Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 15 February 2016
Norman Mampane
Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin
‘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 15 February 2016
‘Unity and Cohesion of COSATU to Advance the National Democratic Revolution’
COSATU Cares!
Contents
Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
Ø COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary lost a father
Ø South African Municipal Workers Union to hand Memorandum of Grievances to MEC for CoGTA
Ø COSATU Mpumalanga Special Provincial Executive Committee Statement
Ø NUM calls on all mining companies and DMR to compensate mineworkers who are dying underground
Ø NEHAWU is not involved in the young Nurses Indaba march
South Africa
Ø SACP welcomes NPA's decision to prosecute Glynnis Breytenbach
Ø SACP Gauteng successfully launches the Political and Ideological Commission
Ø NUM calls on all mining companies and DMR to compensate mineworkers who are dying underground
International-Workers’ Solidarity!
Ø Global support for UK #heartunions campaign
Workers’ Parliament!-Back to Basics…
COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary lost a father
Dear comrades,
It is with great sadness that we are informing you that comrade Tony’s father passed away on Friday afternoon.
Our heartfelt condolences go out to our leader, comrade, colleague, friend and to his family.
NB: Messages of condolences may be sent to the province with attention to: fi...@cosatu.org.za
Comradely regards
Fiona Kleinhans
Provincial Administrator/
Gender Coordinator
COSATU Western Cape
41 Salt River Road
2nd Floor Community House
Salt River
7925
Cape Town
Tel: +27 21 448-0046 / 010 219 1388
Fax: +27 21 448-0047
E-Mail: fi...@cosatu.org.za
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South African Municipal Workers Union to hand Memorandum of Grievances to MEC for CoGTA
Papikie Mohale, SAMWU Media Officer, 15 February 2016
The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) will be delivering a Memorandum of grievances pertaining to the Exploitation of workers in the following 10 Municipalities falling within the Pietermaritzburg Region:-
uMshwathi Local Municipality, uMngeni Local Municipality, Mpofana Local Municipality, Impendle Local Municipality, Msunduzi Local Municipality, Mkhambathini Local Municipality, Richmond Local Municipality, uMgungundlovu District Municipality, uMvoti Local Municipality and KwaSani Local Municipality
The grievances, includes, but are not limited to the exploitation of workers through:-
· Indefinite contracts in excess of the period permitted by law;
· The use of EPWP instead of permanent appointments;
· Use of different salary systems in the same municipality;
· Unequal pay for equal work and/ or work of equal value;
· Unfair Labour Practices (Promotion) etc…
All media houses are invited to be part of the event which is scheduled as follows:
Pietermaritzburg
Date : Monday, 15 February 2016
Time : 11h00 am Procession from Dales Park, Pietermaritzburg to 13h00 pm KZN Legislature
Venue: KZN Legislature
RSVP to S’bu Molefe on 061 202 4988or sbu.m...@samwu.org.za;sbumo...@gmail.com.
Issued by: SAMWU Pietermaritzburg Region
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COSATU Mpumalanga Special Provincial Executive Committee Statement
Statement released by the Provincial Secretary Fidel Mlombo on behalf of the Provincial Executive Committee,15 February 2016
The COSATU Mpumalanga Special Provincial Executive Committee met in the Mbombela Municipality on the 12 February 2016.
The PEC meeting discussed a range of issues covering both the political and socio-economic challenges engulfing the Mpumalanga Province and the country as a whole.
The meeting noted with deep and serious concern that the working class and the poor of the province are forced to suffer the consequences of a shrinking provincial economy as a result of the shrinking mining and manufacturing sector.
In the recent past the mining sector in the province has shed more than six thousand jobs which has rendered and subjected millions of working class families to increased levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
The Evraz Highveld Steel business rescue plan has collapsed resulting in the inevitable retrenchment of more than 1500 workers.
The massive job losses in the province a course for concern to COSATU.
COSATU therefore calls on both the Provincial and National Government to intervene in trying to rescue the situation because it is slowly becoming a National Crisis.
COSATU calls on the private sector to partner with government and play a meaningful role in trying to leverage the economy and save our country from a total economic meltdown.
On the visit to the Lily Goldfield mine
A very powerful delegation comprising of the COSATU Mpumalanga Provincial Office Bearers and all the COSATU PEC members visited the Lily Goldfields Mine near Barberton on Friday, the 12 February 2016 between 09h00 -11h00 to meet with both the worker representatives and the families of the three workers who are still trapped underground .
The purpose of the visit was to extend the COSATU words of comfort, courage and to instill hope to the workers and family members that the three workers could still be rescued alive.
The delegation was warmly welcomed by both the worker representatives and the families of the three workers.
After meeting and praying with the families, the delegation was shown a distance view of the scene of the accident and the exact location where the rock fell.
COSATU welcomes the intervention by both the National and Provincial Government and the appointment of more expects to assist in the effort to rescue the three trapped mine workers.
COSATU calls on all workers and the people of Mpumalanga and the country to pray for the success of the search and rescue mission.
On the Tax Law Amendment Act
The Special Executive Committee noted with regret the signing by the President of the country the New Tax Law Amendment Bill into law on Christmas eve without consultation with the leadership of COSATU.
The meeting further appreciated the consistent pressure that the COSATU National Leadership has exerted on both the government and the ANC since it came to the attention of COSATU that the President has signed the New Tax Laws effective from the 1st March 2016.
The meeting vowed to mobilize all COSATU members and the public across the width and breadth of the province to embark on protest actions to oppose this unilateral and autocratic decision to impose the compulsory preservation of the workers deferred wages.
The Special PEC was unanimous in its belief that "no government has a right to unilaterally decide for workers how and when to spend their retirement savings"
In this regards, COSATU in Mpumalanga will convene a Provincial Shopsteward Council meeting on the 25 February 2016 which will be attended by all the affiliated unions Shopstewards whose purpose will be to galvanize workers for the National strike action to be held on the 01 March 2016 to coincide with the implementation date of the New Tax Laws.
On the Umbhaba farm workers strike
The meeting spent quality time discussing about the three months old strike by farm workers at Umbhaba farm at Hectorspruit in the Nkomazi Municipality in the Mpumalanga province.
The strike started on the 04 November 2015 after the employer denied the workers their fundamental and basic right to join a trade union of their choice. Both the freedom of Choice and Association are enshrined in the Bill Of Right of the Constitution of South Africa which is a cornerstone of democracy in this country.
The Special PEC saluted the striking farm workers for their courage , determination and radical mobilization to sustain the strike for more than three months despite the victimization by the employer and his agents .
Since the strike began, workers have been subjected to unlawful arrest , torture , intimidation and victimization of their families.
More than three hundred workers and Shopstewards have been dismissed without being charged and brought to a disciplinary hearing. The employer is undermining all state organs and the laws of this country with impunity.
In this context, the meeting concluded that the strike represents a fundamental class battle between the South African Working Class and Monopoly Capital.
It is a strike against the greedy capitalist who enjoy monopoly in the farming sector which is historically based on the exploitation of cheap black migrant and local labour.
It is the strike that calls for the mineral wealth of our country and the heritage of South Africans to be restored back to the people.
In this regard, the meeting resolved to pay active solidity to the striking workers by doing the following.
* to immediately establish a strike fund which will cater for the needs of the striking workers
* to embark on a solidarity provincial strike action which will bring the economy of the Province to a complete halt. The strike will affect all sectors where COSATU is organized in the province and will also mobilize the public to pledge their active solidarity .
* to call for a boycott of all products from Umbhaba by the public with immediate effect.
* to mobilize the public to refuse to be employed by the Umbhaba employers as scab labour during the duration of the strike.
On the 2016 provincial May Day celebrations
The meeting noted that the 2016 COSATU May Day celebrations will be held just a few months before the local government elections.
Both the COSATU Provincial Congress and the National Congress held in 2015 resolved that COSATU will mobilize and galvanize it's members behind the ANC overwhelming electoral victory in the 2016 local government elections .
In this context, the Special PEC decided to dedicate the two Provincial May Day celebrations to be held at the Steve Tshwete and Bushbuckridge municipality to be used to galvanize all COSATU members in the province to campaign and vote for the African National Congress in the 2016 Local Government Elections.
The meeting noted that the present elections campaign cannot be divorced from the struggle to defend the gains of the National Democratic Revolution, the struggle to roll back monopoly capital, it cannot be divorced from the struggle to defeat the anti working class and anti - majoritarian forces.
It therefore becomes imperative that the progressive forces in this country close ranks against the neo-liberals and the mushrooming pseudo left wing counter revolutionary parties.
We dare not fail our revolution!
Statement released by the Provincial Secretary Fidel Mlombo on behalf of the Provincial Executive Committee
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NUM calls on all mining companies and DMR to compensate mineworkers who are dying underground
Livhuwani Mammburu, Acting NUM National Spokesperson, 14 February 2016
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) welcomes the announcement made by the Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane to compensate the families of the three mineworkers trapped in a container some 80m underground at Vantage Goldfields Lily mining mine in Barberton that they will each receive R200 000 and the surviving miners R50 000.
Mosebenzi is quoted in the media saying "we will compensate the surviving miners R50 000, and the families of the three will receive R200 000 each."
It is a good initiative by the company and DMR but the money is not enough to compensate the families and miners for the pain and suffering they are currently going through.
"We feel as the NUM that financial compensation must not only be implemented at Vantage Goldfields Lily Mine because injuries and fatalities are happening in the mining industry as a whole. This must not be a once-off initiative at Vantage Goldfields Lily Mine.," said Erick Gcilitshana, NUM Health and Safety Secretary.
The NUM is further calling on all mining companies and DMR to compensate all mineworkers and their families who are getting injured and dying underground in the mining industry.
The NUM is deeply worried of a high number of mineworkers who are trapped, injured and dying underground. Two weeks back, two mineworkers who were trapped underground at Cook 1 died and another one at Cook 3. Cook 1 and 3 are owned by Sibanye Gold. Last month they were four fatalities at Impala Platinum mine in Rustenburg and in December 2015, there were two fatalities at the same mine.
We are also calling for financial compensation for those who died at Impala Platinum and Cook 1 and 3.
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=11359#sthash.K47z8Loo.dpuf
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NEHAWU is not involved in the young Nurses Indaba march
Bereng Soke, NEHAWU General Secretary, 15 February 2016
NEHAWU totally dispute reports in the social media network that it has endorsed the young nurses’ indaba march that is reportedly scheduled for the 15 February 2016.
This blatant lie is a continuation of the deliberate attempts to create confusion among union members by those who wish to establish their trade unions in the public services.
NEHAWU distances itself from the march and further confirm that we have never been involved in the organising and preparations of this event.
We have never sanctioned any structure or individual to promote or arrange logistics for our members to attend. The name of NEHAWU has been appropriated to create an image that suggests that the union has sanctioned and is part of this march in a clever coy to woe our members.
We call on all workers to see these one trick pony leaders for what they are.
It is very clear that some nurses are not aware of the deceitful intentions to hijack their noble and genuine concerns. These are solely scheming tactics of the swindlers which have become fashionable.
It is for this reason among others that we appeal to all our members who are nurses not to attend this illegal gathering.
There are preconditions that must be met when organising a legal march which among others include putting together measures to defend members against unwarranted disciplinary processes instigated by employers. In this instance the union has never engaged with employers therefore members who shall participate in this event are exposing themselves to the risk of disciplinary processes.
NEHAWU has been leading the struggles of workers including nurses and will continue doing so until our demands are met.
We are aware of the legitimacy of the issues that are being raised and we can confirm that we are directly involved in the processes to resolve them through the established bargaining council and we shall not be deterred until the issues are resolved.
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat
South Africa
SACP Gauteng successfully launches the Political and Ideological Commission
Jacob Mamabolo, SACP Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 14 February 2016
The SACP Gauteng Province successfully launched its Provincial and Ideological Commission. The launch was held in the City of Ekhuruleni, Oupa Phasha District on the 13-14 February 2016. The launch of the Commission was addressed by the 2nd Deputy General Secretary Comrade Solly Mapaila on behalf of the 13th National Congress Central Committee (CC) and Comrade Sidumo Dlamini, the President of Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU).
The function of the Commission is to enhance the ideological and theoretical development of members of the SACP. The Political and Ideological Commission seeks to ensure that communists play their role in accordance with the SACP constitution. The Communist Manifesto states that Communists,
"`have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole. They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mould the proletarian movement.
The Communists, therefore, are on the one hand, practically, the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others; on the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement".
The SACP constitution as part of its guiding principles, state that it will work to "Organise, educate and lead the working class in the struggle for socialism and the more immediate objectives of defending and deepening the national democratic revolution and of achieving national and social emancipation."
The Commission will provide a platform for the SACP to implement its programme on the Battle of Ideas and in accordance with the South African Road to Socialism, to deepen the ideological and political hegemony of the working class. The Commission will be convened once a month as a platform for Marxist-Leninist ideology and Battle of Ideas.
Issued by the SACP Gauteng province
- See more at: http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=5132#sthash.TBlmafuJ.dpuf
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SACP welcomes NPA's decision to prosecute Glynnis Breytenbach
Alex Mashilo, SACP National Spokesperson, 14 February 2016
The South African Communist Party (SACP) notes and welcomes the decision by the National Prosecutions Authority, the NPA, to charge its former prosecutor-cum-DA Member of Parliament, Glynnis Breytenbach, with obstruction and defeating the ends of justice.
One year ago, on 11 February 2015, the SACP released a statement on Glennis Breytenbach’s alleged shenanigans. The statement said: "The SACP notes with serious concern the comments that Democratic Alliance" (DA) Member of Parliament, Glynnis Breytenbach continues to make about what is going on inside the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). This was when she made malicious comments on inner matters of the NPA, as if she was still in its fold, and tried to demonise some of the people who were involved in investigating her shenanigans. In its statement, the SACP further said:
"We believe that Breytenbach is severely conflicted and compromised to comment as a neutral person on matters relating to the NPA. Ms Breytenbach still has a lot to answer for, about her behaviour whilst she was in the NPA, including very serious allegations of conflicts of interest and corruption on her part. It is a well-known fact that she allegedly also went to great lengths to try and sabotage the investigation, including refusal to submit her laptop and attempts at erasing its contents.
It is time that Glynnis Breytenbach is held accountable, now that the NPA is satisfied with its assessment of the case. The SACP also welcomes the announcement by the NPA that it has a winnable case.
The DA has been making a lot of noise for people facing allegations, not even charges that are before the court of law for that matter, to be suspended. The DA must practice what it preaches by suspending Glennis Breytenbach.
In the first place were the DA consistent it should have long suspended her!!
- See more at: http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=5133#sthash.GPHKaaPy.dpuf
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NUM calls on all mining companies and DMR to compensate mineworkers who are dying underground
Livhuwani Mammburu, Acting NUM National Spokesperson, 14 February 2016
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) welcomes the announcement made by the Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane to compensate the families of the three mineworkers trapped in a container some 80m underground at Vantage Goldfields Lily mining mine in Barberton that they will each receive R200 000 and the surviving miners R50 000.
Mosebenzi is quoted in the media saying "we will compensate the surviving miners R50 000, and the families of the three will receive R200 000 each."
It is a good initiative by the company and DMR but the money is not enough to compensate the families and miners for the pain and suffering they are currently going through.
"We feel as the NUM that financial compensation must not only be implemented at Vantage Goldfields Lily Mine because injuries and fatalities are happening in the mining industry as a whole. This must not be a once-off initiative at Vantage Goldfields Lily Mine.," said Erick Gcilitshana, NUM Health and Safety Secretary.
The NUM is further calling on all mining companies and DMR to compensate all mineworkers and their families who are getting injured and dying underground in the mining industry.
The NUM is deeply worried of a high number of mineworkers who are trapped, injured and dying underground. Two weeks back, two mineworkers who were trapped underground at Cook 1 died and another one at Cook 3. Cook 1 and 3 are owned by Sibanye Gold. Last month they were four fatalities at Impala Platinum mine in Rustenburg and in December 2015, there were two fatalities at the same mine.
We are also calling for financial compensation for those who died at Impala Platinum and Cook 1 and 3.
International
Global support for UK #heartunions campaign
IndustriALL, 13 February 2016
#heartunions week is a week-long campaign led by the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) to show all the good work done by unions. But it is also a protest against the suggested Trade Union Bill, aimed at effectively weakening unions in the country. Global union leaders meeting in London on 12 February expressed their full support for the campaign.
The #heartunions week of action celebrates all the good work done by unions in workplaces and society in the UK. Union members from IndustriALL affiliates Unite, GMB and Community have testified on social media to what a difference being a member of a union has made to their lives.
The campaign has attracted high attention in social media, including 20,000 tweets on the best day.
But attention has also been about taking a stand against the Trade Union Bill, currently debated in the UK parliament. The TUC calls the Bill the “biggest attack on trade unions in a generation and a threat to the fundamental right to strike.”
The Trade Union Bill aims to impose tougher thresholds on strike ballots, allow the use of agency workers as striker replacements, reduce the facility time for shop stewards to represent the workers, force unions to share more information with authorities and police, as well as to cut off financial support to the Labour Party, founded by trade unions in 1900.
On 11 February, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady handed over a 200,000-signature petition calling on the government to rethink the suggested bill.
“The Trade Union Bill has no place in a modern democracy. Only through coming together and showing our united strength will we be able defend our vital right to strike”, said O’Grady.
The Council of Global Unions (CGU), uniting the leaders of the ITUC, TUAC and nine sectoral global unions, expressed at its London meeting on 11-12 February its full support for the UK union campaign against attacks on fundamental labour rights.
“Trade unions are a crucial part of our societies and anti-union governments cannot be allowed to cut workers’ democratic rights,” says IndustriALL Global Union general secretary and CGU chair Jyrki Raina.
“We stand behind UK workers and our affiliates in the fight for the right to strike, which is essential to ensure collective agreements with decent living wages and adequate conditions of work.”
More information on the campaign: http://heartunions.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’
___________
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
