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Numsa’s Bargaining Conference defending jobs for job creation

by Dumisa Ntuli, Numsa Information Officer

The theme of Numsa’s National Bargaining Conference, which took place from 8-10 April, was ‘In defence of jobs for job creation’.

The latest United Nations Human Development figures shows that more than two billion people in the world are currently unemployed. In South Africa, close to four million people are unemployed.

The conference resolved to defend workers‘ jobs in our sectors by tightening up existing collective agreements and legislation.

Shedding jobs

Adressing the delegates, Numsa president, Mtutuzeli Tom, said that Numsa sectors have been shedding jobs because :

• The economy only grew by 0,1% in 1998
• Private sector investment grew by less than 0,3% between 1997 and 1998
• There was an increase in the number of closures and bankruptcies, mainly as a result of privatisation
• In June 1998, there was sharp increase in interest rates.
• South African trade policy embraces trade liberalisation that goes beyond the degree required by its GATT agreement. There is a disaproportionate emphasis on the role of exports for long term economic growth.

Thousands of Numsa members have been retrenched in the last few years. Since 1995, the engineering sector has shed 12 600 jobs. This year alone, 2 300 workers have been retrenched.

In the same period, 4 600 workers were retrenched in the automobile assembly sector. Two thousand five hundred jobs are expected to be lost this year. Six thousand three hundred workers have lost their jobs in the automobile component sector, and 1 354 jobs were lost in the tyre manufacturing industry.In the motor sector 3 214 workers have retrenched in the last two years.

Wages

• The narrowing of the apartheid wage gap between grades.
• long term agreements in the motor and engineering sectors. These should be phased in by demanding a three-year agreement in this round of annual negotiations.
• Increases pegged to inflation, plus a differentiated improvement factor of not less than 2%.
• All increases to be based on actual rates of pay.
• Limited rounds of wage negotiations.

Employment Security

• A social plan.
• Retrenchment provisions must be amended to reflect negotiations, not consultation
• Employers must contribute 5 cents per member per hour to a Work Security Fund

Education and training

• A skills- based grading system.
• Massive commitment to literacy.
• Education and training must take place during working hours.
• Paid time off for ABET during working hours.

Outsourcing

• Outsourcing and restructuring should be a matter for negotiations and should not lead to job losses.
• Notice must be given to the union of any restructuring and negotiations must take place on work re-organisation.
• Six month‘s notice must be given of any technological changes and/or work re-organisation and the issue must be negotiated.

Job summit

• There should be a sectorial job summit to deal with job losses in the industry. The summit must be used to deliver a massive number of quality jobs.

HIV/AIDS

• Approach the pharmaceutical industry to reduce prices of medication.
• Sick pay fund to cover HIV/AIDS. There should be no loss of holiday pay and bonus in cases of full blown AIDS and other long-term illnesses.
• We bind employers to the law against unfair discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS.
• The abolition of discriminatory practices in medical aid schemes that limit the amount of benefit for HIV/AIDS patients. Employers must make an additional contribution to medical aid.

Labour Brokers and Independent Contractors

• Workers employed by brokers and contractors must enjoy the same benefits and conditions of employment as workers employed in the industry.
• The use of such agents must be prohibited unless by agreement with the union.

To-day is voting day, comrades. Get out your ID books, only the ones with the bar codes will do,
says cde Ezekiel Macu, Numsa full-time shop steward at Marley Tiles in Nigel.

Workers look suspiciously at him, then they see he is smiling, his eyes are twinkling and they begin to smile, to laugh and to gather around him to vote for their new shop stewards. He reads out the names of the people they have nominated to be shop stewards. Then he asks them to vote for the shop steward they want by raising their hands.

"It’s one man, one vote", he says, "so only vote once". "One person, one vote!", another corrects him.

Since February this year, Numsa members across the country have been voting for their new shop stewards. These shop stewards will hold office for the next three years until the year 2002.

In the past, shop steward elections have dragged on for months, sometimes only finishing towards the middle of the year. Officials, under pressure to do their normal work and to run the elections, have often put shop steward elections second on the list.

"35 days to rock the shopfloor"
Last year, Numsa decided on a strong campaign to try and change this situation. With posters, pamphlets and stickers, members were alerted to the campaign – ‘35 days to rock the shopfloor’.

Numsa President, cde Tom, urged them to ‘use the elections to enhance and revive the noble goal of worker control and democracy within our Union.’ They were also given advice on what kind of person they should elect as a shop steward, and the rules for elections.

The pamphlets also encouraged members to ‘elect someone who will take up women’s problems, who will be sensitive to and look after women’s interests. Elect a woman.’

More in the next Shopsteward on how successful this aspect of the campaign was!

Numsa locals were encouraged to set up election task teams composed of full-time shop stewards, local office bearers and, where possible, officials from the local. Wearing special Numsa election monitor bibs, these task teams have been going from factory to factory running the elections.

Incentive

Locals were also given an incentive to finish quickly ‘knowing workers’ weakness for ‘inyama’ and wanting as many people as possible to benefit, Numsa offered a prize of a sheep. This would go to each of the first small, medium and large locals that sent in their lists of shop stewards. As the Shopsteward went to print, one local was already claiming its sheep!

For Numsa, shop stewards are the key to its power and strength. But with that strength and power comes hard work. As cde Andrew Zulu, Numsa local organiser for Marley Tiles, advised newly elected shop stewards at that factory: "I hope I can count on you to attend all meetings, local shop steward councils and to represent your members. So don’t loaf!"?

The Job Creation Trust

Charley Lewis, coordinator of the March 3 campaign looks at organised labour’s Job Creation Trust.

Workers in their thousands in workplaces around the country pledged to contribute one day’s wages towards job creation on 3 March 1999. Since then many thousands more have signed stop orders or concluded collective agreements. Well over R5million has already been collected. Funds continue to pour in to the bank account of the Job Creation Trust (Standard Bank, Braamfontein Branch, Branch Code:48-05, Cheque Account No:20-261-413-1).

COSATU’s March CEC resolved to extend the campaign of contributions to the Job Creation Trust. The COSATU affiliates continue to conclude collective agreements to ensure that the 1,7 million members of the federation are able to make their contribution towards job creation.

Why the Job Creation Trust?

Unemployment in South Africa is a major long-standing structural crisis of epic proportions. The 1996 census has shown that more than one third of all South African adults do not have proper full-time jobs. And the situation has worsened since then, with 180 000 jobs having been lost in the last year alone. Unemployment levels are even worse for women, for the youth and for people living in the rural areas.

The effect of this is that huge numbers of our people continue to live in abject, grinding poverty. Thousands of households across the country do not know where their next meal will come from. The scourge of unemployment is one of the major factors underpinning high levels of crime, and allows the diseases of poverty – HIV/AIDS and TB – to run rampant.

COSATU has continually sought to put the unemployment crisis on the agenda, to develop detailed policy, and to engage both government and business community on concrete proposals. A key policy milestone in this regard was labour’s adoption of the policy document "Social Equity and Job Creation: the Key to a Stable Future".

Jobs Summit

In the run up to the Jobs Summit, COSATU again proposed that workers be urged to make a contribution from their own pockets to tackle the ongoing crisis of unemployment. At the Presidential Jobs Summit on 30 October 1998, following intense discussions in the constitutional structures of the three federations, the establishment of the Job Creation Trust was announced.

Workers were called on to make their contribution of one day’s wage to this fund.In short it is a call to anyone in the fortunate position of holding paid employment to make a contribution to creating jobs.

COSATU has also challenged business to demonstrate its commitment to creating jobs by donating a day’s profit to the Job Creation Fund. We are well aware that we are calling on workers to make a significant sacrifice. We are also aware that the contributions of workers on their own cannot solve a problem of this magnitude – unemployment remains rooted in the very structure of capitalist accumulation, and is closely tied to the entire apartheid legacy. However, the Federation believes that the Job Creation initiative can make a small but real difference to the millions without work, and can demonstrate that the problem of unemployment can be solved through the appropriate measures and with the proper political will.

Progress

Since the very first contribution of a day’s salary made by Comrade Madiba in February this year, over 800 workplaces and organisations have contributed the Job Creation Fund, which now stands at over R8million. Contributions have ranged from the R 2,7 million contributed by Communications Workers Union members at Telkom, down to individual donations as small as R7. Most of the COSATU affiliates, their officials and their investment companies, have made significant pledges.

However, with the exception of important individual donations from a few business persons, there is barely a single business that has contributed a day’s profit to the fund. Our challenge to the bosses therefore remains: show us that you care for something more than just your profits, that you too are prepared to do something about creating jobs!

Much more work still needs to be done by the COSATU affiliates and structures. We set ourselves a target of raising the R100million. It is clear that in the majority of workplaces contributions have still not been agreed, made and paid over. Each and every COSATU structure needs to ensure that every last one of their members has pledged and made a contribution to job creation. It’s still not too late to make that contribution – but time is running out....

One Day’s Wages

Many workers are still unsure as to precisely how their contributions should be calculated. Let us again clarify:

• the call is for workers to contribute the equivalent of one day’s wage;
• one day’s wage is the basic rate of pay for time worked and does not include overtime, allowances or bonuses;
• the contribution should also be calculated on an after tax basis.

A number of creative ways have been adopted by some affiliates to facilitate the contribution of their members and to lessen the impact on their pockets. Some of these include:

• spreading the deduction over several months;
• cashing in a day’s leave;
• making the contribution from wage settlement back pay.

How Workers Can Contribute

Where possible, affiliates have been encouraged to arrange the contribution of their members through collective agreement, at the level of either Bargaining Council, Employer Body or Individual Employer. Where it is not possible to reach a collective agreement (either where this is blocked by reactionary unions or where there is no recognition agreement) the pre-printed Individual Stop Order form should be used. This form should also be used to mobilise individual employees who fall outside a collective agreement to also make a contribution.

In all cases, union officials should ensure two things:

• that the employer actually deposits the contribution into the bank account of the Job Creation Trust – some unscrupulous employers may attempt to pocket or divert the workers’ contributions;
• that the original deposit slip is posted to the Trust at Box 2973, Johannesburg, 2000 – two thirds of contributions received to date cannot be reconciled because this has not been done.

Finally, individual members of the public are encouraged to make personal donations by sending their cheque to the Job Creation Trust.

COSATU can assure all union members and the public at large that all monies received will be properly accounted for. We have secured the services of SANLAM to oversee the collection of the funds, and our auditors, Deloitte & Touche, will ensure both transparency and accountability.

Job Creation Projects

The Board of 12 Trustees appointed by organised labour will be tasked with ensuring both the proper administration of funds collected, and their effective use for job creation projects.

The Trustees are: Rev Mvemelwano Dandala (Head, South African Council of Churches), John Gomomo (President, COSATU), Rabbi Cyril Harris (Chief Rabbi of S A), William Madisha (President, SADTU), Mary Malete (President, FEDUSA), Joseph Maqhekeni (Vice President, NACTU), Petrus Mashishi (President, SAMWU), Rev Beyers Naude (Prominent Theologian), Amon Ntuli (President, SACTWU), Albertina Sisulu (MP, ANC), Mahlomula Skosana (Assistant General Secretary, NACTU), Andre Venter (Vice President, FEDUSA).

It will be the duty of these Trustees to ensure that contributions raised from workers, from business and from the general public, are properly and effectively applied to job creation projects throughout South Africa. Such projects will target inter alia the following sectors:

• youth and youth brigades;
• women and the rural poor;
• literacy and health education programmes, including HIV / AIDS programmes.
• Together with the Development Bank of Southern Africa, a detailed project implementation framework is being developed.

You can still contribute to Job Creation

March 3 may have come and gone – but it’s still not to late for you and your union structure to contribute to Job Creation. Speak to your union or shop steward today. Make sure that you too play your part in tackling the scourge of unemployment. Make a difference – join us in working to create jobs!

Why should Workers vote for the ANC on the 2nd June 1999 general elections

The COSATU CEC took a decision to send a letter to workers explainung the federations
reasons for asking all workers and their families to vote for the ANC. Below is the abridged
version of the letter sent by the CEC.

Dear COSATU member and all workers and their families

In any election which takes place in the middle of a very difficult transitional period, it is easy for people to forget what is at stake. It is easy for workers to forget that, as members of a working class they have particular interests, which cannot be served by all political parties.

COSATU’s past National Congresses called on all members and workers to vote the ANC into power in 1994 and return it with an overwhelming majority in the 2nd June 1999 elections.

Many outside the ranks of COSATU have asked questions about this. Why must workers vote ANC? Why are we not sensitive to the fact that in COSATU there are thousands of workers who do not belong to the ANC? The list of questions goes on and on.

COSATU knows that within its membership there are thousands of IFP, NP, DP, PAC, AZAPO, Freedom Front and UDM members. These members are most welcome in COSATU. Unlike a political party that only has members that believe in certain policies, COSATU is a trade union uniting all workers so that they can primarily and collectively improve their wages, working conditions and defend their jobs. Below we attempt to answer all these questions in the most frank and factual manner.

The 1994 elections were largely about realising the dream of ridding South Africa of a system that has been declared a "crime against humanity" by the United Nations. It was also about winning a type of freedom that will make a real difference to the lives of ordinary workers and the poor. The RDP, which is the brainchild of COSATU, represents that vision. So, based on all of this we asked workers and their families to vote for the ANC.

We are again asking workers to vote ANC in 1999, because we strongly believe that only the ANC has the interest of workers at heart; only the ANC is capable of winning the elections and forming a government that can continue changing our country. Only the ANC has fought, in the face of hard opposition in parliament, for the advancement and protection of workers rights.

This is because it is only the ANC that has an unquestionable track record of being a reliable ally of workers movements since its inception in 1912. Whilst it is a fact that many formations contributed to the struggle for liberation there can be no doubt that the struggle was led by the ANC and its alliance partners.

Record of ANC achievements in improving the rights and protections of South Africa’s workers

We have a host of victories to celebrate under the ANC government. These include:

Constitution

The ANC has ensured that for the first time workers enjoy the following constitutional guarantees:

• The right to fair labour practices
• The right to form and job trade unions, strike and picket
• The right to conclude union security agreements such as closed and agency shop
• The right to collective bargaining
• The ANC-led Alliance blocked the inclusion of a lock-out clause in the Constitution
• The constitution also contains other rights that are important to workers, for instance the right to water, housing and other socio economic rights, the right to access information, accountability of public enterprises and procurement policy for social objectives.

Labour Relations Act

• Through your valiant efforts the working class of this country is proud to boast one of the most progressive Labour Relations Act in the world. This legislation benefits workers in that it:
• Strengthens the organisational rights of workers and their trade unions and protects workers in legal strikes
• Promotes centralised bargaining and therefore unity of workers into powerful industrial unions
• Covers all workers including historically excluded public service workers, farm and domestic workers
• Curtails arbitrary action by employers. The CCMA has had a 65% success in resolving disputes
• Gives the Federation a right to take up socio economic strikes during which workers cannot be disciplined for their participation
• Gives workers a right to take solidarity action

Basic Conditions of Employment Act

In addition to this, you have also ensured there is a new floor of minimum rights in terms of working conditions for workers as outlined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. This Act will radically improve the working conditions of millions of South African workers, particularly the vulnerable workers such as farm and domestic workers who don’t have strong unions to protect their rights.:

• For the first time domestic and farm workers are covered by law affecting their working conditions
• Child labour (children under 15) and forced labour are banned
• Those working overtime receive increased overtime pay and "time and a half" rather than "time and a third"
• Annual leave is increased to 21 days with increased family responsibility leave
• Ordinary working hours are reduced to a 45 hour week with the objective of eventually reducing it to a 40 hour working week (this is very significant for security and domestic workers who now work up to 60 hours per week)
• Four months maternity leave is guaranteed and mechanisms are being put in place to ensure that those who contribute to the UIF will receive some level of payment during the period of their maternity leave
• Bosses have to give a notice period of four weeks if they intend to terminate the employment of workers who have been working for them for one year or longer. This also applies to domestic and farm workers who have been employed for fours weeks or longer
• Workers now have a right to severance pay of one week per completely year of service
• The Employment Conditions Commission is set up to advice the Minister on determination of minimum wages for vulnerable workers especially

These are not the only laws that will benefit workers. There is also the Employment Equity Act, Skills Development Act, legislation around Health and Safety, etc. In addition to this there is the Presidential Jobs Summit held last year which has set up measures to create and protect our jobs and build South African industries. It is significant that we acknowledge these victories and pay tribute to the ANC for its role in bringing about fundamental working class changes.

Despite COSATU’s well recorded criticism of the inability of the Government’s macro-economic policy (GEAR) to stem the scourge of unemployment and to deal with rampaging retrenchments and factory closures which has resulted in job losses; despite our unhappiness about the level of crime and corruption in government, private sector and society in general, this ANC government has on most fronts delivered and in some cases gone beyond our expectations.

Do these changes not represent fundamental transformation?

Despite all these monumental changes to improve our lives it easy to find people claiming that there has been no changes or even people who say that it was better in "Pharaoh times back in Egypt". It is these people with short memories who, when they say these things, are normally in town in the early hours of the morning. They forget that only few years ago they would be arrested as blacks if they were found in town after a certain time. They make these claims from flats rented from the middle of cities, where they would have been arrested in the recent past. They say these things whilst swimming or using amenities that they would be arrested for using only ten years ago. Only a young fellow who never came face to face with apartheid can make such claims. If this is an elderly person saying so, such a person needs to be taken for treatment as they are suffering from amnesia.

The question is – can there be any other political organisation that can deliver better or more than the ANC has done in the last five years?

We are convinced that none of the current opposition parties are capable of matching or improving this ANC record.

The other question that workers should ask is – are we prepared to risk losing all our rights as workers by voting for other parties that we like more than the ANC?

The answer to that question is NO! Any worker whose actions are directed by facts and self interest and not by emotions and perceptions will vote ANC come 2nd June 1999.

Only the ANC has a clear track record in the struggle for the liberation of the majority from the yoke of
apartheid oppression; only the ANC has begun to change the lives of the poor. Only the ANC and
its allies has a detailed plan – the RDP – to change our lives for the better.