Taking COSATU Today Forward, 9 December 2021
Norman Mampane
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#2021YearofCosatuLocals #Back2Basics #MerryXmas #HappyNewYear #ArriveAlive #16DaysofActivism #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
Thursday, 9 December 2021
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NUM Western Cape Region to march to Eskom Bellville Offices this coming Saturday (11 December 2021)
- South Africa
- SACP expresses solidarity with workers in their march for decent work led by NUM
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Microsoft Korea Workers’ Union votes to strike over wages and disregard for workers’ sacrifice during pandemic
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NUM Western Cape Region to march to Eskom Bellville Offices this coming Saturday (11 December 2021)
Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM National Spokesperson, 8 December 2021
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Western Cape Region will be embarking on a protest march to ESKOM Bellville Offices in Cape Town on the 11th of December 2021 as part of a rolling programme of mass action directed to stopping the unbundling and privatization of ESKOM.
The NUM is calling on all trade unions, trade union federations and the broader society to join the march to ESKOM Bellville Offices. We are going to demand the disbandment of the ESKOM board; the resignation of the CEO, the resignation of the COO and the conditions of service of our members to be immediately reinstated.
The march will be supported by the SACP, COSATU and the ANC Youth League in the Western Cape. Please note that all people who will be attending the protest march must adhere to COVID-19 regulations.
The details of the protest march are as follows:
Date: Saturday, 11 December 2021
Venue: ESKOM Bellville Offices
Time of Arrival: 10:30 am
Assembly point: NUM Western Cape Regional Offices, 10 Boston Road 2nd Avenue, Bellville
South Africa
SACP expresses solidarity with workers in their march for decent work led by NUM
8 December 2021
The South African Communist Party (SACP) expresses its solidarity with the workers who will be marching to the Eskom headquarters, Megawatt Park in Johannesburg, on Saturday 11 December 2021. Led by the National Union of Mineworkers, the workers demand adequate earnings, among others, in line with the decent work agenda. Equally important, social dialogue is a key tenet of decent work, as opposed to a restructuring agenda that is introduced as fait accompli.
The workers must not be blamed and punished for the failures that were caused by neoliberalism and state capture.
After 1994, the crisis at Eskom, including frequent load shedding, was created under an economic policy that was introduced as cast in stone. Imposed in 1996, it was under the influence of GEAR that the government adopted an energy policy stance, in December 1998, to NOT invest in new electric power generation capacity, ignoring warnings that the needs of the people and the economy were going to outstrip pre-existing energy production and supply within 10 years. This decision was taken in favour of chiselling Eskom to interpose private wealth accumulation interests in power generation—fragmented from transmission and distribution.
Meanwhile, old power stations were aging. Failures took root in maintenance. The decaying energy generation capacity reached a point where it was inadequate to meet the needs of the people and the economy. By the time the badly designed Medupi and Kusile projects were implemented, it was too late. In addition, the two projects experienced construction problems. These included shoddy work, failure to meet completion deadlines, astronomical cost escalations, and the failure of the first units to be completed to reach 100 per cent efficiency and reliability on a first time through basis.
Besides the capture of the policy space by neoliberal thinking and/or the class forces behind it, state capture through governance decay and looting worsened the situation. Neither neoliberalism nor state capture is the solution. The problems caused by both at Eskom and in energy production are holding up the economy. This is a major contributor to stagnation and the unemployment crisis.
There must be change, which must include increased public investment in electric power generation and modernisation of Eskom to meet the needs of the people, support the economy and ensure the security of power supply. This must be anchored in the principles of a just green transition, with adequate protection for workers and employment creation among apex priorities.
The SACP calls on workers to unite across trade union affiliation and federations in pursuit of the common demands to sort out our country's energy crisis.
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Microsoft Korea Workers’ Union votes to strike over wages and disregard for workers’ sacrifice during pandemic
1 December 2021
On 24 November, more than 90 per cent of the Microsoft Korea Workers Union membership voted to strike in response to inadequate pay and deteriorating conditions. The union represents 450 workers employed as technicians, researchers, developers, software and customer support engineers.
Through long hours and hard work, South Korean Microsoft workers have helped the company grow to be one of the most valuable in the world—it recorded a 47 per cent year-over-year jump in profits in 2021.
According to the Microsoft Korea Workers’ Union, a part of the UNI Global Union affiliate KFCLU, more than 200 billion Korean Won (more than US$175 million) in savings from the company’s South Korean operations were repatriated to the Microsoft’s U.S. headquarters. The union notes that Microsoft Korea was one of the company’s top contributing foreign subsidiaries.
However despite this success, Microsoft Korea is reportedly only offering a meagre 3.5 per cent wage increase, which is less than half of the expected industry average of 8 per cent and would be mostly eaten up by inflation.
Brother Lee Ok-Hyoung, President of Microsoft Korea Workers’ Union said, “Microsoft Korea made a lot of money during the pandemic, and most of its profit came on the backs of the IT workers, many of whom were working from home since April 2020.
“Over half of the Microsoft Korea workforce are working long hours – more than 52 hours per week. And many more are raising the alarm about increasing work hours.
“The union conducted over 37 rounds of negotiations with the company alone this year. We are just asking the company to give the IT workers fair compensation in recognition of their sacrifice, and to hire more people to alleviate the long working hours that are growing by the day.”
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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 line: 010 219-1348