Are unions still relevant to workers?

The haemorrhaging membership numbers across trade union federations, as well as this week’s bitter feud between Zwelinzima Vavi and Irvin Jim, two former bastions of union leadership, has accentuated the decline of trade unions in South Africa.

Vavi heads the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and Jim the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).