Volume 9, No.4 - October 2000
United and Strong
LETTERS
Dear Comrades
It is very interesting to see that our laws are starting to be used to protect workers, as mentioned in your July issue about the comrade that won his case against SAA.
It is, however, sad that whilst we as the Government (assuming that it is a Government of the people) are claiming to be concerned about the welfare of our people, especially the economically active where HIV/Aids is concerned, we are not doing the right thing.
We claim to be concerned about the housing problem facing our country,yet we continue to allow banks and insurance companies to discriminate against people who are HIV positive. Statistics have shown that the epidemic exists mainly amongst the youth. These are people that have just entered the work environment or about to start working.
It was very sad to me to find out that banks and insurance companies insist on them taking HIV tests before they can be granted bonds and they are refused policies based on their HIV status. They can therefore not be granted bonds because they don't have life policies.
This Comrades, is blatant discrimination and something needs to be done. The country cannot rid itself of the housing problem if this income-earning part of our society is being infringed of their rights to proper housing. The larger part of this community can afford proper houses; some of them even have housing subsidies.
I may be ignorant but I have never heard our unions speaking out on this issue nor have I heard the Government's views on this. Whilst we are sitting in proper houses where we can raise our children in a safe environment, we must not forget of our younger colleagues that are not enjoying the same rights.
Please can we see some action as we still need to fight for the ultimate liberation of the proletariat. Yours in the struggle. Tumi Komane
Dear Comrades
Will you please help me on issues that concern us as workers. I have worked for the past seventeen years for Clover SA in Upington. My concern if that since I started in the warehouse as controller for + 13 years I was never promoted to a management position. Only a few white guys whom I had trained in the warehouse were promoted to this position and I remain the assistant.
E.g. one white guy started as a truck assistant driver and in the space of seven years he was promoted four times. The last time was in 1999, when he was promoted as a warehouse manager and me still a controller under him just because I am black.
In this company whites are working in offices and blacks not, it matters not your qualifications. Toilets are used separately; this is a problem because if you are in the offices and you want to use a toilet you must go out of the offices to use the blacks' toilets.
Since the manager started with Clover in Upington he had already dismissed 14 workers for alleged charges and all cases have been referred to the CCMA but in vain. The last time was on 17 March 2000 when he dismissed six warehouse personnel and this case has been referred to the CCMA.
This manager's position was vacant since August last year but he still has the right to dismiss union members. He is no longer a manager because he had done what he had promised us and now he does private jobs in the same company. This company is now busy doing business with casuals who are underpaid. (Whites are permanent and blacks are casual.) Viva COSATU Viva C Kazi, Upington An injury to one is an injury to all!
Firstly, let me thank all the COSATU National Office Bearers for a job well done. Whilst your sit-in at the Nedlac offices was seen as a waste of time and an irresponsible act by the manipulated Malamulele group, to us, the workers of this country, it was the right (if not the only) thing to do.It was also necessary and it drummed sense into the other role players. We have observed two disturbing acts by our government, at least starting from last year.
- The government acted irresponsibly, as an employer, during wage negotiations with the public-sector unions. This happened just on the eve of the 2 June 1999 national elections.
- The latest issue is the 'proposed' amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act (LRA). This is happening yet again on the eve of local government elections.
Whilst this may be presented as an innocent gesture, it raises questions as to why should the ANC in government antagonise labour (with particular reference to COSATU) in this fashion on the eve of processes of national importance. We are raising thee observations because they fly in the face of the strategic discussions within the alliance. The same goes for the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy.
What aggravates the situation is that notion that "the government is there to govern", as if we are not a reality. The ANC in government must realise that we have a strategic alliance with the ANC (outside government) wherein all policy issues should be discussed by partners. Last year, in the COSATU Special National Congress, the Minister of Defence, Comrade Mosiuoa Lekota, made an accusation to the effect that: "COSATU must stop criticising the ANC in public. Instead we must discuss our differences in the alliance structures.
" The technicality here is that the alliance meetings do not sit as regularly as they should. Given such a state of affairs, where then must COSATU criticise the ANC in government?
On 10 May 2000, workers in their thousands stayed away from work, demonstrating at the government's tortoise pace in addressing Section 189 of the LRA and other demands that were raised by COSATU.
This demonstration was an act of confirming our mandate to the COSATU leadership that we will never accept a situation where our gains that were achieved through blood, tears and sweat are delivered in a silver platter to the employers. We are prepared to fight (and die if need be).
The proposed amendments by the Minister of Labour are not accepted, as they are of neo-liberal nature and that is precisely why business was so happy with same. Policies that are tailored in the bureaucratic and business circles are dangerous, as they do not advance the struggle of workers in this country and further remove the RDP from the transformation agenda.
We voted, first time in 1994, because the organisation of our choice promised that there would be security, clean water, house, jobs, etc.
Whilst the government has gone a long way in meeting those promises by providing people with clean water, houses and electricity, it has taken (and continues to do so) away all that with its ill-considered policies like GEAR.
The issue here is that people do not have jobs and service delivery is slow and hesitant. People do not eat 'fancy' policies. Education transformation is questionable and the people are still toiling in the wake of abject poverty.
Employers have gone on a rampage in dismissing workers, using the very Section 189 of the LRA. Yet our minister is giving them more powers with the amendment of the two acts mentioned above. Did we hear somebody saying he is the former SADTU President?
The dignity and respect of many mothers and fathers has been taken away because they are unemployed and as a result can no longer support their families. What does democracy mean to these families? As rightly indicated by SACCAWU (putting it mildly): "This has left a sour taste in our mouths.
" We cannot agree or accept the neo-liberal argument that to achieve global competitiveness it requires unpopular and tough decisions that consultative processes cannot deliver. We see the attitude of government as an open challenge to labour and confirm our readiness. We are prepared to demonstrate our anger and unleash our collective strength.
This is obviously in line with the comment of Comrade Madiba when he said to the 1997 COSATU Congress: "If any government does to you what the apartheid regime did, you must do to it what you did to that government." Now is the time! NB The above was written in our personal capacity Lucas Ramatlhodi and Sonwabo Shibane, SACCAWU Western Transvaal
Dear Editor s
The two COSATU affiliates' congresses, namely NUMSA and SAMWU, gave us all the picture of not only what the people are saying concerning the hardship they are experiencing but the mood of the working class and the poor people of our country. It indicates that dissatisfaction has emerged in these two congresses. This we cannot afford to ignore.
But the point of departure, we must support the ANC in the local government election unconditionally but not uncritically. I think it is high time now that the leaders and particularly the government listen to the working class and the poor of this country and not underestimate the voice of wisdom of SACP and COSATU of calling the alliance to vigorously examine and evaluate the alliance's impact on all current processes without delay, so that the main immediate contradictions and differences can be identified and characterised. It is a known fact that the central problem faced by our people is the unemployment that continues to plague our people and social inequality and poverty which deepens day by day.
Also the notion that says the ANC should not lead the alliance is like changing horces whilst you cross the river. That is a childish and emotional view which is very dangerous and in a way it has an element of shifting responsibility on charging and engaging the ANC and the government with responsibility and calling them to be accountable and subject to recall when things go wrong.
The Vietnamese leader, Le Duan, described an alliance as a unity of opposites. The classes and strata which come together in a front of struggle usually have difference long-term interests and often even contradictory expectations from the immediate phase… It follows that an alliance can only be created if these diverse forces are prepared to enter into a compromise, and can survive and flourish if it is governed by a democratic relationship between groupings which have come together.
He went further and said that when a front is created, the working class does not just melt into it; it does not abandon its independent class objectives or independent class organisation. On the contrary, the strengthening of workers' independent mass and vanguard structures is even more imperative in periods demanding organised relations with other class forces.
Finally, in my little contribution and comments, it needs to be stressed that if we are to have impact, we need to improve our style of operating, jerk up our organisation's work, prioritise on building the cadres who will be able to capture the forces at work and apply the correct strategies and tactics in a concrete situation.
We must vigorously engage ourselves in the current debate on the development and economic path of our country. The working class and the poor expect the alliance to give direction and so it must, because it has the mission of taking the poor from the poverty line to the bread line, to deliver of affordable services to the doors of the working class and the poor, both urban and rural. And it has to create the jobs for the unemployed. Thobile Maso, SAMWU This is a personal view
Dear Sir/Madam
It was on Sunday 15 October 1995 when I started working for Power Force Security. I was working night shifts, working hours from 6 pm to 6 am, that makes up to 12 hours. The rate per night shift is R10.
I worked until the month end. When it comes to pay day they refused to pay me. Instead they promised the next month end. The boss of the security company never gave me respect. Every month end he would tell stories to me. He never gave me money; every time he shouted at me when it was a pay day.
I worked for the company until 5 June 1997. That is when I was kicked off from the security company without being given all my money. All I was treated like a slave. My rights as a worker were not recognised or respected by the company. I need your help, simply because I want my money back to me.
I worked hard for those powers. I am still unemployed! Hurry, act now! Yours faithfully Ntsikelelo Dwentsula, Dimbaza
I would like to bring the above matter to the attention of Cosatu and hope that the matter will be followed up. I have been informed from sources at Sun City, in particular the time-share section, of how badly the staff are treated there.
Furthermore, according to the staff, they are not permitted to join unions who could attend to their grievances. Apparently there is a white woman who even hits her staff and speaks to them as if they are animals! I can't believe that in the spirit of all the positive changes that South Africa has experienced in recent years that a place like Sun City can exercise such unfair labour practices.
I therefore sincerely hope that this matter will be followed up at least for the sake of the workers at Sun City and without repercussions for the workers who have to work under these appalling conditions. Yours sincerely. Ms Schultz
First and foremost I want to thank you comrades for responding to my call (in Shopsteward 9.2) which was very urgent! And Comrade Senzo of SACTWU Pinetown Outer West Branch, for siding with me through this process.
My employer, Finlan Textiles, have thus far tried me with two disciplinary hearings and suspended me for two weeks with no pay, demoted me from stores supervisory position and created division amongst staff and against me.
During my suspension staff were intimidated and victimised about joining SACTWU and removed from their positions and sent around working at different workstations. All because I formed the union and enrolled some more members so that we can exercise our freedom of affiliation.
But our alleged right-wing, capitalist and socialist oppressors, Finlan Textiles, are still living in the apartheid era. They feel they are indispensable, but once and for all something has to be done before it is too late.
They are trying every dirty trick to make my life a misery, to dissolve the whole issue and bow down to their alleged apartheid dirty tricks. But I as an activist, a comrade, went through it all in the past apartheid era, so what is the difference? I'm not going to bow down to these apartheid dogs.
Where do I go from here? Probably by the next time I write a letter I will have been fired or demoted with half my salary deducted. Does Finlan Textiles have the right to infringe my and our rights in this day and age? Do I need to pay a price for freedom? Viva COSATU, Viva ANC! Viva SACTWU! Thank you, Comrade Harry Singh, Mayville, Durban
Dear Sir,
I worked for Eskom in the period 4 February 1982 to 30 October 1990. Baas Trompie Tereblanche terminated my services on 30 October 1990 without giving me any notice. When I asked reasons for this I was told I could only work until the end of the week.
I then reported this to NUM in May1997 but Baas Tereblanche failed to produce my file, saying it is lost. NUM only told me my case would be held in Bloemfontein. Up to now I have not had any response from anybody.
Now I am appealing to COSATU to help me on this matter. My only concern is that I was not given notice period. Yours J. Mofokeng Namahadi, Fronkfort Viva COSATU, Viva!
Thank you for allowing non Congress participants an opportunity of a bird's eye view of the Congress on e-TV. My union (SAMWU) has communicated this to us and we have managed to secure a TV and time-off to watch some proceedings of this historic Congress. We would like to have copies of Cdes Blade Nzimande, Pres.Mbeki and, most importantly, Cde Madisha's speeches.
One would also like to subscribe to the Shopsteward to be kept updated with developments in the Federation.
Once again thank you for the opportunity.
D.J. Tlhoaele, by email
