Taking COSATU Today Forward, 8 February 2016
Norman Mampane
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Mao
Our side of the story
Monday 8 February 2016
‘Unity and Cohesion of COSATU to Advance the National Democratic Revolution’
COSATU Cares!
Contents
Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
Ø CWU is shocked by Julius Malema's attack on workers
South Africa
Ø COSATU Mpumalanga delegation refused entry at the lily gold mine where more than eighty workers were trapped underground
Ø SACP congratulates the University of Fort Hare
International-Workers’ Solidarity!
Ø New Worlds of Education puts privatisation in the crosshairs
Ø Workers in Argentina face lay-offs
Workers’ Parliament!-Back to Basics…
CWU is shocked by Julius Malema's attack on workers
Aubrey Sello Tshabalala, CWU General Secretary, 6 February 2016
Communication Workers Union joins thousands of South Africans who condemn the EFF and its Commander in Chief, Julius Malema, for his unfortunate and misplaced attack on workers.
On the 4th February 2016 during the EFF's press briefing, Julius Sello Malema took his time to launch an attack on workers, i.e. journalists, from ANN7 and New Age. His comments contradict what he and his Party claim to be, i.e. a vanguard of the working class.
It's important for Mr Malema to be alive to the fact that these workers come from the most vulnerable, downtrodden and poorest of the poor communities. These workers in their majority are blacks whom he claims his party represents. It's a travesty that a Commander in Chief of a Party which claims to be a vanguard of the working class is unable to separate those who own the means of production (capitalists) from those who are exploited by the same capitalists he claims to be fighting. This has exposed his political backruptcy and narrow politicking.
As a union we are up in arms against ANN7 and New Age with regard to poor working conditions in these companies and we know how exploited these workers are and how they struggle daily to make ends meet. These are our members and we will encourage the EFF to fight its political battles with the Guptas and not focus on easy targets, workers who are defenceless.
We call upon state security agencies including the employer to provide sufficient protection for our members at ANN7 and New Age while they are on duty trying to make a living.
We further call for an Indaba of all stakeholders in the media industry to discuss issues of security and allowances for field journalists.
Issued by Communication Workers Union
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11341#sthash.vztM7rUt.dpuf
South Africa
COSATU Mpumalanga delegation refused entry at the lily gold mine where more than eighty workers were trapped underground
Fidel Mlombo, COSATU Mpumalanga Provincial Secretary, 08 February 2016
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in Mpumalanga is deeply angered and dismayed by the stubborn and intransigent attitude demonstrated by the Goldfields Lily Mine Management towards the COSATU delegation who visited the scenes of the accident where more than eighty mine workers were trapped underground on Friday, the 05 February 2016.
What deepens COSATU’s anger is that despite the appeal by the delegation that they were joining the Minister of Mineral and Energy’s delegation which was already inside the mine, the employer blatantly refused and told the delegation that the only union allowed to enter the mine is their union, AMCU.
This sheer arrogance against COSATU by the employers vindicates COSATU and confirms our long held view that AMCU is in bed with the Capitalist of this country and that AMCU leaders are embedded in the pockets of the employers.
Despite the attempts by the capitalists to weaken and destroy COSATU, the federation remains firm and unshaken in its determination to defend the rights of all vulnerable workers in the farms, mines, retail, textile, security who through their sweat and toil are exploited and robbed by unscrupulous employers in the quest for profit maximization.
Mine workers are amongst the millions of workers across the globe that have not yet experienced fundamental change in their lives, mine workers still live side by side with poverty, inequalities and deprivation.
COSATU joins the millions of people across the globe to wish the rescue team success in rescuing the three workers who are still trapped underground at the Goldfield Lily Mine near Barberton in the Mpumalanga Province.
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SACP congratulates the University of Fort Hare
South African Communist Party, 8 February 2016
The South African Communist Party (SACP) congratulates the University of Fort Hare, a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape Province, for reaching the milestone of a Centenary from 1916 to 2016.
The University produced many intellectual revolutionaries who became active in our struggle for national liberation and social emancipation.
The progressive role it has played goes beyond the borders of South Africa.
There is a significant number of African revolutionaries, heads of state and government who received their higher education and training at the University of Fort Hare: ANC and first democratically elected President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, ANC President Oliver Tambo, SACP and ANC stalwart Govan Mbeki, SACP General Secretary Chris Hani, founding Presidents of independence in Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana: Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Robert Mugabe and Seretse Khama respectively, and several prominent leaders of society in various fields of life.
Being the only university in South Africa that offered degrees to black people during its formative years, Fort Hare University could not escape the possibility of some among its graduates becoming turncoats against the people’s liberation movements. This includes graduates who accepted the apartheid segregation of South Africa and its partitioning into the so-called homelands or those who also served as the “chief ministers” of such Bantustans, among others Cedric Phatudi, Kaiser Matanzima, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
It is ironic that Buthelezi, whose role against our liberation struggle leaves much to be desired, was selected to present the university’s “Z.K. Matthews Centenary lecture”. Z.K. Mathews, a stalwart of our liberation struggle, played an important role among those who envisioned the Freedom Charter and participated in drawing it up although he could not attend the Congress of the People in 1955 where it was first adopted.
The Freedom Charter is a revolutionary document. It is not some document for the so-called free market – the economic regime of human exploitation pushed by Buthelezi and his ilk. In addition, rather than federalist political enclaves, the Freedom Charter stands for a united, non-racial, non-sexist democratic South Africa.
Like all our universities, the University of Fort Hare has an important role to play in intellectual production and research and development towards a prosperous South Africa. In particular, the university faces the challenge of maintaining and further developing its credentials as the centre for leadership development for our country’s and continent’s goal of complete liberation and social emancipation.
The SACP calls on the Council of the University of Fort Hare, the Senate and broader academia, students and workers in general to ensure that it does not fall from its stature as a progressive higher education institution. The SACP particularly calls on the students of the university to embrace its progressive role and develop a scientific outlook of development.
The illustrious legacy of the University of Fort Hare must not be betrayed. The revolutionary values of the majority of its prominent former students must not be denounced. The Progressive Youth Alliance and its components have a leading role to play in this regard and must unite to give effect to this role.
The Progressive Youth Alliance must ensure that the university’s progressive legacy is not hijacked and driven into a reactionary path, including liberal anti-majoritarian disguises of democracy while in fact they are engaging in a broader agenda to preserve colonial- and apartheid-acquired white privilege.
The defining challenge facing South Africa as the University of Fort Hare begins the journey of its second centenary, is that of placing our democratic transition on to a second, more radical phase.
This requires an intellectual cadre who is capable of developing and running advanced production, thus contributing in solving the problems of unemployment, poverty, inequality and untransformed ownership. Such a cadre has the capacity to break new, scientific and technological grounds through research and development, including discoveries and inventions, product and production process design and innovation.
This are the basic attributes of an intellectual cadre South Africa needs to transform its vast mineral resources and primary goods into finished products, to diversify production and expand productive work.
Issued by the SACP
International
Workers in Argentina face lay-offs
IndustriALL, 08 February 2016
Workers in both the public and private sectors in Argentina are facing lay-offs and dismissals. IndustriALL Global Union rejects these measures and urges President Mauricio Macri’s government to promote social dialogue and respect workers’ rights.
Sixty workers are at risk of losing their jobs in the clothing sector after the Kevingston company announced it will stop making clothes in the country and will import them instead Workers have taken action in response to the threat of dismissal.
Workers at Felsom, which makes clothing for Kevingston, went out into the streets to protest. They are members of the tailors’ union, the Unión Cortadores de la Indumentaria (UCI), affiliated to IndustriALL:
We held a successful demonstration against Kevingston. It outsourced work to other companies but when the crisis came, it tried to cut its links with them without paying wages or anything else. The demonstration forced the company to accept responsibility and incorporate these workers into its workforce with full rights,
explained the UCI’s general secretary, Heraldo Mage.
Oil industry workers are also on the alert after the Chamber of Special Oil Industry Operations Companies (Cámara de Empresas de Operaciones Petroleras Especiales, CEOPE) asked the government for authorization to lay off 5,000 workers in Neuquén because of the crisis in the sector.
Alberto Roberti, general secretary of the Oil, Gas and Biofuel Union Federation (F.A.Si.Pe.G. y Bio) affiliated to IndustriALL) commented:
At this stage, the unions are on the alert given the likelihood of dismissals. As yet, no workers have been dismissed in the sector, which is good news. My feeling is that the companies are not going to be able to do that. However, we are in a state of expectancy and are very concerned about the situation,
he said.
Most unions are getting ready to negotiate at sector pay negotiating forums but are prioritizing jobs.
In the private sector, 20,000 to 24,000 jobs are in the balance, according to reliable data provided by the unions. There have been very few jobs losses in the metalworking sector. UOMRA will prioritize maintaining employment levels during the negotiations, while trying to maintain the purchasing power of wages,
explained the international relations secretary of the metalworkers’ union (UOMRA), Eduardo Paladín.
Meanwhile, 28,000 public sector workers lost their jobs in December when the government announced it would not renew their contracts, which it considered to be temporary. The civil service union (ATE) intervened and managed to secure the reinstatement of more than 5,000 workers.
The Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) has rejected the Argentinean government’s adjustment policies, dismissals and repression, claiming that it is “suppressing the labour rights recovered during the last twelve years”.
Jorge Almeida, IndustriALL Regional Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean commented on the current situation in Argentina:
IndustriALL Global Union is closely following the situation in Argentina and is ready to provide solidarity to its affiliates who are fighting for their jobs, fair wages and decent working conditions.
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New Worlds of Education puts privatisation in the crosshairs
Education International, 05 February 2016
The 45th edition of Worlds of Education takes an in-depth look at the scourge of privatisation and commercialisation, and reveals what needs to be done to ensure the right to free quality public education.
Guest editor Carol Anne Spreen from New York University has prepared an edition that gets to the heart of Education International’s campaign against the privatisation and commercialisation in and of education. The line-up of contributors make clear that education is a human right and a public good and features articles by prominent academics.
The scholars behind this edition are working around the world to raise awareness about how and why education is being placed in the hands of corporations, or “edu-preneurs”, instead of educators. The articles lay out both the broad ideological underpinnings of the marketization of education, as well as, provide evidence of how it impacts schools, classrooms, teachers and students on the ground.
Read and download the new edition of Worlds of Education here. http://www.worldsofeducation.org/
Announcements
Enabling COSATU Members to Tweet Effectively
NB: @cosatu2015 has been revamped and now it’s @COSATU2015_
Introduction to COSATU Official Twitter Accounts
Ø @COSATU2015_
Official tweets on current affairs, ideological disposition and for a Question & Answer platform
Ø @COSATU TODAY @_cosatu
Seconds- COSATU roving official tweets on events, quotable sound-bites on speeches/interviews, newsflash etc.
How to Register a COSATU Member Twitter Account
Ø Go Google and type twitter/sign up
Ø Versions of name/surname must be completed
Ø Choose a username/password and don’t forget them
Ø Update your profile; picture, bio
o Picture size should be 700k
o Bio-short narrative who you are
Ø Examples of Bio; Africa's largest Federation Official tweets, the home of the toiling classes across the world, with more than 2million membership...Amandla! Johannesburg, South Africa · http://www.cosatu.org.za
Ø Choose who to follow and type @COSATU2015_ and @COSATU TODAY @_cosatu
Ø And you’re skinning in the game through COSATU tweets
Communicating messages that matter is like artwork
Social Media generation is here and is unavoidable
‘Let’s skin in the game of COSATU Tweets’
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street
Braamfontein
2017
P.O.Box 1019
Johannesburg
2000
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1348
E-Mail: mam...@cosatu.org.za
