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- COSATU Today -
Our side of the story
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Contents
1 Workers' news
1.1 War looms at Eskom over wages
1.2 Notice for strike action served on construction employers
1.3 NEHAWU proud of being part and a co-leader of finalisation of OSD
for medical cluster
1.4 SADTU unhappy with employer delays on OSD negotiations
2 South Africa
2.1 NUMSA condemns Reserve Bank's failure to cut interest rates
2.2 DA attack COSATU in NW Legislature
2.3 Imprison price-fixers
2.5 Zwelinzima Vavi's opening address to COSATU Skills Conference, 1
July 2009
<http://www.num.org.za/> 1 Workers' news
1.1 War looms at Eskom over wages
Lesiba Seshoka, Head: NUM Media & Communications, 30 June 2009
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has rejected Eskom 's "final
offer" of 8% in the current wage negotiations. The NUM lowered its 15%
demand to 14% whilst the power utility refused to budge.
The union has together with two other unions organizing at Eskom
requested the power utility to provide information on the wage bill for
both the bargaining unit employees and MPS bands, the new proposed
structure and the impact of the R60 000 housing allowance offered to MPS
band. The power utility refused to shed any light on these matters.
"Workers need the 14% to be able to afford the exorbitant price of
electricity. You cannot get a tariff increment of 31,33% and refuse
workers an increment that should enable them to afford your high prices"
says Paris Mashego, the NUM negotiator at Eskom.
"A big fight will come the Eskom way if they think we are playing. They
must just go to Health and ask the Doctors what happens if one party is
arrogant" says Mashego.
<http://www.num.org.za/>
1.2 Notice for strike action served on construction employers
Lesiba Seshoka, Head: NUM Media & Communications, 30 June 2009
The NUM has this morning served the South African Federation of Civil
Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC),the construction sector 's employer
body with a notice to go on strike. This comes after the marathon talks
collapsed last Friday and the NUM accepted the certificate of
non-resolution to the dispute to go on strike. Meanwhile, mobilization
has begun and a strike action is set to begin on the 8th of July. The
NUM had lowered its demand to 13% for a one year agreement whilst the
employer is steadfast on a 10% increment for the first year and CPI for
the second year. The NUM rejected the insult offered by SAFCEC and is
currently mobilizing for a national industrial action.
The following projects will be affected by the industrial action:
Kwa - Zulu Natal Region
1. Moses Mabhida Stadium
2. King Shaka International Airport
3. Durban Harbour Project
4. Van Reneen Project
5. Ingula Power Station
6. Inanda Arterial Project
7. WBHO Ballito Project
8. Richards Bay Harbour
Highveld Region
9. Kusile Project
10. GGV Project
11. Klipspruit Project
12. Mafube Project
13. DMO Project
Rustenburg Region
14. Medupi Project
Eastern Cape Region
15. Coega Project
16. Nelson Mandela Stadium
17. Kempston Road E/CAPE
18. Livingston Hospital {WBHO}
19. N2 Bridge {EASTEN CAPE}
20. Old Harbour {DOCKS}
21. Goven Mbeki Project
22. Umtata Stadium
PWV Region
23. Guatrain Project
24. GFIP Highways Projects
25. Monte Casino Project
26. Siyavaya Project
27. Soccer City Stadium
North East Region
28. Komati Project
29. Peter Mokaba Stadium
30. Petersburg Mall
31. Secunda Project
Western Cape Region
32. Green Point Stadium
33. N2 Freeway
34. R300 Freeway
Kimberly Region
35. Sishen Mine Project
<http://www.nehawu.org.za/>
1.3 NEHAWU proud of being part and a co-leader of finalisation of OSD
for medical cluster
Sizwe Pamla, NEHAWU Media Liaison Officer, 30 June 2009
NEHAWU welcomes the finalization of the negotiations on OSD for the
medical cluster within the deadline set on the 12th of June this year by
the council (PSCBC). The council said all the outstanding OSD's should
be finalised before the end of June 2009, and that has been done for the
medical cluster.
The union hopes that the agreement that will now be subjected to our
internal mandating processes will be accepted by the workers and will
bring to an end to the sporadic wild cats strikes of doctors across the
country.
We commend the negotiators for both trade unions and the employer for
having worked around the clock to finalise the sector specific matters
in relation to Resolution 1 of 2007. This clearly demonstrates the
commitment to dialogue as the best method to resolve labour related
matters.
We regret that the legitimate frustration of the doctors has resulted in
these strikes that have badly affected the provision of quality
healthcare to the poor people of this country and we hope that
appropriate lessons have been learnt.
During these strikes there were no winners and the biggest losers were
the poor people who rely on the public institutions for their
healthcare. We hope that all stakeholders will move forward with a
renewed commitment to serve the poor and we urge and commend the doctors
for not leaving the public sector and take away their valuable skills.
We are disturbed by the reports that some of the doctors have been
served with dismissal letters, with the already overburdened health
system that is short of scarce skills. We will be engaging with the
government to discuss their immediate reinstatement despite the fact
that some are not our members and members of trade unions.
We call on all our doctors across the country to participate in the
mandating processes of their respective trade unions for this agreement
to be speedily concluded. We also call upon all doctors to accept union
leadership because it is safe to do so. Forums without organisational
rights cannot defend the interests of the workers including doctors
because they are not admitted to legitimate councils which negotiate
workers' lot.
<http://www.sadtu.org.za/%5d>
1.4 SADTU unhappy with employer delays on OSD negotiations
Thobile Ntola, SADTU President, 30 June 2009
Labour tabled their revised and costed offer on Friday, 26 June 2009 and
engaged their Employer until late in the night. The Employer then
indicated that they would be seeking mandate on the revised demand from
labour. The Employer then came back on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 with the
same position as of Friday. Labour is therefore of the view that the
Employer is not serious about addressing the outstanding issues of the
OSD as raised by Labour, despite the deadline of the 30 June 2009.
Labour therefore reiterates their position as outlined below:
Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD)
This is outstanding business arising out of the agreement reached in the
PSCBC in 2007 to end the public service strike, with the implementation
of OSD.
SADTU sees the culmination of the OSD talks as a contribution to the
objective of attracting and retaining professionals in the public
service; this within the broader context of service delivery in a
developmental state.
SADTU's OSD demands have been reformulated as follows:
* A basic entry-level salary of R180,000 pa for newly qualified
teachers, to be implemented over period of four years.
* Salary progression for 2007/8 and 2008/9 to be paid by 1 July
2009
* Accelerated pay progression to be brought forward to 1 July
2010and 2012
* One notch (1%) to be paid for every three years in respect of
recognition of experience (We have moved from 2 notches for one year of
service rendered)
* All educators below REQV 13 to be paid at the level of REQV 13
after implementation of a streamlined RPL system (recognition of prior
learning for salary purposes)
* Senior and master teachers to be accelerated by additional six
notches.
The employer wants the teachers to pay themselves out of their own
savings.
We are giving the employer up until end of business today 30 June 2009
to meet our demands.
SADTU will therefore consult its members on the appropriate action to
take if the employer fails to meet our demands.
2 South Africa
<http://www.numsa.org.za/>
2.1 NUMSA condemns Reserve Bank's failure to cut interest rates
Alex Mashilo, Numsa Spokesperson, 30 June 2009
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) rejects
Eskom's 8 per cent wage offer.
NUMSA condemns Eskom for negotiating in bad faith in the wage
negotiations that are underway and rejects the company's 8 per cent wage
offer.
The company is refusing to disclose relevant information without which
the negotiations are rendered meaningless. This information includes
details of the wage bills between the bargaining unit and the
Management, Professionals and Specialist (MPS) levels; and the financial
impact of the lucrative R60.000.00 housing allowance enjoyed by certain
categories of employees at MPS levels.
Just few months ago Eskom offered increases ranging from 25 per cent to
30 per cent at MPS levels. This amounts to looting as compared to the
reasonable 14 per cent increase that the company is refusing to the real
workforce that works in the generation, transmission and distribution of
electricity, and ensures a smooth supply by working 24 hours.
Just recently, Eskom has been permitted to increase the cost of
electricity by 31 per cent. If we put aside the other bold sounding
reasons that the company put forward in applying for this increase, the
unmentioned reality is that the motive forces of looting in the
company's top employment levels and categories look forward to
augmenting their salaries, extending their benefits and heaping up their
already overflowing bonuses all at the cost of the workers and the poor.
As the union we are determined to eliminate income inequalities not only
at Eskom but in South Africa. Up to so far we have avoided pulling off
the plug and unleashing a black out through a strike but Eskom is
persistently pushing us to this direction. We are presently consulting
with our members on the way forward to achieving our 14 per cent wage
demand. Until Eskom discloses all the relevant information it is
impossible to make any move from this point.
While continuing to refuse pulling off the plug and unleashing black
out, we shall work together with fraternal and community organisations
on our bargaining demands to Eskom. We shall also mobilise to address
the many other problems that this company is visiting on the workers and
the poor.
2.2 DA attack COSATU in NW Legislature
Solly Phetoe, COSATU NW Provincial Secretary, 1 July 2009
COSATU in the North West Province has condemned the personal attack by
DA spokesperson, Mr. Hatting, on the COSATU North West Provincial
Secretary and farm workers, during the debate in the legislature on 30th
June 2009.
We are not members of the legislature, so it is not procedural for the
DA spokesperson to attack the COSATU leadership during the debate on the
killing of farm workers in the legislature when he knows that we will
not be able to respond.
We are an independent trade union federation; we don't need permission
from an apartheid party or from Hatting, whom we know now after his
racist attack to COSATU on the issue of killing farm workers in the
province.
We do not expect DA or Hatting to be different for its leader, Helen
Zille, who is based in the Western Cape Province. We do not need
scientific doctors or investigations. These killings, assaults and abuse
of farm workers in the province are let by racist farmers. Hatting's
personal attack on the COSATU Provincial Secretary during the debate in
the legislature will not stop us exposing the DA's racist practices
including those by its spokesperson, Mr. Hatting.
We are happy to report to the people of this province that at least now
we know who are the senior racist leading the perpetrators of the abuse,
assaults and killings of farm workers. We know who has been leading the
threats against the COSATU Provincial Secretary and his family since the
racial killing of members of the Skierluk communities by Johan Nel who
is in jail serving his life sentence.
We know that this is a clear response from those who supported Johan Nel
during his trial, following the shooting attack on 14th January 2008.
Mr Hatting must respond to the racist killing of farm workers carried
out by white farmers and bring some solution to these animals, who are
led by him, who is opposed to democracy, revolution and human rights.
Racist leaders like Mr Hatting and Helen Zille must know that they are
wasting their time. Their apartheid regime will not be back. COSATU and
its alliance will continue to be strong for the next 100 years to make
sure the ANC leads this country. The apartheid political party will not
lead this country anymore; they will continue to be the opposition in
those small numbers as they are.
2.3 Imprison price-fixers
Benzi ka-Soko, POPCRU National Spokesperson, 30 June 2009
It is really disturbing that there are new reports about price-fixing by
different companies especially in the food industry. These reports come
amid the on-going difficulties presented by the onslaught of the global
economic recession. It should be mentioned that all types of economic
crises hit the poor the hardest simply because of multiple
vulnerabilities.
It is the poor who continue to live inhumanely in the shacks in our
townships and other informal settlements of the Rainbow Nation. It is
also the poor who continue to be victims of any disaster through the
anger of Mother Nature as it always happens in the Cape Flats-Zwide in
the Western Cape, Kwa-Mashu-uMlazi in Kwa-Zulu-Natal,
Dipklook-Zola-Meadolands-SOWETO in Gauteng, Welamlambo-Secunda-Bethal in
Mpumalanga, Ga-Mokopane-Sekhukhune in Limpopo and all other vulnerable
places across the country.
Certainly, it is the poor who will suffer the most as a result of the
electricity hike that was effected by the NERSA-ESKOM Coalition. As we
speak, there are people and communities in South Africa who are not
getting electricity because they cannot afford it. These communities
live life electricitylessly. Those who are used to electricity know how
frustrating it is to be without this commodity.
The electricity hike is therefore an attack on the livelihoods of the
poor. This hike is going to make the life of the poor people more
unbearable for it will definitely lead to a wide range of consequences
such as brazier-related fatalities, cold weather related deaths as we
experience one of the coldest winter periods in the history of South
Africa. Government should intervene on behalf of the toiling masses of
our country.
Government should begin tightening the noose around the necks of all
price-fixing companies. The Competition Commission should begin calling
for the imprisonment of these thugs and it is against this background
that a clarion call should be made to change legislation governing
commercial competition in this country. These cheaters habitually
continue to rob the poor because they know that they will only pay the
fines and continue with their business as usual. It cannot be business
as usual, more needs to be done. Toughen the laws.
Companies like SASOL have become law unto themselves because they have
continuously habitually perpetrated criminal acts flouting competition
laws left, right and centre, willy nilly. SASOL et al are not above the
laws of South Africa. They must be viciously punished.
These revolutionary calls are made in the light of the skyrocketing food
prices and other basic commodities that are critical for human
sustenance. In the very recent past, we have experienced a number of
economic frustrations as a result of Capitalist policies of fiscal
discipline. First, we woke up one day to newspaper headlines shouting
'Bread-price fixing exposed'. This expose indicated that there was
empirical evidence suggesting that bread-baking companies have always
been involved in this commercial crime.
Adding pepper to the bleeding wound, we have also recently been told
that milk-prices were also fixed. We are being told of these crimes
against the poor amid the continuously increasing fuel prices that seem
to have become ordinary daily occurrences in this country. Another fuel
increase is on the cards. Already, more than a million cars and houses
have been repossessed by the anti-people banking industry of this
country. The very same banking industry is guilty of robbing the people
through crazy bank charges that the JALI COMMISION found to be
criminally exorbitant.
The SA public cannot continue to sit and do nothing about these
rip-offs. We need to rise and rebel. We are paying highly exorbitant
taxes in this country and these taxes should be making our lives better.
These exorbitant taxes are supposed to improve our lives and if that is
not happening, which country are we making better in paying these taxes.
We really cannot continue to live in misery and in abject poverty while
the lives of the super-rich continue to nutritiously and economically
blossom. The citizens of this country should begin playing their
revolutionary role in the shaping of pro-poor policies for the
upliftment of the plight of the downtrodden. The SA general public and
the working class in particular need to be continuously reminded that
indeed, they do have the power to change their destitution and that is
through their labour power using revolutionary theory to engage the
powers that-be. Another world is possible. We demand decent life for we
deserve better.
Bottom of Form
2.4 FXI deeply disappointed by ICASA's stance on 'blacklisting'
complaint
Melissa Moore, FXI Acting Executive Director, 30 June 2009
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) is deeply disappointed by the
Complaints and Compliance Committee of Independent Communication
Authority of South Africa's (CCC) decision not to deal with the
wrongdoings of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in
respect of the "blacklisting controversy".
We view the decision as highly regrettable in that it does not give
sufficient weight to the massive public interest in the matter. The CCC
has failed to uphold the critical role played by the regulator in
regulating broadcasting in the public interest and to ensure fairness,
impartiality and the dissemination of unbiased information to the
public.
It is critical to note that the CCC's finding does not in any way
exonerate the conduct of SABC in the blacklisting controversy. The CCC
did not find that the SABC did not blacklist certain political
commentators. It went so far as to state that blacklisting is, in
itself, deplorable.
During 2008 FXI lodged a complaint to Independent Communication
Authority of South Africa (ICASA) against the SABC. The essence of our
complaint was the following:
a) That the SABC news management manipulated its news and
current affairs in the pursuit of a political agenda;
b) That when the manipulation was publically exposed, the
SABC's news management dishonestly tried to cover it up; and
c) That the SABC Board failed to take any remedial action
when its own enquiry into these matters concluded that its news
management had been guilty of serious misconduct.
Our complaint was prompted by the SABC's failure to implement the
recommendations of the Sisulu Commission of Enquiry (Commission) into
blacklisting of certain political commentators, and related matters, at
the SABC. The Commission found that certain commentators /"had been
excluded from news and current affairs programmes on grounds that that
were not objectively defensible". /
We are of the view the CCC has erred in a number of respects. The CCC
has refused to deal with and pronounce upon the merits of the matter
placed before it. In holding that it does not have jurisdiction over
internal journalistic matters, the CCC has misconstrued its powers and
interpreted such powers in an overly narrow fashion. In so doing, they
have neatly avoided pronouncing on a controversial issue that falls
squarely within their mandate and jurisdiction. We view this as an
abdication of their duties in respect of the public broadcaster which in
itself is deplorable.
Moreover, the CCC has failed to deal with the evidence that FXI placed
before it, which evidence remains the only uncontroverted evidence
placed before the CCC. The SABC failed to place any admissible evidence
before the CCC to refute our allegations and evidence.
We are amazed at the CCC's contention that the contamination of the
preparation of programmes does not affect the end product. If the
ingredients are contaminated, it goes without saying that you cannot
have an honest and fair end product for consumption by the public.
What is equally astounding is the CCC's view that there is no legal duty
on the SABC to provide the public with internal information or reports
on journalistic malpractice, or to inform the public on how it reacts to
contraventions of its code. What the CCC forgets is that the SABC's
ultimate shareholder is the public and that the public has a
constitutional right of access to all information held by the SABC.
The clandestine manner in which SABC has operated has in our view been
central to the current crises in which it now finds itself. ICASA has
not moved robustly and vigorously to address these issues which are
central to the right to act as a public broadcaster. ICASA's failure to
address the root causes of the problem raises serious questions about
the efficacy of ICASA's policing of the industry and its commitment to
constitutional principles.
FXI is currently considering its legal options in respect of the ICASA's
ruling.
2.5 Zwelinzima Vavi's opening address to COSATU Skills Conference, 1
July 2009
I very much appreciate the opportunity to open this historic, very
important - and very necessary - skills and education conference. I
would like to welcome all of you here today and congratulate the
organisers of the conference.
I want to congratulate our new Minister of Higher Education and
Training, our very long-standing friend and comrade - the much loved
Comrade Blade Nzimande, who will be here tomorrow. I am absolutely
confident that he will overcome the immense challenges he faces and
preside over the transformation of our higher education system.
Over the next three days we shall be assessing government's existing
education, training and skills programme and how well or badly these
have served workers and the poor. We shall also critically evaluate the
effectiveness of COSATU's own policies and strategies in this area,
their strengths and weaknesses.
We shall also need to examine how we can develop a better, more
coordinated strategy to ensure that future education policies play their
full part in our overall strategies for transforming our society as a
whole, in line with our 2015 Plan.
I trust that you will lay the foundations of a comprehensive response to
the range of education, training and skills challenges facing the
working class, which will then have to be discussed at the COSATU 10th
Congress and beyond.
To understand our situation today, we have to look at the way education
and training were manipulated and deformed under apartheid, in its drive
to impoverish and disempower our people. The foundation of apartheid's
discriminatory path was the denial of access to formal education and
skills for the majority of our people. Even the four-year education
colleges were largely barred to black people, which left black teachers
with only the lowest paid teaching jobs.
As a result, many workers learned their skills at the workplace,
informally, and without receiving any certificate. Remember the stories
about 'spanner boys' or even what they used to call 'pikinini' who did
all the work, but no matter how skilled they were, they were still
classed as 'elementary workers' because they did not have pieces of
paper to formalise their real qualifications. This meant workers could
never get promoted or move to other jobs because their qualifications
competencies were never recognised.
Moeletsi Mbeki should have remembered this too, before making his
slanderous comments about trade unions leaders being 'ignorant' and
'uneducated'. Many of them achieved brilliant educational successes
despite have been disempowered under apartheid.
Many have gone on to play pivotal roles in government and business. And
contrary to what our former comrade alleged, they have been, and are
still being, replaced by new generations of workers-intellectuals, whose
studies began in the universities of the trade unions and the workplace.
With the transition to democracy, the unions worked with the democratic
movement to try to overcome the divisions and unfairness in the
education and training system, which we inherited. But we still have
very far to go.
We still have huge inequalities, based now on class rather than formerly
on race. Because most of the upper class is still white, however, racial
differences still pervade the education system. In 2003, just over half
of white learners got a matric exemption, but only a tenth of Africans.
Not surprisingly, our universities are still about half white. And about
three quarters of management in the private sector is still white.
In the area of skills development, the main target post-1994 was to
improve access to higher and further education for black workers, so
that they could achieve qualifications, improve their levels of skills
and their career prospects and reverse the discrimination of the past.
The importance of skills development cannot be overestimated. Unless we
reverse the racist and discriminatory education policies of the
apartheid era, we will never be able to reach all the other goals we
have set ourselves in the struggle for the socialist transformation of
our society.
That is why the skills development system, spearheaded by the SETAs, is
particularly important for the workers and labour movement. Indeed, we
owe the very fact that we have such structures as SETAs to the campaigns
waged by unions, especially the metalworkers, during those hard years of
apartheid.
But SETAs have been around now long enough to enable us to assess their
successes and failures, particularly their effect on economic growth and
the levels of unemployment. While we acknowledge their many important
achievements, we have to admit that they have not lived up to many of
our initial expectations.
The trade union movement must share the blame for some of the failures
of the SETAs, which represent the best example of COSATU's ability to
bang the doors until they open, then fail to walk through the open
doors. Employers too, despite largely picking up these gains, have not
driven the skills revolution for the benefit of the economy as a whole.
This conference provides us the opportunity to address this weakness.
Skills development to workers is one of the cornerstones of economic
empowerment.
The goal when SETAs were established was to ensure that training
responded to the real needs of the economy and society, rather than just
becoming a paper chase to provide workers with useless and irrelevant
qualifications.
Finally, we wanted to ensure that every South African can read and
write. Estimates of illiteracy range widely, but probably around one in
six people - mostly rural and older - are still illiterate. If people
are denied access to basic literacy and numeracy, they cannot take their
rightful place in society either as citizens or as workers. They will
remain marginalised, at a huge personal cost to themselves and an
equally great cost to society.
Comrades
Can we claim that we have succeeded in our efforts to transform the
skills training system? Despite all our work and accomplishments, we
have to say no; we still have very far to go.
A major concern is that the systems for recognising prior learning are
still not generally in place. Consequently workers, especially black
workers, still suffer from historic injustices. Where the systems do
exist, they often need so much theoretical work that ordinary workers
cannot afford to get the qualifications anyway.
A second concern is that most workers still do not have access to
training. According to the Labour Force Survey, white men are still more
likely to get training than black workers. Elementary workers have
almost no access to any training. The skills levy is still low compared
to more successful Asian countries, and even so much of it remains
unspent. That is a major cause for concern.
There are various reasons for the problems facing the skills development
system. Firstly the planning process in most companies remains firmly in
the hands of management. We have not sufficiently empowered workers and
shop stewards to develop demands and fight for them.
Many employers regularly, and illegally, refuse workers paid time off
for training. So they are left having to take courses at weekends or in
the evening, which is difficult, especially for people with families.
The SETAs are not blameless. Too often, their extensive planning
requirements, even if well intentioned, have stalled progress. We must
focus on getting more training to more people, and less on establishing
bureaucratic systems and commissioning endless consultants' reports.
Finally, we have not linked skills development sufficiently to
employment equity. Many companies have separate committees to deal with
the two issues. Yet for workers one of the main aims of skills
development is so that they can advance their careers and overcome the
historical racial barriers imposed under apartheid.
Some unscrupulous racist employers not only fail to train black workers
but then hand the top jobs to white workers, hiding behind the excuse
that "black workers are unskilled and unqualified", which of course is
their fault in the first place.
In response to these challenges, the government has pushed the concept
of learnerships, particularly to involve unemployed people, and asked
labour and business to improve their representation on SETA boards.
But those strategies fail to address the core problem - the failure to
ensure that ordinary workers have a voice in defining skills needs and
programmes. That is what COSATU must do much more consistently. The
skills development programme after all reflects our demands; now we have
to make it work.
We cannot afford just to discuss skills any longer in a strange jargon
that that disempowers ordinary workers. We have to empower workers and
their shop stewards to identify what they want from skills plans and
negotiate and campaign for it.
Comrades
How does all this relate to the unemployment crisis? Unemployment does
not arise primarily because of low skills and education. The average
unemployed youth - and young people make up two thirds of the unemployed
- has had 11 years of formal education, far more than in most developing
countries, which nevertheless have much lower unemployment. We even have
many unemployed university graduates.
To keep blaming unemployment on poor education and skills essentially is
to blame the victim. It plays into the racist notion that black people
are too uneducated to function in the formal economy. This is sheer
nonsense.
Unemployment is so high because the economy is not creating jobs, and
now that we are in a recession it is shedding jobs at an alarming rate.
That in turn arises from low levels of investment and the emphasis on
capital-intensive industries like metals, auto and heavy chemicals. It
also results from highly concentrated ownership of industry that
prevents growth in other sectors.
Unless we address these challenges, no amount of skills development will
lead to job creation.
We very much appreciate the commitment of government, business and
labour - in the historic Framework Agreement as South Africa's Response
to the Global Economic Crisis to prioritising training and skills
development. It rightly identifies improving the quality of the
learnership programmes, as one of the ways to avoid retrenchment.
I particularly like its proposal for 'training layoffs', financed by the
NSF and SETAs, for workers whose employers would ordinarily retrench
them and which can be introduced on terms that would keep them in
employment during the economic downturn but re-skill them as an
investment for the future economic recovery.
This does not mean that better education and training will not create
more jobs and help the economy to grow. Education and skills development
will address unemployment best however by meeting the needs of the
economy for practical, technical and management skills.
Comrades and friends,
Clearly it is very hard to reconstruct the education and training system
after so many decades of racist oppression. And we cannot do it from
above through elitist, technical processes. We have to find ways to
empower shop stewards, organisers and workers to identify what skills
they want and how they can best get them.
Unless we win this battle, the danger is that millions of our people may
be condemned to lives of poverty and unemployment. Our people need help
and training, not only through the expanded public works programme but a
range of other interventions.
These may include courses on how to organise themselves into co-ops or
open small business, or how can they avoid falling prey to the
omashonisa, but without misleading them into believing that all trained
people will become millionaire business men or women.
We must go back to the basics of the skills development system:
recognition of prior learning and a huge increase in access to training
for ordinary workers, including ABET. We will beat unemployment, not by
using the training system to create artificial positions, but by through
a vigorous development strategy supported by a much stronger education
and training system.
The struggles for education and training have a rich history in South
Africa. The draft discussion paper circulated to stimulate debates in
this conference reminds us of the principles underlining education and
training. These principles remain relevant today. Many of them have been
achieved but many still have to be achieved.
Let us remind ourselves that 70% of our schools do not have libraries
and 60% do not have laboratories. Let us all recall that 60% of children
are pushed out of the schooling system before they reach grade 12.
This reflects a number of challenges we still face. These include the
fact that the quality of teacher education and professional development
is inadequate. Today 55% of those in this profession would leave if they
had a chance. Indeed 30 000 of teachers leave the profession annually.
The quality of South African education leaves much to be desired. We
cannot compete with many African states on basic survival skills. Take
the example of Zimbabweans. When they arrive here they simply outperform
their South African counterparts on many fronts. This reflects the
superior education they receive. Our basic education and higher
education, working together with the labour movement and the rest of
society, has to ensure an improvement of education.
A key ingredient though, is that education must function in the
traditional black schools - African schools in particular. We welcome
the commitment to make education one of the five priorities for the
period moving forward.
Our commitment must be to help to make this priority achievable and do
everything not to frustrate the endeavour. The ANC and SADTU negotiated
what they called are the non negotiables - "that teachers are in school,
in class, on time, teaching, that there is no abuse of learners and no
neglect of duty".
COSATU strongly supports these non-negotiables and will do everything in
our power to ensure that all play their part to ensure their success. We
do recognise that whilst we are trade unionists, we are at the same time
parents and therefore key stakeholders in the education system. We are
members of our communities before we are unionists. As parents we must
ensure that we play our role in the education of our children.
The two-week long unprotected strike by Soweto educators recently has
brought these discussions to the fore. We have asked for a meeting with
the leadership of SADTU in Soweto in order to receive a briefing on the
purpose behind this unprotected strike.
We are concerned that a revolutionary trade union movement must never
act in a manner that isolates itself from the broader working class. We
are a leading detachment of the working class. We call ourselves a
revolutionary and transformative trade union precisely because of our
ability to act to advance the broader interests of the working class.
In the same vein we welcome the tentative agreement reached by the
majority of unions with the Department of Health yesterday which may end
the unprotected strike by the doctors. COSATU fully supports the demands
of the doctors and have, more than anyone else, ensured that the
doctors' concerns received attention at the highest level of our
government authorities.
We are however concerned that in the current strike the people who are
being turned away from the public hospitals are largely the black
working class who, because of inequities and our history, use the public
hospitals.
Whilst the doctors' demands must not be counterposed to other
priorities, we cannot close our eyes to the fact that we will lose
public sympathy if this strike is not resolved soon, and if bigger and
bigger numbers of our people die and/or are pushed into the private
hospitals that are way beyond their means.
Lastly the conference must also address our own internal education and
training programmes. In particular we will check if we implemented the
policy of ensuring that we spend at least 10% of our income on educating
and training our members, leaders and staff. We must ensure that before
we blame everyone else we must clean our own house first.
I wish you all a very successful conference and look forward eagerly to
reading the statement of your conclusions on Friday.
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