Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 5 July 2024
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #MandelaMonth |
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’-Maoo
Our side of the story
Friday, 5 July 2024
COSATU Call Centre Number is 010 219 1342
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize or Starve!
Contents
o Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NEHAWU KZN vehemently opposed to the looming retrenchments at Durban University of Technology
o South Africa
- COSATU stands in solidarity with Ford workers
- SADTU Gauteng welcomes the appointment of MEC for Basic Education
o International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Unions demand strong engagement in AngloAmerican restructuring
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NEHAWU KZN vehemently opposed to the looming retrenchments at Durban University of Technology
Ayanda Zulu, NEHAWU KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Secretary, July 04, 2024
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in KwaZulu-Natal is vehemently opposed to the looming retrenchments at Durban University of Technology.
There is no rational basis for these retrenchments since the restructuring process has not been completed. The union has on numerous occasions pleaded with the university not to implement Section 189 retrenchments because we view them as irrational and premature. To date the university is yet to present to the union the new organisational structure which would have given us an indication of how many jobs will exist post the restructuring process.
The union will be approaching the University Council in trying to halt these unreasonable retrenchments, should the council fail to resolve this impasse, the national union will approach the Minister of Higher Education and Training to seek audience with her on the state of the University and the urgent need to rescue the University.
The union will never allow its members and workers in general to be sacrificed and fall victims of a crisis they did not create. The union will never allow the executive management led by the Vice-Chancellor to bully and victimize our members. The union working with other unions and broad range of organizations in the university will explore all avenues at its disposal in ensuring that workers don’t lose their jobs, even if it means rolling out mass action.
END
Issued by NEHAWU KwaZulu-Natal Secretariat Office
South Africa
COSATU stands in solidarity with Ford workers
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson, 05 July 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) supports the strike by members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at Ford SA.
COSATU stands in solidarity with the 3 000 NUMSA members who downed tools on Thursday because Ford is refusing to share profits with them. NUMSA says the US motor company has benefitted hugely from the sweat and labour of workers, making billions in profits but refuses to pay profit share bonuses.
The motor manufacturing industry has benefitted from billions of workers hard earned taxes' subsidies and pension fund investments in both South Africa and the United States. The very least these pampered CEOs can do is share the rewards of workers' sweat and blood with them.
Workers at Ford receive incentive bonuses, but NUMSA argues these are linked to workers enslaving themselves to attain targets set by their exploitative employer. With this strike, NUMSA is effectively calling for workers to share in the surplus wealth they have created for the company and its shareholders.
In a failed attempt to stop the legal strike in its tracks, Ford SA approached the Labour Court on Thursday for an urgent interdict. But the court reserved judgment enabling the strike to continue indefinitely.
COSATU supports this bold action by NUMSA, charting a way for more workers to demand a share of the wealth they create with the sweat of their brows.
Issued by COSATU
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SADTU Gauteng welcomes the appointment of MEC for Basic Education
Tseliso Ledimo, SADTU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 04 July 2024
SADTU Gauteng notes and welcomes the pronouncement of the seventh administration newly constituted Provincial Executive by the Honourable Premier Panyaza Andrek Lesufi.
We welcome the appointment of honourable Matome Kopano Chiloane as the MEC for Basic Education.The incorporation of Sports, arts and culture shall help advance a holistic approach to learners’ development. Mr Chiloane has valuable experience as former Chairperson of the Education Portfolio Committee before his initial appointment as the MEC in October 2022 under the sixth administration.
He had already begun driving the education transformation agenda with the necessary vigour. Thus, his appointment bodes well for continuity and stability of the basic education sector.
We trust he will strengthen the stakeholder driven approach to address the complex challenges bedeviling the basic education sector in acknowledgment that education is a societal issue.
We congratulate him and wish him well as he assumes this enormous responsibility.
We are looking forward to working with him in advancing decolonised quality public education.
END
International-Solidarity
Unions demand strong engagement in AngloAmerican restructuring
4 July, 2024
Union leaders from the affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union in Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe representing workers at AngloAmerican operations worldwide met the company management on 26-27 June 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa as part of the annual global dialogue.
The meeting emphasized the need to engage in strong social dialogue during the current restructuring throughout AngloAmerican operations, and the uncertainty surrounding a potential takeover bid by BHP or another group. The global network expressed its concerns and opposition as the culture and values of the two organizations are far apart.
In the union-only discussions, union leaders went through updates from their respective countries to build a common agenda for the discussion with AngloAmerican management. Priority issues included freedom of association, the right of collective in good faith, ending precarious working conditions, avoiding complacency on health and safety standards, and ensuring equal pay for the same work.
On the second day there was a global dialogue meeting between unions and the Anglo American management which confirmed that restructuring was taking place to make the company’s business sustainable and that the hostile bid, which Anglo opposes, accelerated the restructuring through “configuring the portfolio, operational excellency, and growth.”
The restructuring, which was announced in May, will see Anglo American spinning off several businesses including De Beers, Anglo American Platinum, and its coking coal business. The company would then retain copper mines in South America and premium iron ore assets. The company says copper is a key mineral for the energy transition. However, it will divest from steelmaking coal, nickel, and diamonds as well as demerge from platinum. The management team also presented on safety performance, leadership framework, voluntary principles on safety and human rights, and gender equality.
Jacques Hugo, UASA chief executive officer, sought clarity from AngoAmerican management whether they “anticipated the hostile takeover during their restructuring planning.”
Phillip Vilakazi, the National Union of Mineworkers deputy president, emphasized on the need for long-term planning and said:
“We want to know if AngloAmerican will be there in the future. This is important for mineworkers’ job security.”
On gender equality, the multinational corporation was urged to continue building workplace policies to end gender-based violence and harassment, provide maternity protection and childcare
facilities, and closing the gender pay gap which in countries like Brazil and South Africa also included racial discrimination.
On job losses, South African affiliates, the NUM, and UASA, said they felt sidelined when retrenchment notices were issued at AngloAmerican Platinum where over 4000 jobs will be lost. They stressed that workers welfare should be considered before issuing the
notices.
The unions said AngloAmerican must remain committed to the sustainable mining standards that are promoted by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). So far, three Anglo American mining operations have received IRMA certifications for responsible mining. These are Mototolo and Amandelbult in South Africa, and Unki in Zimbabwe.
Health and safety concerns were raised following the death of three mineworkers in Botswana and South Africa due to mine accidents. In Australia, occupational health and safety issues were raised across Anglo American’s open cast and underground operations including on respiratory health, gas management, and vehicle interaction.
“A human rights due diligence approach means that AngloAmerican must cater for the workers’ rights and interests even during this period of transition, and workers must access remedies through complaints mechanisms to protect their rights,”
said Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining and the lead in health and safety.
IndustriALL and Anglo American had signed a memorandum of understanding to “mutually agree to a mechanism of global dialogue under which issues of mutual interest, including and particularly industrial relations, climate change, industry 4.0 and the future of work will jointly be handled and addressed.”
Stressing the importance of the agreement, Kemal Ozkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said:
“The agreement is a platform for dialogue at operations in different countries. Engaging in genuine social dialogue shows IndustriALL’s commitment to have open channels of communication with Anglo American.”
As part of the 2021 agreement, IndustriALL affiliates meet the Anglo American management annually but have agreed to meet more frequently given the current challenges of restructuring and the hostile takeover bid which is not off the table. The other consideration is the possibility of other suitors in this period of the rapid demand for and access to critical transition minerals with the spectre of mergers and acquisitions looming large.
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WFTU Statement on the 2024 NATO summit
04 JUL 2024 BY CENTRAL WFTU
The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who work live, and struggle in 133 countries all over the world, strongly condemns the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations and confrontational rhetoric, the soaring of the military expenditures, as well as the NATO plans amid the escalating intra-imperialist confrontation. The 2024 ΝΑΤΟ summit which will take place in Washington D.C. on 9-10-11 July 2024, constitutes one more step toward the intensification of NATO’s aggressive imperialist plans, interventions, and wars.
NATO has already announced an increase of its military budget for 2024 by 12% to 2.03 billion euros and its civil budget by 18.2% to 438.1 million euros increasing even more the operating capacity of NATO Command Structure headquarters, missions, and operations around the world. This year’s figures confirm the continuation of an at least 10 years-long course of moving towards a “war economy” for the member states of NATO, with NATO’s Secretary General emphasizing that “burden sharing is improving within NATO” while military spending is up 18 percent across European Allies and Canada in 2024, and 23 member states will spend at least 2% of GDP in military spending this year.
The International class-oriented trade union movement unequivocally condemns the war plans of the imperialists and strongly opposes the uninterrupted increase of the NATO budget which sharpens even more the confrontation and deepens the preparations and the risk for a generalized imperialist conflict with disastrous consequences for the popular strata and the ordinary people who always pay the cost of the imperialist antagonism.
NATO’s history demonstrates nothing but interventions, wars, juntas, refugees, starvation, destruction, and death. In addition, the continued soaring in military spending constitutes a provocation for the people who constantly see their living standards affected due to generalized price rises, inflation, and long-term austerity policies.
The militant class-oriented trade union movement intensifies the struggle against imperialist wars and the system that creates them. The WFTU fights for the dissolution of NATO which constitutes an aggressive war machine in service of the imperialist interests of its member states, aiming to maintain, and expand if possible, the existing favorable correlation of forces for the NATO countries in order to safeguard the profits of their monopolies.
Simultaneously we reiterate our firm demand for the immediate dissolution of all military coalitions, the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, an immediate end to all imperialist armed conflicts, and full respect for the sovereignty, independence, and right of every people to freely choose their present and future. We denounce the exclusions, discriminations, embargoes, and sanctions imposed by the US, NATO, and the EU against various countries, negatively impacting the standard of living of low-income families, workers, poor small farmers, and popular strata in general.
The WFTU calls upon workers all over the globe, the militant trade unions to join the ranks and the struggles of the international class-oriented trade union movement for lasting peace, for a world free of imperialist interventions and man-by-man exploitation.
The Secretariat
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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