KwaZulu Natal union educators, COSATU's Sphelele Zuma and Numsa's Woody Aroun, spoke to president John Gomomo about his visit to the region
Can you tell us about your mission to KwaZulu-Natal?
My mission here is to lay the basis for our Autumn Offensive campaign, which will run for the whole of April. We sat down as the Cosatu office bearers to look at our organisation. Is it growing or is it not? The ILO has shown that, for the last 12 years, Cosatu is the fastest growing federation in the world, despite retrenchments, despite the economic downturn.
But our initial policy of forming one federation in the country, and one union, one industry, has not been fulfilled. There are some weaknesses in the organisation. For example, affiliates in some sectors are not rendering proper services to our members. Maybe as a result of the transition, we are overstretched and there is a lack of capacity to take up the challenges. But slowly we are trying to close ranks to make sure that we meet the needs of our members. that's why we have embarked on this campaign - to build organisation. But it is going to be an ongoing thing every April, from now up to the 7th Congress in the year 2000.
Have all the Cosatu NOBs been deployed?
All worker office bearers have been deployed from 2 March in various provinces. This is the first phase to lay the basis for the campaign. I will also be deployed in other provinces. In the last two weeks of March I am going to concentrate in the Eastern Cape, specifically in Transkei. In April we will be going flat out in each province, along with our affiliates' national leadership, former Cosatu members now in parliament, and some cabinet ministers.
What do you expect from shopstewards and organisers in taking up the campaign?
I expect all Cosatu affiliates to commit themselves and to go to the factories, shops, mines, farms and the public sector and speak to the bosses to release the shopstewards to be a part of this campaign. But that does not suggest that all shopstewards should leave the workers problems unattended. They have to take a group of shopstewards out and leave others to take care of workers' problems inside the factory.
We expect the affiliates to provide financial resources to be utilised for hall hires, travel, accommodation and all those things. We have set up a team in the national structure which is meeting on a daily basis for coordinating purposes. We want the affiliates to commit themselves in all their structures to provide pamphlets and stickers so that in all factories people are aware of this campaign. We are expecting locals and regions to also set up coordinating committees on this campaign. I was at Isithebe two days ago and they have already done this, before I came there. They have appointed three workers from each affiliate to form a coordinating team for this campaign.
Cosatu appears to be well organised in the urban industrialised areas, yet a major part of KwaZulu-Natal is rural. Do you plan to target these rural areas as part of the recruitment drive?
Many of the workers who work in the factories, shops and mines live in the rural areas. They provide a base for us to go to those areas. A worker who is working in the factory is the cornerstone and the pillar of our drive. When he or she goes home, that worker must be able to articulate the position of our organisation to his or her family.
I also see a combination of the MPs and cabinet ministers going to such areas. This could be another strategy to recruit more members to the Alliance structures.
What is the role of our Alliance partners in the Autumn Offensive campaign?
We want our Alliance partners to help recruit members into Cosatu, because they are our allies. They will also recruit members of the ANC and the SACP. When parliament is in recess or closed, some MPs are on holiday, they don't always come to the community and this is an opportunity for them to tell the community what the government has done from 1994 up to now.
In your address at the Numsa regional congress here, you spoke about the failure to implement national congress resolutions. Can you elaborate?
Many resolutions adopted at our 1994 congress were not implemented, for example, the one on socialism. We were just "sloganising" socialism. We know that capitalism does not serve the interests of the working people at all. Now we want to make sure that we implement all the resolutions of our 1997 congress. We will be having some workshops with our shopstewards with the cooperation of our affiliates, etc.
There is also the question of developing leadership skills and many other resolutions on building the organisation. It is a big task for us all to do that. We have set up our three-year plan. Each year we must be able to reach our target. We have always been saying that. But it has never been achieved. That is why we want to enforce the implementation of all our last congress resolutions.
Are affiliates taking the gender resolutions seriously? What is to be done?
That is a good question. I went to a Fawu workshop on the very first day I arrived here. I was challenged by a female comrade who said that Fawu does not take the issue of gender seriously. It is not only Fawu. I blame us all Ñ the shopstewards and everybody, because affiliates also have gender resolutions. COSATU's position is clear Ñ each affiliate should form a gender desk and employ a person permanently to coordinate gender issues. In all our structures, in factories, shops and mines, we must encourage our comrades to speak to their employers to release women comrades to attend meetings and we must ensure that whenever we are electing leadership we must not overlook the female comrades operating in these structures.
Can you outline the areas that are central to the recruitment campaign and building organisation?
The eight areas we need to concentrate on are: recruitment; servicing membership; rebuilding regions; rebuilding locals; developing leadership with a specific focus on women; assistance to affiliates, especially the less organised ones; self-sufficiency and building effective administration.
There is a lack of training for organisers and some organisers are weak. Will this affect the campaign?
If we put our heads together in each locality and province, we can identify those weak organisers that have not been trained by their affiliates. It is the responsibility of all of us in the federation to help one another, to set up some workshops on how to go about it. We must go to the education departments of all affiliates and bring them down from the clouds to face the consequences. I am going back to the national structure to highlight all these weaknesses and our coordinating team of the federation must address all these problems in the process of this campaign.
Will poaching amongst affiliates affect the campaign?
Well, poaching could impede the campaign, but not if everybody is committed. If the affiliates are committed to comply with the resolutions they have adopted since the inception of Cosatu, then it just needs a committed leadership to ensure that all members belong to the affiliate they are supposed to be in. Where there is evidence of poaching, the leadership must work out a process on how to bring those members back. And we now have the right as the federation leadership not to tolerate any union that resists implementing that resolution. If Saccawu members are in Fawu and Fawu does not want to release them, it is either Fawu says that they want to be in Cosatu, or they don't want to be É that is the position.
Is KwaZulu-Natal ready for the campaign?
After speaking to people in the areas that I visited, I can see the enthusiasm, particularly from a workers' point of view. They hear what you are saying, they are eager to move, but they need direction from the shopstewards and the organisers.
I am optimistic in KwaZulu-Natal. It is in a unique situation compared to other provinces. There is still this threat of IFP. But there is a lull and it is now easier to unite the people of KwaZulu-Natal, as long as the leadership is committed. What is going to guide us in this province is the commitment of the leadership. But listening to the regional secretaries today, now I know why there are weaknesses in the field. There is a lack of political commitment. Some take their positions as just a job Ñ you go to work and earn money. This is something that we have to work at and assist one another. And the federation must play a coordinating role in assisting affiliates that have these weaknesses.
We want to make this campaign a success nationally. As long as the federation and affiliates can provide direction to our members, this campaign will be successful.
(Gomomo's itinerary in KwaZulu-Natal included visits to the Pongola local, Fawu gender forum, Mediteranian textile, Durban Central local and organisers forum, Illovo, Sezela, Ladysmith local, CWIU branch congress, Numsa regional congress, Cosatu regional organisers forum, Eshowe local, RBM and Empangeni local, Howick local (including BTR Sarmcol and Samwu members) and Ixobho.)
The gold mining crisis is a national disaster with devastating socio-economic implications for mineworkers, their families and communities throughout Southern Africa. The NUM-initiated Gold Summit last month succeeded in sharply focusing the minds of top political, labour and business leaders on a solution to the crisis
The Gold Summit at the end of February has been welcomed as an important step forward in finding a solution to the gold mining crisis and focussing the country's attention on averting what union leaders call a national disaster.
The Summit could signal a shift in the balance of power in the industry. NUM played a leading role in charting the way forward and mine bosses and government clearly recognised the union's indispensable role in finding a sustainable solution to the crisis.
NUM proposals at the Summit were underpinned by an approach that minerals are a national asset mined by private companies on behalf of the country as a whole. "Mining should therefore be conducted in such a manner that profit maximisation is subordinate to the national interest," the NUM said.
The union strongly put forward its own vision for the industry as being in the national interest. "While it is our primary responsibility to make sure that we effectively represent the interests of our members," NUM president James Motlatsi told the Summit, "we have to represent not just our members, but the interests of the country as a whole."
Before the Summit, the mining houses' response to the crisis had been unilateral restructuring and massive retrenchments. But this only served to further deepen the crisis. The NUM strongly challenged this knee-jerk response and won significant acceptance for a wide range of proposals to save the industry.
The immediate outcome of the Summit was the setting up of a top-level Gold Crisis Committee (GCC) made up of union, business and government representatives to look into reducing job losses and alternatives to retrenchments, including workplace restructuring.
The GCC is in line with NUM's proposal for a "retrenchments gatekeeper" to intervene immediately on retrenchments and downscaling.
At the time of going to press, the GCC had already met twice and had agreed on reducing job losses at Freegold, Hartebeesfontein and Gold Fields mines, where retrenchment processes had already begun.
If successfully implemented, agreements reached at the Summit could significantly reduce job cuts and halt unilateral restructuring by mining houses, making them more accountable to broader socio-economic needs and forcing them to take union-driven alternatives on board.
The Summit also agreed to fast-track agreement on the Social Plan in Nedlac and to implement relevant aspects in the mining industry.
NUM acting general secretary Gwede Mantashe said the Summit succeeded in winning widespread recognition that the crisis in the industry is a national crisis and raising public awareness of the gravity of the situation.
"Now nobody can ignore the fact that we are facing a national disaster," he said.
Mantashe said positive signs had emerged from the first two GCC meetings. However, it was too early to assess the Summit's success as this would be measured by the number of jobs actually saved.
NUM's leading role at the Summit is a far cry from the 1991 Mining Summit, where the union had argued for a national strategy to coordinate the contraction process and had predicted the current crisis in the industry.
"Our pleas were ignored then, and continued to be ignored in repeated submissions to both employers and government since then," said Motlatsi.
At this year's Gold Summit it was a different story. When the NUM spoke, it was clear that this time it could not - and would not - be ignored.
The union was frequently congratulated for calling the Summit and bringing together all stakeholders to find a solution to the deepening crisis, which this year alone could see up to 100 000 mineworkers' jobs axed. This is in addition to the more than a quarter of a million jobs shed in the industry since 1987.
All parties agreed that widespread retrenchments would have a devastating socio-economic impact.
Motlatsi said the minerals energy complex still played a vital dominating role in South Africa's economy. The ramifications of gold mining's decline could therefore spread throughout society.
For government, a fall in gold production meant losses in tax revenue and foreign exchange. "I would also hope it is concerned because of the social consequences of job losses," he added.
Mining houses' allegiance to the country still had to be proven, especially given their predisposition to relocate their investments in other countries.
But, without question, Motlatsi said, the greatest losers are mineworkers and workers in related industries, their families and communities in the region.
"That is why we in the NUM carry such a heavy responsibility and why Cosatu shares in it. That is why we have convened this Summit and why we are determined to find a solution."
Before the Summit, many were doubtful that stakeholders could reach consensus on a meaningful solution. Motlatsi described relations between NUM and the Chamber of Mines in the build-up to the Summit as warlike. Mineworkers were ready for strike action to avert further job losses. Mine bosses seemed determined to go ahead with job cuts.
But, in the course of the Summit, common ground began to emerge, culminating in a Summit Declaration which all stakeholders see as an historic agreement.
The battle to transform the mining industry in the interests of mineworkers and the broader society has by no means been won. Many would say it has only just begun. But the outcome of the Summit represents a leveling of the playing field, offering greater opportunities for labour than ever before.
Opening the Summit, Motlatsi said, "It is my deepest desire that we emerge from this Summit with a message of hope for mineworkers and their families in the Southern African region."
The NUM has not yet won what it called the first prize of bringing retrenchments to a grinding halt. But the Summit did bring a message of hope, not just for miners and their communities, but for all those who bear the brunt of growing retrenchments and unemployment.
NUM presented detailed short, medium and long-term proposals to the Gold Summit, many of which were included in the Summit Declaration. Below are extracts from the NUM document as well as the Summit Declaration
Moratorium on retrenchments
NUM PROPOSAL: The NUM called for a 12-month moratorium on retrenchments to allow stakeholders to focus on workplace reorganisation and restructuring initiatives, including transformed management practices, in order to improve productivity; discussions and implementation of a Social Plan policy and finding suitable alternatives to job cuts and to create space for the setting up of a retrenchments "gatekeeper".
THE SUMMIT DECLARATION: Whereas the NUM has called for a 12-month moratorium on retrenchments in order to provide breathing space for stakeholders to be involved in workplace reorganisation and restructuring initiatives, discussions and implementation of a social plan policy and finding suitable alternatives to job cuts, it endorses the proposal for a moratorium on retrenchments pending the urgent establishment of a Gold Crisis Committee.
Mines will inform the GCC of their intention to retrench workers and may during the next two weeks (following the summit) commence processes to comply with the provisions of the LRA. The GCC will be given a period of six weeks to deal with such notice whereafter formal notice of the retrenchment may be given to individual employees.
Retrenchment processes already commenced in terms of the LRA will be dealt with at the first meeting of the GCC.
Gold Crisis Committee
NUM: The NUM called for a retrenchments "gatekeeper" to intervene immediately on proposed retrenchments and downscaling. Companies seeking to retrench more than 10% of the workforce or 500 workers would have to provide the gatekeeper with details of those facing retrenchments as well as financial and relevant geological information.
The gatekeeper would involve unions in seeking alternatives to retrenchments. This would include a financial analysis of the company, a workplace study including management practices and an audit of labour processes and skills to optimise human resource utilisation.
"As soon as a company contemplates retrenchment as a way out of its financial problems, all affected parties must be in a position to employ its expertise to seek alternatives to retrenchment by doing an audit of the labour process and propose new ways of running a mine," the NUM said.
The gatekeeper would pave the way for the setting up of a permanent statutory commission to manage downscaling in the industry over the next 10 to 20 years. This would involve facilitating the implementation of a Social Plan (including counseling, reskilling and creating alternative employment opportunities). Key ingredients of this would be:
DECLARATION: As a precursor to the proposed Advisory Board contemplated in the Green Paper on Minerals and Mining Policy for South Africa, the summit agrees to establish a small, high-powered tripartite Gold Crisis Committee as a matter of urgency to deal with:
This summit accepts government's offer to facilitate such a process.
The committee shall comprise three representatives from each party. The first meeting should take place within one week of the signing of this declaration. The Secretary will be appointed before the first meeting.
Targeted state assistance
NUM: Government should introduce a new system of targeted state assistance to marginal mines, with specific goals and time frames. Such assistance should be seen as a socio-economic investment, whereby a Social Plan is implemented to manage the eventual closure of the mine in a humane and socially responsible manner.
Public funds invested in this manner must be weighed against the social and economic costs that result from massive job losses, including rising crime, premature welfare, UIF and pension payouts, closures of businesses connected to the mine and loss of tax revenue and foreign exchange.
Mines consume massive amounts of electricity and closure can significantly affect Eskom's profitability. A new tariff structure needs to be negotiated with Eskom to prolong the life of marginal mines and preserve jobs while the social plan is implemented.
Consideration should be given to commodity price linked tariffs.
Criteria for assistance to mines would include: job preservation; medium to long-term viability; skills training related to alternative employment prospects; potential to earn foreign currency; plans to improve performance through restructuring the labour process; services to surrounding communities and mines; plans to rehabilitate the environment.
DECLARATION: The call by government for an investigation into targeted state assistance to marginal mines is noted. The GCC should commission an investigation as a matter of urgency. Key stakeholders including local communities must be consulted during this investigation.
Training and retraining
NUM: The need for training and retraining was a strong theme throughout NUM's proposals.
DECLARATION: Recognising the centrality of skills development in enhancing productivity, lowering the cost of production and the development of portable skills, the summit endorses the objectives of the new Skills Development Bill to provide a new framework for skills development that takes into account the need for enhancement of productivity, multi-skilling and career pathing for those in work and reskilling for workers who are facing retrenchments.
This summit also recognises that we now have the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) which is a tripartite structure responsible for implementing this vision and that the national standards and qualifications developed through the MQA and registered by SAQA on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) should give workers portable skills which can be used in and outside the mining industry. The MQA is further charged with the responsibility of working with providers in coordinating post-retrenchment education and training.
In addition, the summit believes that urgent attention must also be directed towards the retraining and development of management and supervisory skills and systems consistent with the changing needs of the industry and the nation.
Gold price stabilisation
DECLARATION: Government should continue to make representations with governors of central banks with a view to clarifying their attitude to holding gold and adopting a positive attitude in this regard. To this end, the summit seeks a transparent approach to policy development regarding the future of gold as a store of currency value.
Beneficiation and market development
NUM: It is in the interest of a raw material producer country as a whole to add value to raw materials before export. This generates an economic advantage when there is a transport, weight, energy, working capital or skill advantage.
Consideration needs to be given to regaining market share for a new South African gold coin issue. Market share should also be sought for South African gold bars, for the tourism industry.
The jewellery industry needs to be developed. This should include promoting unique African designs to create a market niche; private and public sector cooperation to establish facilities and training courses, with retrenched mineworkers selected for training for jewellery manufacturing; curbing gold and precious stones theft and fraud and a concerted push to put the jewellery industry on a growth path.
DECLARATION: The Summit notes the role government is playing in facilitating the development of a jewellery cluster initiative. The present initiatives to promote beneficiation of minerals must be accelerated with the intention of replicating them such that they can begin to provide increased opportunities for employment and foreign exchange earnings.
The industry, together with government support, must vigorously promote new and expanding markets, both at home and abroad, for present and future mineral products; and which capture the highest possible value added for the industry and all its stakeholders.
The environment
NUM: The protection of the environment is a key priority for all South Africans, and mineworkers in particular. Given South Africa's developmental context, strategies should be sought which balance environmental standards and job creation.
Environmental legislation from different government departments should be rationalised, as this has cost implications for marginal mines.
NUM proposes an audit of all current environmental legislation to be used to integrate environmental legislation so that it is applicable, dynamic and accessible; permits should be consolidated into a single permit authorisation document; a single administration government department for the collection and issuing of environmental operational permits; legislation and permits should take cognisance of economic realities and national priorities, especially regarding marginal mines.
Forums made up of communities, mine management, local/provincial government and mineworkers should also consider environmental issues around mining operations, making environmental protection and economic development a joint responsibility.
DECLARATION: Whilst noting the current system of coordination within government and the processes that are underway in further rationalising the system of coordination, the summit agrees that the appropriate balance between environmental management and economic growth needs to be ensured.
Sustaining mining as a labour-intensive sector
NUM: Given rising unemployment and the associated social and financial costs to society, it is in the national interest for the mining industry in the foreseeable future to be maintained as a labour-intensive industry.
Mining companies need to demonstrate their patriotism by putting the national interest before profit maximisation when they consider introducing new technology to the industry, selling off marginal mines, and lowering a mine's pay limit.
The NUM is not against new technology as such. However, we insist that technology is not neutral. The manner in which it is introduced can either serve a narrow elite, or the country as a whole.
A research and development programme geared toward producing appropriate technology for the mining industry is essential.
While some companies claim to be resisting the temptation to mechanise in a manner that jobs will be lost, others are unashamedly implementing a capital-intensive technological strategy. It is this that we fear is really behind the current rise in retrenchments.
We call on government to intervene and monitor the adaptation of new technology, which should empower workers, and create a safe and sustainable mining industry. Existing mineworkers should be trained to use the new technology. Government should provide incentives for developing labour-intensive technology.
DECLARATION: Whilst all parties accept that the development and introduction of modern technology is not opposed as a matter of principle, it is accepted that a rigorous research and development strategy is required to find appropriate technology for the gold mining industry. The correct balance between capital- and labour-intensive mining across the industry is required.
Local and regional development
NUM: Labour from South African mines is also sourced from countries in the Southern African region Ð Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana and Swaziland. These countries raise funds abroad in the name of these mineworkers but such funds rarely benefit the workers or their families. There is a burden of responsibility on the governments of these countries to channel such funds into social plans that will benefit mineworkers and their families. (see also article on the MDA)
DECLARATION: The Summit calls for the formulation and implementation of plans at local, provincial, national and regional (Southern African) levels for the rehabilitation of areas that are being affected by the negative consequences of downscaling, i.e. areas where mines are located and labour-sending areas.
The Social Plan
NUM: The Social Plan should be an integral part of the long-term management of downscaling in the industry, as opposed to the current ad hoc approach by employers.
Post-retrenchment support: While the first prize is to prevent job losses, given the gradual decline in the industry, it is accepted that some workers will be retrenched. The Social Plan, if successfully implemented, should cater for such workers' future employment needs. Immediate measures to be implemented include:
Medium to long-term proposals: A permanent statutory national commission on downscaling in the mining industry would promote and implement a Downscaling Act, including a programme of investment into alternative large-scale industries to gradually replace mining as a significant employer and foreign exchange earner. This Act would harmonise with the Social Plan and may even incorporate it into one comprehensive piece of legislation. The commission should also set up a Social Plan Fund for the industry to finance the Plan.
DECLARATION: We note the progress achieved by social partners in Nedlac in concluding the agreement on the Social Plan. However, we urge these partners to commit themselves to reaching agreement by the end of March 1998.
Notwithstanding any legislative processes that may arise, parties agreed to implement aspects of the Nedlac Social Plan agreement applicable to the mining industry through a process of negotiation and consultation.
In this context, the notion of a government "rapid response team" to deal with notice of retrenchments of more than 10% cumulatively of the workforce in any one year should be set up and work with unions and management to develop and implement a package of pre and post retrenchment support measures including the establishment of advice centres where resources and infrastructure permit. The infrastructure available through Teba could be used to assist retrenchees.
Employers have agreed to accept the repatriation costs of retrenched workers. The Summit has agreed to a Social Plan approach to humanely assist in addressing the hardships caused by retrenchments.
Further negotiations and agreement on proposals for the Social Plan Fund, counseling periods and training vouchers must be explored as a matter of urgency.
Thanks to NUM
The summit expresses its thanks and appreciation to the NUM for organising this summit and bringing the parties together.
NUM's foresight and innovation in cushioning the impact of the gold mining industry's crisis dates back to 1987, when the union set up a development unit to launch job creation projects for the 40 000 workers who lost their jobs in the massive mineworkers strike that year.
The massive decline in mine employment since then, estimated at a quarter of a million, has had a devastating impact on many rural economies in Southern Africa.
The NUM development unit aimed to counter this by involving ex-miners and their communities in self-employment strategies and the promotion of local economic development.
By 1995, the rapid growth and diversification of this job-creation programme led to evolution of the unit into a separate, non-profit company, the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA).
One of the MDA's projects, the Mhala Development Centre in Bushbuckridge in the Northern Province, got a special mention in president Nelson MandelaÕs opening address to parliament this year when it won the Presidential Award for Community Initiative.
While MDA projects have been highly successful, NUM has called for government and industry involvement in expanding the job creation programme. The union told the Gold Summit that, as part of a longer-term Social Plan approach, there is an urgent need to extend current programmes to all mining communities, particularly in mine-labour sending areas. And it has proposed that TEBA's rural infrastructure be used for this.
The Summit didn't go into details but agreed that TEBA's infrastructure "could be used to assist retrenchees". It also agreed on the need for plans to rehabilitate areas affected by the negative consequences of mine downscaling.
MDA has already embarked on a feasibility study, through the Department of Trade and Industry, into this expansion using TEBA to extend its network of development service delivery outlets.
