He was president of a state-registered trade union, the unlikely sounding Union of Nomadic Metalworking Gypsies, but this may have arisen simply because his clanspeople were metalworkers.
The National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) wants a 20% pay increase for all its members, many of whom work in the car industry.
The National Union of Metalworkers, the country's largest union, has said it will not back the ANC at this year's elections.
Maurizio Landini, secretary-general of Fiom-Cgil, a metalworkers' union which has fought hard against Fiat's new working conditions, says his main fear is that Fabbrica Italia only exists on paper.
At their core, says Anke Hassel, a professor at the Berlin-based Hertie School of Governance, Germany's unions are still monopolistic organisations geared to defending male bread winners, from skilled metalworkers to garbage men.
Its leader, Paulo Portas, will be defence minister.In Germany strikes spread in support of the claim by IG Metall, the metalworkers' union, for a 6.5% wage rise.
The metalworkers are just the latest group to break with the ANC.
On Wednesday September 15th, VW's executives sat down for a bout of arm-wrestling over wages and benefits with IG Metall, the metalworkers' union that represents 97% of the company's workforce.
Some unions, including the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), one of the largest, want Mr Vavi reinstated.
The metalworkers' union, which kicks off Germany's annual wage negotiations, generally sets the tone for other trade unions' claims.West German industry's hourly labour costs are already the highest in the world, about a third higher than those of America, France and Britain.
The move marked a further decline in the influence of the once-mighty metalworkers' union.
