Chronology

1960 –

The ANC, SACP and PAC banned. Sactu exiled. Progressive unionism, in which Cosatu undoubtedly had its origins, had been in existence for nearly 45 years.

1973 –

1976-77 –

Student uprisings and the banning of Saso and other organisations.
The clampdown, while targeting the BC movement, is partly a response to re-emerging worker organisation.

1979-80 –

1979 –

1981 –

1982 –

1983 –

1984 –

March – Johannesburg unity talks.
September – Vaal township uprisings.
September – Sfawu launches Simba chips boycott after dismissal of 450 workers, management soon reinstates the workers.
5/6 November – 800,000 workers support Transvaal regional stayaway called jointly by COSAS and unions. Student and union leaders detained.

1985 –

21 March – Police open fire on marchers commemorating Sharpeville Day, in Langa township, Uitenhage. Twenty people die.
May – British multinational BTR-Sarmcol dismisses 900 striking workers, starting South Africa’s longest ever dispute.
July – State of emergency declared in the Eastern Cape and PWV.
August – Cosas banned.
June – Unity talks at Ipelegeng, Soweto, resolves to go ahead with the launch of the federation.
November/December – Congress of South African Trade Unions launched in the context of widespread township uprisings and intense repression.
December – Cosatu general secretary Jay Naidoo meets Sactu and the ANC in Harare.

Characterised by unprecedented growth in membership and industrial action – and an iron-fisted response by bosses and the state

January – 30,000 workers at Impala Platinum mines down tools. Management dismiss 23,000 workers and strikes on other mines follow.
February – Thousands of metalworkers in Natal and Transvaal protest against detention of Mawu general secretary Moses Mayekiso.
18 February – Cosatu Exco in formal meeting with the UDF.
5/6 March – Cosatu delegation meets the ANC and Sactu. Talks cover the future economic system, the role of the working class in the national liberation struggle, the release of Mandela and negotiations.
7 March – State of emergency lifted. Almost 12,152 people had been detained and 853 people killed nationwide.
1 May – 100th anniversary of May Day. About 1.5 million workers heed Cosatu’s call to attend rallies instead of going to work (stayaway calls were illegal). The UDF supports the call.

– Inkatha launches Uwusa. The rally opens with a mock funeral as coffins marked ‘Barayi’, ‘Cosatu’ and ‘Naidoo’ are carried into the stadium.

May – TGWU and GWU merge to form one union, TGWU.
12 June – A second, harsher state of emergency declared. Armed men carrying machine-guns and shotguns break into Jay Naidoo’s house. Six weeks into the emergency, 2,700 unionists have been detained. Open political activity severely curtailed. Many forced into hiding.
June – FCWU, Sfawu and Rawu merge to form Fawu.
16 June – 1.5 million workers nationwide stay away to commemorate the 1976 uprisings.
August – Pass laws scrapped.
August – Cosatu East London offices burnt down.
September – 177 mineworkers die at the Kinross goldmine. Gencor tries to keep the press and union officials from the accident site. In response, Num calls a work stoppage on 1 October – 325,000 miners respond.
October – Sarhwu relaunched at a secret congress in Grahamstown.
October – Cusa and Azactu merge to form Nactu.
November – Sadwu launched uniting workers from Sadwa and regionally based organisations.
December – Tucsa dissolves.
December – A number of Sarmcol workers terrorised and killed.
18 December – Ccawusa members at OK Bazaars go on strike for a minimum wage of R450. The strike lasts 77 days.

An Injury to One is An Injury to All. Workers of the World Unite. You Have Nothing to Lose But Chains of Exploitation and Slavery