This week... Working class mourns the death of the most reliable man in labour Wage strike heads for an "indifinite" period as talks gets fruitless Biggest strike looming in the public sector THE WEEK IN BRIEF: NUMSA threatens to call members for a solidarity strike Mokaba to face the music New electricity cuts study says it all Legal workers on strike   Letters | Write to us | Back Issues In other news...

Stop misleading the public, NEHAWU tells Fraser-Moleketi

Thousands of workers photographed here during the first day of the anti-privatisation stayaway at the Library Gardens. Millions of workers and members of the public stayed away during the two-day action.

COSATU's public sector union, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), recently dismissed the national Minister for Public Service and Administration's statements on the outcome of the two-day national anti-privatisation strike that took place last week.

Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi last week said in a statement that the COSATU action only attracted no more than 30 percent turnout across the country. The percentage is in contradiction with the federation's 75 percent turnout that was submitted by reliable monitors from across the country.

NUMSA said the minister's figure was only recorded from within the public service where most of the employees are legally not allowed to strike because of the nature of their work.

The union said public sector unions such as the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) and the S A Democratic Nurses Union (SADNU) took a very responsible step by not calling their members to strike. It said the minister's "short sighted and destructive" statements would damage relations between the unions and the department.

"COSATU as a responsible union never said these comrades should abandon their work in favour of strike, but those who were on leave or off made their way to the strike. Majority of those at work when interviewed they expressed solidarity with comrades on the streets. It was a difficult and painful decision to request comrades not to go on strike," said NEHAWU.

The union said the minister's statements would only harden the workers' attitude. NEHAWU further said it was ironic that the government and big business used a figure from a single sector to judge the whole country's turnout of the strike. It said the 30 percent turnout announced by the government is still good given those reasons "In the service industry like cleaning security and retail we had good participation particularly from unionised and full time workers", said NEHAWU.

The union said business and the government were just spreading propaganda that the South African workers did not honour the action. "We warn the Minister to refrain from dividing public servants by ridiculing their earnest and patriotic sacrifice, for some ill-defined political point scoring," NEHAWU said.

The union further made a warning to the government that more strikes against the privatisation of state-assets would take place in the next quarter.

"So the struggle has just began. Those who think the strike has ended and it is back to business as usual are making a big mistake," the union said.

Working class mourns the death of the most reliable man in labour…

COSATU and the National Union Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) recently paid tribute to Communications Director of the Department of Labour and former labour reporter of The Star, Eddie Jayiya, who passed away last week.

Jayiya, who the two labour formations described as "the most reliable person in the labour fraternity", was shot last week in Soweto. He died at Tshepo-Themba hospital in Dobsonville.

A Soweto man Papi Kananani, who was arrested 24 hours after the killing, is appearing in court in connection with the murder.

NUMSA said it would remember Jayiya for the role he played in exposing contemptuous attitude by employers in the 1998 petrol stations negotiations that led to a strike. "Eddie was a very soft-spoken person and independent thinker.

He sacrificed his entire career writing articles and pieces in dedication to the struggle of the workers. He was a one person who could not misrepresent labour in the media," said COSATU and NUMSA. During the time of his untimely death, Jayiya had written many challenging articles that shaped the labour regime in South Africa.

COSATU described Jayiya as a consistent comrade and an eloquent writer who represented rights of the working class in this country. "Eddie's entry into writing for the labour movement may have been perchance, but it seems he was just what the doctor ordered for workers. One of his strength was writing pieces that enabled the workers to pull in their muscle power to win negotiations issues.

He did not was abstract articles which were not relevant to the interest of the workers. He always wanted to strike the balance between interest of the workers and the broader issues of the community."

COSATU and NUMSA said Jayiya's death sent shock waves to the majority of the workers in this country. "Death is sometimes evil and cruel. We send our humble and deepest condolences to Eddie Jayiya's family," they said.

Wage strike heads for an "indefinite" period as talks gets fruitless …

The three-week-old wage strike by the 6000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) in the tyre and rubber manufacturing industry is set to continue "for an indefinite period" after employers' organisation, New Tyre Manufacturing Employers' Association (NTMEA), failed to meet the figure the union is demanding.

NTMEA could only make a wage increase of 7,5 percent, which is against the union's 10 percent demand.

NUMSA has vowed to call other unaffected workers in the industry on a sympathy strike. Said the union: "Workers have vowed to continue with the strike action until there are visible effects on the current primary employers.

The talks reached a cul-de-sac because employers were uncompassionate, mean and refused to move on the union's legitimate demands."

NUMSA said it was disappointed by the employers' union's behaviour in the negotiations - something that it says has created a distance in relations between the workers and the management.

"The union cannot be held hostage by tyre and rubber employers. We want to maintain our clean record of winning decent wages in the metal industry. The efficiency, competency and skills levels of tyre and rubber workers are beyond reach in the whole world. Therefore they must be remunerated better," said NUMSA.

The union said it was ridiculous that the NTMEA could not move from its offer in the light of credible motivations on the demands it submitted.

NUMSA also dismissed statements that the industry was not making enough profit saying it that was true; the industry would be bankrupt by now. "Employers are forgetting that workers are also consumers.

It is incumbent upon the employers not to treat the union with disregard on critical demands that can be met. The employers' body cannot appease shareholders at he expense of the sweating tyre and rubber workers.

Meanwhile, Defy Appliance Company strike in Durban, Ladysmith and East London by 3000 members of the union is entering its third week. The union is demanding five percent payment per year of service, which must be increased with the inflation rate.

The company is only offering one percent, which the union said was "fixed long time ago when the cent was still having purchasing power." The union said the strike would go on until the company accedes its demands.

"NUMSA is highly disturbed that the company invited the strike because they failed to change their remuneration policy to be in line with the current living standards.

" It is a disgrace for the company to have treated our members in such a harsh and insensitive manner," said the union. NUMSA said with the increase in living costs workers cannot afford company's current service allowance that does not increase with the inflation rate.

It also added that it was also disappointing that the company was not prepared to improve workers' living conditions despite changes in labour legislations.

"The actions by the employers are irresponsible. The current service is biased against workers and favours managers because their service allowance increased drastically with living standards. The duty of the company is to protect the rights of workers, not to denigrate them," said NUMSA.

The union vowed to "get rid of natural privileges of the management and fight for better conditions for all workers in the company."

THE WEEK IN BRIEF:

NUMSA threatens to call members for a solidarity strike

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) this week threatened to call its other 16 000 members in the rubber and tyre industry to embark on a solidarity strike with the 6000 already on strike over wages.

The union is demanding a wage hike of 10 percent against the company's increase of 7,5 percent.

Meanwhile, DaimlerChrysler, the car manufacturing company, has entered into agreement with the NUMSA to catch up on lost production before the end of this year. The workers have agreed to battle with the backlog on an overtime basis. The backlog is follows a three-week wage strike in the motor-manufacturing industry, which ended a week ago.

Mokaba to face the music

African National Congress (ANC) member of Parliament and National Executive Committee, Peter Mokaba, is facing disciplinary action following the statements he made in the City Press newspaper that the "there was no more political alliance".

Mokaba was referring the successful two-day nationwide strike by COSATU last week. However, Mokaba backtracked later during the week when he said that the ANC needed COSATU more than ever.

New electricity cuts study says it all

If electricity supply to townships is not subsidised by the government through something like a flat rate, the electricity supply system could soon be on the verge of collapse, according to the study by the Municipal Service Project on the Soweto power supply crisis.

The study, done in conjunction with the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, follows the recent winter power cuts in thousands of households in the area. COSATU's campaign against the privatisation of state assets, which includes Eskom, is continues.

Legal workers on strike…

One hundred out of 250 state attorneys are on their fifth day of the wage strike in the major cities in this country. The attorneys are demanding that their salary increment be in the same level with their counterparts in the private sector.

The union members have accused justice minister Penuel Maduna of failing to improve their living conditions. The workers are said to be taking 50 percent lower than their private sector counterparts. The legal workers, who reported for work on their first day of the strike, refused to work on cases.

Biggest strike looming in the public sector…

More than ten unions organising in the public sector in this country have threatened to embark in the biggest wage strike ever to be seen by the sector since 1999.

The unions, National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), South African Police Union (Sapu), Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru), SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), SA States and Allied Workers Union (Sasawu) and others said that they would embark on COSATU's nationwide strike if the government does not increase its wage offer of 5,5 percent.

The unions, whose services fall under essential category, are demanding nine percent wage increase - with the highest paid getting 7.5 percent.

The unions are also against the government's stance on a three-year negotiations framework with salary increments equivalent to the inflation rate on an annual basis. Said the unions: "We agree with a three-year salary negotiations framework in principle, but not the conditions attached.

We want to negotiate salary increments above inflation every year…we reject personal expenditure framework."

The unions further dismissed the government's excuse that it was on committed to the job creation programme and therefore it could not meet it demands. They said they regarded government's excuse as a "negotiations tactic to confuse issues and the public."

"All the unions believe that the government is playing a dangerous game by trying to make demands of the public servants against community interests and job creation.

A typical example of this divide and rule strategy is the public announcement of government's intention to create 20 000 jobs, suggesting that if public sector workers push for a living wage they are jeopardising the possible creation of new jobs," the unions said in their campaigns document.

The unions also questioned the government's sudden announcement of job creation, saying if it was really serious it would have raised it in the public sector job summit. "In the public sector job summit the government bluntly refused to commit itself to specific number of jobs to be created, in fact (it) even refused to adopt a theme that talked about job creation," said the unions.

They said they were totally against the 5,5 wage increase, which they said was aimed at exacerbating the apartheid wage gap.

The unions also said the government's offer would not address the flight of skilled personnel from the public service.

They said the experienced workers, who are also over also overworked but underpaid, are being taken by the private sector. "The majority of these are trained for years using tax payers' money.

The trend of powerful private sector serving fewer people growing at the expense of the public sector can be traced in all departments of education and other professionals," said unions.

Letters

COSATU Weekly believes that there are a variety of weekly developments that need to be discussed or raised to the attention of the readers and workers at large. If you have any compliments, queries or comments on the current issues, send us your brief letter to The Editor or fax it to (011) 339-7788. The newsletter can only publish a few letters a week.

Dear Editor

Dear Comrades,

SACP and COSATU remain people's voices as govt lose touch with the masses

I am young man from the Northern Province who is now self-employed in Pretoria. Whilst I belong to the privilege few that have a decent job, each time I go to the northern province I am shocked at the pace with which our communities are becoming impoverished as a result of the GEAR induced joblessness.

I am a former activist who became disillusioned due to the dishonesty and greed that has come to characterise most of our comrades.

I know many comrades who are as disillusioned as me. I don't have any doubt that COSATU's defence of the gains of our democracy will revive people like us. I am also surprised at the growing arrogance with which our comrades in govt are turning a blind eye on this tragic situation whilst they give themselves massive increases on their already fat salaries.

The govt also deems it fit to spend billions on arms whilst they throw a few million rands into poverty alleviation projects. I certainly don't need to lecture you on this subject since you are better informed than I am.

My appeal to you is to keep defending the interest of the poor and the working class who are being asked to make a sacrifice whilst the national elite and international capital plunder the resources of the country.

Lets make sure that we mobilise communities and broaden our base to counter the false accusation that COSATU is a narrow workerist federation. In the wake of the greed that has tempted most of our loyal comrades, COSATU and the SACP are the only forces that can defend the poor and struggling people of our country.

Lets go back to the selflessness that we used to serve our people with and stop selling out our nation in return for a fat salary and praises from the IMF and the World bank. These institutions bestow honour and glory to leaders who let children, mothers and fathers go hungry in the name of fiscal discipline.

In conclusion, let me assure you that the majority of South Africans are behind you despite the claims to the contrary by those who have lost touch with the masses. These people are deliberately misleading the nation that they are implementing Gear for the benefit of the nation whilst they know it is not the case.

VIVA COSATU !
RENDANI.

 

Dear Editor

Privatisation has failed internationally

I fully support your stand. Maybe more emphasis on experiences elsewhere would help your argument further:

• The increased electricity prices and "black-outs" in California that are caused by privatisation.

• The poorer performance of British Rail since it was privatised. Is not the government's push for privatisation also motivated by "globalisation"? If that is so, have you noted some really concrete proposals of "Attack" (started in France) to have governments control global turbo-capitalism?

I wish you success with your struggle.
Regards

Joachim Zimmer