Technological Innovation, the Changing Nature of Work and the Implications for Trade Unionism in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Ruth Castel-Branco, CASAS’ member, has published with colleagues Thabang Sefalafala & Musawenkosi H. Malabela a chapter in the book “The Evolving Structure of South Africa’s Economy: Faultlines and Futures”

Abstract: In July 2021, South Africa experienced an unprecedented wave of social unrest, highlighting deep social, economic and political fissures. Since the end of apartheid, income inequality has increased, despite attempts to deracialise the labour market and expand public provisioning (Chancel et al., 2022). Persistently high levels of unemployment and widespread working poverty are amongst the key drivers of inequality. Despite expectations that the end of apartheid would bring about improvements in working conditions for black workers, these have not materialised (Pons-Vignon and Anseeuw, 2009) amidst a neoliberal order. Historically, South Africa’s economy has been dominated by the minerals–energy complex (MEC), which is characterised by capitalintensive industries associated with the extractive sectors, with few linkages with the rest of the economy (Fine and Rustomjee, 1996). With the end of apartheid and the transition to democracy, the African National Congress (ANC) government adopted a neoliberal macroeconomic framework. This precipitated the internationalisation and financialisation of capital flows, as corporations reoriented their investments towards financial activities (Ashman, 2015). The outcome has been declining levels of fixed capital investment, particularly in sectors outside the core of the MEC, and increased capital intensity in manufacturing (Newman, 2019). The failure to diversify South Africa’s economy and develop labour-intensive light manufacturing has undermined the labour market’s capacity to absorb the country’s growing working-age population – which has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (StatsSA, 2021). Furthermore, externalisation and outsourcing, together with the flexibilisation of the labour market, have compromised conditions of work and undercut the social basis of trade unions, shifting the balance of power between capital and labour (Webster et al., 2016). Meanwhile, the reorientation of capital inflows towards speculative credit has resulted in rising consumer debt (James, 2014), prompting a reproductive squeeze. The rollback of public provisioning – housing, transportation, health, education – has only amplified this crisis of social reproduction. It is within this context that a strenuous debate has developed around the impact of digital technologies on the world of work(ers) and inequality in South Africa. Digital technologies are proliferating at an unprecedented pace, even if uneven and contested. The World Bank (2019) contends that this digital revolution has the potential to increase productivity, stimulate growth and catalyse employment outside of the core of the MEC. The role of the state, the World Bank argues, is to ensure that the next generation has the skills to benefit from emerging employment opportunities – a position shared by South Africa’s Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (2020). However, others paint a more disturbing picture of growing inequality, widespread job shedding – estimates for South Africa are between 35 per cent and 67 per cent (Frey and Osborne, 2017) – deskilling and declining wage shares. As digital technologies concentrate capital across sectors and geographies, non-standard and informal employment is likely to spread to new industries (Anner et al., 2019). Drawing on the labour process theory, this chapter explores how technological innovation is reshaping the world of work(ers) and inequality in South Africa. It focuses on two case studies outside the core of the MEC. The first case is the automotive industry, which has received substantial state support through the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP), which in recent years has been superseded by the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) (Mashilo, 2022). The second case is digital labour platforms, which have proliferated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (Webster and Masikane, 2020). While the former is a historically unionised sector, the latter is characterised by hybrid forms of collective organisation outside the trade union movement.

Read the full text here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/410/edited_volume/chapter/3886845

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