Labouring for a better life: the struggle of Anna Scheepers and Lucy Mvubelo for better labour conditions, 1960-1980

This dissertation aims to highlight the importance of two formidable female trade union leaders, Anna Scheepers and Lucy Mvubelo, women from different cultures, in their struggle to improve labour conditions. Through an extensive examination of private collections, periodicals, books, dissertations and archival material a picture of who these two ladies were and their contribution made as leaders in the garment industry could be constructed. The dissertation has no pretensions of providing either a comprehensive history of the Garment Workers Union (GWUSA) or biographies of Scheepers and Mvubelo. Instead themes were highlighted. These themes were examined in the light of the overall theme of the dissertation - "labouring for a better life". Documents from the GWU archives illuminated the history of the open industrial unions and contained interesting information on general left-wing labour polities. This information on the early history of the GWU and National Union of Clothing Workers (NUCW) provided the necessary background information on the environment and times Scheepers and Mvubelo worked in. The personal papers of Scheepers and Mvubelo gave insight in the correspondence between these ladies and their professional relationship. The Garment Worker/Klerewerker proved invaluable in determining a chronology of events in their lives. The Wiehahn- and Riekert (government) Reports introduced a new era for Black labour in South Afriea. Mvubelo and Scheepers fought for all their recommendations. A short biographical overview of the history and character of each of the two ladies were given in order to understand why they dedicated their entire lives to the garment worker industry and to be able to determine what or who moulded them to become the persons they were. Finally the study attempts to ascertain how Scheepers and Mvubelo achieved better conditions and the problems they experienced in the above-mentioned struggle. This research aims to show that Scheepers and Mvubelo had much in common. Their views on job reservation, racism, disinvestment and apartheid underline the similarities in their attitude toward these issues. Scheepers and Mvubelo had an enormous impact in ensuring a better life for all workers.