The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐, ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ด๐๐ฒ๐.
We celebrate his life which has resourcefully contributed to the working-class struggle in many ways and left an indelible mark on the working-class movement and its activists.
๐๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฟ๐๐ด๐ด๐น๐ฒ
In the 1960s, Eddie Webster was already contributing to the struggle against injustice as a student activist in the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). Not only does this show his earlier interest in the movement to fight for justice but begins his activism against capitalist injustice for the working class.
Like many white compatriots, he chose to confront a white minority regime. He had a choice to enjoy all the privileges the apartheid regime offered to white South Africans but chose to stand with the oppressed black majority.
He was part of the students who contributed to the revival of black trade unionism in South Africa, which had suffered setbacks due to clampdowns by the apartheid government through laws and violence. Indeed, out of such courageous initiatives came trade unions like the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU), which amalgamated with other allied unions to form the National Union of the Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA). Due to this connection through MAWU, Prof Webster has arguably contributed to the existence of SAFTU. In fact, the democratic trade union movement owes its very existence to the contributions made by Professor Webster and his generation.
The reorganization of black trade unions inside the country became a subjective factor that combined with objective economic factors to unleash the workers struggle of the 1970s, marked famously by the Durban Strikes. These strikes were a watershed moment, in that, upon their ruins current trade unions were built. This is because the strikes resulted in the process that led to the legalisation of black trade unions and forced a change to the Industrial Conciliation Act.
Eddie believed strongly in the power of organised workers and was a proponent of the factory floor and the shop steward being at the center of the trade unions. He abhorred business unionism.
He remained part of the trade union movement since then, even though he joined the university to contribute to the body of knowledge of workers, the working class, and sociology as a whole.
๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
He placed the study of the black working class and its independent trade unions at the center of sociological studies. Arguably, he is the founder of South Africaโs Industrial sociology. Amongst some of his initiatives to develop the industrial sociology episteme, was the foundation of the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP) and the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) at Wits University.
He did research and contributed to building the research capability of trade unions across all federations. The research capacity building he was devoted to in trade unionism, was aimed at helping trade unions to formulate policy, debate with their counterparts and to improve the position as labour, its power, and living conditions of the entire social class of toilers.
He bridged access to the universities for ordinary working-class activists, particularly providing access to the most prestigious Wits University for many generations of black trade unionists and community activists. He set up Global Labour University (GLU), which is focused on giving activists, overwhelmingly from the labour movement, education on industrial trends, labour policies and globalisation, and how these impact on the nature of work, rights of workers and their livelihoods.
He taught many modules in the Wits GLU programme, as well as on GLUโs other campuses globally. This and his work with the late Rob Lambert to establish SIGTUR (the Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights) in the late 1980s, reflected his commitment to workersโ education across borders and working class internationalism.
๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐๐, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐น ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต.
