Records of the Food and Canning Workers' Union, South Africa

Records, including: annual reports, 1948-1976; annual conference minutes, 1948, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1975; Management Committee minutes, 1960-1965; various newsletters and journals, including 'Food and Canning Workers' Union', 'The Food Worker', 'Ikwezi Lomso' and 'Workers' Unity'; memoranda, reports and various circulars; Rex Close, 'New Life' (Cape Town 1950) - an account of the FCWU; annual report of the African Food and Canning Worker's Union, 1967.

The Food and Canning Workers' Union was founded in 1941 by Ray Alexander, a leading member of the South African Communist Party. Its branches were concentrated among the small fishing and farming villages of the Western and Eastern Cape, and its headquarters was in Cape Town; its members were mainly women workers of colour. During the late 1950s and early 1960s it was affiliated to the South African Congress of Trade Unions, an allied organisation of the African National Congress. In this period the FCWU was politically considerably more radical than many other trade unions: in the aftermath of Sharpeville, for example, its membership responded to the call of the black nationalist organisations and stayed away from work.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

The Food and Canning Workers' Union was founded in 1941 by Ray Alexander, a leading member of the South African Communist Party. Its branches were concentrated among the small fishing and farming villages of the Western and Eastern Cape, and its headquarters was in Cape Town; its members were mainly women workers of colour. During the late 1950s and early 1960s it was affiliated to the South African Congress of Trade Unions, an allied organisation of the African National Congress. In this period the FCWU was politically considerably more radical than many other trade unions: in the aftermath of Sharpeville, for example, its membership responded to the call of the black nationalist organisations and stayed away from work.

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Further accruals are not expected.

University of Witwatersrand: Food and Canning Workers' Union, records, mainly of the Port Elizabeth branches of the Food and Canning Workers Union, 1941-1974 (ref. AD1175).

Published

GB 193