South African unions pay tribute to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

Jailed, arrested, detained, and persecuted under the notorious apartheid regime’s repression and intimidation, she was amongst the most courageous faces of the bitter struggle for democracy in South Africa. When her former husband Nelson Mandela and other senior African National Congress and resistance leaders were in prison at Robben Island, she led from the trenches as one of the faces of the struggle. She held senior positions in the ANC as president of the Women’s League and as executive member of the ruling party. She was a deputy minister of arts, culture, science and technology in South Africa’s first democratic government.

When the news of her death filtered through, messages of condolences, came from all sections of society and from across the globe. Trade unions also paid tribute to her key role in the anti-apartheid struggle and the post-democratic South Africa. 

Says the Congress of South African Trade Unions spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla: “She stared down the evil apartheid regime, fearlessly fought it and ultimately outlived it. Throughout her life she remained a warrior for social justice and never shied away from speaking truth to power, even after the 1994 democratic breakthrough. She was a fearless voice and a staunch defender of the working-class interests and spoke out against the perpetuation of apartheid separate development, growing inequality and deepening poverty. She championed economic transformation without fear or favour and spoke out consistently against social injustice.”

Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions said: “We have a lost a gallant fighter in our people’s struggle for emancipation. She was a revolutionary woman, who was never prepared to be just Nelson Mandela’s wife but a fearless fighter moulded in the struggle against apartheid and a role model for women today. She will always be an inspiration for a future generation of women revolutionaries.”

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Global Union regional secretary for sub Saharan Africa remembered her for exceptional bravery. “Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s legacy is that of a woman who fought bravely against the apartheid repression. Her struggle, in which she made huge personal sacrifices, is an inspiration to all of us. She is the people’s hero and that is why she was called Mother of the Nation.”

South African mines claim more lives

Recently, at another Sibanye Still water mine, Kloof Thuthukani Shaft in Westonaria, 79 mineworkers were trapped underground for five hours but later brought to the surface safely.

South African mines, the world’s deepest, are becoming death traps for mineworkers. Most accidents are caused by seismic activity, and when rocks explode under pressure.

According to the Chamber of Mines, 82 mineworkers died in 2017 as compared to 73 in 2016. Earlier efforts to achieve “Zero Harm” as per Culture Transformation Framework for the South African Mining Sector appears to be lapsing. The framework emphasizes on having a mining industry that is “safe, healthy and productive with risks controlled at their source through collaborative action from all tripartite stakeholders.”

IndustriALL affiliate the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says the accidents and fatalities and worsening mine safety is the result of mining companies being less concerned about workers’ lives and more interested in making profits.

Says Peter Bailey, NUM Health and Safety Chairperson:

Since January this year, 17 mineworkers have died, and five fatalities happened at Sibanye Stillwater. We are calling for a more serious intervention at Sibanye Stillwater operations in South Africa. We don’t want to end up in a situation where workers are killed, and it becomes normal.

The NUM is appealing to the government of South Africa to investigate the working conditions at the mines including working hours and leave days as they are fears that workers are working long hours and not being given enough resting time. Adequate training on health and safety as well as communications between mining companies and workers should also be improved.

Glen Mpufane IndustriALL mining director says:

It is unacceptable that workers continue to die from preventable accidents caused by working in unsafe working conditions in the mines. Mining companies should adhere to the highest safety standards and follow due diligence to protect workers lives. Otherwise the mining industry is profiting at the expense of workers lives.

Scrap labour law amendment bills, say unions in South Africa

Wearing red t-shirts, whistling, singing along struggle songs from loud music playing from a truck, and dancing the toyi-toyi dance, thousands of workers marched to the provincial government offices and the Department of Labour. The march took place on March 23 which is also Human Rights Day – a public holiday remembering the resistance against apartheid that led to the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 in which 69 people were shot dead by the police for protesting Pass Laws.
 
NUMSA and a coalition of 20 other organizations, including the South African Federation of Trade Unions to which NUMSA is affiliated, the Casual Workers Advice Office, and the General Industries Workers Union of South Africa say the amendments are “a coordinated attack on workers” which needs a “counter attack”.

If the labour laws amendments are passed the right to strike, to living wages and to collective bargaining will be taken away from workers. Other non-wage rights on housing and land enjoyed by workers which are part of benefits in the sectoral minimum wages set by the minister of labour will be adversely affected. The right to an efficient and fair dispute resolution system will also be negatively affected by the amendments.

The coalition demands that the amendments on strike balloting, picketing rules, longer conciliation and compulsory arbitration be abandoned. The right to strike over unfair dismissals should be restored, and employers must be stopped from using scab labour to break strikes.

The extension of collective bargaining agreements should only happen when the majority of workers in a sector are unionized. Workers should also be involved in decisions on the national minimum wage. Once the minimum wage is agreed upon, labour inspectors must ensure compliance.

NUMSA also condemned the introduction of a national minimum wage of R3500 (US$294). The minimum wage was supposed to become effective on 1 May 1, but the date has been extended.
 
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, says:

Workers’ rights are constitutional rights that cannot be taken away and attempts to do so must be resisted. We rally behind NUMSA in defense of the right to strike. We also support living wages because they are one of the ways that workers and their families can move out of poverty.

IndustriALL warns car industry of worker abuse in Glencore cobalt mines

IndustriALL, which represents workers in the mining and auto industries, is using its global trade union network of hundreds of auto unions to raise awareness in the industry of Glencore’s mistreatment of cobalt workers in the auto supply chain.

The auto industry is becoming increasingly dependent on cobalt, a critical battery metal, as it ramps up production of electric vehicles. Glencore is the world’s biggest supplier of cobalt.

A report from an IndustriALL fact-finding mission to DRC in February 2018, reveals that workers mining cobalt at Glencore’s the Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda mines are only allowed 750ml of drinking water per 12-hour shift and that Glencore provides expired food and no decent eating places with protection against the elements.

There are no proper showers or ablution facilities at the mines risking contamination and occupational respiratory diseases for workers and their families: “We are so filthy when we get home that we cannot hug our children,” said one worker.

The mission also found workers and their families have to travel 42 kilometres to Glencore health facilities, meaning that they must leave in the early hours of the morning only to return late at night, and in some instances without being treated.

The mission took place at the urgent request of IndustriALL affiliate TUMEC in DRC, which represents workers at both the Kamoto Copper Company and Mutanda mines.

TUMEC is considering strike action over disparities in wages at Glencore’s mines in DRC where, for instance, a white supervisor earns US$4,000 a month and his immediate Congolese assistants earn US$600 a month.

The report outlines Glencore’s disrespect for the collective bargaining agreement with TUMEC and its refusal to renegotiate. The mission also found that there has been no salary increase for workers in five years.

Over 60 per cent of the global supply of cobalt comes from DRC, which is one of the world’s poorest countries. Swiss-based Glencore expects demand for the metal, which is also a key component for smart phone batteries, to increase by 67 per cent over the next three years.  Cobalt prices have more than doubled in the past year.

At the end of last year, the Drive Sustainability partnership, a group of the world's leading car companies, including BMW, Volkswagen and Ford, launched a new initiative to identify and address ethical, environmental, human, and labour rights issues associated with the sourcing of raw materials. IndustriALL is calling on all car manufacturers to carry out due diligence in the sourcing of cobalt for the industry. 

IndustriALL’s general secretary, Valter Sanches, said:

“Auto companies need to live up to their customers’ expectations that the electric vehicles they sell are produced responsibly. Cobalt from Glencore, which is so critical for the batteries in those electric vehicles, is anything but.

“We’re not asking them to not buy from Glencore, we’re asking them to pressure Glencore to live up to Glencore’s own claims to produce responsibly and to respect workers’ rights and the communities where it operates.”

IndustriALL has written to the Glencore CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, with a list of demands to redress the situation of workers at its mines in DRC. 

Glencore employs about 15,000 people in DRC, through its subsidiaries Mutanda Mining and Katanga Mining, which owns the Kamoto Copper Company. In 2016, seven workers died at Katanga when the wall of an open pit mine collapsed.

Zambia: Dangote confronted over union busting

There are no unionized workers at the Masaiti plant – 9 kilometers outside Ndola – which employs more than 1,000 workers, due to the company frustrating union activity and dismissing workers for joining unions.
 
Dangote, which has outsourced most its core work, signed a contract with Silondwa Engineering which exposes its union busting: “The contractor shall ensure that its employees are not involved in union activities and strikes that lead to stopping of work”. Further, a worker can be given a final warning for “incitement to strike.”
 
With no wage increases in four years, workers transferred to Silondwa Engineering and who work under precarious conditions describe Dangote as one of the worst employers. “There is no job security. You can be fired at any time. Recently a worker discharged on medical grounds only got K3000 (US$312) for three years of service”.

Another worker, sexually harassed by one of the managers, has not been promoted since 2014. She is underpaid earning only K1100 (US$114) as a general worker yet qualified for other work. Technicians are poorly paid earning a basic of K2100 (US$218) and expatriate workers earn more than Zambians.
 
Although the contractor is responsible for allowances and safe working conditions, this is not always provided as personal protective clothing, transportation, accommodation, medical assistance, and housing provisions are inadequate.

Health and safety of workers is compromised as there is neither a clinic nor an ambulance at Masaiti. The dirt road leading to the plant is full of potholes, which means that even if there was an ambulance it will be of little use in emergencies. There is no silicosis examination as is the norm.

Additionally, Dangote is not liable for “injuries or sickness, disease or any death of any person employed by or engaged on behalf of the company.”
 
Efforts by Joyce Nonde-Simukoko, the Minister of Labour and Social Security, to force Dangote to recognise workers’ rights have not been successful, but unions are not giving up the fight.
 
Says Paule France Ndessomin, regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

It is shocking to learn that Dangote is violating workers’ rights. We call upon the company to stop the abuses.

Workers strike at South African solar plant

According to IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, NUMSA, workers are being denied medical aid, housing allowance, provident fund and other benefits they would normally receive if they were working at the state-owned electricity provider, Eskom. Their wages, which are low, are being spent on covering all these expenses.

The strike is significant as South Africa moves to renewable energy production to lower carbon emissions as a signatory to the Paris Accord on climate change. At present most electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations employing tens of thousands of workers in the coal industry.

However, NUMSA is concerned that the transition to renewable energy does not include provisions for workers set to lose their jobs in coal, or lead to wider benefits to the community:

“The Energy Minister claimed that these (renewable energy) firms would bring ‘entrepreneurial opportunities in our rural communities’. Our members can confirm that this is hogwash. There is very little development and certainly no opportunities for entrepreneurship in the surrounding area of the firm,” said NUMSA in a statement.

On 12 March NUMSA, together with Transform SA, successfully applied for a court interdict to block Eskom from signing 27 renewable energy contracts known as Independent Power Production Projects (IPPs).

NUMSA says it is not against renewable energy but is alarmed by proposals from the government to put renewable energy production entirely in private hands through IPPs. As well as putting the South African public at the mercy of private companies in setting energy prices, the privatization of renewable energy leaves no room for a Just Transition for workers losing their jobs in the coal industry.

Brian Kohler, IndustriALL’s director for health, safety and sustainability, said:

“South Africa must not relinquish its responsibility for the energy of the future, nor turn its back on tens of thousands of workers in the coal industry. A Just Transition requires strong and comprehensive social protection; sustainable industrial policy; and creative labour adjustment programmes.”

“There is nothing inherent about greener jobs that guarantees fairness – they will all follow the logic of capitalism if the state does not impose conditions and limits on their behaviour,” added Kohler.

Zambia: Building strong unions to confront hostile employers

The unions have a rich history of organizing workers which goes across decades. The National Union for Building Engineering and General Workers (NUBEGW) for instance, boasts of having leaders who later became Zambian presidents. These are Frederick Chiluba (1991-2002) and Michael Sata (2011-2014).

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates, NUBEGW, the National Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (NUCIW) and the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ), with support from trade union support organisation, Union to Union, met at a union building project meeting 13-14 March in Lusaka.

The meeting discussed how to confront bullying as some employers are becoming increasingly arrogant and even refusing to sign recognition agreements with unions. Building union capacity in collective bargaining and understanding of labour laws, strengthening health and safety at workplaces and involving women workers in union activities and leadership roles are some of the priorities identified. Recruiting and organizing are key to reversing declining union membership.

The unions also agreed to work together, build solidarity on common issues and organize joint actions to defend their rights.

Says Tendai Makanza, UB project coordinator for Sub Saharan Africa:

The union building project is an opportunity for unions to identify and solve the problems that they are facing including declining union influence that is worsened by an increasing hostile environment from businesses and the government.

Increasing copper prices might see mining companies hiring more workers and thus providing an opportunity for MUZ to recruit more workers in the sector. The big copper mining companies are Barrick Lumwana, FQM Kansanchi, Mopani and Konkola who mine 80 per cent with the remainder being mined by smaller companies. The government of Zambia has shareholding in the companies through the state company ZCCM-IH.

In cement manufacturing unions are fighting to be allowed to organize workers at the Dangote plant in Ndola. MUZ has gone to court after being denied access to workers at the company.

Victory as strike ends at Rio Tinto QMM in Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar

The CBA calls for a consideration of both annual inflation-linked salary increase and a performance based increase, with the aim to make up for the loss of purchasing power. The union has argued that the company’s approach militates against workers in the lower rankings of the salary scale, and that those workers never achieve the intended purchasing power parity intended in the collective bargaining agreement. Instead, supervisors and managers benefit from management’s approach, and this violates the collective bargaining agreement. According to the union, workers at QMM receive very low wages, averaging about US$45/month. 

Members of IndustriALL affiliate, Sendika Kristanina Malagasy (Sekrima) and Syndicalisme et Vie des Sociétés (SVS), suspended the strike in the afternoon of Thursday 8 March after local management promised a labour inspectorate led mediation the following day.

“We suspended the strike on Thursday, but the company retaliated with threats of dismissals, loss of benefits, and intimidation when our members reported for work on Friday,” said a Sekrima union representative.

Negotiations between the company and the unions, Sekrima and SVS deadlocked on Friday, and the strike continued on the following Monday, 12 March. Due to threats of intimidation, only 200 workers participated in the strike.

The strike was called off the following morning, 13 March, after an agreement had been reached including :

“As the strike has ended, the next step for the union and local management is revising the current collective bargaining agreement due to start in April 2018. We hope this will continue in the spirit of respect shown during the negotiations to end the strike, like we did with the global dialogue process with Rio Tinto,” said Kemal Ozkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.

“The conclusion of the strike and more importantly, the content of the agreement is a vindication of the fair and just demand of workers for an inflation linked general increase that maintains the purchasing power of the majority of the workers,” said Anthony Randrianandrasana, president of Sekrima, Fort Dauphin, QMM.

Steve Hunt, District 3 director of the United Steelworkers and co-chair of IndustriALL’s mining and diamond, gems, ornament and jewellery production section, who followed the negotiations closely from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, said: “We are proud of the leadership of Sekrima, who under the most challenging conditions, managed to deliver on the mandate of its members”.

The unions also demanded that the company live up to its supplier code of conduct, presented during the recent joint IndustriALL/Rio Tinto high level global mission to QMM in February, and implement its due diligence requirement for contractors. Contractor employees are afraid to join the union due to intimidation by contractor owners, who fail to respect the provisions of the supplier code of conduct, guaranteeing freedom of association and the right to join a union of choice.

Union in Ghana calls for strike against retrenchment of 2,150 mineworkers

GMWU, affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, is disputing the reasons put forward for the retrenchments arguing that Gold Fields simply wants to replace permanent workers with contract ones. Despite the Labour Division of the High Court in Accra not ruling in its favour to stop the retrenchments, GMWU has appealed.

Gold Fields is ignoring the country’s labour laws and two collective bargaining agreement that it signed with GMWU which are clear on fair retrenchments.

Prince William Ankrah, GMWU general secretary, says:

Typical of their ruthless character as multinationals and their penchant for disregarding host country legal framework and sanctity of contracts, the company has unilaterally set aside the Labour Act 2003 and the collective agreements and has gone ahead to force redundancy terminations on the workers.” The company is also refusing to negotiate salary adjustments for 2018.

The union is concerned by the military presence at the mine which put so much pressure on workers to an extent that some signed the redundancy letters.

Ankrah says:

Following the huge armed and military presence, an atmosphere of insecurity, fear and panic has since engulfed the workers with most of them not too sure of what to expect next.

Workers who signed the letters were only given a month’s contract afterwards under terms and conditions not disclosed to the union. Those who refused to sign were locked out of the mine while union officials who tried to visit were arrested or refused entry.

IndustriALL Global Union general secretary, Valter Sanches, says:

Gold Fields Limited must instruct the management at Gold Fields Ghana Limited at the Tarkwa mine to revert immediately the decision to terminate the permanent contracts of over 2,150 workers, engage in good-faith negotiations with the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union – thus heeding the repeated calls from the union to sit down to negotiate, inter alia, the 2018 salary adjustment and the collective agreement review – and refrain from violating the fundamental rights of workers and union officials.

The union has also announced that it is planning an international campaign to expose Gold Fields’s bullying and disregard of workers’ rights at international stock exchanges where the company is listed in Johannesburg, New York and the Swiss Exchange. A petition will be sent to the ILO, and South African trade unions and global trade unions will be approached for solidarity.

"100 days of snubbing Zimbabwean workers," says union federation

As no attempts were made to meet workers or trade unions – whether in the formal or informal sectors – the federation says this clearly shows that there is no commitment to improve conditions for Zimbabwean workers. The ZCTU says the government is bent on pursuing neo-liberal austerity and free market policies ignoring workers’ rights.

Retrenchments and precarious working conditions are common in Zimbabwe. Benefits including pensions were wiped out during the hyperinflation period which peaked in 2008, and unemployment is estimated at over 90 per cent. With youth unemployment high, chances of those under the age of 35 getting jobs are slim.

The few workers with jobs are either partly paid or not paid on time. The picket by 300 women demanding the payment of their spouses’ wages at the majority state-owned Hwange Colliery Company, which began on 27 January, illustrates the gravity of the situation. The workers’ wages back date to five years. Intent on evicting the women who had camped at the company premises for a month, but not addressing their grievances, Hwange Colliery even took the matter to the High Court which dismissed the case. The labour minister, Petronella Kagonye, is currently visiting the company to resolve the dispute.

Furthermore, it is difficult for the employed workers to withdraw their meagre earnings because of cash shortages. So, the workers spend long hours in queues only to be given small amounts that are not even enough for their needs.

Says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

Whilst we welcome statements on economic recovery plans involving businesses and investors, this cannot be done at the exclusion of workers and trade unions who are key stakeholders. The role that workers play in economic development is critical and should not be undermined by the Government of Zimbabwe.

The IndustriALL affiliates in Zimbabwe who belong to the ZCTU are the National Engineering Workers Union, National Mine workers Union of Zimbabwe, National Union of Clothing Industries, the National Union of Metal and Allied Industries in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Chemicals and Plastics and Allied Workers Union, and the Zimbabwe Textile Workers Union.

Mnangagwa took over government in November 2017, following a military intervention that triggered events that ousted former president Robert Mugabe in power for 37 years since independence from British colonial rule in 1980.