Most of its members were white, and some were classed as "coloured", but it was not legally permitted to admit black workers.
[1][2] By 1984, CCAWUSA was a substantial union, and it co-operated with Wit Liquor in a strike which achieved higher wages for workers in small hotels.
Wit Liquor had already begun admitting black workers, but this vacuum led it to focus on this strategy.
The merger proved extremely difficult, as CCAWUSA was split on ideological lines, and at one point, some of the African National Congress-aligned faction entered the HARWU offices and attacked staff there.
The following year, it finally merged into CCAWUSA, which changed its name to the "South African Commercial and Catering Workers' Union".