COSATU Today, 06 August 2013
Norman Mampane
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 010 219-1342
Mobile: +27 72 416 3790
E-Mail: mam...@cosatu.org.za
Norman Mampane
COSATU Today
Our side of the story
Tuesday 06 August 2013
‘Strengthen COSATU for total emancipation’
Contents
Workers’ Parliament
Ø SACTWU commences clothing industry wage strike ballot
Ø Hamba Kahle Phil Bokaba!
Ø Has the Farlam Commission lost its way?
Ø Enabling COSATU Members to Tweet Effectively
South Africa
Ø Arms deal commission delays a concern
Ø Royal Bafokeng disrespects the courts
Ø NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim’s response to ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte’s City Press column on COSATU’s Zwelinzima Vavi
Ø NUMSA Ekurhuleni unequivocally supports Cosatu General Secretary Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi
International
Ø Ahead of Youth Day, UN chief hears concerns from young people across the world
Ø Israeli port reforms delayed
Ø Iranian teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari saved from execution
Ø PUDEMO Rejects Swazi government’s attack on South African parliament
Ø An unprecedented gathering deep in the Amazon jungle
Ø Protest at the Israeli Embassy in Athens “Release the Palestinian militant Hussein Karabsa”
Ø Time to get serious about unionizing filmmakers
Announcements
Ø COSATU Shopsteward Magazine has been released……Grab a copy!
Ø New Edition of South African Labour Bulletin coming!
Ø COSATU skinning in the game of social media-Enabling the trade union movement to nurture a communicative platform
Ø Follow Fred van Leeuwen on Twitter!-EI GS
Ø Follow ITUC Secretary General-Sharan Burrow
Workers’ Parliament!
SACTWU commences clothing industry wage strike ballot
Andre Kriel, SACTWU General Secretary, 06 August 2013
The COSATU-affiliated Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) has commenced a national wage strike ballot in the clothing industry, after conciliation failed to resolve the union’s wage dispute.
The main issue in dispute with clothing employers is their demand that the union agrees to the introduction of a new minimum wage, to be set at 80% of the prescribed minimum rate, without any conditions.
Further, some clothing employer associations now want to renege on an agreement reached last year to narrow the metro vs non-metro areas wage gap to 71% with effect from 1 September this year.
We cannot accept these conditions, as it would effectively amount to a 20% wage cut and, in addition, roll back what was already agreed last year . We must negotiate for better employment conditions for our members, not worse.
The ballot started on 1st August in the Western Cape and from Monday this week in other provinces. Strike balloting is not a requirement of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
However, SACTWU always voluntarily ballots its members before embarking on any wage strike action. It is part of our internal policy of worker control on critical organisational matters.
The union has set itself a target to ballot 40 000 clothing workers over a 3 week period. As at close of business yesterday, we have strike-balloted 9 771 workers in 75 factories nationally.
Clothing industry wage increases are due on 1st September this year.
Issued by
Andre Kriel
SACTWU
General Secretary
(Information note: the balloting will cover all areas but mainly including Cape Town, Paarl, Worcester, Tulbagh, George, Somerset West, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Babelegi, Mgwasi, Frankfort, Standerton, Durban, Ladysmith, Newcastle, Isithebe, South Coast, Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch, Jeffery’s’ Bay, East London, Fort Jackson, Botshabelo, QwaQwa, Kimberley etc)
If further information or comment is required, kindly contact SACTWU’s National Negotiator for the clothing industry, Chris Gina, on cell number 0829409456 or office number 031 3011351.
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Hamba Kahle Phil Bokaba!
Patrick Craven, National Spokesperson, 06 August 2013
The Congress of South African Trade Unions is deeply saddened by the passing of Phil Bokaba, former Deputy President of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, on 3 August 2013, following a brave struggle against illness. We send our condolences to his family, friends and comrades in NUMSA.
Comrade Bokaba was one of NUMSA’s longest serving shop stewards, for more than 30 years! He committed his life to the struggle to liberate the workers from exploitation and poverty.
While working ATC in Brits in the 1980s he joined the Metal and Allied Workers Union (Mawu), one of the forerunners of Numsa, and built the union in the area around Pretoria. The in 1987, he played his part in the formation of NUMSA, which brought together several unions in the engineering, steel, energy, motor, auto and tyre sectors.
He was elected as NUMSA’s vice president 1991 and served until 1993, and then served as the union’s first vice president from 2008 to 2012.
His work did not stay within the trade union. He was general secretary of the Garankuwa Civic Association in the early 1990s, when this was still part of Bophuthatswana. He fought in the streets with the security forces of the apartheid puppet ruler, Mangope, and had to take refuge in a hotel for three months to escape from their attacks and intimidation.
The South African working class movement has lost an exemplary trade unionist, who will be missed by us all.
He never looked for material rewards, but the satisfaction of having served and helped his fellow-workers. Let us honour his memory by lifting high his red banner and rededicating ourselves to the struggle for workers’ freedom and socialism.
Hamba Kahle ‘Bulldog’ Bokaba!
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Has the Farlam Commission lost its way?
Malesela Maleka, SACP National Spokesperson, 06 August 2013
When it was announced on the 23 August 2012, the SACP strongly welcomed President Jacob Zuma`s decision to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the events and circumstances surrounding the Marikana tragedy.
The commission is headed by retired judge Ian Farlam with an honourable track record as an advocate during the apartheid years, and later as a judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
However, the SACP`s original positive reception of the commission has turned to increasing concern at the manner in which it is being conducted.
We believed that the commission would essentially be an inquiry with investigative powers into the systemic underpinnings of the terrible tragedy that unfolded at Marikana.
Clearly there are serious concerns around police procedures and of command control and coordination. Clearly, also, the tragedy of August 16 2012 occurred in the context of chronic levels of sustained violence and lawlessness in the informal settlements on the platinum belt in the weeks and even years preceding August 16.
The responsibilities of the state, the mining houses, the established and emerging unions, the local municipalities, the traditional leadership structures all need objective and cool-headed examination.
However, instead of a well-focused commission of inquiry the proceedings have been turned into a lawyer-heavy, quasi-criminal court process, starring a bevy of highly paid advocates and their teams. Some of the lawyers appear to be more interested in vying for the limelight and claiming billable hours, than in making a serious contribution to establishing a common understanding of the tragedy.
The commission is not a criminal court and its key role is surely to provide advice on strong remedial interventions to correct the systemic factors behind the tragedy.
This is all the more the case given the fact that the situation around Marikana remains extremely volatile.
As the commission drags on, murders and violence continue, the police appear to be demoralised, claiming that their “hands are tied”, and many of those responsible for actual crimes in the days preceding and following August 16 2012 remain at large and unpunished.
The SACP, whilst respecting judge Farlam, calls for a more focused investigation into all the issues that has had a bearing on the tragedy.
Issued by the SACP
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Enabling COSATU Members to Tweet Effectively
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’
South Africa
Arms deal commission delays a concern
Patrick Craven, National Spokesperson, 06 August 2013
The Congress of South African Trade Unions is seriously concerned at the costly length of time it is taking for the arms deal commission of inquiry to get down to its important and necessary work of investigating the deal.
The commission was supposed to begin its public hearings in Pretoria today, 5 August 2013, nearly two years after the President announced the setting up of the commission, but it has been adjourned for two weeks, at the request of lawyers for the defence department so that documents can be declassified.
This is necessary to enable them to be presented to the commission, without the commission having to ask members of the public to leave the venue "every 15 minutes" when classified information needed to be discussed, according to commission spokesperson William Baloyi.
But why could these documents not have been declassified before the commission convened? Yet another delay could result from the resignation of one of the commissioners, Judge Francis Legodi, last week, which means that the commission may be inquorate, until a new commissioner has been appointed.
The arms deal was initially estimated to cost R43m, and is believed to have escalated to as much as R70 billion. COSATU`s 9th National Congress in 2006 reaffirmed “the decisions of the Central Committee of COSATU to call for a full and impartial investigation into the arms deal”.
In September 2011 the federation therefore welcomed the President’s announcements and said that “an investigation into the arms deal is crucial in demonstrating government’s campaign against corruption. The full facts about the arms deal must be exposed to the people of South Africa and the world... Public representatives who betray citizens’ trust and utilize state resources to line their pockets must be brought to book”.
COSATU is disappointed by the decision of UK regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, to abandon its two-year-old investigation into the arms deal. The council, which conducts independent investigations of the behaviour of UK auditing and accounting firms, says it is dropping the case as the investigation was no longer in the public interest.
The federation disagrees strongly. Abandoning the British probe will leave a lot of unanswered questions. In 2010 one British company, BAE Systems, has already ‘settled’ a £286m fine levied on it by the UK’s Fraud Office for failing to comply with global anti-bribery rules.
Corruption permeates throughout society; however the media often create the false impression that it is mainly found in the public sector, and do not focus enough on the private sector, where corruption has its roots.
That is why the exposure of all the massive private sector corruption scandals, such as the arms deal, as well as price fixing scandals in the milk, cement and bread sectors and the contract collusion in the construction industry are so necessary.
No stone must be left unturned to expose the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the arms deal.
The innocent must be exonerated and the guilty punished, for enriching themselves at the expense of the people who put their trust in them.
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Royal Bafokeng disrespects the courts
Solly Phetoe, COSATU North West Provincial Secretary, 05 August 2013
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the North West province have learned with disappointment that the Royal Bafokeng administration is not implementing the high court ruling as it was ordered.
COSATU have learned that the Royal Bafokeng is building wooden houses for the farm dwellers it had evicted, whereas the court ruled on Thursday 1st August 2013 that they must build proper house with services as good as the ones they had demolished, within three days.
It is reported that the rich Royal Bafokeng only started yesterday to build the wooden houses, yet their last day to hand over proper houses to the poor farm workers/farm dwellers is today.
It is clear that their intention is to undermine the court ruling.
If by 12h00 midnight the proper houses are not handed over to the owners, it will mean they are in contempt of the high court and that will mean somebody must be arrested with his or her big money.
In COSATU’s view the failure to implement the court ruling equals contempt of court and any person who is found to be in contempt of court must be arrested and a proper sanction be imposed.
The court was very clear: build proper houses as they were when they were demolished and not temporary houses.
COSATU calls on the Royal Bafokeng to honour the court ruling and build the houses and stop treating those farm dwellers in an inhumane manner.
COSATU also calls on the Department of Justice and the police to monitor the implementation of the ruling of the high court and arrest those who are found to be in contempt of the court.
We are also demanding that the police must investigate the shooting of those poor workers during the illegal eviction by the security of Bafokeng.
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NUMSA General Secretary Irvin Jim’s response to ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte’s City Press column on COSATU’s Zwelinzima Vavi
Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, 06 August 2013
Comrade Jessie Duarte wrote to the City Press, “Don’t mask exploitation with claims of conspiracy”, Sunday August 05, 2013, in reference to the allegations of sexual harassment against Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of Cosatu.
The accuser has since dropped the charge at Cosatu. Comrade Duarte makes several very serious unfounded and defamatory accusations against Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi. These accusations actually border on criminal libel.
She accuses Vavi of engineering an abusive power relationship with the female colleague by fraudulently employing her in expectation of sexual favours in return. She has not bothered to establish whether the appointment was sanctioned and approved by the Cosatu National Office Bearers.
She vehemently dismisses any possibility of a conspiracy and boldly states that:
“This is not a conspiracy, there is no conspiracy, and there is only one reality in the sad drama that has caused smirks and contemptuous comments on the social media platforms. A man in a powerful position engineered a job for a woman and assumed that sex would be his payment”.
She then concludes by exhorting women to rise, and I guess, defend themselves against the Vavis of this world.
In case you do not know who Jessie Duarte is, this is the woman who is the current deputy secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC), whose current national leadership is extremely unhappy with Vavi’s unfailing denunciations of widespread ANC government corruption, failure to transform the education and health systems inherited from our apartheid past, e-tolls, labour brokers, collapsing local government, among many other failings of the ANC in the past 18 years.
Crucially, Vavi has consistently railed against the ANC’s failure to radically implement the Freedom Charter, and today, on behalf of Cosatu, Vavi has condemned the NDP as simply another version of the abominable GEAR policy which led to the massive shedding of jobs and the destruction of our manufacturing base.
Jessie Duarte’s position, as the Deputy Secretary General, is the second most powerful, organisationally, in the ANC. From our analyses of her article in the City press, she has, logically, a responsibility to contribute to the destruction of Vavi, the most vocal critique of the policies of the African National Policies, even as Vavi heads the largest formation in the ANC led tripartite Alliance.
With all this in mind, only a fool, and a fool of a very special kind, would be stupid enough to dismiss the possibility of conspiracy behind the sexual harassment charges against Vavi.
Duarte wants us to ignore that the accuser herself and her husband made a demand for R2m from Vavi, in exchange for them to let the matter go away, and the accuser alleged a third force was willing to give her R1m to get Vavi nailed to the cross.
Jessie completely disregards these facts and evidence from the accuser.
Why?
What is Jessie in a hurry to cover up by reducing this sordid affair into “an abusive power relationship”?
Could this in fact be the retreat of evil forces whose scheme to destroy Vavi has backfired? Why would the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC automatically want the General Secretary of Cosatu to be crucified and destroyed without giving the General Secretary of Cosatu a hearing first?
We ask of Duarte, would consistency, perhaps, defeat conspiracy theories?
The ANC of which Duarte is a leader is not immune to sex scandals.
We have, over the many decades, lived with scandalous sexual behaviour by senior leadership in the national liberation movement involving men entrusted with executing and leading our National Democratic Revolution. Today we hear from the grapevine of present day leaders who have been deceiving their wives or partners by having sexual encounters with fellow Comrades or office staff or subordinates.
We expect the same critique to be publicly advanced by the likes of Cde Duarte and the ANC Women’s League.
Where were they during the allegations of rape against JZ involving an HIV infected child whose parents would have been devastated, had they been alive, that a family friend and comrade could abuse and betray the trust of the family with whom there had been fraternal and comradely relations in exile when the complainant was but a mere child.
And while we are on this subject, where exactly is the poor woman in question, in the JZ saga?
In dealing with matters of consistency, it is to be noted that COSATU, under the Stewardship of Zwelinzima Vavi, responded in a very principled fashion to the JZ rape saga when the following press statement were released by Cosatu on 5 May 2006;
"The Congress of South African Trade Unions welcomes the apology by ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma for having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman. COSATU has repeatedly urged everyone to abide by the ABC rules to prevent being infected by HIV - Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise. We regret the fact that Jacob Zuma broke these rules and we agree with Judge Willem van der Merwe that "It is totally unacceptable that a man should have unprotected sex with a person other than his regular partner and definitely not with a person who, to his knowledge, is HIV-positive". COSATU however fully accepts Jacob Zuma's apology and his admission that he "should have been more cautious and more responsible".
We applaud his commitment to join the war against Aids, a pandemic that affects one in seven adults in South Africa and threatens the lives of countless thousands unless we unite to defeat it, and we look forward to campaigning together with him to win this war against HIV/AIDS."
As for talk about “an abusive power relationship” we believe Duarte should not insult our intellect and memory. Duarte was forced to vacate the position of MEC for Safety and Security of the Gauteng Government in 1998 over allegations of driving an official government car without a driver’s licence; failure to report an accident on time; unauthorised payment of an air ticket for a non-governmental person; employing consultants without properly checking their qualifications; and general accusations of corruption and mismanagement, among others.
The 1998 Moerane Commission found that while acting as Gauteng Safety and Security MEC, Duarte had been guilty of mismanagement and maladministration, and that she had abused state funds by buying oversees air tickets for a friend, had grossly overpaid an unqualified administrative assistant, and had used a state vehicle even though she had never even obtained a driver’s licence.
Her assistants then tried to cover up an accident she had while driving the vehicle.
The gentleman whom she was accused of having bought unauthorised air tickets to Portugal was widely rumoured to be her lover, at the time.
Are we to conclude from this, without first hearing first hand from Jessie, that she too engineered “an abusive relationship” for herself?
We think not.
History is littered with instances where sex was used as a tool to defeat political opponents.
Ask Catholic Bishop of Harare, Pius Ncube, for proof! What is crucial here is the exploitation of a sex scandal for political purposes, especially in instances in which one party openly apologises for infidelity, as Vavi has done.
Selective morality and gender activism in some instances when the person that is the subject of scandalous behaviour is not from my faction cannot be tolerated in a society that has been subjected to the brutality of colonialism, apartheid and patriarchy. In any case morality is not neutral nor is it devoid from class, cultural and religious underpinnings.
We reject with the contempt it deserves the portrayal of woman, whatever their position, as mindless morons incapable of moral judgement when confronted with power, and thus deserving to be adjudged innocent in all sexual allegations, including rape. We hold as a fundamental tenant of any civilised society the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, even as we hold all law to be class based.
More than anything else, Jessie Duarte’s column confirms to us the exploitation for political purposes of the allegations of sexual impropriety by Vavi. Duarte has a bone to grind with Vavi, for her party.
And for this, she is shamelessly willing to see him crucified even for an offence he has not been found guilty of.
As for the serious criminal allegations she makes against Vavi, we leave it to Vavi to decide how to deal with her.
Irvin Jim
NUMSA General Secretary
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NUMSA Ekurhuleni unequivocally supports Cosatu General Secretary Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi
Jacob Xilongo, NUMSA Ekurhuleni Regional Secretary, 06 August 2013
Numsa’s biggest Region of Ekurhuleni with a membership of 58500 members has seen the headline news about the alleged “rape / sexual harassment” allegations against the General Secretary of Cosatu comrade Zwelinzima Vavi.
The Regional Office Bearers (ROBs’) convened its local structures for a mandated position on the matter.
Our locals re-affirmed and stand by its regional and national leadership on their unequivocal support for Cde Vavi as already conveyed by the national office bearers of the Metalworkers. We appreciate the down to earth approach employed by Cde Vavi and the remorse he has shown by apologizing and owning up his mistake.
It is heartening that although he has humbled himself and conceded to have committed an “era of judgment” and profusely apologized there are some notorious elements who still want a pound of his flesh for narrow political reasons of course. It remains a matter of interest that none seeks to know from the alleged victim who has since withdrawn the allegations as to who are “these people, who want to bring you down” who offered one million Rand. We hope sanity will prevail and the truth will come out.
As a Region we take serious note of the hypocritical stance by the ANC Women’s League that rise from the dead to feed on the anticipated Cde Vavi’s carcass.
They of late selectively want to be seen to hold high moral standards, which has surpassed their character worse off they even undermine Cosatu’s internal processes by questioning the integrity of the federation about the fairness of its internal disciplinary processes.
We hope this will be the real revival of the organization and that they will do their utmost best to put their own house into order and play a real role in the emancipation of women a challenge they have been found wanting in numerous occasions.
We further noted with great interest the vicious diatribe by Jessie Duarte on City-press (04/08/2013). It is interesting that the African National Congress which Jessie is its Deputy General Secretary is now suffering from amnesia and even betrays its principle of “innocence until proven guilty” which they have sung in numerous occasions that we need not remind them about of course as they are all fresh in peoples minds.
We hope Jessie and company are not trying to employ the Stalinist tendencies of silencing political opponents by shooting blanks this time around because they realize that their mischievous scheming is about to be exposed, then want people to be impatient about the processes so that eventually the truth is buried.
We would further want to take this opportunity to add our voices to the call for a special congress of Cosatu in order to iron out all the current problems that seek to tear apart the federation and let workers decided as to where do they want the federation to be as it is crystal clear that there is a leadership void hence Zweli who has since been identified as the voice of reason by the working class is subjected to all the brutal onslaughts by the enemies of the working class who wants to see a Cosatu that is a toy telephone.
Should the call for a special congress fail we will continue to rally behind the leadership that is prepared to serve the needs of the workers and the poor, Cde Vavi in particular and take leaf from Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) in calling him to re-avail himself for another term as the General Secretary of Cosatu because we need leaders of his caliber as the class war is intensifying.
International
Ahead of Youth Day, UN chief hears concerns from young people across the world
United Nations, 06 August 2013
UN – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today held an interactive dialogue with young people across the world and launched an online United Nations Platform for Youth in conjunction with his Special Envoy on this issue.
On International Youth Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (at podium) speaks to young people. To his right is Ahmad Alhendawi, Envoy on Youth. UN Photo/Mark Garten
“Your generation is the largest the world has ever known,” Mr. Ban told young people taking part in the Global Interactive Dialogue on UN Youth Initiatives. “The tools at your disposal for communicating and acting are unprecedented. But so are the challenges – from growing inequalities and shrinking opportunities, to the threats of climate change and environmental degradation.”
Mr. Ban’s Five-Year Action Plan has as one of its priorities working for and with young people. As part of this commitment, Mr. Ban appointed his first ever Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi, earlier this year.I am fully committed to working with youth and exploring how you can contribute more to creating a sustainable, equitable future of opportunity and dignity for all.
“Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi is working with different UN entities, governments, civil society, academia and the media to empower youth within and outside the UN system,” Mr. Ban said, adding that Mr. Alhendawi’s website, launched today, will also serve as an Online Platform for Youth, through which young people can voice their concerns to the UN.
“I am fully committed to working with youth and exploring how you can contribute more to creating a sustainable, equitable future of opportunity and dignity for all,” Mr. Ban said.
He added that Mr. Alhendawi is working with the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development to bring all parts of the UN together under an action plan for youth.
The plan, which is partly based on the My World survey carried out among thousands of youth from around the world earlier this year, focuses on five thematic areas: employment and entrepreneurship; political inclusion; civic engagement and protection of rights; education, including comprehensive sexual education; and health.
Other initiatives include UN youth volunteer programmes and forums where youth can engage with the UN at the national, regional and global levels.
The interactive dialogue also features the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Babatunde Osotimehin; the Acting Head of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Lakshmi Puri; the Special Representative of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Youth and Social Inclusion, Charles Dan; and the Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Arab States of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Sima Bahous.
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Israeli port reforms delayed
International Transport Workers’ Federation, 05 August 2013
News that unnecessary reform in the ports of Israel has been delayed is being welcomed by the ITF.
Plans were announced earlier this year to open two new ports in Ashdod and Haifa, but a panel of National Labor Court judges has now ruled that no action will go ahead until September 2014.
It was ordered that the Israeli ITF-affiliated union representing port workers, Histadrut, will now have to be consulted by the government in a period of ‘intense negotiations in good faith’ over the potential impact of the two new ports on workers at the existing terminals. Histradut previously accused the government of failing to deal with the ‘devastating repercussions on the existing ports as a result of the establishment of new ports’ and of threatening behaviour.
A resolution was passed during the ITF dockers’ section conference in July in support of Histradut, expressing deep concern over the situation and outlining the need for regulation of fair competition and equal conditions between the new and existing ports.
ITF acting general secretary Steve Cotton said: “We welcome this move. For the benefit of all parties concerned, a democratic process should always be put in place if changes are posssible which could have an impact on workers. This is the case across all ITF regions.”
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Iranian teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari saved from execution
Education International, 06 August 2013
EI is relieved to learn that the death sentence imposed on Iranian teacher Abdolreza Ghanbari has been reduced to 15 years’ detention and exile by the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
EI had been campaigning consistently for the release of Abdolreza Ghanbari, a 45-year-old lecturer at Payam e Nour University. He was arrested in January 2010 and charged with ‘Moharebeh’ (enmity towards God) for allegedly receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group, to which he does not belong.
Forced to confess
While in detention at the Evin Prison, Professor Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess to unproven charges. Ghanbari was unfairly tried and sentenced to capital punishment by the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
The sentence was upheld on appeal and his request for pardon had been rejected in February 2012 by the Commission of Justice.
However, recently, the news was confirmed that his case had been referred to the Revolutionary Court of Iran, Branch 1, for a further review.
In June 2013, the Revolutionary Court sentenced Ghanbari to 15 years’ jail and exile in Borazjaan, in the South of Iran, thereby commuting the death sentence. EI has confirmed this information with Ghanbari’s wife.
Online campaign
In March 2012, EI and its member organisation in Iran, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA), had launched an online campaign in partnership with LabourStart, urging the Iranian authorities to stay the execution and revoke the death sentence of Abdolreza Ghanbari.
The LabourStart campaign collected over 17,000 signatures and EI thanks all the individuals – teachers, trade unionists and others – who responded to the appeal.
While welcoming the commutation of Ghanbari’s death sentence, EI regrets that the Iranian teacher remains in detention.
There are still many teachers in jail or on bail on provisional politically motivated charges. EI will continue to request the Iranian authorities to cease putting state pressure on trade unions and to release all detained union activists.
Please check the Urgent Action Appeal herehttp://www.ei-ie.org/en/uaas/uaa_details/39
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PUDEMO Rejects Swazi government’s attack on South African parliament
Zakhele Mabuza, PUDEMO Spokesperson, 06 August 2013
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of PUDEMO discussed a number of concerning issues on the political state of affairs facing our country, Swaziland and in its session took special note of a number of issues.
Amongst these issues was the consistent attack on the South African government by the tinkhundla regime, alleging immaturity and all sorts of names.
In that regard, PUDEMO rejected with the contempt it deserves the attack by the illegitimate, corrupt and internationally discredited tinkhundla regime against the call by members of the South African parliament for a fact-finding mission to Swaziland to verify the internationally concerning issues about this country.
We welcome the concerns and believe they are well placed. This is more heartening coming from a democratically elected government, which knows the importance of public accountability, transparency and the rule of law in dealing with public institutions.
It is very hypocritical of the Swazi government to want to borrow money from the South African government, but refuse scrutiny on how the conditions under which the money shall be used, the purposes for which that money shall be used and the institutions in place for the efficient accountability of that money.
The money belongs to the South African people and therefore, its the right of the South African public to know how those they elected shall use the money and for what purposes, hence the importance of the mission to verify all that.
We call upon the South African government, parliament and all stakeholders, as well as other international bodies to intensify their efforts to establish facts for themselves concerning the exact state of affairs inside Swaziland.
The world, particularly, SADC and the AU can not afford to remain silent, or passive about the crisis facing our country and the people of Swaziland in general.
We particularly wish to register our decisive rejection of the royal selections disguised as national elections and commit to mobilise more towards a democratic multiparty dispensation and a people’s government in Swaziland.
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An unprecedented gathering deep in the Amazon jungle
ILO, 06 August 2013
Ahead of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on August 9th, ILO News looks at how the ILO’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), is helping an indigenous tribe in north-eastern Peru to make their voices heard.
PUERTO HUAMÁN, Peru (ILO News) – “Palo Duro” (Hard stick) is an almost unbreakable tree that grows in north-eastern Peru, in the Amazon region close to the Colombian border.
It is also the symbol of the Maijunas, a community that has struggled since the time of the Spanish conquest to reclaim its ancestral lands, coveted by loggers and poachers.
Nowadays, there are only 400 hundred Maijunas left, living in four villages of thatched-roof homes (Puerto Huamán, San Pedro de Totoya, Nueva Vida and Sucusari-Orejones), between the Napo and the Putumayo rivers.
The establishment of a large conservation area by the Government of Loreto in 2012 has given the Maijunas the opportunity to make their voices heard for the first time.
The aim was to try to stop hunters from killing the local fauna – especially the tapirs –, loggers from hacking down trees and fishermen from poisoning the rivers.
In an unprecedented consultation process, Maijuna leaders gathered last month in Puerto Huamán (four hours by boat from Iquitos, the capital of Loreto region), to discuss issues related to the conservation area. Representatives from the regional and national governments were present at the event, so was the ILO. More meetings are expected to follow later in the year.
The gathering in Puerto Huamán marked the first time that the national Law on the Right to Consultation was put into practice. This law – passed by the Peruvian Parliament in September 2011 – is based on the ILO’s Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169).
The right of indigenous people to be consulted and to participate in the decision-making processes that affect them is the cornerstone of ILO Convention 169. It is also at the heart of Peru’s Law on the Right to Consultation.
Leading the way
From now on, the Maijunas will have a saying on the management of the protected area.
“Undoubtedly, this has been a milestone for Peru’s indigenous peoples,” says Oseas Barbarán, chairman of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Amazónicas del Perú (The Confederation of Peru’s Amazonian Nationalities or CONAP). “It is the result of their long and constant struggle.”
Forty years ago, the Maijunas were not even allowed to go to school. It was only in the last decade that they became aware of their fundamental rights. Deprived of their heritage, they have lost part of their identity. Children only speak Spanish, not native Maijuna, and many do not know the traditional stories and songs. Protecting their land is the first step in trying to stop this cultural slide.
Iván Lanegra, university professor and former Vice-Minister of Interculturality, says the consultation process is only the start: “It is a huge challenge for the government because the consultation process alone is not enough. It has to be accompanied by long-term policy-making decisions guaranteeing that the government as a whole will address the needs of the indigenous peoples.”
The ILO’s role
“The ILO, through its Programme to Promote Convention 169, which has been running since 2009 in the region, has been working closely with the Peruvian authorities to introduce the new Law on the Right to Consultation and its regulations. The ILO will continue to work together with the Government to support the implementation of the Law and will provide technical assistance and training to public officials and community leaders,” says Liliam Landeo, the ILO’s South America National Coordinator of the ILO Programme to Promote Convention 169, based in Lima, Peru.
“This year’s theme for the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, which calls for honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements, is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the key role that instruments such as ILO Convention 169 can play, not only in protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples but also in establishing the legal guarantees for private investment in countries that have ratified them,” she added.
The ILO is responsible for the only international instruments currently in force that deal exclusively with the rights of indigenous people. These instruments set out the principle that their cultures, ways of life, traditions and customary laws are valuable and need to be respected and protected, and that it’s up to these communities to define their own priorities for development.
There are more than 370 million self-identified indigenous peoples in some 70 countries around the world. In Latin America alone there are more than 400 groups, each with a distinct language and culture, although the biggest concentration of indigenous peoples is in Asia and the Pacific – an estimated 70 per cent.
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Protest at the Israeli Embassy in Athens “Release the Palestinian militant Hussein Karabsa”
WFTU, 06 August 2013
Delegation of PAME realized a protest yesterday, Tuesday, July 2nd, at the Embassy of Israel, in Athens, demanding the immediate release of the trade unionist Hussein Karabsa, member of the General Union of Palestine Workers.
Comrade Karabsa was arrestd on June 16th at the Israeli bordersm, when he was returning to Palestine from the ILO meeting, where he was member of the delegation of the General Union of Palestine Workers. Comrade Karabsa remains prisoner in Israeli prisons, without being charged of anything, in addition of being deprived of communication privileges.
PAME protested in front of thw Israeli Embassy and lodged a complain demanding
- The release of all political prisoners from the Israeli prisons
- Stop bombings of the PaIestinian lands
- Demolishing of the wall
- End the bIockade against Gaza
PAME condemns the provocative stance of the Greek government and the police, who imposing the Law and Order Doctrine, “received” the 15member delegation
of PAME with rior police forces. The class trade union movement or Greece is not terrorizen by such tactics.The position of the government and the police provoke the peaceful feelings of the Greek people. This is one more proof of the dangers that come for the people when they are asked to choose between imperialist alliances.
” published in “Trade Union Record”, the fortnightly journal of the All India Trade Union Congress “
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Richard Elliott, UNI global union, Director of Communications, 06 August 2013 |
An opinion by Thomas Barker, assistant professor of film and television at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. | |
In the industrial zones of Bekasi, just east of Jakarta, labor unions are alive and well. Labor problems abound in terms of unscrupulous employers who mistreat their workers, bring in preman (thugs) to threaten them when they complain and finally lay the workers off without notice. | |
Announcements
INVITES YOU TO A DEBATE
The Legacy of the 1913 Land Act: Which Way Forward?
Lungisile Ntsebeza, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town
and
Dirk Hanekom, Executive Manager of Agri Gauteng
Date: Wednesday 7 August 2013
Time: 16h00
Venue: 2nd Floor, Cosatu House, 110 Jorissen Street, Braamfontein
RSVP: E-mail Priscil...@gmail.com, Cell: 082 574 2315; Tel (011) 339 3040 Fax (011) 339 3041
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Global Labour University seeks applicants for its Masters courses
Education International, 01 August 2013
The Global Labour University (GLU) invites trade unionists and labour activists interested in global social justice and international social movements to apply to its Masters programmes.
The programmes, "Labour and development” in South Africa and “Social Economy and Labour” in Brazil, focus on workers’ rights, economics, labour movements and international solidarity, globalization and development. The unique collaboration between the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the international trade union movement and universities from different continents creates a global study environment and offers great opportunities for international networking and cross-border collaboration.
The deadlines for application are:
· University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; South Africa - 31. August 2013
Contact: Pulane Ditlhake, glu.sou...@wits.ac.za
· University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil - 01. October 2013
Contact: Jacqueline Aslan Souen, glu.bra...@gmail.com
A limited number of scholarships will be awarded to students.
Visit http://www.global-labour-university.org for application and programme details.
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COSATU Shopsteward Magazine has been released……Grab a copy!
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New Edition of South African Labour Bulletin coming!
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COSATU skinning in the game of social media-Enabling the trade union movement to nurture a communicative platform
The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions has broken new grounds by enabling its members and the society at large, to shape its progressive work.
Follow COSATU General Secretary, cde Zwelinzima Vavi @zwelinzima1 and also COSATU’s Official twitter handles @_cosatu and @cosatu2015, for a second to second update on issues affecting the working class in South Africa and elsewhere.
And the Federation has a Facebook Page ; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congress-of-South-Africa-Trade-Unions-Cosatu-Today/390972744302076?fref=ts
Forward with building a strong and vibrant trade union movement through a communication platform.
An injury to one is an injury to all!
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Follow Fred van Leeuwen on Twitter!-EI GS
Education International
EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen is now on Twitter - follow @fredvanleeuwen for news, views, insights and highlights from the global education scene.
"Twitter is an amazing tool. Anyone can publish, and re-publish, information instantly, and thus distribute knowledge to thousands of people within minutes. Look at the revolutions in Arab countries that relied on Twitter for rapid communication; or the heated debates that spring up on Twitter during large events like the State of the Union address in the United States - these events show the immense potential the service has," he said.
"I am happy to be able to contribute, and look forward to sharing and discussing with colleagues and friends via Twitter."
To follow Fred van Leeuwen on Twitter, click here to go to@fredvanleeuwen, his Twitter profile. It is also possible to follow@eduint, Education International's offical Twitter account.
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Follow ITUC Secretary General-Sharan Burrow
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