Workers News - Fight for your lives against privatisation
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Jan 2001
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113601 , vital:33806
- Description: Welcome, comrades to the New Year! In the last issue of Workers' News, I raised the point that all of us in elected positions were renewing our mandate. Now all of us, as members of SAMWU have a new mandate from Congress. We emerge out of Congress a united face which is geared to take workers struggle forward. Provinces came to Congress with different positions - through a process of open debates we managed to reach consensus on most of the discussions. This shows political maturity and cohesion. I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face in the next three years. The credentials presented at Congress showed that we have not increased our lost membership in the past three years. We must start an organising campaign to meet the target we have set for ourselves. We need to have a programme of empowering women. We have concentrated much resources on a few leaders who are empowered already. For me that is not enough if we want to build a strong women's layer in the union. We have received reports of workers who died while performing their council duties. The challenge facing us is this: what programmes are we putting in place to make sure that we reduce deaths on duty, especially in the electricity and sewerworks departments. We also need to look at health and safety committees because our role in these issues has been very poor in nearly all local authorities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Jan 2001
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Jan 2001
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113601 , vital:33806
- Description: Welcome, comrades to the New Year! In the last issue of Workers' News, I raised the point that all of us in elected positions were renewing our mandate. Now all of us, as members of SAMWU have a new mandate from Congress. We emerge out of Congress a united face which is geared to take workers struggle forward. Provinces came to Congress with different positions - through a process of open debates we managed to reach consensus on most of the discussions. This shows political maturity and cohesion. I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face in the next three years. The credentials presented at Congress showed that we have not increased our lost membership in the past three years. We must start an organising campaign to meet the target we have set for ourselves. We need to have a programme of empowering women. We have concentrated much resources on a few leaders who are empowered already. For me that is not enough if we want to build a strong women's layer in the union. We have received reports of workers who died while performing their council duties. The challenge facing us is this: what programmes are we putting in place to make sure that we reduce deaths on duty, especially in the electricity and sewerworks departments. We also need to look at health and safety committees because our role in these issues has been very poor in nearly all local authorities.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Jan 2001
Workers News - Cape Town report backs
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Jun 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113313 , vital:33744
- Description: I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face as SAMWU in the coming period. Firstly, the wage campaign continues to serve as a unifying tool to all those who have to sell their labour in order to earn a living. This makes it possible for us to continue to champion the cause of millions of working people and more specifically thousands of municipal workers who still receive starvation wages. It must be seen as an appropriate springboard for the advancement of the broader objectives for social upliftment, the fight against poverty, homelessness and the realisation of our socialist goals. We have made victories such as agreement on minimum entry level. We hope the central issue of the huge wage differentials will now be addressed. A linked issue is that we must finalise Minimum Service Level agreements on essential services with all local authorities. The absence of these agreements impacts on our ability to exercise the right to strike. The need for us as leaders and members to ensure proper report backs are done and mandates given remains an area of work we need to strengthen. Secondly, the process of local government democratisation has to be pursued vigorously. As a union we face the most challenging period yet with various initiatives currently unfolding in many local authorities, such as the Igoli 2002 proposals for Greater Johannesburg, which are occupying centre stage. The framework agreement between Cosatu and Saiga is an important document that all leadership must understand. We must however take note that although the framework agreement does not specifically talk about waging anti-privatisation campaign, it does lay basis for engagement in furtherance of our public sector delivery option. We can therefore argue that it is anti privatisation in character. Although we have had setbacks at Nelspruit and Dolphin Coast, the fight is not yet over as we continue to pursue matter at the sectoral forum. There are important lessons we have to learn from these setbacks. The first is importance of building strong shopfloor structures. The second is that of maximising the collective strength of our members, organised labour and communities faced by effects of privatisation. The signing of the agreement does not mean a need to shift the emphasis in our campaign. We must strengthen our campaign and promote the public sector delivery option. Thirdly, the main challenge right now is ensuring a decisive ANC victory. The union has made resources available for the strengthening of the Alliance elections machinery through contribution to the fund controlled by the Federation; and seconding officials to work on elections fulltime. This will not be enough unless we all support programmes aimed at getting workers to vote for the ANC. These elections must not be viewed in isolation from our overall objectives of building a strong Samwu, Cosatu, SACP and ANC. The integration of election work in our daily programmes in this period leading to June 02 is very important. We must also prepare for post election challenges. The Cosatu Special Congress and programme to build the federation; the consolidation of Alliance's transformation agenda; the fight against job losses and retrenchments; HlV/Aids, defending the peoples manifesto etc. In SAMWU, the organisational strategic planning session in July is the platform we hope to utilise in strengthening internal organisation. A series of workshops will be convened before this national session. These would include Local Government Restructuring, Financial Administration etc. It will not look at campaigns or broad policy, but at how the organisation can be developed and how our structures are working. The main focus will be on how we strengthen our organisation and make it a better tool to implement policy. The above represents some of the important issues the union has to deal with. We must above all ensure that all union work serves to strengthen our organisation, build the federation and Alliance structures and raise working class consciousness around issues faced by us and the workers of the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Jun 1999
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Jun 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113313 , vital:33744
- Description: I want to look at the most critical challenges we have to face as SAMWU in the coming period. Firstly, the wage campaign continues to serve as a unifying tool to all those who have to sell their labour in order to earn a living. This makes it possible for us to continue to champion the cause of millions of working people and more specifically thousands of municipal workers who still receive starvation wages. It must be seen as an appropriate springboard for the advancement of the broader objectives for social upliftment, the fight against poverty, homelessness and the realisation of our socialist goals. We have made victories such as agreement on minimum entry level. We hope the central issue of the huge wage differentials will now be addressed. A linked issue is that we must finalise Minimum Service Level agreements on essential services with all local authorities. The absence of these agreements impacts on our ability to exercise the right to strike. The need for us as leaders and members to ensure proper report backs are done and mandates given remains an area of work we need to strengthen. Secondly, the process of local government democratisation has to be pursued vigorously. As a union we face the most challenging period yet with various initiatives currently unfolding in many local authorities, such as the Igoli 2002 proposals for Greater Johannesburg, which are occupying centre stage. The framework agreement between Cosatu and Saiga is an important document that all leadership must understand. We must however take note that although the framework agreement does not specifically talk about waging anti-privatisation campaign, it does lay basis for engagement in furtherance of our public sector delivery option. We can therefore argue that it is anti privatisation in character. Although we have had setbacks at Nelspruit and Dolphin Coast, the fight is not yet over as we continue to pursue matter at the sectoral forum. There are important lessons we have to learn from these setbacks. The first is importance of building strong shopfloor structures. The second is that of maximising the collective strength of our members, organised labour and communities faced by effects of privatisation. The signing of the agreement does not mean a need to shift the emphasis in our campaign. We must strengthen our campaign and promote the public sector delivery option. Thirdly, the main challenge right now is ensuring a decisive ANC victory. The union has made resources available for the strengthening of the Alliance elections machinery through contribution to the fund controlled by the Federation; and seconding officials to work on elections fulltime. This will not be enough unless we all support programmes aimed at getting workers to vote for the ANC. These elections must not be viewed in isolation from our overall objectives of building a strong Samwu, Cosatu, SACP and ANC. The integration of election work in our daily programmes in this period leading to June 02 is very important. We must also prepare for post election challenges. The Cosatu Special Congress and programme to build the federation; the consolidation of Alliance's transformation agenda; the fight against job losses and retrenchments; HlV/Aids, defending the peoples manifesto etc. In SAMWU, the organisational strategic planning session in July is the platform we hope to utilise in strengthening internal organisation. A series of workshops will be convened before this national session. These would include Local Government Restructuring, Financial Administration etc. It will not look at campaigns or broad policy, but at how the organisation can be developed and how our structures are working. The main focus will be on how we strengthen our organisation and make it a better tool to implement policy. The above represents some of the important issues the union has to deal with. We must above all ensure that all union work serves to strengthen our organisation, build the federation and Alliance structures and raise working class consciousness around issues faced by us and the workers of the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Jun 1999
Workers News - National Women's committe launched
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Mar 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113369 , vital:33753
- Description: My regards to all SAMWU comrades and wishing all a Happy New Year! I hope this message will encourage women in all structures of SAMWU. President Mashishi, in the previous issue, wrote about the "Framework for Municipal Service Partnerships." Inside you will find a guideline as to how you can use this agreement in your municipality to stop privatisation. Comrades, let us take up the challenge of implementing the framework agreement with the vigour, attention, and dedication it deserves. The Sectoral Forum team will continue to stop any negative consequences from this agreement and make sure privatisation is only a last resort. Comrades must help the team by reporting any attempt to privatise to the Head Office immediately so that disputes can be lodged quickly. Comrade Women, we are entering the new millennium with a new National Women's Committee. This structure has been formed through womens' demands to our Union. There is no leader besides yourself and no one can walk in front of a woman, a mother and a child bearer. We know all the pains, the joys and the inner abilities we have as leaders. We lead on a daily basis, in our homes, with our children, and in our conversations. Never think that you are not a leader! Women should show their wisdom like our mothers have shown. South African women are considered very strong. We should not shy away from our responsibilities as leaders. Let's voice our opinions and always support one another. Shopsteward training is very important this year. The Education Department has developed excellent programmes and I hope everyone will get the best benefit from them. Shopstewards should keep themselves up to date of SAMWU policies and documents. These can all be found at your nearest branch office. No-one can defend a union member better than yourself with the knowledge of SAMWU Policies and Defence methods. Know your Union! Read and share with other comrades what you have learnt! We have heard Deputy President Mbeki announcing Zero Tolerance for corruption. Cdes, this is an issue we should never leave lying low. We should report all irregular matters that occur in our workplace and within SAMWU. We should not tolerate comrades that are in the struggle for enrichment rather than political advancement of the workers they serve. Members should be served with no extra gains to officials or shopstewards. Human Rights Day is coming and we must remember comrades whose suffering we've heard about in our TRC hearings and those in the rest of the world. Suppression of Women's Rights in other countries should be high on our "NO" lists. Comrades, many Bills have been passed in 1998 and some of those affect us as workers in local government. There will be education programs around the Employment Equity Act, and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Contact your branch office for more details. In the next issue we look at the Skills Development Bill. A political education programme starts at the end of March. It will be one evening per month in urban areas and one day every two months in the rural areas. Comrades, especially women, I urge you to participate. The first program will be about the Elections Manifesto. We want to see all of you on lists at the next election. Comrades, finally, thanks to those of you who have been helping with voter education and registration. Let us go out and move other comrades to register and vote for our Party. We cannot be ruled by confused people anymore.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Mar 1999
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Mar 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113369 , vital:33753
- Description: My regards to all SAMWU comrades and wishing all a Happy New Year! I hope this message will encourage women in all structures of SAMWU. President Mashishi, in the previous issue, wrote about the "Framework for Municipal Service Partnerships." Inside you will find a guideline as to how you can use this agreement in your municipality to stop privatisation. Comrades, let us take up the challenge of implementing the framework agreement with the vigour, attention, and dedication it deserves. The Sectoral Forum team will continue to stop any negative consequences from this agreement and make sure privatisation is only a last resort. Comrades must help the team by reporting any attempt to privatise to the Head Office immediately so that disputes can be lodged quickly. Comrade Women, we are entering the new millennium with a new National Women's Committee. This structure has been formed through womens' demands to our Union. There is no leader besides yourself and no one can walk in front of a woman, a mother and a child bearer. We know all the pains, the joys and the inner abilities we have as leaders. We lead on a daily basis, in our homes, with our children, and in our conversations. Never think that you are not a leader! Women should show their wisdom like our mothers have shown. South African women are considered very strong. We should not shy away from our responsibilities as leaders. Let's voice our opinions and always support one another. Shopsteward training is very important this year. The Education Department has developed excellent programmes and I hope everyone will get the best benefit from them. Shopstewards should keep themselves up to date of SAMWU policies and documents. These can all be found at your nearest branch office. No-one can defend a union member better than yourself with the knowledge of SAMWU Policies and Defence methods. Know your Union! Read and share with other comrades what you have learnt! We have heard Deputy President Mbeki announcing Zero Tolerance for corruption. Cdes, this is an issue we should never leave lying low. We should report all irregular matters that occur in our workplace and within SAMWU. We should not tolerate comrades that are in the struggle for enrichment rather than political advancement of the workers they serve. Members should be served with no extra gains to officials or shopstewards. Human Rights Day is coming and we must remember comrades whose suffering we've heard about in our TRC hearings and those in the rest of the world. Suppression of Women's Rights in other countries should be high on our "NO" lists. Comrades, many Bills have been passed in 1998 and some of those affect us as workers in local government. There will be education programs around the Employment Equity Act, and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Contact your branch office for more details. In the next issue we look at the Skills Development Bill. A political education programme starts at the end of March. It will be one evening per month in urban areas and one day every two months in the rural areas. Comrades, especially women, I urge you to participate. The first program will be about the Elections Manifesto. We want to see all of you on lists at the next election. Comrades, finally, thanks to those of you who have been helping with voter education and registration. Let us go out and move other comrades to register and vote for our Party. We cannot be ruled by confused people anymore.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Mar 1999
Workers News - SAMWU Women Lead
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Sep 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113325 , vital:33747
- Description: Heyta comrades, heyta! I greet you all as we move towards the end of another year in the history of SAMWU. There have been many important developments since the last edition of Workers' News. The union held a strategic planning workshop in July. This workshop came up with organisations systems to meet challenges facing SAMWU. Please ask for a copy of the proposals at your branch office. The final Central Executive Committee meeting for the year will meet from 6th-8th October. You should ask for a copy of the Secretariat Report from your branch, and get reportbacks from your office bearers after the meeting. This CEC will be finalising many of the recommendations made by the union this year. SAMWU needs your input! There has been a change in the Secretariat.Cde Roger Ronnie, General Secretary of SAMWU since 1995, has been redeployed to the Legal Unit following his resignation and the departure of the Legal Officer. Cde Mncedisi Nontsele, Deputy General Secretary will act as General Secretary until the CEC and the Provincial Secretary of the North West, Cde Tom Ngobeni will act as Deputy General Secretary. The CEC will finalise where the three comrades can be placed so that they are of maximum use to the organisation. The CEC will develop a programme of action leading up to SAMWU’s 6th National Congress next year. This includes looking at resolutions that will be adopted at the first women's conference in September, which will guide SAMWU on how to combat probems facing women. We need to develop a clear programme to fight upaid labour by women. We also need to address problems women are facing because of the globalisation of the world economy. Labour standards have dropped, collective bargaining rights have been removed and women are more open to exploitation with even female children working on short contracts. SAMWU will continue to provide childcare at meetings so that women comrades can participate fully in union activities. This is vital if we are to seriously build women leaders in preparation for next year's general electionof shopstewards, and the Congress where at least 30% of elected comrades MUST be women. The Quota System does not mean that women cdes are elected as tokens or just to concentrate on womens issues - women leaders must play a central political role in the union at all times. We face the challenge of building our organisation. But we cannot enter into benefits schemes to attract members if the same schemes such as loans will only mean that members pay such high interest that they get further into debt. For this reason, sAMWU is investigating a way to nationalise the current savings scheme so that it becomes a foundation for members to get free of loan sharks. All members can join the retirement fund that gives you the best benefits for your contributions. I am pleased to announce that the worker- controlled SAMWU National Provident Fund is now the fastest growing pension scheme in the country! Well done, cdes! SAMWU is not an island. We also face challenges as part of COSATU. Please read about the COSATU Congress on page 17. Comrades may have read about the recent wage dispute inthe public sector. The government's implementation of a wage increase not agreed upon is an attack on collective bargaining rights. We need to close ranks with comrades in NEHAWU, SADTU, POPCRU. The employer in Joburg has already followed the government's bad example by implementing privatisation plans while still pretending to be negotiating. This is an overall attack on all public sector workers! As SAMWU members, we need to take seriously the resolutions on job losses. Our sector has been lucky so far - as part of the public sector we enjoy the largest number of employed workers in the country. But we could face job losses in the future - already when workers retire or get dismissed they are not replaced. The Job Creation Fund and the October Recruitment Campaign are key COSATU campaigns. Cdes, we must deposit our one day's salary into the Job Creation Fund if we have not already done so. This will assist our comrades who have lost their jobs. SAMWU has set aside resources for all branches to participate in the recruitment campaign - unionised workers are less likely to lose their jobs! If the union participates fully in all these activities, we will be in a good position to assess whether SAMWU has implemented the 3 year programme and also lay the foundation for a productive and revolutionary Congress in the year 2000!
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Sep 1999
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Sep 1999
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113325 , vital:33747
- Description: Heyta comrades, heyta! I greet you all as we move towards the end of another year in the history of SAMWU. There have been many important developments since the last edition of Workers' News. The union held a strategic planning workshop in July. This workshop came up with organisations systems to meet challenges facing SAMWU. Please ask for a copy of the proposals at your branch office. The final Central Executive Committee meeting for the year will meet from 6th-8th October. You should ask for a copy of the Secretariat Report from your branch, and get reportbacks from your office bearers after the meeting. This CEC will be finalising many of the recommendations made by the union this year. SAMWU needs your input! There has been a change in the Secretariat.Cde Roger Ronnie, General Secretary of SAMWU since 1995, has been redeployed to the Legal Unit following his resignation and the departure of the Legal Officer. Cde Mncedisi Nontsele, Deputy General Secretary will act as General Secretary until the CEC and the Provincial Secretary of the North West, Cde Tom Ngobeni will act as Deputy General Secretary. The CEC will finalise where the three comrades can be placed so that they are of maximum use to the organisation. The CEC will develop a programme of action leading up to SAMWU’s 6th National Congress next year. This includes looking at resolutions that will be adopted at the first women's conference in September, which will guide SAMWU on how to combat probems facing women. We need to develop a clear programme to fight upaid labour by women. We also need to address problems women are facing because of the globalisation of the world economy. Labour standards have dropped, collective bargaining rights have been removed and women are more open to exploitation with even female children working on short contracts. SAMWU will continue to provide childcare at meetings so that women comrades can participate fully in union activities. This is vital if we are to seriously build women leaders in preparation for next year's general electionof shopstewards, and the Congress where at least 30% of elected comrades MUST be women. The Quota System does not mean that women cdes are elected as tokens or just to concentrate on womens issues - women leaders must play a central political role in the union at all times. We face the challenge of building our organisation. But we cannot enter into benefits schemes to attract members if the same schemes such as loans will only mean that members pay such high interest that they get further into debt. For this reason, sAMWU is investigating a way to nationalise the current savings scheme so that it becomes a foundation for members to get free of loan sharks. All members can join the retirement fund that gives you the best benefits for your contributions. I am pleased to announce that the worker- controlled SAMWU National Provident Fund is now the fastest growing pension scheme in the country! Well done, cdes! SAMWU is not an island. We also face challenges as part of COSATU. Please read about the COSATU Congress on page 17. Comrades may have read about the recent wage dispute inthe public sector. The government's implementation of a wage increase not agreed upon is an attack on collective bargaining rights. We need to close ranks with comrades in NEHAWU, SADTU, POPCRU. The employer in Joburg has already followed the government's bad example by implementing privatisation plans while still pretending to be negotiating. This is an overall attack on all public sector workers! As SAMWU members, we need to take seriously the resolutions on job losses. Our sector has been lucky so far - as part of the public sector we enjoy the largest number of employed workers in the country. But we could face job losses in the future - already when workers retire or get dismissed they are not replaced. The Job Creation Fund and the October Recruitment Campaign are key COSATU campaigns. Cdes, we must deposit our one day's salary into the Job Creation Fund if we have not already done so. This will assist our comrades who have lost their jobs. SAMWU has set aside resources for all branches to participate in the recruitment campaign - unionised workers are less likely to lose their jobs! If the union participates fully in all these activities, we will be in a good position to assess whether SAMWU has implemented the 3 year programme and also lay the foundation for a productive and revolutionary Congress in the year 2000!
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Sep 1999
Workers News - 1998 A fighting year for SAMWU
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Nov 1998
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113347 , vital:33751
- Description: You will all remember that in past editions of this magazine we have touched on the anti-privatisation campaign which all comrades have been active in. I must say it is a great pleasure for me to write this message, to thank all the NGO’s, international labour movement, individuals, COSATU and community organisations for all their support. The process of implementing the antiprivatisation campaign has not been an easy one. Just after we started with the campaign, the union was attacked and claims were made that SAMWU was counter-revolutionary. The attacks were clearly intended to shift the focus from the campaign to mud- slinging. They could not match us when it came to knowing the facts of privatisation and it’s terrible effects on the community, and the role politicians play once services are in the hands of the private sector. Despite these attacks, SAMWU still feels that the resolution we adopted to oppose privatisation was the correct one and we hope it will be the correct position for years to come. For a very long time we have campaigned against privatisation alone. Recently ESKOM was intending to privatise electricity. This led to the whole matter of privatisation being discussed at the first COSATU Central Committee meeting in August this year. A resolution was adopted to oppose the ESKOM move and also to oppose the privatisation of any municipal services. COSATU took this matter to NEDLAC, where it was clear that government was going ahead with the process of privatisation regardless of our concerns. A deadlock was reached after days of negotiations. COSATU was forced to call a national strike after realising that government was adamant about implementing their programme of privatisation - comrades might remember that this strike was scheduled for September 23rd, 1998. COSATU and SAMWU were again under attack and individuals within our ranks became labelled by those who are "pro-privatisation." This was a difficult time, but we kept our cool as a union and stuck to our position of anti-privatisation. COSATU stuck to their position that there should be strike action, because again the attack was to shift us to a different terrain of struggle contrary to the one we had prepared ourselves for.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 1998
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Nov 1998
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113347 , vital:33751
- Description: You will all remember that in past editions of this magazine we have touched on the anti-privatisation campaign which all comrades have been active in. I must say it is a great pleasure for me to write this message, to thank all the NGO’s, international labour movement, individuals, COSATU and community organisations for all their support. The process of implementing the antiprivatisation campaign has not been an easy one. Just after we started with the campaign, the union was attacked and claims were made that SAMWU was counter-revolutionary. The attacks were clearly intended to shift the focus from the campaign to mud- slinging. They could not match us when it came to knowing the facts of privatisation and it’s terrible effects on the community, and the role politicians play once services are in the hands of the private sector. Despite these attacks, SAMWU still feels that the resolution we adopted to oppose privatisation was the correct one and we hope it will be the correct position for years to come. For a very long time we have campaigned against privatisation alone. Recently ESKOM was intending to privatise electricity. This led to the whole matter of privatisation being discussed at the first COSATU Central Committee meeting in August this year. A resolution was adopted to oppose the ESKOM move and also to oppose the privatisation of any municipal services. COSATU took this matter to NEDLAC, where it was clear that government was going ahead with the process of privatisation regardless of our concerns. A deadlock was reached after days of negotiations. COSATU was forced to call a national strike after realising that government was adamant about implementing their programme of privatisation - comrades might remember that this strike was scheduled for September 23rd, 1998. COSATU and SAMWU were again under attack and individuals within our ranks became labelled by those who are "pro-privatisation." This was a difficult time, but we kept our cool as a union and stuck to our position of anti-privatisation. COSATU stuck to their position that there should be strike action, because again the attack was to shift us to a different terrain of struggle contrary to the one we had prepared ourselves for.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 1998
Workers News - Special tenth anniversary edition
- SAMWU
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Nov 1997
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113358 , vital:33752
- Description: It brought change in Local Government. Although this strike was a success for the organisation, we suffered losses. Many workers were dismissed and many workers suffered injuries at the hands of the security forces. This strike forced the employers to take us seriously. Another strike took place in 1995. Here again we had casualties. Workers were shot and beaten by police in places like Pietersburg, Kuruman, Bethlehem. We have workers in Groblersdal who were dismissed during that strike who have not been re-instated to this day. We have tried our best, and will continue to try. A funny incident during my term was when Cdes Tom Ngobeni, Mike Mthembu, Themba Khumalo and I called a march in Pretoria. The police station commander asked us how many workers would be marching, and Cde Tom replied "40 thousand!" When it came to the day of the march, the army lined a long street. The soldiers were heavily armed and barricaded both sides of the street. But when the march started, we were only 150! So the soldiers were far more than the marchers! The police said that they were going to sue SAMWU, but they ended up doing nothing. Now every time we want to march in Pretoria, this station commander still remembers this incident. As President of SAMWU, I feel great about the members. SAMWU members like their organisation. Wherever you go they are proud about their trade union. Even in areas where service to members is weak, those members are still proud of their union. The Union came in as a saviour to many workers, taking into account the conditions we used to work under. I always believe that if you are elected by people they should not be afraid to talk to you. I don't like it when a President is above the workers, and the workers are not permitted to say anything about their President. You have to be open to criticism, and that is the only way you can be built by others. I enjoy being a trade unionist first and foremost, but it is not an easy job to be a President. You miss your family because you never spend time with your family. My children have grown but they have never spent much time with me, except at night when I arrive home late. I think SAMWU will grow more and more. We have grown since our launch by over 100 thousand members. One of the reasons for this huge growth is that we always have a target at every Congress. During this period we didn't have a target, and that is why we did not grow so much. We need now to say that by the next Congress we should be at least 150-180 thousand in SAMWU, and make sure that we work hard to target that number. We also need public sector unity to make sure there is proper restructuring of Local Government and also to rid the public sector of corruption. Although corruption is not a new thing - it has been there for years but we need to come together to make sure that we instill that discipline within all workers in the public sector, even those that are not our members. We must make sure that all corruption in Local Government is rooted out, especially those workers in traffic departments. There are corrupt elements in every traffic department in this country. We need to build an image that will gain us respect from those communities that we are supposed to serve. Most of our members understand that SAMWU is opposed to privatisation. Once the state assets are in the hands of the private sector, government will be dependent on business. As SAMWU we say that we need a strong state to lead us, instead of the private sector leading. This will be one of our biggest challenges in the next few years. I have an important message to all municipal workers on our tenth anniversary. I would like to say that we need to improve our service delivery and make sure that we are closer to our communities. Communities must understand our problems and we must also understand their problems. We need to make sure that we democratise our union. Where there are weaknesses, members must make sure that those weaknesses are addressed. If we don't do things correctly, workers should correct us.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 1997
- Authors: SAMWU
- Date: Nov 1997
- Subjects: SAMWU
- Language: English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113358 , vital:33752
- Description: It brought change in Local Government. Although this strike was a success for the organisation, we suffered losses. Many workers were dismissed and many workers suffered injuries at the hands of the security forces. This strike forced the employers to take us seriously. Another strike took place in 1995. Here again we had casualties. Workers were shot and beaten by police in places like Pietersburg, Kuruman, Bethlehem. We have workers in Groblersdal who were dismissed during that strike who have not been re-instated to this day. We have tried our best, and will continue to try. A funny incident during my term was when Cdes Tom Ngobeni, Mike Mthembu, Themba Khumalo and I called a march in Pretoria. The police station commander asked us how many workers would be marching, and Cde Tom replied "40 thousand!" When it came to the day of the march, the army lined a long street. The soldiers were heavily armed and barricaded both sides of the street. But when the march started, we were only 150! So the soldiers were far more than the marchers! The police said that they were going to sue SAMWU, but they ended up doing nothing. Now every time we want to march in Pretoria, this station commander still remembers this incident. As President of SAMWU, I feel great about the members. SAMWU members like their organisation. Wherever you go they are proud about their trade union. Even in areas where service to members is weak, those members are still proud of their union. The Union came in as a saviour to many workers, taking into account the conditions we used to work under. I always believe that if you are elected by people they should not be afraid to talk to you. I don't like it when a President is above the workers, and the workers are not permitted to say anything about their President. You have to be open to criticism, and that is the only way you can be built by others. I enjoy being a trade unionist first and foremost, but it is not an easy job to be a President. You miss your family because you never spend time with your family. My children have grown but they have never spent much time with me, except at night when I arrive home late. I think SAMWU will grow more and more. We have grown since our launch by over 100 thousand members. One of the reasons for this huge growth is that we always have a target at every Congress. During this period we didn't have a target, and that is why we did not grow so much. We need now to say that by the next Congress we should be at least 150-180 thousand in SAMWU, and make sure that we work hard to target that number. We also need public sector unity to make sure there is proper restructuring of Local Government and also to rid the public sector of corruption. Although corruption is not a new thing - it has been there for years but we need to come together to make sure that we instill that discipline within all workers in the public sector, even those that are not our members. We must make sure that all corruption in Local Government is rooted out, especially those workers in traffic departments. There are corrupt elements in every traffic department in this country. We need to build an image that will gain us respect from those communities that we are supposed to serve. Most of our members understand that SAMWU is opposed to privatisation. Once the state assets are in the hands of the private sector, government will be dependent on business. As SAMWU we say that we need a strong state to lead us, instead of the private sector leading. This will be one of our biggest challenges in the next few years. I have an important message to all municipal workers on our tenth anniversary. I would like to say that we need to improve our service delivery and make sure that we are closer to our communities. Communities must understand our problems and we must also understand their problems. We need to make sure that we democratise our union. Where there are weaknesses, members must make sure that those weaknesses are addressed. If we don't do things correctly, workers should correct us.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 1997
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