Karan Strike Beef - Statement 02 - 11 - 06

Karan Beef strike

Media statement – 2 November 2006

Solidarity action considered – Minister must act!

COSATU in Gauteng Province and SACCAWU are calling on the Minister of Labour to intervene urgently to bring an end to the long, bitter and at times bloody strike by workers employed by Karan Beef - 400 in Heidelberg, plus 320 in City Deep and Balfour. They are also considering calling for secondary strike action by SACCAWU members employed in Shoprite checkers and Pick’n Pay.

The strike began on 28 July 2006 over demands for increased wages and better working conditions. Negotiations had started in September 2005, but after several meetings failed to reach agreement, the union declared a dispute and referred it to the CCMA in December.

The company however refused to attend the CCMA meeting. The CCMA then issued a certificate that the matter was unresolved and gave the union the right to strike. The union declared its intention to strike on 9 June 2006, but this was suspended when the management requested a meeting. This was held on 12 June but it did not resolve the dispute and the strike began. Since then the employer has refused to meet the union, has employed scab labour and dismissed 187 workers who joined SACCAWU during the dispute but whose membership the company did not process.

The strike has dragged on for more than three months.

Meanwhile, between 23 August 2006 and 18 September 2006, certain members of Heidelberg SAPS, in collusion with Karan Beef’s senior members of security (George Booker and Putseletso), harassed workers at their homes in the Ratanda township, Heidelberg. Workers were subjected to verbal and physical abuse in their own homes at nighttime. They subsequently attempted to open cases of abuse and assault but in vain, as some police officers were not cooperative and helpful. Workers have deposed affidavits to that effect.

As a result one of the workers - Ephraim Mvulane - was brutally shot at many times by the police, after the windows and doors of his home had been broken on the night of 18 September 2006. He later died on 20 September 2006.

We appreciate the intervention by Firoz Cachalia, Gauteng Safety and Security MEC, on the role of police and security guards in this dispute, and urge him to complete his investigation as quickly as possible.

The COSATU/ANC/SACP alliance in Gauteng has declared its full support for the strike and called upon both the CCMA and Department of Labour to intervene under Section 150 of the Labour Relations Act to bring the parties to the negotiating table.

They are also calling for a boycott of all the company’s products, for the community of Balfour and Heidelberg to support the workers’ struggle and for the Proudly South African Campaign to withdraw the awards they have previously given to this company, which clearly does not comply with the PSA’s commitment to fair labour relations.

COSATU and SACCAWU are now consulting with union members in Shoprite Checkers and Pick’n Pay with a view to organising secondary strike action in solidarity with the Karan Beef strikers.

Some of the union’s demands include:

The removal of all scab labour
Reinstatement of all dismissed workers
12 percent increase only for employees earning above R2000
Minimum wage of R2000
End racism and discrimination in the company
End to brutality by police and security companies
A union recognition agreement
Transport arrangement for night shift employees
Employees’ provident fund to be that of SACCAWU
And end to casualisation
To register the company's security guards so that they comply with the labour laws

The unions want to achieve a negotiated settlement but the workers are determined to fight on until their just and reasonable demands are met.

For more information please contact the COSATU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, Siphiwe Mgcina, on 082 465 8336

An injury to one is an injury to all!