And some unions gradually dropped the demand for a moratorium on retrenchment, with auto workers, for example, settling on a job-security fund, paid for by the bosses. Where the federation has tried, affiliate attendance has been weak. Now it is important for Cosatu to recapture this terrain, and provide coherent direction and programme. This is clearly seen in the struggle for central bargaining. The new LRA provides for voluntary central bargaining, and so affiliates wanting to achieve this will have to continue to win it through struggle.
Affiliates can continue to struggle in isolation.
Some, like TGWU and CWIU, have achieved success through this. But a preferable route would be to coordinate and share resources, building a wider struggle to embrace the many affiliates which still have decentralised bargaining. Similarly, Nedlac opens the opportunity for national bargaining around a range of issues. For example, in renegotiating the basic conditions of employment act, Cosatu could campaign for a 40-hour week. Another example is the provision of the new LRA for the extension of the one-week retrenchment pay for each year of service.