This week... COSATU sends dondolences to the USA SAMWU slams "mismanagements" at the iGoli 2002 SATAWU on the privatisation of the transport sector   Letters | Write to us | Back Issues In other news...

Baleni Tourism Association receives R750 000 to create jobs in the North

A representative of the Baleni Tourism Association receives the first check of 750 000 from the trustees of the Job Creation Trust at a function on Saturday.

Job Creation Trust (JCT) trustees have, for the first time since the launch of the fund, presented a cheque to the first project in the Northern Province.

The Baleni Tourism Association near Giyani became the trust's first recipient of R750 000 at a function in the region.

The function was attended by the leadership of COSATU, National Council of Trade Unions, Federation of Democratic Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), government officials and members of the media.

The tourism association said it would use the funding, among others,

to build over-night accommodation and facilities for selling handicrafts and works of arts, as well as developing a hot water spring and a saltpan.Said the trust about their impression of the project: "This traditional riverbank village is set in magnificent scenery.

The provincial tourism board has already started developing the site aspart of the Ivory Trail and the area around the village has been declared a national heritage site."

 

COSATU sends condolences to America

COSATU this week expressed its condolences to what the international community has described as an "international terrorist attack" on the United States of America (USA).

Two main institutions in the powerful in New York, the twin World Trade Centre (WTC) building and the part of the Pentagon, the military base of the country, were this week demolished by three hijacked airplanes.

"We condemn the attacks, using hijacked planes, on buildings in New York and Washington. All peace-loving people will be shocked and outraged at such senseless mass murder."
The federation said that there could be no conceivable political justification for such acts. "The federation sends its condolences to all those who have lost love ones and wishes all those injured a full and speedy recovery," said COSATU.

COSATU general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, who was in America when the attacks happened, said no cause could be served through indiscriminate attacks on unarmed ordinary citizens.

In a letter written to the president of the merged American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) immediately after the attack, the general secretary said it was COSATU's wish that the same could not happen again.

"We have not heard of such absolute madness happening at this scale before and we are simply shocked. You must however know that COSATU and its two million members and indeed all South African workers and people are with you and the entire 13 million members of the AFL-CIO at this difficult moment…we send our deep condolences to families of the victims of this senseless act of extreme terrorism," said Vavi.

A hunt for the attackers is continuing with the American president vowing for a harsh retaliation to the culprits and supporting governments.

 

Samwu slams iGoli 2002 mismanagement

The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) this week launched a scathing attack on the system of operation within the iGoli 2002 company, which is under privatisation.

This comes after the controversial suspension of the company's director, Similo Dingaan, on allegations of misusing the company's credit card. It is alleged Dingaan has been receiving R100 000 in salary payment for the past three months while "not doing any work."

Samwu labelled the company's massive R540 000 annual salary payment to its four directors in Pick-It-Up, its waste management group, a "colossal waste of money".

"This is more than many City and Town Managers are being paid to run entire towns. It shows clearly that local governments have absolutely no control over the companies they privatise to, despite describing these company as 'public private partnerships'."

On the reasons for Dingaan's suspension, the public sector union said it was a disgrace that the already overpaid "fat cat directors" are getting company credit cards for personal spending. "Samwu continues to be disgusted that Pick-It-Up employs casual workers on about R30-per-day, which is less than third of the maximum wage R1900 per month that municipal employees earn," said the union.

Samwu blamed the mismanagements in the company on its corporatisation saying it epitomises the failure of privatisation.

"The so-called efficient private sector management who were supposed to turn Johannesburg's waste management around are fighting amongst themselves, exploiting workers who are forced to do hazardous work, and are clearly incapable of doing anything expect awarding themselves huge payouts for very little, if any work," said Samwu.

 

Transport sector privatisation - the devil lies in the detail

By Randall Howard, general secretary & Jane Barrett, policy and research officer

SATAWU's experience in the transport sector demonstrates the fact that in the national dispute over privatisation, the devil lies in the detail.

Our public sector transport members are located in Transnet's divisions, the Airports Company (ACSA) and in the provincial bus parastatals. These members have in combination experienced every form of privatisation e.g.

• 100% sale of three Transnet operations (Production House, Protocon and Chemical Services)
• Part-sale of SAA, Airchefs, ACSA, and some provincial bus parastatals.
• Outsourcing and subcontracting on a large scale in Transmed, Propnet, Apron Services, SAA Technical, SAA, and Metrorail.
• Competitive tendering in the bus industry - affecting private companies, parastatals and municipal services alike.

In addition the government has announced its intention to concessioning port operations, and concessioning is the officially preferred option of government for parts of the railway system (though the latter is currently under review).

Substantial internal restructuring has also taken place within each of the Transnet divisions.

SATAWU has consistently voiced its opposition to the privatisations and to some of the internal restructuring. But we have not shied away from engagement. A high proportion of the union's human and other resources have been tied up in exhausting and exhaustive processes of engagement.

The most recent engagement has been around government's intentions to concession the profitable bulk freight operations of the rail system.

From the start, it was our view that such "cherry picking" was neither necessary or desirable from the point of view of investment or financial sustainability. We also argued that it would put pressure on Spoornet to further radically reduce its workforce and to cut services.

Lengthy engagement involving labour, government and management has produced evidence that has conclusively proved our case. The jury is still out however, on whether government will make the right decision.

The results:

After five years of engagement, we can see that we have been able to influence a few important processes. Rail passenger transport as well as general freight services are likely to remain in state hands and the ACSA IPO has been delayed These developments are of course welcomed by us. But the bigger picture is not a happy one.

The Transnet group has shed some 50,000 jobs since 1994, with the biggest reduction in Spoornet. Superficially these job losses cannot all be linked to privatisation. However we do not see privatisation as a single event. Privatisation is a process which includes commercialisation and efficiency measures, most of which precede formal privatisation, in order to prepare for sell-off. This is where the link between restructuring and privatisation lies.

Some argue that where outsourcing has resulted in job losses the figures are balanced by the creation of jobs in the private sector. However, when outsourcing occurs, fewer workers are always required. Satawu estimates the number of jobs transferred from Transnet to the private sector to be a maximum of 3,000. The overall net job loss is therefore around 47,000.

The provincial bus parastatals have also reduced their services and retrenched at least 2,500 as a result of the introduction of competitive tendering combined, in some instances, with part sale. A maximum of 400 new jobs at lower pay have been created in the private sector.

Those workers who have been transferred to the private sector have invariably had to accept radical reductions in conditions of service. For example, outsourced cleaners earn R1200 a month, with no benefits. This is not a living wage.

Another example of reduced conditions of service lies in Transnet's subsidiary Transwerk. When cross-funding of the company's Pretoria foundry ended and the business was about to go under, workers were retrenched and re-hired at lower rates, no benefits, and with short-term contracts.

The worst cases of reduced conditions are in the bus industry. In order to secure contracts in the competitive tendering system, employers have cut wages and benefits. The wages of large numbers of experienced, committed and long-serving bus drivers have been reduced from R5800 per month plus benefits, to R2200 with much reduced benefits. As a result drivers are leaving the industry in their droves. The industry cannot survive this exodus, especially when our society needs a reliable, people centred and safe public transport service.

Skills are also being lost in other areas of the transport sector. Transnet has historically been an important source of skills development for the country. South Africa is known to have a pool of the best railway and civil aviation engineering skills in the world.

Historically this role was racially skewed, but the opportunity to redress this imbalance is now being undermined by privatisation. The most extreme example is to be found in SAA Technical. Under Coleman Andrews the Big Jet engine shop of SAA Technical was closed down and its services outsourced to GEC in the US. South Africa has effectively closed down the only Jet Engineering training and service facility available to Africa. Now repairs and maintenance take time, require complicated logistics and a drain on local currency resources.

Union resources have been consumed in the defence of workers' living standards in the face the privatisation process. There has been little time or capacity left over for labour, government or management to engage in serious debate about a long-term vision for the transport sector that embraces economic growth, improved transport efficiencies, and job creation. Instead, there is mood that is conflictual, and which has left workers angry and managers demoralised.

Why has the STOP sign gone up now?

What we are saying now is consistent with what we and our Federation have said about privatisation all along. The consequences are now there for everyone to see. The wider context of growing unemployment and poverty is plainer than ever. So we are saying to government STOP. Let's take stock and revisit economic policy as well as the detail of restructuring.

This is not an argument for maintaining the status quo in the public sector and state owned enterprises. Our members are acutely aware of the need for improved service delivery. In Spoornet our members have been at the forefront of developing proposals for improved efficiency . Our argument is for locating change in a wider context, and about making sure that the benefits of change within the public sector are not outweighed by the costs pushed onto the nation as a whole.

These costs can be measured through tangible indicators such as job losses, reduced consumption, and increased poverty. There are also some transport-specific issues to be costed, such as increased road maintenance and environmental costs if volumes of rail freight are reduced as a consequence of privatisation. There are also less quantifiable social costs linked to growing demoralisation and political cynicism. Our new democracy doesn't need this - it needs hope more than ever.

A Way Forward after the moratorium

First, there must be a re-engagement on government's overall economic and social policy framework, with specific reference to Gear. Industrial growth strategies, infrastructure development, land redistribution, social welfare policies, the promotion of collective capital, mass literacy needs, and the response to HIV/AIDS must be at the centre of this re-engagement.

This engagement will inform the success of failure of engagement on the detail of privatisation itself. We are talking of an engagement between equals, where all can feel included and heard, and where the result is a common commitment to democratic restructuring.

Second, there must be sector-based engagements on a socio-economic vision. The Jobs Summit processes form part of this, but are not sufficient in themselves. It is extraordinary, for example, that much of the restructuring and privatisation of Transnet's subsidiaries has taken place before any engagement on the future role of Transnet as a transport group.

Third, there must be a process of prioritising sectors and businesses or services within sectors that urgently require change. At the moment there appears to be an obsession with "fixing" things that are not broken.

Every single state owned enterprise or service is being subjected to change - very often hastily thought out and not achievable. Very often these changes appear to be ideologically driven, as if no alternative exists. Increased instability in service delivery is the result.

Finally there should be debate on the processes of engagement. The National Framework Agreement needs urgent and critical review. It is a badly written and inadequate document that does not give proper direction at enterprise level or government level.

Then there are some process issues directly related to the role and functioning of the Department of Public Enterprises. These include whether the DPE has the right level of expertise and/or capacity to lead processes, its relationship with sectoral departments of government, its relationship to the management and boards of the state owned enterprises, and last but not least, its reliance on consultants. In our experience there are serious weaknesses in all of these areas.

The national dispute has created the opportunity to seriously reflect on these matters. All parties owe it to the people of South Africa to address these issues constructively, and before the last train leaves the poor and unemployed behind.

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