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1.Jobs & Poverty Campaign
COSATU is now mobilising our members, the working class and the broader
community in a campaign of action that will focus attention on the
national catastrophe of unemployment and poverty.
The special CEC meeting on 3 May finalised plans for the next phase
of the Jobs and Poverty Campaign. We are organising the following actions
to support our demands, and urge all our members to attend:
1. Lunch-hour demonstrations organised on Tuesday, 9 May, by the manufacturing
unions; on Thursday, 11 May, by the public sector unions; and on Tuesday,
16 May, by the mining, construction and private services unions. These
demonstrations will be used to highlight issues around the WTO. On
May 11, we will organise demonstrations outside the U.S. and E.U. embassies
and consulates in Pretoria, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, together
with the rest of progressive civil society.
2. On 18 May COSATU will hold a general strike to support our demands
in the Jobs and Poverty Campaign. Workers will march to employers,
government departments, and the embassies of the U.S. and E.U. countries.
3. After the national strike until COSATU's National Congress on 18
September, our locals will hold demonstrations against companies that
abuse workers.
The COSATU CEC scheduled for 22 May 2006 and the COSATU National Congress
in September will evaluate the campaign and decide the way forward.
Out key demands are:
1. The creation of decent, well-paid and secure jobs on a mass scale.
Employers must stop casualising and outsourcing jobs in their endless
effort to cut pay and conditions. Retailers must develop local production
rather than looking to imports. The government must do more to drive
a development strategy that creates decent work on a mass scale. It
must act urgently against the speculative capital inflows that are
driving up the rand and devastating our export industries, at the cost
of tens of thousands of jobs. We strongly oppose any rise in interest
rates, which will have a negative impact on job creation and retention
2. The government must fulfil its promises to provide public works
on a massive scale, so that unemployed people have a chance to contribute
to their communities and earn a living.
3. Our young people and workers must have equal access to education
and skills. Even now, 12 years after we won democracy, Africans make
up only about half of university students. Too many of our children
must try to learn without textbooks or decent buildings. Moreover,
every community, not just the leafy suburbs, must get decent government
services like education, health and policing. These services must be
provided affordably, without cut offs or evictions for those who cannot
pay.
4. We must mobilise to stop the E.U. and the U.S. from pushing through
tariff reductions and privatisation of services through negotiations
at the WTO.
5. Employers must end racist and gender abuse in the workplace, as
well as discrimination against people infected and affected by HIV.
In the recent COSATU survey, one in seven black workers said they experienced
racial abuse on the job
Economic growth in recent years has benefited mostly the rich, leaving
workers to face high unemployment and low pay. In the past four years,
the economy has generated only just over half the number of decent
jobs needed to reach the ASGI-SA goal of halving unemployment by 2014.
Each year, 350 000 jobs earning over R1000 a month were created. But
600 000 jobs a year were needed to reach government's target.
Public servants suffer poor working conditions, often with very heavy
workloads and responsibilities. In the parastatals, privatisation of
'non-core' businesses continues to eat away at service delivery, employment
conditions and public assets.
The Jobs and Poverty Campaign will also support our members in specific
disputes with their bosses. These disputes include:
1. Restructuring at Transnet, with privatisation and outsourcing affecting
workers and the parastatal's ability to meet developmental objectives.
2. Our dispute over the establishment of REDS in electricity, which
has proceeded in ways that will undermine electrification, make the
industry more inefficient and inequitable, and impose job losses.
3. Disputes between local government and SAMWU, which centre on the
union's organisational rights and privatisation.
4. The dispute between Woolworths and SACCAWU over wages and working
conditions
5. Our demands, spearheaded by FAWU, that farm workers be freed of
abusive employment conditions, poor pay and job insecurity.
6. Disputes between the auto and motor industry and NUMSA disputes,
including the threatened retrenchments at Ford.
2. WTO agreement on
NAMA and services
COSATU is now mobilising our members, the working
class and the broader community in a campaign of action that will
focus attention on the national catastrophe of unemployment and poverty.
The special CEC meeting on 3 May finalised plans for the next phase
of the Jobs and Poverty Campaign. We are organising the following
actions to support our demands, and urge all our members to attend:
1. Lunch-hour demonstrations organised on Tuesday,
9 May, by the
manufacturing unions; on Thursday, 11 May, by the public sector
unions;
and on Tuesday, 16 May, by the mining, construction and private
services
unions.
These demonstrations will be used to highlight issues
around the WTO. On May 11, we will organise demonstrations outside
the
U.S. and E.U. embassies and consulates in Pretoria, Durban, Johannesburg
and Cape Town, together with the rest of progressive civil
society.
2. On 18 May COSATU will hold a general strike to support our demands
in the Jobs and Poverty Campaign. Workers will march to employers,
government departments, and the embassies of the U.S. and E.U. countries.
3. After the national strike until COSATU's National Congress on
18 September, our locals will hold demonstrations against companies
that abuse workers.
The COSATU CEC scheduled for 22 May 2006 and the COSATU National
Congress in September will evaluate the campaign and decide the way
forward.
Out key demands are:
1. The creation of decent, well-paid and secure jobs on a mass scale.
Employers must stop casualising and outsourcing jobs in their endless
effort to cut pay and conditions. Retailers must develop local production
rather than looking to imports. The government must do more to drive
a development strategy that creates decent work on a mass scale.
It must act urgently against the speculative capital inflows that
are driving up the rand and devastating our export industries, at
the cost of tens of thousands of jobs. We strongly oppose any rise
in interest rates, which will have a negative impact on job creation
and retention
2. The government must fulfil its promises to provide public works
on a massive scale, so that unemployed people have a chance to contribute
to their communities and earn a living.
3. Our young people and workers must have equal access to education
and skills. Even now, 12 years after we won democracy, Africans make
up only about half of university students. Too many of our children
must try to learn without textbooks or decent buildings. Moreover,
every community, not just the leafy suburbs, must get decent government
services like education, health and policing. These services must
be provided affordably, without cut offs or evictions for those who
cannot pay.
4. We must mobilise to stop the E.U. and the U.S. from pushing through
tariff reductions and privatisation of services through negotiations
at the WTO.
5. Employers must end racist and gender abuse in the workplace,
as well as discrimination against people infected and affected by
HIV. In the recent COSATU survey, one in seven black workers said
they experienced racial abuse on the job
Economic growth in recent years has benefited mostly the rich, leaving
workers to face high unemployment and low pay. In the past four years,
the economy has generated only just over half the number of decent
jobs needed to reach the ASGI-SA goal of halving unemployment by
2014. Each year, 350 000 jobs earning over R1000 a month were created.
But 600 000 jobs a year were needed to reach government's target.
Public servants suffer poor working conditions, often with very
heavy workloads and responsibilities. In the parastatals, privatisation
of 'non-core' businesses continues to eat away at service delivery,
employment conditions and public assets.
The Jobs and Poverty Campaign will also support our members in specific
disputes with their bosses. These disputes include:
1. Restructuring at Transnet, with privatisation and outsourcing
affecting workers and the parastatal's ability to meet developmental
objectives.
2. Our dispute over the establishment of REDS in electricity, which
has proceeded in ways that will undermine electrification, make the
industry more inefficient and inequitable, and impose job losses.
3. Disputes between local government and SAMWU, which centre on
the union's organisational rights and privatisation.
4. The dispute between Woolworths and SACCAWU over wages and working
conditions
5. Our demands, spearheaded by FAWU, that farm workers be freed
of abusive employment conditions, poor pay and job insecurity.
6. Disputes between the auto and motor industry and NUMSA disputes,
including the threatened retrenchments at Ford.
3.Solidarity with the private
security workers strike
The CEC expressed its 100% support for the strike
by security guards. Theses workers are underpaid and ruthlessly
exploited. More than half earn under R1500 a month, most have no
benefits and many only impermanent jobs, while they face danger
every day. The industry is one of the most conservative, exploitative
and backward, right after farm and domestic work.
The CEC noted that the employers are still refusing to negotiate,
despite pleas from the union, the CCMA and the Department of Labour.
It is clear that they are trying to break SATAWU. Yet SATAWU is
by far the largest union in the industry, with 35 000 members.
In contrast, the 14 unions that signed the agreement have only
25 000 members - a clear minority.
We learnt with appreciation that the CCMA is convening such a
meeting on the 5 May 2006. COSATU will attend the meeting together
with its affiliates in order to ensure that a resolution is found.
We call on the employers to attend and to ensure that the dispute
is settled in a manner that improves the workers' conditions.
It is obvious that the employers in the industry are trying to
wreck the workers' organisation rather than to solve the many problems
the industry faces. Their actions go against the spirit of the
new labour laws, which support organisation by workers and seek
constructive settlements to overcome the apartheid legacy in the
workplace.
We appreciate the demand by the Minister of Labour that the employers
return to negotiations, and his finding that he cannot extend an
agreement that has been rejected by the majority union. Following
discussions with COSATU, he has realised that it is the employers,
not SATAWU, who refuse to negotiate.
The CEC condemned the incidents of violence which have been associated
with the strike, although we recognise that many were not committed
by strikers. COSATU has always insisted that all its actions be
disciplined, peaceful and lawful. We unreservedly condemn the disruption
and assault of other workers in Cape Town's Good Hope centre during
May Day.
In some cases, union members were provoked by untransformed elements
within the police. At the same time, we recognise that most of
the police are members of COSATU themselves and do not want a conflict
with strikers. We call for the isolation of those reactionary elements
in the police that still want to treat striking members and demonstrations
the way they did before 1994. In contrast, many members of SAPS,
particularly union members, go out of their way to avoid unnecessary
confrontation and to bridge the gap with union members.
Still, it is important to lay the blame where it ultimately belongs.
Vicious and intransigent employer tactics have led to anger and
frustration amongst security guards, undermining their discipline
in some cases.
Only solidarity from the labour movement and the community will
break the logjam and force the employers back to the negotiations
table. Therefore:
1. COSATU will immediately establish strike committees to coordinate
solidarity actions at all levels of our organisation.
2. Our affiliates will organise pickets, demonstrations and marches,
starting immediately, against employer associations and companies.
3. The security companies say that their customers will not meet
the cost of decent salaries for the guards who risk their lives
to ensure their safety. We call on customers to demand instead
that the security companies negotiate in good faith and seek to
upgrade conditions in the industry.
4. Every union will communicate directly with the security companies
to demand that they improve conditions for their workers, starting
by negotiating with SATAWU.
5. We will start a mass campaign to call and write the companies
to get them back to the negotiations table.
4. Update on SATAWU action
"The revolutionary struggle in the security sector is a legitimate
and just one aimed at correcting the grave imbalances that pertain
in the security sector between employer and employee" says
SATAWU.
"It is a strike that seeks to underscore the call by labour,
especially SATAWU that the industrial space belongs not to one
class of people, but to both workers, managers and directors. It
is a struggle that highlights the extent of the frustration our
comrades face in the security sector, where there is rampant use
of unfair labour practice, abuse of illegal immigrants, use of
unskilled labour and where the voice of the employer is the alpha
and the omega while the employee is treated as just an optional
extra in the production line.
"Justified as our action in the security sector maybe however,
we as SATAWU cannot afford to sit back and not condemn the action
of the last couple of weeks, where violence and intimidation have
characterized our protest actions. We are well aware that many
elements join in our actions for the purpose of furthering their
own criminal ends. We believe that this is precisely where our
test of character should prevail, where we should be able to apprehend
whoever is doing that and hand them over to the police.
"We hereby call on our members to do that as a matter of
urgency so that we leave nobody in any doubt that criminals and
counter revolutionary elements are being used to taint our image
and to further protract this dispute.
"We are aware also of some cases of extreme provocation that
our members are subjected to, especially by the state police. However
even in the face of all this, we wish to call for restraint.
"Comrades, if we do not heed this call, this just struggle
faces the ominous risk of going down in history as one that alienated
labour from the general populace. We can not afford to do that
because our struggle is not just a SATAWU struggle or a security
sector struggle but it is part of the bigger struggle for social
transformation. We must not forget that we hold our democratic
principles very dear. Those principles, among other things, value
and embrace diversity of opinion, for it is in the multiplicity
of opinions that the best opinions emerge.
"Over the past weekend, we called together a meeting of shop
stewards in Gauteng and in this meeting the shop stewards made
a commitment to ensuring that our action retains its peaceful and
focused character. We were assured by this layer of our leadership
that unruly elements will be weeded out and discipline will be
maintained at all times.
"The death of six commuters: We distance ourselves from these
deaths. Allegations principally from the media, which attempted
to link these deaths to the security action and to SATAWU per se,
have never been proven even after two weeks of intensive work by
the police.
"May Day in Cape Town: With regards to yesterday's protests
in Cape Town, we continue to get conflicting reports from eye witnesses
about how things transpired and as leadership we will formulate
a position on it after we have assessed all the reports we are
getting.
"Friday's March in Durban: Workers belonging to SATAWU staged
a sit in at the department of Labour. Police we called to remove
them and in the process police fired rubber bullets. In the commotion
that ensued, property was damaged. Three of our members were injured
and taken to hospital. They have since been discharged. Nine others
were arrested and were released on bail on Sunday evening.
"Mdladlana's call for return to the table: SATAWU welcomes
the minister's call for both parties to return to the negotiations.
In the interest of progress, we believe that employers need to
reconsider their attitude towards the talks and make themselves
available for negotiations so that there could be finality on this
matter.
"We should make it clear however that we are disappointed
that the minister's call came so late. We may urge him to be more
responsive in future and not wait till an action is already at
crisis point. Nevertheless we believe that it will add impetus
to our call for the employers to return to the negotiating table.
"Police Commissioner: During Friday's meeting between SATAWU
leadership and Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the issue of
police brutality and their bias was discussed extensively. While
the two parties differed in some respects, the Commissioner agreed
that as head of an institution in charge of the safety and security
of people and property, he was going to convene a meeting between
SATAWU and the employers to further urge them to find a solution
to the matter. The meeting is set for this Friday.
"CCMA: The CCMA has called SATAWU and the employers back
to negotiations to explore ways of settling the current impasse
in the security sector. A letter from the CCMA was received by
both parties late this afternoon. The meeting is set of 10am on
Friday at the CCMA offices in Johannesburg.
"Earlier the CCMA recorded their own frustration in not being
able to make any headway in convincing employers to return to the
negotiations. They recognize the importance of negotiations and
are willing to mediate and assist in finding closure to the matter,
but there is no cooperation from the employers.
"Finally we wish to reiterate calls to the employers that
have been already made by the minister and the CCMA to consider
returning to the negotiations. We are ready and willing to meet
them, but the strike itself continues.
"Street protests and marches in aid of the current security
dispute have not been suspended, they will resume countrywide as
soon as the SATAWU regions get the requisite permits from municipal
authorities to hold such marches in the country's major centres.
The recent lull was mainly because our programme of action for
April culminated in a national action set for last Wednesday (April
26). A new programme is being finalized and regional leaders will
advise us of their actions in due course."
5. FAWU condemns arrest
and assault of members
About 30 workers of Tydstroom in Klipheuwel, Durbanville
were arrested while they were on a protected strike. Workers allege
that the police started shooting them with rubber bullets and even
assaulted two females. "One police officer even pressed a
gun in my face", said Karel Hendricks, a shop steward at the
company. We condemn this callous and heavy -handed police conduct
and the police brutality that is reminiscent of the apartheid days.
"Equally," says FAWU, "we condemn Tydstroom Chicken
Farm for their intransigence in shifting to the reckless and irresponsible
stance of demanding that our members should work on weekends and
public holidays on a compulsory basis. The union's plans in mobilizing
members working for the rest of Pioneer Foods group of companies
(i.e. divisions and subsidiaries) are at an advance stage. The
strike may take place before COSATU's manufacturing strike on the
9 May 2006 or service strike on 18 May 2006.
"Police have detained our members and one official at the
Durbanville police station on charges of public violence, assault
and intimidation. The union plans to press counter charges."
6. Tiger Milling refuse
to accept FAWU memorandum
Hundreds of FAWU members, supporters from the Alliance
and community members joined a march on Thursday 4 May
in Randfontein, in protest against Tiger Milling's union
bashing techniques. The march continued despite the company's
belief that it was illegal.
The company made calls to the union to call off the march
and refused to release our members for two hours to participate
in the march. It seems as if the company is not interested
to resolve the issues amicably. They refused to receive
a memorandum listing workers' complaints, further adding
to workers' frustration about the company's dirty -handed
tactics.
"Our Members complain that the company is victimising
shop stewards and turning workers against each other," says
FAWU. "Two shop stewards and three of our members
were suspended in November last year for participating
in industrial action against the company's Employment Equity
Act and large scale casualisation among workers. The union
believes this is union bashing and prohibits the right
to freedom of association. This also leads to workers living
in fear of being victimized. Workers have raised a wide
range of complaints against the company, which includes
allegations of corruption, nepotism and racial discrimination."
The union views the escalating trends of casualisation
at the company as inhumane and a form of exploitation of
workers. "Our members are fed up with management's
abuse of power and aims to highlight the plight of these
workers. We want to expose Tiger Milling for the capitalistic
slave driver it is!"
7.DA's criticism
of police service shake-up is misguided
POPCRU has reiterated its support of the shake-up
in the SAPS. "We share the view that the decentralisation
of the specialised units will serve the purpose of ensuring that
the public can have direct access to members of the SAPS who
provide specialised services.
"We are disappointed but not surprised that the Democratic
Alliance has decided to slam this much needed process. Their
criticism is misguided and creates an impression that they
have an agenda to ensure that these specialised services are
not put to better use but remain an enclave of untransformable
elements of a particular racial group, which has enjoyed privileges
of the past at the expense of the majority.
"Instead of supporting the efforts to bring services
closer to where they are needed, the DA decides to behave like
an overgrown political cry-baby. For goodness sake, opposition
should learn to familiarise itself with facts about the actual
needs of our people and resist the temptation to fire cheap
shot that only make the DA appear like chumps before the eyes
of the world. We call on all responsible organisations and
members of the broader society to support the restructuring
process in the SAPS and shun the shenanigans of irresponsible
opposition.
8.Why SADTU is boycotting
the signing ceremony/ press conference
SADTU has refused to take part
in the press conference called by the Minister of Education
- Naledi Pandor -to celebrate the signing of agreements between
the teacher unions and the employer. In a statement they say:
There is nothing wrong with the agreements - in fact they
are good for teachers and good for education:
-
-
The first agreement refers to the grading
of educational institutions which will result in improved
salaries for some
of our principals, whose work was previously
undervalued.
7 The second agreement is on career pathing and provides
for accelerated pay progression for teachers. Most important
is the creation of a new category of Master Teacher at Post
Level One (principal level). This allows our best teachers
to remain teachers and yet to still advance their careers
without becoming principals or full-time administrators in
the education bureaucracy. These Master Teachers will rather
be used to train, support and mentor other less experienced
teachers. This is a major breakthrough for which SADTU has
consistently pushed.
We believe these agreements will help rebuild teacher morale
and contribute to improving the quality of education.
Our concern is with the unwarranted delays on the side of
the employer. In fact the agreements were signed by the teacher
unions on March 16th - nearly two months ago. The highly
publicized signing by the Minister tomorrow is a formality.
What concerns us is that the delay in signing from the side
of the employer means that implementation of these urgently
awaited agreements is also then delayed.
But it gets worse: final implementation will be carried
out by the nine provincial education departments - and experience
tells us that there will be further delays to come.
Finally, SADTU cannot take part in a joint press conference
with the Minister whilst the current dispute over IQMS (Integrated
Quality Management System) and the 1% pay progression for
2005 remains unresolved. The dispute arose when the employer
attempted to renege on a previous agreement to pay 1% salary
progression in July last year.
Negotiations have taken place this year to resolve the dispute
and a settlement agreement has been crafted by the parties.
One problem: You guessed it - the employer's representatives
still don't have a mandate to sign the agreement.
SADTU is the largest union in the public service representing
nearly two-thirds of teachers with a membership of 230,000.
9.Sanitary pads finally
arrive in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is pleased to announce
that on Saturday 22 April, it took delivery of the sanitary pads
that were donated to Zimbabwean women workers by sympathetic
friends from abroad.
The delivery of the pads came after an appeal by the ZCTU through
the Women Advisory Council (WAC), to its friends, after realizing
the non affordability of this commodity in the country, with
reports of close to 5 million women resorting to using old newspapers
or rags, while those in the rural areas are using soft fibre
from tree bucks as a substitution which may cause infection.
The delivery came after concerted effort by some people to block
the entry of the pads on what we believe were political grounds.
While politicians claimed that the sanitary pads were affordable,
our research has shown us that this is not the case.
As the economic crisis deepens, basic goods like these sanitary
products are becoming a luxury item only available to the rich.
While millions of Zimbabwean women are doing without sanitary
pads, the government refused to exempt the ZCTU from paying duty
on the consignment.
The consignment was stuck in South Africa for days as the government
stated the ZCTU has either to pay duty or let other 'charitable'
organizations or the Department of Social Welfare distribute
the sanitary towels. The ZCTU had to pay duty of $1.7 billion
on the sanitary pads.
The ZCTU hopes to distribute the 19 tonnes of sanitary pads
throw its structures. These are the Women's Advisory Council,
Regional Women's Advisory Council, and women structures of affiliate
unions. The sanitary towels will also be distributed through
the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations (ZCIEA).
The ZCTU wishes to thank all those who have donated and urges
them to continue donating more pads to assist fellow working
class women and Zimbabwean women in general, who have been affected
by this humanitarian crisis. It is the ZCTU's hope that our friends
will continue donating these products in the future.
The ZCTU organised Workers Day commemorations in 20 centres
throughout the country.
10.Merriam Reed
The COSATU CEC expressed its solidarity with the family of Merriam
Reed, a worker tragically killed when she fell off a moving bus
as the workers were returning from a May Day rally in De Aar.
Comrade Merriam Reed came from Britstown.
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