Just Strike?

The strike season is upon us again. On the one hand we should welcome it as a sign of normality. This is what happens in democratic societies as part of the usual collective bargaining process.

These strikes are nothing compared with what happened in Britain on a three day week in 1978 in the 'winter of discontent'.

On the other hand our context is less stable than longer established democracies. Fifteen years is not long. And the sometimes violent protests against poor service delivery form a backdrop of generalised frustration among those who feel excluded from the bread and butter benefits of our young democracy. The government appears very concerned. Despite its strong electoral mandate people still strike, still toyi-toyi in the streets and still sometimes burn down officials' houses.

The knee-jerk reactions learned from the struggle against apartheid do not seem to have gone away completely. Some commentators blame the continuing Polokwane tensions at regional level for the latest protests and strikes. Many others blame the boiling frustration on incompetent and self-serving local administration. In addition the global economic downturn means less less money and more competetion for it.

But are strikes just about money? Some teachers opt for private schools, less money and more work just to be part of an organisation that does a good job. One of the reasons why the doctors got public sympathy was that many were obviously striking not just for themselves but for their patients. How can doctors tend them properly if they are utterly exhausted by ridiculous hours, while the hospital's drugs supply is in chaos? If the government wants to reduce strikes in the public services it could start by administering them better, not just paying more.

The Church's teaching on strikes has see-sawed somewhat since 1891 and Rerum Novarum's recognition of the right to form trades unions and engage in collective bargaining. The present position as enunciated in Gaudium et Spes (1965) and Octogesima Adveniens (1971) is that they are a necessary right, when all else has failed, to defend workers' rights and obtain their just demands.

Here in South Africa we need an elaboration of the teaching appropriate to a developing country where, on the one hand, strike action can have such a considerable negative impact on poor people's lives in the short run, and on the other hand the action can result in better service in the long run. The case of health workers and teachers focuses the issue well. Do health workers or teachers leave their patients or students unattended in a badly-run hospital or school for a limited period in the hope that conditions for the patients and pupils will improve thanks to the strike?

As in the just war theory negative effects have to be balanced by the good outcomes strikers hope to achieve. The social teaching of the Church would, I suggest, argue that the enhancement of the common good should always be one of those stated outcomes. A strike is not just about me.