"Unions face extinction as the world of work marches on"

The relevance of the trade union movement is the singular challenge that keeps Congress of SA Trade Unions’ (Cosatu’s) first woman president , Zingiswa Losi awake at night...“How we respond to the world of work keeps me awake at night. Everything centres on it; our very existence rests on it. The strength and relevance of our unions rests on it,” says the 43-year-old...

“Artificial Intelligence is replacing workers at call centres, robots, mechanisation are replacing them on factory floors. Robots cannot be union members,” she quips.“This talks to our (Cosatu’s) very existence.”...Business will have to reckon with low buying power from consumers as it moves to improve productivity by moving to advanced technologies and smaller work forces. It is a cyclical problem which is largely being ignored as SA’s social partners fights to keep its collective head above water. “The impact will be like dominoes falling. Are we ready for that?” Losi says.

Cosatu's bargaining power in the industrial sector has already  diminished after the unravelling of the National Union of Mineworkers and its expulsion of the 360,000-strong National Union of Metalworkers of SA. It is in effect quickly becoming a public sector federation, dominated by government workers.