Volume 11, No.2 - June - August 2002

 

From factory workers to Technikon graduates
Grootvlei, the bigger picture - the workers view
New labour laws hailed on all sides

From factory workers to Technikon graduates

By Rachel Visser, SACTWU Media Officer

Sactwu is proud to announce that 8 workers from the clothing industry graduated at Peninsula Technikon (Pentech) in March this year. The students, all women, are union members at companies in the Western Cape Region. They were assisted by the union and Woolworths through the Duty Credit Certificate Training Scheme (DCC).

After 3 years of intensive studies at Pentech, Emma Sias (Bibbette), Karen Herman (Sweet Orr & Lybro), Shirley Petersen (Peter Blond), Shahieda Abdol (Elzet Clothing), Santie Cloete (Jacques Hau), Eleanor Adams (Junior Flair), Nicole Williams (Cape Underwear) and Abieda Abrahams (Elzet Clothing) received their Diplomas in National Clothing Management.

Four of the eight students received their diplomas Cum Laude. They are Karen Herman, Shirley Petersen, Abieda Abrahams and Elenor Adams.
A selection panel from Sactwu, Woolworths and the Technikon has chosen the students. "The main objective of this training programme has been to take selected workers from the factories and train them as technologists, so that they can move into supervisory and management positions in the future, said a Woolworths representative.

"This is a deliberate effort to bring new management into the factories to replace technical management who are close to retirement, so that the global competitiveness of the industry can be handled with modern thinking. This is especially important as the students chosen are representative of the talent available at worker level in the factories," he said. This process will however take time and will be closely monitored by the union, said SACTWU's Deputy General Secretary, Andre Kriel.

For most of these workers promotion came soon after they completed their studies. Cum Laude recipients, Abieda Abrahams, who was promoted into a more senior position recently, started her career as a cleaner. Within the first year she became a learner machinist. Her employer saw her potential and moved her on probation, into a supervisory position. Today after completing her studies, she is based in work-study.

Abieda grew up in Bonteheuwel and matriculated at Belgravia High School. "My parents are both unemployed. I desperately wanted to further my education but circumstances forced me to go to work. This sponsorship was an opportunity I grabbed with both hands," she said.

"I can't thanked the sponsors of this bursary enough," says Shirley Petersen. "The course has been very exciting, educative and has opened several doors for me," she says. Shirley has also been promoted from a factory clerk to a Merchandise Planner. "Hard work, commitment and the will to come out tops did it for me," she said.

Karen Herman kick-started her career as a machinist. "I always believed in self-promotion," she says. After about two years as a machinist, she moved to the work-study department and was soon promoted to the wage department. "Education is important. I wanted to learn more but never had the opportunity or finances to take my studies further. I am very thankful towards the sponsors, for granting us the opportunity to further develop our skills," she said.

The top student Elenor Adams unfortunately became the victim of globalisation. Junior Flair has recently closed its door forever.

"All eight SACTWU members have made the union proud. Not only have they overcome severe personal difficulties during their studies, but they have also emerged as the top students in their field of study," said Andre. "Their achievement shows that ordinary workers are able to rise to the highest challenge of academic studies by drawing on their practical working experiences," he said.

 


Grootvlei, the bigger picture - the workers view

By Alfred Tshabalala, POPCRU Communications Unit

The Police & Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) has been dismayed but not surprised by the developments which recently took place in the Grootvlei prison, Bloemfontein.
Our view is that the video cassette shown on national television Special Assignment programme was necessary, and served to open the eyes of the public to the extent to which the Department of Correctional Services is perpetually failing to transform prison life in South Africa.

We therefore are able to speak with confidence that similar incidences of bribery, corruption, juvenile sex, alcohol and drug trafficking could still be taking place in other prisons in South Africa.
Therefore, what happened in Grootvlei in our view was not just another isolated incident but a reflection of the broad national picture.

What is more appalling is that the incident stands against the background of a Department that is continuously privatising its core functions to private companies instead of focusing on improving the quality of the current livelihoods of inmates.
To date two private prisons have opened doors in Louis Trichardt and Mangaung. Our opposition to privatization of prisons and other public services has been well documented.

Furthermore, we believe that apart from prisons being agencies which provide safe and secure custody for those in our society who break the law, an important role which prisons exist for is to provide inmates with effective rehabilitation services like care, education and reorientation. There should be no prisons without this service.
We further strongly believe that all correctional workers, including those who are not our members, should uphold these high ethical principles without reservation.

Part of the ethos embedded in our democracy and constitution is an underlying assumption that the state, through its servants (in this case correctional workers) is the principal guardian of the rights and obligations of prisoners, including young offenders or juvenile prisoners.
In our view what happened in Grootvlei Prison stands against all this. In fact there is huge possibility that this could even escalate if the lives of our prisoners are to be wholesaled to private prison owners through privatisation.

However, without mincing our words, it has to be said that correctional officers are workers too, with rights, families, obligations and responsibilities. This is why for the majority of correctional officers, prison is not just a place of confinement but primarily a workplace just like any other, where employees sell their labour to the employer for a wage.
It could therefore still be argued that conditions in South African prisons today have become unbearable, not only for inmates who are serving their sentences, but also to warders who are suppose to look after them. What is forgotten is that our members are expected to outperform themselves under the same conditions displayed in the Special Assignment programme.

The recent debates in the mainstream media after the programme was shown have all missed an opportunity to make a frank and honest appreciation of the frustrations and vulnerabilities which warders face on a day-to-day basis in their interaction with offenders and their employers.
One of the striking truths about prison is that some warders engage in unethical dealings with offenders simply to supplement their incomes. Wrong as this is practice is, we believe that the public need to be made to understand the other side of prison life from the perspective of the worker.

A typical warder is often overstressed, underpaid and unprotected from diseases like HIV/AIDS. This is not to generalise or to defend the actions of the warders involved in the Grootvlei case, as we have unreservedly condemned their actions, but demonstrates the frustrations faced by the ordinary warders in South African prisons today.
The vulnerability and frustrations of these ordinary workers is likely to play itself out in the way the Special Assignment programme of 18 June showed.

The challenge for the department is to try and make prisons safer and secure, not only for prisoners but also for prison warders as well. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act should be adhered to fully in our prisons. A motivated prison workforce will play a much more useful role in the rehabilitation of prisoners. For this to happen, general working and confinement conditions need to be improved for the better.

Contrary to the reactionary remarks uttered on the same programme by a certain Advocate Braun, POPCRU is wholeheartedly committed to rooting out corruption in the department and in the public service as whole.


New labour laws hailed on all sides

By Moloto Mothapo

Not always does a meal made out of contradicting ingredients become so tasty. But, hard as it is to believe, the recipe for the much-disputed labour law amendment came out of the oven just fine. COSATU said it was a feast worth celebrating, Business South Africa (BSA) called it a success and the Department of Labour found it just, efficient and significant.
The three institutions officially endorsed the new amendments, which came into force from 1 August, after a series of long deliberations at the Millennium Labour Council and the National Economic Development and Labour Council, and a study tour to Geneva to grasp some relevant international trends.

Speaking at the launch ceremony, COSATU's general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, called it a celebration of both the labour laws themselves and the process that led to the final product.
He said it was a sign of their commitment that for the first time labour and business went out and looked at labour laws in other countries and found that most other countries had similar requirements on retrenchments, transfers and basic conditions.

"The process of developing these amendments demonstrated that the myth about inflexible labour laws has been spread by those who want to turn the clock back to apartheid. In those days, employers could hire, fire and punish African workers at will. That situation undermined economic growth, productivity and equity in our country for decades, and certainly cannot be re-instated here.

"The agreement of labour, business and government on these labour law amendments proves that fact. These amendments also prove that negotiations can produce important results. Yes, they require time, effort, resources from all the parties, as well as patience and goodwill. No one ever said they were easy. But they can ensure practical solutions around which all the stakeholders can mobilise for economic and social progress".
He added that the amendments represented an important extension in the rights and protections of ordinary workers in the country, including:

The General Secretary pointed out that while celebrating these achievements, it was equally important that parties reflect on the way forward. He urged the government to implement the agreement that organised labour had with it on Insolvency Act. The parties previously agreed that labour courts must guarantee that there is really no alternative when a company closes its doors.

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said the key objective of the new labour law was to promote labour market efficiencies as well as developing and protecting decent labour standards. He stressed the amendments were extremely significant for workers and employers and were a testament to the success of constructive social dialogue engaged in by these sectors.

"Our laws provide for opportunities to dialogue and find agreement without resorting to acrimonious exchanges and hostile posturing; and for this reason I would appeal to parties to any industrial dispute to talk and talks until a resolution is found," he said.
From BSA, Nic van Vuuren said the process of formulating the law was hectic, his organisation was happy that the process had come to an end and it was going to make sure the new amended law becomes a success with regard to implementation.

"Business acknowledges that there have been some positive introductions but wish to point that they were introduced as part of the compromises that were reached along the negotiating process. We acknowledge that most of the amendments formed the basis of consensus," he said.