South Africa: NUMSA condemns police violence against striking South 32 workers

The 600 striking workers were demanding general wage increases of 7.5 with 8.2 per cent for the lowly paid, medical aid contributions from the employer, a housing allowance of US $367 and equal pay for work of equal value. IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), condemned the use of violence against the striking workers.

Instead of meeting the workers’ demands, South 32 came up with proposals for a lower wage increase of 5.1 per cent and offered cash payments. There was even a cash pay-out of $764 if workers agreed to drop all their demands in favour of the company’s offers.

The union, which is intensifying the strike after failing to reach an agreement with the company management, is against the cash payments.

“Ultimately, workers will end up poorer if they do not receive an annual increase. Instead of giving a wage increase they want to try and bribe our members with cash.”

NUMSA also questioned why a global company with operations in Australia, Colombia, and Mozambique, that made 1.23 billion US dollars in profits, “refuses to share the gains with their employees”.

Further, NUMSA was against the use of scab labour from Mozambique as such actions caused violence and xenophobia. The Mozambican workers lived in “sweat shop like conditions” at the plant.

On the violence, NUMSA will lodge a complaint with the police:

“The police continue to be used to unleash violence on the working class, especially when they are exercising their democratic right to protest. It is the role of the South African Police Service (SAPS) to protect protestors, and create an enabling environment for them to express their just demands for better working conditions. But sadly, too often, some members of the SAPS resort to tactics which were practiced by the authoritarian apartheid regime”.

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:

“Workers’ rights to strike are protected by South African law, and the police should respect those rights. Use of force and intimidation won’t stop workers from fighting for better wages and working conditions.”

Malagasy unions prepare for global day of action against precarious work

Over 3,000 workers are expected to march to the RTA Dome in the capital, Antananarivo, and in Port-Dauphin, on 7 October, after which there will be several union activities and entertainment. The activities will be held with support from FES.

The campaign happens at a time of increasing job insecurity common with short-term lowly paid jobs, long working hours especially in the textile sector, increasing sub-contracting, poor health and safety at work, and non-payments of benefits by most employers. It was also increasingly becoming common for workers to work with neither a contract nor benefits. This made it easy for employers to dismiss workers without fear of the law.

With minimum wages of around $50 per month, most workers in Madagascar are living in poverty. According to the unions, workers needed at least $300 to be able to meet their basic needs.

Although employers deducted social security and pension dues from wages, they did not surrender these to the relevant authorities. This meant that when retirement came workers were not given the benefits due to them. Despite the existence of labour laws, enforcement was low and corrupt employers simply paid bribes to avoid being taken to court.

Confronted by these serious attacks on their existence, Malagasy unions have been fighting back against precarious working conditions. Speaking to Infinity, a community radio station in Fort-Dauphin, first secretary of SVS, Anosy Region, Eugene Chretien, said unions were demanding living wages:

“We are fighting for workers to live in dignity and not in poverty. Workers must be paid enough money, including overtime pay due to them, so that they can afford to buy food, hospital and transport fees. It is unacceptable for workers to walk for 20km from their homes to workplaces. Workers must also have access to clean water and electricity.”

Said Tendai Makanza, IndustriALL union building project coordinator for Sub Saharan Africa:

“We are putting more effort into strengthening organizing and recruitment of workers into unions in Madagascar. With unity and collaboration, the unions will be able to deal more effectively with precarious work that threatens decent jobs”.

Zambian union rejects precarious work in copper mines

MUZ, which has organized over 4500 workers at KCM, is against moving decent permanent jobs to precarious working conditions, which will lead to poverty among mineworkers and mining communities in Chingola, Chililabombwe, Kitwe and Nampundwe.

KCM is a subsidiary of the multinational company, Vedanta, which is involved in mining and oil and gas in Australia, India, Ireland, Liberia, Namibia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

In a meeting with Vedanta Resources, Zambian president Edgar Lungu, said the government was also opposed to the KCM plans. Further, mines minister, Christopher Yaluma, issued a directive to the company to stop the plans and operate according to their 2004 mining licence. The union doubts whether the government will enforce the directive as KCM is also ignoring the Employment Amendment Act (2015) which makes it unlawful to casualize permanent work.

Instead of sacrificing jobs, the union is asking for an improvement in operations by recapitalizing the mines, buying new equipment, and giving more benefits to the workers as motivation. It believes KCM should increase production and extend the life of the mines to 50 years.

Nkole Chishimba, President of MUZ and the Zambian Congress of Trade Unions, said: 

Vedanta has failed mine workers, mining communities, and local contractors and suppliers. The planned outsourcing programme is unacceptable and ill-timed. Although the company claims to have invested over US$4 billion over the 11-year-period, it failed to increase production of copper to 400,000 tonnes due to poor management in procurement of equipment, materials and spares. KCM must surrender the mine back to the government so that a viable investor can take over rather than send thousands of workers into poverty through casualization.

Kenny Mogane, IndustriALL regional officer for Sub Saharan Africa said:

We support MUZ’s unwavering stance on saving jobs in the mining sector in Zambia. In our campaigns for more decent and permanent jobs, we must always protect existing jobs against companies that think job security can be removed at will. We will continue to join our affiliates in the fight against precarious work.

South Africa: Thousands of workers support national strike

State capture refers to the corrupt involvement of business interests in government affairs. The Gupta family was singled out by a report by then public protector Thuli Madonsela as being involved in the appointment of ministers, and in the awarding of government tenders. COSATU, which is demanding a judiciary commission of enquiry into state capture, argued that corruption threatened the socioeconomic rights of workers. Further, it undermined “the constitutional and developmental state that seeks to address the plight of the poor and the workers.”

A Cosatu pamphlet read:

“State capture and the cancer of corruption are immoral and criminal acts, which rob the people of South Africa of their livelihoods, steal their resources, cause job losses and perpetuates poverty.”

In Johannesburg, petitions were given to the City of Johannesburg, banks and the financial sector, and the Chamber of Mines, where retrenchments were condemned. Unions vowed to continue their fight against the closure of five coal-powered power stations. This showed that government’s renewable energy policy was not promoting a Just Transition, but sacrificing jobs. Promoting independent power producers from the renewable energy sector was privatizing the state-owned power company, ESKOM.

The scandal involving the Guptas has dragged in and tarnished the images of international companies, including Bell Pottinger and KPMG.

Fabian Nkomo, regional secretary for IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa, said:

“We applaud South African workers for standing up against state capture and corruption. Neo-liberal policies that promoted taking away jobs and the control of state-owned companies by private interests should be resisted by workers.”

Southern Africa: Building a network of young workers

Supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the workshop discussed building strong unions through organizing and recruiting more workers. Such organizing would be on issues that workers faced every day like low wages and poor working conditions. Therefore, the fight against low wages in Lesotho and Swaziland’s garment and textile sectors, and the living wage campaign in Southern Africa had to be intensified.

Affiliates from Mozambique attended for the first time, strengthening regional networking and coordination.

The meeting also supported the return of the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act benefits to Swaziland as this would lead to the recovery of lost jobs and improved wages. On migrant workers, it was agreed that they should enjoy the same benefits as other workers.

The workshop agreed to demand the respect of workers and human rights from their governments. The governments should also implement the African Youth Charter which called for education and skills development, poverty eradication, youth employment and sustainable development.

Protecting jobs in the case of retrenchments in mining and other sectors was a must. This, the participants argued, showed the need for collective bargaining agreements that protected workers interests. It was also agreed that unions should continue to fight against precarious work and outsourcing of work through labour brokers.

For unions to be effective against global capital worker education should play its role by exposing the activities of multinational corporations and explaining trade agreements.

The workshop emphasized the importance of addressing gender inequality, ending sexual harassment at workplaces, and campaigning for maternity protection as well as health and safety at work. More awareness was needed on HIV and AIDS as the epidemic continued to affect more young adults.

The workshop concluded that union survival was also based on understanding economic policies that created sustainable jobs. For instance, diversification towards manufacturing instead of depending on mining alone, created more jobs as argued in the African Mining Vision.

Sarah Flores, IndustriALL project and youth officer, said:

“A strong sense of cross border solidarity emerged among the young leaders at this workshop. While discussing the different struggles they face, they came to the conclusion that no local improvement can be sustained if it doesn’t happen at a regional level.

This understanding of the need for solidarity will with no doubt be a driver within the youth Southern Africa network and their fight for economic and social justice.”

South Africa: Unions prepare for national strike against corruption and retrenchments

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Southern African Clothing Textile and Allied Workers Union (SACTWU), affiliated to COSATU and IndustriALL, will take part in the strike. 

South Africa’s Labour Relations Act allows for strikes on socio-economic and political issues such as corruption and retrenchments.

The “state capture” was based on a 2016 report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela who wrote that the state had been captured by private interests including those of business owners including the Gupta family. In the report, the Guptas were allegedly involved in the appointment of ministers and directors of state companies, and corruptly influenced the awarding of state contracts to favour their interests. Recently, a number of international companies, including Bell Pottinger and KPMG, were implicated in the corruption scandal.

Workers continued to lose jobs in mining especially with the recent announcement by Impala Platinum to retrench over 2 100 workers. According to StatsSA 32 000 mining jobs were lost in the last year. The garment and textile also lost 3000 jobs.

Said the NUM:

“The strike is a platform for workers to voice out their displeasure on how South Africa is run and that the looting of state resources and corrupt activities by a network of a certain predatory elite should be condemned. Workers are being left out in the cold to fend for themselves amidst massive retrenchments taking place in various sectors of the country's economy particularly mining”.

SACTWU’s demands during the strike included an end to outsourcing of work through labour brokers. Instead the union wanted more permanent jobs.

Said Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa:

“We support the strike action by COSATU affiliates because corruption is theft. Money meant to benefit workers and society ends up in the bank accounts of corrupt individuals”.

South Africa: Striking against precarious work in the plastics sector

At Mpact, 140 contract workers were demanding equal pay as they were paid less than permanent workers. In solidarity, the permanent workers joined them on their demands for US$3 per hour, from the current US$1.50. They also wanted their jobs to become permanent, and not to work as employees of labour brokers. After a recent court victory by NUMSA, labour brokers cannot employ workers for more than three months. Should they do this, the workers will become permanent at current workplaces.

Said NUMSA: “We commend the permanent employees at Mpact for expressing solidarity with their comrades at the workplace by embarking on a sympathy strike”.

At Flexible Plastics workers were paid US$0.69 per hour adding up to US$122 per month. This is below the proposed national minimum wage of US$270, which will take effect from May 2018.

According to the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative (NMWRI) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, a wage of US$318 is required to bring workers and their dependents out of poverty. Studies by NMWRI concluded that about five and a half million workers in South Africa, who supported up to 10 family members, were “the working poor” because of low wages.

IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, Fabian Nkomo, said: “We support NUMSA’s calls for permanent jobs and improved wages and working conditions in the plastics sector”.

Swaziland: Bring back AGOA status, say unions

Swaziland was suspended from AGOA in January 2015 for not respecting workers’ and human rights as seen in the refusal to register ATUSWA and TUCOSWA. Further, the Industrial Relations Act, the Suppression of Terrorism Act, and the Public Order Act, had sections which restricted freedoms of assembly, expression, and association. Concerns were also raised over the use of security forces to crush peaceful demonstrations and arbitrary arrests. Although some of the offending sections have been removed, more needs to be done.

The meeting called upon the government to adhere to international labour standards, respect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Social dialogue that included active participation of stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of the AGOA utilization strategies was recommended. Emphasis was also put on inclusion of small scale indigenous Swazi companies and cooperatives rather than only big multi-national companies as beneficiaries.

The decision to call for the readmission was not taken lightly, but after extensive consultations and assessment by TUCOSWA. This included participation in the ILO process to review whether Swaziland had met the international standards on workers’ rights.

In a press statement released after the meeting, the unions stated:

“We support Swaziland’s readmission to AGOA because this will not only save jobs but create thousands more in the textile and apparel industry, and across the supply chain. In our fight for decent work, these jobs are an important lifeline for young women who constitute over 90% of the workers in this industry. By calling for the reinstatement, we are helping the Government of Swaziland to protect and create jobs, and to also develop sustainable industrial policies. The manufacturing sector is strategically placed to play a role in job creation and government policies must encourage foreign direct investment”.

Over 17,000 jobs were affected when AGOA benefits, which included duty-free exports to the US, were withdrawn.

The meeting took place on the side-lines of an IndustriALL-supported young workers' programme that saw youth going on a recruitment drive at Nhlangano’s textile factories, some 92 km from Manzini, where they addressed 2,000 workers, mainly women, during lunchtime. They stressed  the need to join the union to strengthen the fight for a living wage, and for better working conditions.

Nationally, ATUSWA is affiliated to TUCOSWA and globally to IndustriALL.

South Africa: Transformation too slow for women mineworkers

The NUM said transformation was slow despite the existence of laws and a constitution that supported change. According to an NUM study, gender discrimination was common in the mining industry in which only 11 per cent of the workers were women. In mining, most women occupied low paying positions with less opportunities for development or empowerment. They also faced sexual harassment, stigmatization, ridicule, and sometimes total disregard of physical differences between male and female workers.

Mining companies were also reluctant to hire women as operators, drillers, shift bosses or blasters. Basic conditions such as maternity leave was denied, and some mines did not provide personal health and safety protective equipment including overalls, boots, earphones, goggles and so on. Women were also forced to carry heavy loads which caused miscarriages, and back and waist pains. Some physical tests, that had no bearing on job performance, were carried out on women.

With a lack of support from male workers, women miners were forced to work harder to prove themselves.

The grievances expressed to the Chamber of Mines included an end to sexual harassment and gender discrimination on wages, promoting equity in business, more participation and integration of women, accepting physical differences between men and women, and an end to patriarchy and violence against women at workplaces.

Phumeza Mgengo, NUM women’s structure national secretary said:

“No country can achieve liberation without the emancipation of women which shouldn’t be an act of charity. We demand that managers be trained to understand what gender equality and 50 per cent gender parity means. Transformation must take place without the risk of women losing their right to integrity, respect and most importantly equality.”

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa added:

“We support the calls by the NUM for transformation and empowerment of women who are working in the mines”.

South Africa: Five miners killed in goldmine

The miners were working 3,100 metres underground when a tremor hit the Kusasalethu goldmine, 90km from Johannesburg, on 25 August. “All of the employees who were trapped underground, are now accounted for,” the company said in a statement.

Rescue teams worked round the clock to try and save the trapped miners who were killed when a tremor measuring 1.2 on the richter scale caused a 10-metre fall in the ground. Operations were hampered by large rocks blocking the entrance to the section where the incident took place.

Gold mining in South Africa is becoming increasingly dangerous as mines reach the end of their productive lifespans. According to the Chamber of Mines, as South African mines have got deeper and reached depths of 4,000 metres, it has brought greater health and safety risks to miners as rock stress increases with depth. Furthermore, the deeper the mine, the longer it takes to reach the rock face, which hinders rescue efforts.

Targets set by the 2003 Mine and Health Safety Summit for the gold sector to reach international safety levels by 2013 have also been missed.

The Kusasalethu tragedy occurred just a month after three mineworkers died in similar circumstances in another accident at Tau Lekoa mine, North West Province, in July.

IndustriALL Global Union joins its affiliate in South Africa, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), in mourning the death of five mineworkers who died, of whom at least three were members of NUM. 

Eric Gcilitshana, NUM health and safety secretary, said: “One of the five deceased miners, was a 25-year-old who buried his father last month and left a three-month-old son. It is painful and sad for the family. The lives of workers must always be prioritized to save lives. A safe workplace is a productive workplace. We believe that working as a collective team, we can save lives and achieve zero harm.”

Fabian Nkomo, IndustriALL, regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa, added: “When mineworkers go to work they expect to return home to their families. Mining companies must guarantee workers’ safety at all cost. This is why we are so saddened when workers continue to die underground due to accidents.”