Taking COSATU Today Forward, 16 May 2024
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY #MembershipService #Back2Basics #ElijahBarayiBrigades #VoteANC #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
16 May 2024
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand Personal Protective Equipment Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU welcomes the positive agreement to reopen Lily Mine and recovery of the bodies of the three workers trapped
- South Africa
- SADTU statement on the signing of NHI Bill into Law
- President Cyril Ramaphosa: Signing of National Health Insurance Bill
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Argentinian unions bring country to a standstill in defence of labour rights
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
COSATU welcomes the positive agreement to reopen Lily Mine and recovery of the bodies of the three workers trapped
Matthew Parks, COSATU Acting National Spokesperson & Parliamentary Coordinator, 15 May 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the positive agreement reached between government led by the Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr. Gwede Mantashe, with the Business Rescue Practioners (BRPs) and the former owners of Lily Mine, Vantage Goldfields to reopen Lily Mine. This agreement accompanies the Minister exercising his power to promulgate a declaration under Section 11 of the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Development Act
This agreement has been the product of extensive engagements between the Department, the BRPs, Vantage Goldfields with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and COSATU over the past several years. This has been a painful chapter to over 1500 workers who lost their jobs and most painfully the families of the trapped mineworkers, Solomon Nyirenda, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Winnie Nkambule.
We are heartened by the commitment by Vantage Goldfields to resume operations at Lilly Mine which will see many jobs being recreated as well as their agreement to finally recover the bodies of the deceased mine workers.
This will bring long sought relief to their families who have been pained at not being able to bury their loved ones. It will provide jobs to mine workers desperate to take care of their families. It will see stimulus injected into the local community and economy.
Whilst this has been a long and difficult journey, we are pleased that we are finally concluding this chapter and closure and relief can now be provided to the families and workers traumatised by the horrific accident at Lily Mine.
COSATU and NUM will continue to engage with government, the BRPs and the employer to ensure this agreement is honoured and expedited. We thank the Minister, Gwede Mantashe, for his intervention and the relief it will bring to the families and many workers. This is a reminder of the importance of having a government, led by the African National Congress, that understands the needs of workers and seeks to resolve them no matter how difficult.
Issued by COSATU
SADTU statement on the signing of NHI Bill into Law
Dr Mugwena Maluleke, SADTU General Secretary, 15 May 2024
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) welcomes the signing into law the National Health Insurance (NHI) bill. The signing is indeed an historic moment, and it proves, once again, the ANC-led government’s commitment to improving the lives of all South African citizens and to fulfilling its constitutional obligation as proclaimed in Section 27 of the Bill of Rights which declares that everyone has a right to have access to health care services, including reproductive health care.
Health care is a basic human right and has for too long endured a system that has turned health care into a commodity where most of the population who are poor could not access quality health care.
The NHI will ensure that South African access the full range of quality health care services whenever and wherever they need them irrespective of their socio-economic status.
The NHI will see to the creation of a public health fund with adequate resources to plan and meet the healthcare needs of the entire population and this will narrow the gap between the poor and rich in terms of healthcare.
The NHI will not only benefit the unemployed and poor but the working class as well. As a union with a membership that subscribe to medical aid, a sizeable number cannot use medical aid until the end of the year as it gets exhausted before the year ends, and they must pay from their pockets. The annual tariff increases cause a strain to their budgets,
We echo the Minister of Health’s call to all role players to work with government and become part of the solution and for health workers to commit and work towards ensuring that the NHI is a success.
We have no doubt that the NHI will go a long way towards ensuring a healthy nation.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
________________
President Cyril Ramaphosa: Signing of National Health Insurance Bill
15 May 2024
Remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the signing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, Union Buildings, Tshwane
Minister
of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla,
MECs of Health,
Senior officials,
Representatives of the health fraternity,
Representatives of civil society,
Representatives of labour,
Members of Parliament’s Portfolio and Select Committees,
Public representatives,
Members of the media,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are gathered here today to witness the signing into law of the National Health Insurance Bill, a pivotal moment in the transformation of our country.
It is a milestone in South Africa's ongoing quest for a more just society.
This transformational health care initiative gives further effect to our constitutional commitment to progressively realise access to health care services for all its citizens.
At its essence, the NHI is a commitment to eradicate the stark inequalities that have long determined who receives adequate healthcare and who suffers from neglect.
By putting in place a system that ensures equal access to health care regardless of a person’s social and economic circumstances, the NHI takes a bold stride towards a society where no individual must bear an untenable financial burden while seeking medical attention.
This vision is not just about social justice. It is also about efficiency and quality.
The provision of health care in this country is currently fragmented, unsustainable and unacceptable.
The public sector serves a large majority of the population, but faces budget constraints. The private sector serves a fraction of society at a far higher cost without a proportional improvement in health outcomes.
Addressing this imbalance requires a radical reimagining of resource allocation and a steadfast commitment to universal healthcare, a commitment we made to the United Nations.
The real challenge in implementing the NHI lies not in the lack of funds, but in the misallocation of resources that currently favours the private health sector at the expense of public health needs.
The NHI Bill presents an innovative approach to funding universal healthcare based on social solidarity.
It proposes a comprehensive strategy that combines various financial resources, including both additional funding and reallocating funds already in the health system.
This approach ensures contributions from a broader spectrum of society, emphasising the shared responsibility and mutual benefits envisioned by the NHI.
The financial hurdles facing the NHI can be navigated with careful planning, strategic resource allocation and a steadfast commitment to achieving equity.
The NHI carries the potential to transform the healthcare landscape, making the dream of quality, accessible care a reality for all its citizens.
The NHI Fund will procure services from public and private service providers to ensure all South Africans have access to quality health care.
The NHI recognises the respective strengths and capabilities of the public and private health care systems. It aims to ensure that they complement and reinforce each other.
Through more effective collaboration between the public and private sectors, we can ensure that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The effective implementation of the NHI depends on the collective will of the South African people.
We all need to embrace a future where healthcare is a shared national treasure, reflective of the dignity and value we accord to every South African life.
Preparations for the implementation of NHI necessarily require a focused drive to improve the quality of health care.
We have already begun implementing a national quality improvement plan in public and private health care facilities, and are now seeing vast improvement.
In signing this Bill, we are signalling our determination to advance the constitutional right to access health care as articulated in Section 27 of the Constitution.
The passage of the Bill sets the foundation for ending a parallel inequitable health system where those without means are relegated to poor health care.
Under the NHI, access to quality care will be determined by need not by ability to pay. This will produce better health outcomes and prevent avoidable deaths.
The NHI is an important instrument to tackle poverty.
The rising cost of health care makes families poorer.
By contrast, health care provided through the NHI frees up resources in poor families for other essential needs.
The NHI will make health care in the country as a whole more affordable.
The way health care services will be paid for is meant to contain comprehensive health care costs and to ensure the available resources are more efficiently used.
Through the NHI, we plan to improve the effectiveness of health care provision by requiring all health facilities to achieve minimum quality health standards and be accredited.
Following the signing of this Bill, we will be establishing the systems and putting in place the necessary governance structures to implement the NHI based on the primary health care approach.
The implementation of the NHI will be done in a phased approach, with key milestones in each phase, rather than an overnight event.
There has been much debate about this Bill. Some people have expressed concern. Many others have expressed support.
What we need to remember is that South Africa is a constitutional democracy.
The Parliament that adopted this legislation was democratically-elected and its Members carried an electoral mandate to establish a National Health Insurance.
South Africa is also a country governed by the rule of law in which no person may be unduly deprived of their rights.
We are a country that has been built on dialogue and partnership, on working together to overcome differences in pursuit of a better life for all its people.
The NHI is an opportunity to make a break with the inequality and inefficiency that has long characterised our approach to the health of the South African people.
Let us work together, in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity, to make the NHI work.
I
thank you.
International-Solidarity
Argentinian unions bring country to a standstill in defence of labour rights
14 May, 2024
Together with other workers in the country, IndustriALL affiliates in Argentina staged an extraordinary national work stoppage on 9 May, protesting against the government and employers who are promoting the removal of established labour and social rights.
Argentina’s trade union confederations called for a day of protest with a work stoppage to fight against:
The removal of labour and social rights
An adjustment paid for by those who can least afford it (pensioners and workers)
The return of the tax on earnings
Intervention in the status of free pay agreements
The freeze on public works and an increase in unemployment
The dismantling and privatization of public companies
The defunding of public health, universities, education, science and culture
The surrender of national heritage, natural resources
According to the trade union confederations the general strike was observed throughout the country, reporting an “almost total participation in industry, levels that exceeded 90 per cent in commerce and almost 100 per cent in the public sector. Transport, both air and land, also saw a high rate of participation, and in some provinces, rural sectors joined the mobilisation.”
The unions said that the success of the action reflected the level of commitment and the trade union and class consciousness among Argentina’s workers. They also highlighted the unity of action between the three trade union centres, a determining factor in the massive support for the work stoppage.
The strike should be a wake-up call for the Milei government to change its adjustment policies and stop rolling back rights. The strike was also a message to the senators, on whose votes the rejection of the government’s “Foundations and Starting Points Law” depends. Failing that, the unions said they would continue their plan to fight it.
IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL vice president Lucineide Varjão, IndustriALL Latin America and Caribbean regional secretary Marino Vani, and regional executive committee members met with IndustriALL affiliates in Argentina on 7 May. During the meeting, they approved an action plan to confront the Milei government’s attacks on workers.
IndustriALL’s regional executive committee met on 8 May and approved the action plan. In a statement, the committee rejected the reforms to promote deindustrialization, to deregulate the economy, to reduce the size of the state and its levels of intervention, and to repeal hundreds of laws that affect both individual and collective labor rights.
IndustriALL’s regional secretary, Marino Vani, said:
“The workers of Argentina are again setting an example of resistance and struggle. They have made it clear to the employers and the government that they do not accept and do not agree with the measures and policies being adopted.
We congratulate the workers and the union leadership for their resistance and their message, which was not only in defence of the people of Argentina but of all workers in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
____________________
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 line: 010 219-1348