This Day in History: February 22, 1981
Additional Date: February 22, 1981
The Minister of Manpower Utilisation, Fanie Botha warned of a government plan to adopt tougher measures against the rapidly expanding and increasingly militant Black trade unions. The newly established industrial court was proferred as a means of disciplining certain unions. This stern warning by Botha came almost two years after the formation of the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU) in 1979, which brought another dimension to the union movement. FOSATU was the predecessor to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which was launched on 1 December 1985, when popular unrest had spread across South Africa.