Taking COSATU Today Forward, 20 March 2015
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
Friday 20 March 2015
‘Strengthen COSATU for total emancipation.....The Struggle continues’
Contents
Workers Parliament
Ø SAMWU Western Cape Elects New Leadership
Ø NUM National Women`s Structure to hold a "Back to School Campaign
Ø Speech Delivered by COSATU President at the Memorial Service of Comrade Collins Chabane, 19 March 2015, Tshwane
South Africa
Ø W Cape Government may shut down Ottery Youth Care Centre!
International
Ø IndustriALL and ThyssenKrupp sign global agreement on promotion of fundamental rights
Workers’ Parliament! #MinimumWages
SAMWU Western Cape Elects New Leadership
Papikie Mohale, SAMWU National Media Officer, 20 March 2015
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) in the Western Cape is currently holding its 10th Provincial Congress under the theme “Consolidating the Gains of the Struggle for the Working Class” held in Cape Town.
The congress was addressed by ANC Western Cape Chairperson Comrade Marius Fransman, SACP Western Cape Chairperson Comrade Anthony Dietrich and COSATU Provincial Secretary Tony Ehrenreich.
In addressing the Congress, the SACP chairperson urged union members to avoid belonging to factions as factional battles as such battles are a hindrance to the full implementation of the National Democratic Revolution.
The SACP Chair further urged union members to ensure the unification of the working class adding that “a divide working class is deprived of socialism”.
The congress could not take a turn a blind eye when workers in this province particularly in Worcester are subjected to the reintroduction of the Dompas, a practice that ANC Western Cape chairperson has described as “an evil system which has no place in a democratic South Africa” In announcing the results, SAMWU Deputy General Secretary informed congress that there are no winners and losers. That only workers stand to benefit from a united provincial leadership, that the new leadership should ensure the unity and cohesion of workers in the province.
COSATU Provincial Secretary Tony Ehrenreich urged workers to ensure that there is unity in the Federation and added that “unity is or greatest weapon”. Employers and capitalists are celebrating when organised labour is divided, Tony Ehrenreich further reminded the congress that no representative of the capitalist class will ever do favours for the working class, in essence workers are on their own in this battle and as such should be united to be able to stand a fighting chance against capitalism as we strive towards socialism.
The congress duly elected leadership as follows;
Chairperson : Jonathan Krakri
Deputy Chair : Siyabulela Liwani
Treasurer : Portia Lindi
Secretary : Jackson Bozo
Deputy Secretary: Pricilla Plaatjies
SAMWU congratulates the newly elected leadership and trust that the new collective will champion, defend and protect the interests of workers in the Western Cape, the province that we know to be the most intolerant towards municipal workers.
Members of the media are hereby encouraged to liaise with the Provincial Secretary on issues relating to the Western Cape Province.
The Secretary can be contacted on Jackso...@samwu.org.za
Issued by SAMWU Head Office
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=10173#sthash.cRGDPSWS.dpuf
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NUM National Women`s Structure to hold a "Back to School Campaign
Phumeza Mgengo, NUM National Women`s Structure Chairperson, 20 March 2015
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) National Women`s Structure will hold a "Back to School Campaign" at Umzimuhle Hall in Matlosana on Saturday (21 March 2015).
The NUM Women`s Structure leadership will be giving out school uniforms to the children affected by the 2012 violence in the platinum belt.
School uniforms will also be given to the children of the Aurora ex-mineworkers. The ex-mineworkers are still waiting for their payments from the embattled Aurora Empowerment Systems.The NUM fought very hard about this calamity facing workers at Aurora, we marched, we shouted from the rooftops but all these appear to be falling on deaf ears. The NUM is still fighting hard to make sure that these workers are paid the money that is owed to them. The NUM is a caring union and we cannot allow innocent children to suffer.
"Most of these children do not have school uniforms. As the NUM, we believe that children have a remarkable capacity for positivity and energy. They hold strong hopes and dreams that can, if nurtured and developed, play a huge role in forming both strong individuals and strong communities," said Phumeza Mgengo, NUM National Women`s Structure Secretary
"Good quality education can deliver almost immeasurable positive results for wider society, helping to shape citizens who are healthier, more productive, and active within their communities. Education will give us tomorrow’s accountants, auditors, mining executives, parliamentarians and leaders – but also healthy mothers, responsible fathers and engaged citizens," Mgengo added.
As the NUM National Women`s Structure, we believe that a life without education is a life half-lived. When people cannot read or write, when they do not have the skills and abilities that a good quality education offers, they are condemned to a life of poverty, ill-health and social exclusion. This disadvantage gets handed down through generations.
The details are as follows:
Date: Saturday, 21 March 2015
Time: 10h00
Venue: Umzimuhle Hall in Matlosana
The media is invited to attend and report.
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=10172#sthash.6lvlhZPV.dpuf
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Speech Delivered by COSATU President at the Memorial Service of Comrade Collins Chabane, 19 March 2015, Tshwane
Sidumo Dlamini, COSATU President, 19 March 2015
The master of Ceremonies
Members of the family of Comrade Collins
The Alliance leaders and leader of the MDM structures present here today
The ministers and dignitaries present
Comrades, activists, cadres revolutionaries and friends
Please accept warm and revolutionary greetings from COSATU.
We are gathered here today to pay our last tribute to a comrade, an activist, a cadre and a revolutionary who lived his entire life in pursuit of complete freedom for his people.
We have come here today to pay tribute to a complete human being.
We are here today to give our utmost respect and salute to a great freedom fighter.
This is a man who never enjoyed his youth because he chose the trenches and barricades of war against the oppressors than to live a life of treachery and uselessness.
He chose to pursue the interests of his people than his own because he knew and understood that his life was intertwined to that of his own people.
Comrade Collins was and remains our liberator
He stood firm in defence of the principles which defines the content of the liberation of his people.
Comrade Collins was prepared to die in pursuit of the liberation of Black People in general and African in particular.
Comrade Collins was prepared to die in pursuit of free, democratic, united and prosperous South Africa
A gentle giant has fallen!
He occupied the front ranks of those who were the flag bearers of revolutionary discipline within the movement.
He never compromised his stance against rowdiness instead of reasoned arguments
He never compromised quality debate for noise.
He never looked down upon his own comrades because of the position he occupied both with the movement and in the state.
He never identified with the people but was and remained the people.
He knew and understood that for an ANC cadre, the masses are a fortress.
He knew and understood that without the masses there would have been no comrade Collins who was a respected leader and minister in government.
He did not fear debate and robustness but hatred disrespectfulness which is camouflaged as robustness.
He knew the manifestations of this and he had an incisive ability to expose it to shame the perpetrator. If you do not know, please ask those who dares to cross sword with him.
Many chose to leave the ANC than to confront this Gentle Giant.
He stood against anyone, both inside and outside of our movement who appeared to be a threat against these sacred principles of our revolution.
The greatest lesson we can draw from comrade Collins is the ability to understand the interestedness of state and mass power.
Comrade Collins understood that the state was not an entity which was class and gender neutral. He understood that the South African state institution has been constructed on the bases of pursuing a racist agenda against the black and African masses.
Comrade Collins understood that the character of a developmental state we are in a process of building must be working-class biased, must be based on participatory democracy and should be anti-imperialist and this was to be seek in government programmes and the values and ethos espoused by various state institutions.
He knew and understood that the developmental state we are building must decisively intervene in the economy to redistribute resources in order to address divisions resulting from our Apartheid past, unemployment, inequality and poverty, rural-urban development divide.
He understood that the state must take direct responsibility and must rely less on the private sector and market forces through nationalization of strategic sectors and ownership of productive resources, promotion of co-operative and other worker-centred forms of ownership, support downstream industries and lead industrial development, Promotion of regional integration based on an anti-imperialist outlook, Structured relations with extra-state organs of mass power.
He knew and understood that the state must strive to achieve universal access to: decent jobs, quality education, quality healthcare, comprehensive social security, decent housing, and access to water, energy and sanitation.
This gentle giant, this liberator knew that those of our comrades deployed in the state were to never at any material moment act in a manner that sought to create a gulf between the masses and the state institutions.
He knew that state power is not permanent but mass power if properly natured can continuously defend the revolution as we have seen Cuba and in many parts of Latin America such as in Venezuela where the imperialist enemy continues to fail in undermining the revolution in these countries.
We can say without any fear of contradiction that comrades Collins was an internationalist, a true cadre and a complete human being.
His love for music, happiness, his diligence to his work, his character as an ardent reader, his industriousness all tells a story of an all rounded cadre, a complete human being, a cadre who loved life and who was completely dedicated to the freedom of his people
Lala Ngoxolo Mkhonto
South Africa
W Cape Government may shut down Ottery Youth Care Centre!
Tony Ehrenreich, COSATU Western Cape, 20 March 2015
Western Cape Government may shut down Ottery Youth Care Centre!
The Centre is one of only two that are still open in the Western Cape, who specialises in caring for juvenile offenders who have been sentenced under the Child Justice Act.
COSATU Western Cape’s Tony Ehrenreich was scheduled to speak at the Centre today.
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=10170#sthash.Wr9ZBi2m.dpuf
International
IndustriALL and ThyssenKrupp sign global agreement on promotion of fundamental rights
IndustriALL, 20 Mar 2015
IndustriALL Global Union has signed a global framework agreement (GFA) with German-based multinational operating in different segments of the metal industry, ThyssenKrupp, for protecting and advancing the rights of more than 150,000 workers in nearly 80 countries worldwide.
IndustriALL German affiliate, IG Metall and ThyssenKrupp Works Council finalized the GFA process with ThyssenKrupp with a ceremony that was held on 16 March 2015 at the company’s headquarters in Essen. The GFA was developed in consultation with IndustriALL’s affiliates having membership throughout the operations of the company. The process also played important role in finding solutions for the labour conflicts in the US and Italy.
Berthold Huber, who signed the GFA as IndustriALL President, called the new GFA a “trend-setting agreement”, in which the participation of workforce representatives would be ensured via the involvement of representatives in the complaint system as well as in the international committee. Huber further said:
“Multinational groups that are acting globally, have to ensure that they offer fair working conditions globally for their workforce, and that they abide by existing rules, regulations and legislation in favour of their workforce.”
According to the agreement, ThyssenKrupp is obliged to comply with the principles of the International Labour Organzation (ILO), among other international standards, at all its subsidiaries worldwide. These include particularly ILO conventions nos. 29, 87,98, 100, 105, 111, 138 and 182. Under the newly signed GFA ThyssenKrupp undertakes to respect the following principles:
· Equal opportunity and equal treatment
· Maximum working hours as regulated by a respective legislation or a collective bargaining agreement or other agreement within the specific country
· Right to a reasonable remuneration for all employees
· Health and safety of employees a key issue, obliging ThyssenKrupp to adhere to local laws with regard to a safe, hygienic working environment
· All employees have the right to establish trade unions and employees’ representative bodies, and to engage in collective bargaining
· All forms of child and forced labour are prohibited
The GFA has also strong provisions for implementation and monitoring through an International Committee with the participation of various management and workers’ representatives.
ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's leading metal companies providing components and systems for the automotive industry, elevators, escalators, material trading and industrial services.
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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Ntai Norman Mampane (Communications Officer)
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 or Direct: +27 10 219-1342
Mobile: +27 72 416 3790
Twitter: @_cosatu / @COSATU2015_
Web: www.cosatu.org.za
‘The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles’-The Communist Manifesto
