SOUTH AFRICA

The AFT and the AFL-CIO have a long record of opposition to the policy of apartheid in South Africa. Simply put, apartheid is a system of institutionalized racism in which blacks, over 70 percent of the population, are deprived of their political and human rights, of any real economic opportunities, and even of their citizenship. Despite the recent publicity regarding moderation and change and some of the amendments to petty apartheid laws, the South African government today continues to pursue its policies of separate development and racial separation.

Apartheid affects nearly all aspects of the life of nonwhite South Africans. The homeland policy splits up families for months at a time. The housing policy in the urban areas deprives a man or woman of owning his own home and plot of land. And the education policy, which provides more than ten times more funds for the education of white children than for black children, is designed to keep the majority of non-whites uneducated.

Traditionally the extension of apartheid into the workplace has meant that black workers are not allowed to move beyond menial positions, they make substantially lower salaries than whites and have virtually no workers rights. Black workers who were involved in any job action were threatened with the loss of employment and exile to a so-called homeland. While trade unionism among black South Africans was not unknown in the past the white-ruled government was able to suppress nascent unions through harassment and imprisonment of its leaders.

But beginning in the early 1970s a new movement of black unions sprang up in the major urban centers. From a very modest beginning these unions have grown to include over 200,000 members today. This new movement of workers is not only a vehicle for black South Africans to win their trade union rights and to redress some of the economic inequities of the apartheid system, it represents a potential for a significant base for change in South Africa. White South African authorities are acutely aware of this potential and are taking actions to cripple the new black unions. For example, in late 1981 over 100 union leaders were jailed and held for months, many in solitary confinement, without being charged with a crime.

These black unions have requested assistance from the ECFTU and its affiliated organizations in their struggle to survive and grow. Because of its opposition to apartheid and its tradition of extending assistance to emerging unions, the AFL-CIO cooperated by establishing a special fund to support the black labor movement in South Africa. Contributions to the fund help provide black unions with labor education materials, office equipment and legal aid assistance. The campaign of support will also help to educate American workers and others as to the real nature of the apartheid system.

Many in the U.S. have advocated a policy of "disinvestment" as another way of supporting black South Africans in their struggle against apartheid. The policy calls for U.S. firms to withdraw their investments in South Africa as a way of crippling its economy. There is, however, some doubt about the effectiveness of such a policy. While U.S. investment has been growing in South Africa in recent years, the majority of foreign investment in that country comes from western Europe. Unless we could guarantee that there would be a coordinated multilateral boycott, a one-sided action may not have a great effect.

The American labor movement has favored a policy which does not call for total disinvestment but rather one which takes selective action against U.S. firms in South Africa which do not abide by a certain set of fair standards toward the black unions. Fair standards include recognition of the black unions and all that it entails, equal pay and equal opportunities for advancement, and end to segregated facilities and other provisions which would eliminate apartheid at the workplace. American labor has supported actions by South African black unions against U.S. firms in that country, but to make its policy more effective legislation should be passed which would punish corporations which do not abide by such standards.

RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirms its position to apartheid; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT continues to support the AFL-CIO fund for black South African unions and takes other actions which will advance the interests of black workers in that country; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT explores ways to increase contacts with organizations of black teachers in South Africa with the aim of providing them with any possible assistance they may need to help build their movements.