongst black workers. One of the
biggest strikes took place in Durban in 1973 and involved some 61000 black workers from the textile and
engineering sectors (Davis 1989:93).
The oil crisis of 1973, rising unemployment and inflation, growing international dissatisfaction with the
governments apartheid policy, and support for the plight of South African blacks all helped to fan the
flames or discontent. The Soweto uprising of 1976 which saw black youth protesting against the
enforcement of Afrikaans as a medium of instructions in schools brought South Africa’s repressive
policies into world focus once again. What started out a peaceful march quickly became a massacre to
rival that of Sharpeville in the early 1960, with hundreds of children left dead and thousand left injured
as the police and armed forces opened fire the government reacted by banning blacks
Industrial Coalitions Act 1924
An Afrikaner welfare state and color bar (1924) an outgrowth of the conciliation boards work was the
industrial coalition Act 11 1924, which came into being as a direct result of the 1922 rebellion (Botha
and Mischake 1997:134). First introduced as a Bill in 1923 (Williams 1989:61) if dew major opposition
from the labor party which saw it as upsetting the power balance in favor of the employer. The Bill was
seen to dislike the union movement by forcing it to disclose how it distributed its funds white lacking a
similar requirement for the employers. The Bill furthermore infringed on the right to strike by imposing
serious procedural limitations in the form of mandatory conciliation and mediation preceding the strike.
A select committee made certain in changes to the proposed Bill regarding the establishment of
conciliation board but the limitations on the rights to strike remained. When the Act was finally
promulgated in April 1924 it filled the need for a formal conciliation mechanism.