SPEAR CONTENTS
1.
Letter From The Desk of The General Secretary
2.
FAWU 70th Anniversary: Unveiling of New Union Offices
12.
25th Anniversary of Food Unions Merger In 1986
15.
National Congress 2011 Highlights
20.
Post-Parliamentary Submission On Walmart
21.
Strike Season 2011
24.
Farm Worker Struggles: A North West Plan of Action
Tsebe Mofatse Re Ikarabele
26.
A Punitive Sentence: Plantation Farm Prison
28.
Forestry: The Challenge To Recruit
29.
FAWU Submission on Fishing
30.
The Farm Workers Project
32.
Education and Training: An Overview
34.
The Shop Steward: Norman Chauke
34.
Back To Basics: Roles and Responsibilities of Shop Stewards
36.
Fawu Input On Food Security In South Africa
38.
Poem
EDITOR IN CHIEF:
Katishi Masemola
EDITOR:
Dominique Swartz
Thanking All
Contributors
A LETTER FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY
To members of our glorious organization, the Food
and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), to all FAWU’s
shop stewards, office bearers and staff members,
and to those workers and union leaders across food
processing, beverage manufacturing, farms,
forestry, fishing, food merchandising sectors as
well as the entire economy, our union has just
celebrated 70 years of heritage in 2011 with a
razzmatazz of celebration events, including
marking the 25th anniversary of merger between
FAWU, the Sweet Food and Allied Workers Union
(SFAWU) and Retail and Allied Workers union
(RAWU) that occurred back in June 1986.
As the current generation of leaders, we take this
opportunity to shower with praises the founding
leaders of this union, especially our founding
general Secretary – the late stalwart Ray
Alexander-Simmons. The list of those founding
leaders and veterans include Frank Marquard,
Oscar Mpetha, Elizabeth Mafikeng, Liz Abrahams,
Frances Baard and many others. We further salute
the subsequent generation of brave leaders that
went on to found SFAWU, especially the late
stalwart in David Maseko. Those leaders included
Maggie Magubane, Chris Dlamini, Jay Naidoo and
RAWU’s Alan Roberts.
In doing so, they will take stock of a period
(2007-2011) under review and chart the way
forward on challenges lying ahead in the next
period (2011-2015).
We wish the union a successful congress and hope
that all members, shop stewards, office-bearers,
and staff members who will not be part of the
congress proceedings will follow the gathering
with a sense of pride. We hope to emerge from the
congress much more united and stable and with a
resolve to be much stronger and powerful than we
have been thus far. We should make our leaders to
rest in pride in their graves and those who are
fortunate to be still alive to beat up their chest with
even more pride.
Looking forward to another 70 years of existence
and struggles.
They left a warm house for workers so as to get
the current members to enjoy and use for their
struggles in the workplaces and in society. The
challenge is for us, as the current generation of
leaders, to not only keep the union intact but
further strengthen it into a much more strong
organizationally vibrant and campaigning union of
workers and members. We must leave the union in
a better shape than we inherited from predecessors.
It is in this year that we are also convening a
National Congress. It is in this congress where
delegates, as mandated by their various provincial
structures, will be discussing a range of issues.
These range from building their organization,
strengthening on bargaining strategy on wages,
working conditions and benefits, the building of
capacity, both institutionally and individually,
financial turnaround of their union finances, and
review of policies and constitutional provisions.
KATISHI MASEMOLA
1
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS: HONOURING OUR VETERANS
UNVEILING OF NEW PROVINCIAL OFFICE BUILDINGS
As part of the union’s 70th anniversary
celebrations, we have acquired office buildings in
six provinces this year and has celebrated the
unveiling ceremonies of these provincial offices by
naming these buildings after our much beloved
trade union stalwarts, Liz Abrahams House (Cape
Town), Oscar Mpetha (Eastern Cape), Gert
Sibande and Brian Bunting House( Mpumalanga),
Elizabeth Rocky Mafikeng Building ( North
–West) Neil Aggett ( Gauteng) and the Frances
Baard House in Bloemfontein. The Limpopo and
Kwa-Zulu Natal provinces are still to unveil the
Peter Nchabaleng House and the Billy Nair House
respectively.
bringing together civic workers, churches and other
organizations to oppose the introduction of Botha’s
Tricameral Parliament. MaBaard died in 1997. In
June 2001, the "Diamantveld District Council" was
renamed Frances Baard District Municipality in her
honour.
“Liz Abrahams House”- Western Cape
Free State/northern Cape
“Frances Baard House”
Liz Abrahams House
House officially opened by Janine Green, Liz’s Granddaughter
Frances Baard House
Frances Baard
On March 12, 2011, the Free State/ Northern Cape
province unveiled the Frances Baard House in the
Bloemfontein CBD in honour of the contribution
of comrade Frances Baard. FAWU was fortunate
enough to have some of Ma Baard’s family
members to address comrades during the function
as well as prominent members of the ANC and
SACP in the province.
During the 1952 Defiance Campaign, she was an
organizer and later treasurer of the ANC Women's
League. She was an executive committee of the
Federation of South Africa Women (FEDSAW) in
the mid-1950s and helped drafted the Freedom
Charter in 1955. She also played a leading role in
the Women’s march to the Union Buildings on 9
August 1956, to protest against the pass laws. In
1956, she was also defendant in the Treason Trial
and became a member of the executive committee
of the South African Congress of Trade Unions
(SACTU). She was detained several times and
even sentenced to five years imprisonment for
ANC activities. After her release in 1969, she was
banned and restricted to Mabopane near Pretoria.
In the 1980s, Frances worked with the United
Democratic Front (UDF), a body that was formed
2
In Cape Town, we celebrated the unveiling of Liz
Abrahams House in Kenilworth on June 12, 2011,
with members, staff and guests in the province.
Comrade Tony Ehrenreich, provincial secretary of
COSATU Western Cape, a speaker from the SACP
and our own President, Atwell Nazo and 2nd
Deputy President, Elizabeth Manoto, the
programme director addressed PEC delegates and
staff.“ She was a shop steward and a organizer in
the true sense as well as a office bearer.
We need to see that we develop shop stewards in a
true sense. Because being a shop steward is like
being a lawyer so you as a shop steward are the
first encounter with a worker. Like Nanna, organizers should sacrifice their time to assist workers.”
Nanna’s sisters, along with some of her grandchildren attended the unauguration of the “Liz Abrahams House. Nanna’s granddaughter Janine, cut
the ribbon to officially open the building. Cde Tony
said, “we have to ensure that our unions are driven
by the sacred principle of worker control. It is
appropriate that we remember our founding forefathers and mothers today. We need to reach out to
our members and make sure that we continue to
represent the values that our founding leaders had.
I am proud to be associated with the Liz Abrahams
building and the continued traditions of building a
society that enforces the values of “An injury to
one is an injury to all”. FAWU president Nazo said,
“We must be proud to celebrate our union’s
stalwarts. We need to emulate what they did for our
unions. They have spent many hours away from
their families to ensure that the voices of workers
are heard. This giant union of ours was built by
women. Maybe next time, we should ensure that a
woman becomes the president of the union.” Janine
Green, Nanna’s granddaughter said that it was the
wish of the late Liz Abrahams that workers must
unite. She thanked FAWU for honouring cde Liz
and expressed confidence that the union shall
overcome its challenges.
Rus In Vrede!!! Lala Ngoxolo!!!!Rest In Peace!!!!
Another stalwart is no more. Liz Nanna Abrahams
gave her last breath during the night of the 17th
December 2008, about three months after having
celebrated her 83rd birthday in September of the
same year.
Comrade Liz, a daughter of the working class
parents, started working at a fruit canning factory
as a teenager. Horrible working conditions, under
which workers were performing their jobs, shaped
her early consciousness on the need to fight this
brutal exploitation by employers. When Ray
Alexander recruited her and others into the then
Food and Canning Workers’ Union [FCWU], now
the Food and Allied Workers Union [FAWU], back
in 1941, Liz proved her capabilities and commitment to the course when she rose through the ranks
to become a shop steward at 21 and National
Treasurer in 1954 at 29 years of age.
By 1956, when Ray Alexander and Becky Lan
were harassed and banned by the apartheid regime,
she was elected acting General Secretary and later
became the General Secretary. She was just not a
narrow trade unionist but an activist for gender
equality and women emancipation as epitomized
by her involvement and active participation in
structures of the Federation of SA Women
(FEDSAW), which she helped set up in Paarl and
surrounding areas back in 1954.
In addition she was a political activist who participated in the Coloured People’s Congress structures.
When the ANC was banned she continued playing
a role in the underground work, as shown by her
providing hiding place for another trade union
stalwart like Archie Sibeko, who as hunted by
security forces , and by providing a safe passage to
exile for the late Chris Hani, later a General Secretary of the SA Communist Party.
Comrade Liz remained unwavering in her commitment to and active participation in the liberation
struggle. She did this even during the times of her
banning in the mind 1960’s. When our movement,
the ANC, was unbanned comrade Liz continued to
be active above ground and in 1994 she was
elected a member of Parliament.In recognition of
her contributions, in 2002 the Presidency of the
Republic of South Africa bestowed and Order of
Baobab, a bronze medal in honour of her role in
the struggle of workers, particularly farm workers.
In addition, in 2003 she was given Freedom of the
town of Paarl by the Drakenstein Municipality.
Indeed, she had attributes of being a dedicated,
committed selfless cadre against gender discrimination, racial oppression and capitalist exploitation.
Throughout her life, from the tender teenage years
up to her last breath, she was a loyal member and
activist.
Tribute to the Late Liz Nana Abrahams By FAWU
General Secretary, Katishi Masemola
Neil Aggett House- Gauteng
Province
The Neil Aggett House was unveiled on February
6, 2009 and the Gauteng province hosted a march
in February this year in which hundreds of workers
participated, honouring the memory of this great
veteran. The Gauteng province and satellite head
office now operates from the Neil Agget house in
President street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Dr.
Neil Aggett was a dedicated trade unionist and
political activist who started a FCWU branch in the
old “Transvaal” so it was befitting that FAWU
should name the Johannesburg building after this
selfless comrade.
In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of his
death next year, FAWU will be launching the “
Neil Aggett Resource Centre” in Johannesburg
which will document the lives of heroic trade
union leaders of South Africa
Neil Hudson Aggett was born in 1954 in Kenya. In
1976 he obtained his medical degree (MB ChB) at
the University of Cape Town. The following year
he was doing his internship at the Umtata General
Hospital in Transkei and then at Tembisa hospital
in East Rand, Johannesburg. Here, Neil became
aware of the hardships of black people. He subsequently became involved in the trade union movement and was asked to start the Transvaal branch
of the Food and Canning Worker's Union (now
FAWU)Neil was becoming deeply involved with
union work and supported himself by performing
3
weekend duties in the Casualty department of
Soweto's Baragwanath hospital. Here, he earnt the
respect and trust of both staff and patients through
his enthusiasm for his job- even learning an African
language, Zulu, to communicate better with his
patients..He was passionate about workers rights,
such as company supported medical aid schemes.
He played an enormous role in organizing the
successful Fatti's and Moni's strike in Isando from
where it spread to Tembisa. After this, he became a
target of the security branch of the South African
police for his participation in strikes. On November
27 in 1981, Dr . Neil Aggett was detained for his
role in the labour movement under the Terrorism
Act. He was held at Pretoria Central Prison and
later transferred to John Vorster Square in Johannesburg. He died in detention on February 5, 1982,
allegedly by hanging himself with a scarf. No
charges were ever laid against him.
After a six –month long inquest into his death,
George Bizos. S.C., a lawyer who represented the
Aggett family, claimed that security police, by
brutal interrogation methods, had broken Aggett
and destabilized his personality to such an extent
that they drove him to commit suicide. The methods included assaults, torture by electric shock
treatment and days of non- stop interrogation. Other
reports state that a June 29 inquest revealed his
death was as a result of police torture.
Neil Aggett became the first white person to have
died while in Security Police detention and the 51st
person to have died in detention. He was 28 years
old. He was buried in West Park Cemetery, Johannesburg on 11 February 1982. His funeral was
filmed and about 15 000 people attended. The Food
and Canning Workers' Union issued a call that all
workers would stay away from work on the day of
his funeral. On that day, the presence of police did
not stop thousands of workers and fellow trade
unionists to sing revolutionary songs and reaffirm
their commitment to the struggle for which Neil
had died for.
On February 11, 1982 a call for a thirty-minute
work stoppage in protest against the death of Dr.
Neil Aggett was supported by virtually
all-independent Black unions, and tens of thousands of workers. Outrage at the circumstances of
his death cut across racial lines and prompted
White opposition politicians, lawyers, academics
and church leaders to lead demands for the end of
4
prolonged solitary detention without trial because
of the intolerable pressure it creates.
Dr. Neil Aggett
Unveiling of Neil Aggett House, February 2009
“Gert Sibande And Brian Bunting
House”- Mpumalanga
Gert Sibande
Fawu Leaders At Gsbb House
The Mpumalanga province hosted their unveiling
ceremony on June 12th 2011 it and was named
after two remarkable comrades, namely Gert
Sibande and Brian Bunting. The Provincial chair
person, cde Raymond Mguni commented on the
occasion and said, “ It is a blessed occasion.
We have celebrated 70 years in February this year.
FAWU has such a rich history with it taking the
lead in the formation of SACTU and another giant
step when the union adopted the Freedom Charter.
The union has produced great leaders such as cde
Jay Naidoo and Chris Dlamini. We are very much
happy to talk about its rich history. It is indeed
satisfying to be associated with FAWU. Our
leaders must always think about this giant movement that they are leading. We had our own problems over the last 70 years but we managed to
overcome this. Today, we can proudly say that we
have achieved a lot. Our leadership that emerged
after the NEC declaration of 2006 was a good one.
If we just remind ourselves that it is not a right to
lead, but in fact a privilege, we will be able to
accomplish a lot”.
Gert Sibande was born in 1901 in the Ermelo
district in Eastern Transvaal now known as Mpumalanga. His father was a tenant farmer. Sibande
became an ANC Activist and one of the accused in
the Treason Trial of 1956 to 1961. He was charged
with treason in 1956, at which time he was a
member of the national executive committee of the
ANC. In November 1958, while still a defendant
in the trial, he was elected provincial president of
the Transvaal ANC -a position to which he was
re-elected by a narrow margin in 1959. He was one
of the few among the accused to take the witness
stand in the Treason trial, where he displayed his
directness and convictions. He passed away in
1987.
The Unveiling Of
Gert Sibande Statue
Indeed it is an honour and I feel humbled to speak
in this historic event. This is an event meant to
honour and pay a befitting tribute to a stalwart of
our movement and a veteran of trade union
organisation.Comrade Gert has proven a fighter of
high note. A son of working class parents, a child
growing up on farms and under horrible and slave
type living conditions, he reached a moment in life
when he decided that this situation cannot be
tolerated. He was instrumental in organising farm
workers into the first farm workers organisation at
the time. He proceeded to be part of our movement, rising in stature to become the Transvaal
vice president of the ANC. One of the key defining
moments of his skilled organisational capabilities
was when he, with the assistance of Ruth First and
other progressive journalists under the stewardship
of Brian Bunting, organised and led a successful
potato boycott in the 1950’s.
This ANC boycott campaign owes its origin and
conceptualisation to comrade Gert Sibande’s brain
and efforts. We salute him for this and other
achievements. The potato boycott was about
terrible working and horrible living conditions of
our farm workers and dwellers.
Has the situation changed from 50 years ago?
I wish to be blunt and say the situation on farms
has not changed an inch for workers and farm
dwellers . Farm workers still work in conditions of
hostile weather, be it scorching sun to rainy conditions, to long working hours, from sunset to
sunrise, to handling dangerous chemicals without
adequate protective clothing.These workers and
their family members still live in conditions far
from decent.
Some still draw water from the same stream used by
livestock, they still do not have access to electricity
and sanitation facilities and some still share accommodation with pigs in a pig stall.To make it worse,
some of these farm dwellers do not know what
liberation is. They still have their identity books
confiscated so as to deny them the right to vote.
They are afraid to report abuses against them to the
police station, in some instances, where they do
report, little if any investigation is made. If such
investigation is made then prosecution is poor and
where prosecution is successful, then punishment is
a “slap on the wrist.”
5
In his honour we call on our movement to take the
plight of farm dwellers as a serious and urgent
mission. The situation as it exists cannot continue
any longer. Liberation and a better life has to reach
this sizable and vulnerable section of our
society.This would be the best and most befitting
tribute, in addition to this statue, to the memory of
Gert Sibande.
Tribute Delivered by the FAWU General Secretary and COSATU
CEC member
Tribute To Brian Bunting
Brian Bunting
It is my duty to represent the Congress of South
African Trade Unions, COSATU, in this tribute to
our comrade of the working-class movement, Brian
Bunting. I have the honour of being the General
Secretary of COSATU's oldest affiliate, the Food
and Allied Worker's Union, FAWU. Perhaps it is
appropriate that FAWU should be in the vanguard of
the tribute for this reason alone. It was founded in
1941, just 20 years after the founding of the Communist Party of South Africa. We know that Brian
Bunting's father, Sidney Percival Bunting, was a
founder member of the CPSA, which is now the
SACP. We are proud that Ray Alexander, a communist, was a founder member of our union FAWU, in
1941.Brian Bunting's life spans all of that. We know
that he could clearly remember events and personalities of more than 80 years ago. We South Africans
are acutely conscious of our history.
Our mighty federation COSATU was founded in
1985, so it would seem to be almost a newcomer by
comparison. But COSATU's roots go back much
further. COSATU is the conscious successor to the
South African Congress of Trade Unions, SACTU,
6
and SACTU was a signatory to the Freedom Charter
at the Congress of the People. Brian Bunting knew
all of this intimately. How much more difficult it
now seems, knowing that Brian Bunting is not there
to correct and to remind, with his good-natured
frankness, what really happened and when, and why.
We are lucky that he has left us some invaluable,
foundational works such as his biography of the late
Moses Kotane. We are talking of people who shaped
this country, meaning both Kotane, and Bunting.
This year, we as FAWU may particularly wish to
recall the famous Potato Boycott which some of
these communists, who had by then been banned for
eight years, organised on behalf of farm workers.
These workers were people who had been in prison
and been lent to the farmers for nothing, to be
clothed in sacks with holes cut for head and arms,
and systematically abused in every way, like slaves.
The Potato Boycott was 50 years ago. Ruth First,
Joe Gqabi, and Wolfie Kodesh were the reporters
who exposed the story in the Guardian, sometimes
called the New Age, and the Editor of that paper was
Brian Bunting.
Later he edited the African Communist, a quite
unique publication which was like a beacon to us.
So communist, so readable, so reliable, so real and
familiar; there was nothing like it anywhere and
Brian Bunting was the one who made it so. South
Africans are not going to forget this.We would like
to note that the South African Communist Party
really is a workers' party. It is a party dedicated to
the workers. There has never been any doubt about
it, and workers can see it. They recognise it and they
respond with love.
If some of you have never heard masses of workers
in this country singing of the Communist Party, then
take my word for it. There is nothing exaggerated
about it. It is a deep love and understanding shared
by millions of people, especially workers, for the
patient and brave and thoughtful party of communists like Brian Bunting. We would like the family,
especially, to know that. You might be surprised at
the number of people who know Brian Bunting's
name, and his words, and some details of his rich,
long life.
Brian Bunting's was a life well lived. We as workers
need people like him. He lives, in us.
Speech delivered by General Secretary Katishi
Masemola at the funeral of Brian Bunting - 2008
“Elizabeth Rocky Mafikeng House”
North West
The North West province held its unveiling
ceremony of the Elizabeth Rocky Mafikeng House
on Sunday, 5 June 2011.Elizabeth “Rocky”
Mafikeng was born on the 18th September 1918 in
Tarkastad, a small town near Queenstown in the
Eastern Cape. She was from a working class family
who came to live in Paarl in 1927. By 1933 she had
attained a standard 7 education.
continues on page 8
Elizabeth Rocky Mafikeng
Food and Allied Workers Insurance Cover (FAWIC)
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To help support her family, she started working at
this early age at H. Jones canning factory where she
cleaned basins of apricots, peas, figs and peaches for
75 cents a week. Comrade Elizabeth married a
factory worker in 1941, the same year in which the
Daljosaphat and Huguenot branches (in Paarl) were
formed. The couple had eleven children of whom
eight were daughters and three sons.
Comrade Elizabeth’s active political life started
towards the end of 1941, when she joined the Food
and Canning Workers’ union. She became a shop
steward committee member.
Between 1954 and 1959 she served as president of
the African Food and Canning Workers’ Union
(AFCWU) and branch secretary in Paarl. To connect
the workers’ struggle for liberation and their struggle
for better working conditions, she joined the Paarl
branch of the ANC and in 1957 she became the
vice-president of the ANC Women’s League. She
also served on the regional committee of the
National Executive of the South African Congress of
Trade unions (SACTU). She is also one of the
founder members of the Federation of South African
Women (FEDSAW) in the 1950’s. On the 11th of
November 1959, the apartheid regime served comrade Elizabeth with a deportation (banning) order
shortly after she had led a huge demonstration in
Paarl against an attempt to issue passes to African
women. According to the government, Rocky’s
presence would disturb the peace and order among
people in Paarl and that’s why she was banished.
Initially the apartheid regime wanted to deport her to
Vryburg but the banning order angered SACTU and
the union. Together with the ANC, the Congress of
Democrats, the Coloured People’s Congress,
SACTU and the Women’s Federation, they organized a demonstration in protest against the banishment by guarding her house day and night. They
organized transport for Rocky to Lesotho and she
escaped on the 19th of November to Maseru, with
her one-month old baby, Uhuru. There she had to
live in a remote area in a neighbouring country,
without her mother, husband and children. She only
learnt about the demonstration when she was already
in Basutoland (now Lesotho) where she lived as a
refugee.
After the unbanning of political parties like the
ANC, Rocky returned to Cape Town in 1991 and the
union built a house for her in the Mbekweni township in Paarl. Cde Rocky remained an ANC and
FAWU stalwart and resided in Paarl.
8
FAWU celebrated cde Rocky’s 90th birthday in
September 2008 and presented her with gifts to
thank her for contribution towards building the
union and the liberation struggle. She passed away
in 2009 and a special memorial service was held for
her on June 4, 2009 at the Paarl community hall.
“OSCAR MPETHA HOUSE”
-EASTERN CAPE
Oscar Mpetha
Oscar Mpetha House, East London
The Eastern Cape Province had their unveiling
ceremony on Sunday, June 5, 2011. Members of the
Alliance, the General Secretary of FAWU and son of
the late Oscar, Temba Mpetha addressed the crowd
on the day.
The delegates observed a moment of silence for the
late Ma Albertina Sisulu who had passed away
earlier this year. Cosatu Provincial Secretary Isaac
Rayi said “We are today to open the provincial
office of FAWU named after the great trade union
veteran, cde Oscar Mpetha.
We hope that FAWU today will be able to follow in
the footsteps of cde Oscar and other former leaders
to be able to organize workers in their masses”.
Comrade Oscar Mafakafaka Mpetha was born in a
village in the Mount Fletcher district, Transkei on 5
August 1909. He was educated at local schools and
at Adams College in Natal.He came to Cape Town
as a migrant worker in 1937. In June 1938, he
approached cde Ray Alexander together with
another migrant worker Mr Mtinto, who had an
accident. Oscar asked Ray to help Mr Mtinto to
obtain Workmens’ Compensation. At that time there
was Compensation Act. Employers registered some
of the workers with private insurance companies.
With Oscar’s help as interpreter, FAWU succeeded
to get compensation for Mr. Mtinto. This made an
impression on Oscar. Not long after, cde Oscar was
elected branch secretary. On 1 September 1950, cde
Oscar was appointed as organizer for the African
Food and Canning Workers’ Union.In 1952, he was
elected general secretary of the AFCWU, the same
year that he joined the ANC. By September of 1953,
many of the union’s leaders were banned under the
Communism Act. By then, cde Oscar had a great
deal of responsibility resting on him.In 1954, he
joined the Communist Party.
in South Africa’s first democratic elections in April
1994 to win a government free of race and sex
discrimination. Comrade Oscar died on 15 November 1994 at his Gugulethu home.
Peter Nchabeleng House,
Limpopo
Cde Oscar was banned and harassed under the
apartheid regime but carried on working during
difficult circumstances. In 1958, he was elected
president of the ANC in the W. Cape until the party
was banned in 1960. Oscar, with 10 000 freedom
fighters was detained in April 1060 under the emergency regulation.
After his release in August 1960, Oscar continued to
work underground. In 1976-1977 during the Cillie
Commission of Enquiry on Soweto and death by
torture of Cde Elijah Loza, chairperson of SACTU’S
Cape town branch, Oscar came forward. Not only
did he make an indictment against the regime to the
Commission of the death of Elijah Loza but
demanded to investigate its cause.In 1978, Cde
Oscar’s banning order lapsed and he rejoined the
FCWU and AFCWU and helped with the Fatti’s and
Moni’s strike which ended in a victory for workers.
Being a founder member of the Nyanga Residents
Association,he campaigned for decent housing,
health facilities, adequate transport, etc.
On 11 August 1980, fire was set to some vehicles by
a group of protesters, injuring two whites, who died
later on. On 13 August Oscar issued a statement to
the press condemning the role of the police in the
incident. He was detained in Pollsmoor together
with 18 young freedom fighters. In March 1981,
Oscar was convicted of terrorism and after a threeyear trial in the Cape Town Supreme Court, he was
sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was
released on bail pending an appeal.His appeal failed
in 85 and he was re- arrested at his Nyanga home to
serve his sentence.
When FAWU was established in 1986 it accepted
cde Oscar as a leader and participated in a national
and international campaign for his release. In 86, his
wife Rose died and the regime did not allow him to
attend her funeral nor of his son Karl. Oscar was
only released in October 89 along with our Rivonia
political prisoners. He spent most of his sentence
under armed guard at Groote Schuur Hospital. He
was an ill man who had both his legs amputated and
moved around in a wheelchair with the aid of his
private nurses. Comrade Oscar was happy his wish
to see freedom in his lifetime was fulfilled. He voted
Peter Nchabeleng
The Limpopo province is still to unveil their new
office named after comrade Peter Nchabaleng. The
office was named after stalwart Peter Nchabaleng
who played an inspiringly selfless leadership role in
the liberation of this country. The late Cde Peter
Nchabaleng joined the ANC in the early 50’s and
was involved in the ANC underground activities.
In 1963 he was detained and later imprisoned to
Robben Island and released in 1972, then banished
to Sekhukhune land where he placed under house
arrest and constantly harassed by the security
Branch of the Burgersfort Police. In 1977 the late
Cde Peter Nchabeleng and Tokyo Sexwale (the
current minister on Human settlement) were
involved in the underground activities of Umkhonto
we sizwe. This came to the attention of the apartheid security police. Cde Peter Nchabeleng, Tokyo
Sexwale together with P. Nchabeleng’s son, Allec
were arrested. They faced the trial in the wellknown “Pretoria Twelve Treason Trial”. Cde Peter
Nchabeleng was later released and placed under
house arrest.
In 1982, he received a letter bomb from the security
police. Fortunately, he and his family were saved as
he had suspicions about the letter and did not open
it. He was instrumental in organising the youth in
and around Sekhukhune land and became the first
elected president of the then UDF in the Northern
Transvaal region.
9
He was arrested again on the 11th April 1986 by the
Schoenoord police. He died in detention, hours after
his arrest and severe assault by Schoenoord police.
The struggle continues until the masses are free
from economic oppression and exploitations
Amandla!! Amandla!!!
Billy Nair House,
Kwa-zulu Natal
The Kwa-Zulu Natal province
rovince will also be unveiling
the
he Billy Nair house in memory
memor of this great stalwart
sta
contribution to the struggle
and workers’
and his co
stru
rights
hts particularly in thee province.
provi
born in Durban
Billy Nair was bor
urban on
o 27 November
1929.
929. Nair worked for six months
month for a diary, but
was
as fired in 1950 as a resultt of his trade unionn
activities.
full time
vities. In 1951 he became
b
tim secretary
ary of
the Dairy Worker’s Union.
Unio Here,
ere, he was activee in the
trade union movement in 1951, but his involvement
involve
increased
ed substantially after the banning
ning of three
leading trade
rade unionists in Natal. Nair addressedd the
3000 strongg Congress of the people in
i Kliptown
where the Freedom
eedom Charter was adopted in 1955.
1
Nair was a member
mber of the South African Congress of
10
He was also an active member of the SACP and the
ANC/ Umkonto we Sizwe. In 1956, he was one the
156 Congress activists accused of treason. Nair was
detained on 6 July 1963, and after spending 100 days
in detention, charged with sabotage together with 18
others. He received a 20 year sentence which he
Rob
served on Robben
Island. On 10 June 1986, just
before the second state of emergency, Nair went into
underg
hiding and remained underground
until the unbanA
ning of the ANC and the South African
Communist
Fol
Party (SACP) in February 1990. Following
the
member
unbanning of the ANC, Nair’s membership
of the
p a major
SACP become public and he planned to play
he restructuring in South Africa.
role in the
mem
U
Nair was a member
of the Natal REC of the United
mocratic Front He was vice-chairperson of the
th
Democratic
ntral Resident’s
Reside s Association formed in
Durban Central
re
remova of people from the Warick
Wari
1984 to resist
thee removal
ttri
r nt increases in and
Avenuee triangle
andd resist rent
aroun
und Durban.
Durb
around
Billy Nair
O FF I CE
Trade Unions (SACTU). Nair served on its first
executive committee and was also secretary of its
Natal regional committee.
SU PPLIES
N was detained in Durban
urban on 23 July 1990,
Nair
wing police allegations
alle ions of ann
following
SACP/UMKHONTO we SIZWE
IZWE plot to seize
eize
ANC/SACP/UMKHONTO
egotiat
th the governpower in the event of negotiations
with
ment breaking
breaki
king down. While in detention
ention Nair
suffered a heart
heaart attack,
attac , and had
ha to undergo a double
heart by-pass operation.
on. While
Whi hee was recuperating,
Nair was charged with 9 other inn the ‘Vula’ trial. He
was a member of the interim
leadership
int
eadership group of
ANC
1990 and
A
nd elected National
nal Executive CommitComm
tee July
uly 1991. Nair was
w elected
ected a member of the
National Assembly of the
he S.A. Parliament, being
bein
39th on the African
National Congress list of 400
Afr
4
Nominees.
Nomi
He passed away on October 23, 2008.
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11
CELEBRATING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1986 MERGER OF SFAWU,
FCWU AND RAWU INTO THE FOOD & ALLIED WORKERS UNION (FAWU)
FAWU traces its heritage from 1941, when
the Food and Canning
Workers Union
(FCWU) was launched,
the union acknowledged
the significance of the
1986 merger between
FCWU with both the
Sweet Food and Allied
Workers Union
Cosatu President, Sidumo Dlamini With Fawu Leaders AndGuests Jay Naidoo, Alan Roberts And Jan Theron
(SFAWU) and Retail
Wee did not have this type of crisis
crisis. We
(RAWU).This
.This gave birth to the FAWU ass we know
workers. W
recruit in big nnumbers
mbers but at the same time w
we are
it today and strengthened the unity ooff workers in
od processing and beverag
losing a number of workers because of service
the food
beverage manufacturing in
cular.
ery. We need to learn
earn from previous leader
delivery.
leaders
particular.
how to iimprove
rove our or
nizing and service deliv
organizing
delivery abilit
ese fore-runner unions had the po
h
abilities.”
These
politically rich
d organizationally vib
rant cultur
entials
and
vibrant
culture and credentials
at saw their immense contribut
The annive
ann
ner feat
red keynote addresses
anniversary dinner
featured
that
contribution to the national
beration and trade union
u ion strug
es.
by various
v
pre
eaders such
uch as comrades Jay
previous leaders
liberation
struggles.
Na
doo, Jan Ther
erts as well as the
Naidoo,
Theron, Alan R
Roberts
Some of the highlig
gard include:
de:
ATU Presiden
dumo Dlamini
lamini and Charles
COSATU
President, Sidumo
highlightss in this regard
‡
7KHOHDG
D\$OH[DQGHU
bi from the SA
Setsubi
SACP..
7KHOHDGHUVKLSUROHRI5D\$OH[DQGHU
M
Liz Ab
ams, Elizabet
Oscar Mpetha,
Abrahams,
Elizabeth
Mafikeng David
id Ma
aidoo, former S
AWU General
ral Secretary said
Jay Naidoo,
SFAWU
Mafikeng,
Maseko,, Frances Baa
Baard
rican Congre
ome and to be
that itt was an honour to be back home
and many more in Sou
South African
Congress
U
, the Af
with the curre
ent lead
rship th
vening. He said, “I
current
leadership
that evening.
of Trade Unions,
African National
a thee Comm
arty;
remember a ti
hen I vol
ered to organize
time when
volunteered
Congress and
Communist Party;
'HSOR\LQJE
\1DLGR
H OD
ODWH
Beacon S
Sweets. Wee had aall the workers organized
‡
'HSOR\LQJERWK-D\1DLGRRDQGWKHODWH
Dlamin as the foundin
ral
when tthe company
ny star
started to dismiss the workers.
Chris Dlamini
founding General
1 Deputy
puty Presid
espec
Tho
n we organized, we
Those times were hard. When
Secretary and 1st
President respec
it in the office
did not sit
office, we were waiting for thos
those
tively;
$GRSWLQJWKH)UHHG
KDUWHUDQG 4h00 shift workers
en we tried to rebuild
04h00
workers. When
‡
$GRSWLQJWKH)UHHGRP&KDUWHUDQG
SFAWU, it was a war. Factory by factory we w
went,
persuading COSATU to adoptt it;
HLQJWKHILUVWWRFRQFOXG
VSDUW we even had meetings
ngs in the sugar cane field
fields at
‡
%HLQJWKHILUVWWRFRQFOXGHDPHUJHUDVSDUW
aking the principle of One Union in O
i
night.
One timee a worker told me cde Jay yyou
of taking
One
stry, within six months of such ca
ot come tonight you are going to be killed.
better not
Industry,
call
n the founding congress of
To really understand, we have to go ba
back to the
made in
U.
history of Oscar Mpetha, Chris Dlam
Dlamini, Liz, Ray
ZCOSATU.
and Maggie. We have to ask ours
ourselves what did
they stood for, what did they fight for? We have to
It is for this reason that we mark this 1986 occastay true to our history, tto the leaders we had.
sion, 25 years later in 2011, and salute the forebearers of FAWU (and forerunner unions) for such
When I was the General Secretary of SFAWU in
wonderful hard-work and achievements.
1982, I realized we can’t just fight on the factory
floor, we needed our communities. I remember
The union celebrated the merger earlier this year
Chris Dlamini and I debating. It was not about us
with a special dinner on June 25, 2011 opened by
as individuals. It was because the workers and shop
the President and programme director, Atwell Nazo
stewards were strong on the ground that it made
who said that it is the task of all of us to take
the leaders strong. Workers made the difference. It
further the gains made by FAWU’s veterans. “We
is important to bring this history into today. It was
can’t have this rich history and not be able to make
easier then to organize as people really believed in
an impact on the current political landscape. The
a cause, even though it was hard back then.We
area of importance to us is the service of our
have to ask ourselves, ‘what type of leadership are
members.This is a crucial area that we should
we attracting today’? I went back to be a volunteer
really look at. Back in the old days, officials did
for a global organization which addresses hunger.
not have cars but they managed to service the
12
One third of South African children are
malnourished. We can prevent this and it should
matter to us because every life should have the
same value. We are renaming these buildings not
because it is nice to do so, but because we wanted
to be reminded of the values our leaders stood for. I
will support anyone who stands up and challenge
power with the truth. We have to challenge power
if it does not do what it is supposed to do. Other
countries are looking to South Africa to lead and
ask ‘what are they going to do that will help us?’
We have to ask ourselves how we can give hope to
the world”.
Jan Theron, former FCWU General Secretary said
“I started as the General Secretary of FCWU in
1976.I got there through my belief that workers
were the key to change the system of apartheid.
When I came in, the union was on its knees and we
spent considerable time trying to rebuild the union
as more and more leaders were banned. In fact, all
four of my predecessors were banned and it left a
terrible sense of disorganization. It was women
who carried the union during that time, especially
those in the canning factories. Only after the first
six years of trying to rebuild the union, did we
ended up with a union with a national basis. In
1979, we organized the first factory in Johannesburg. The union was remembered by its workers.
The four things I have learnt during this period is
that we relied on workers for income, the officials
had to be accountable and elected by workers, and
that we needed branches and local structures with
leaders. Things were easier back then. What is
happening today, in some ways undermine what we
did in those days. From 1982-1985 the main thing
we focused on was to work towards building a
federation. FAWU initiated talks and it was decided
that such a federation must be inclusive and be
based on industries. Unity had to be build carefully and as office bearers we came under huge
criticism when we wanted to introduce a subscription rate as lower paid workers thought that they
would get less attention than those who paid higher
subs. Back then, only one employer counted but
today labour brokers are a huge problem and we
need to re-conceptualise the way we organize. My
work at the University of Cape Town is dealing
with this but there is no easy answer.
Alan Roberts the former RAWU General Secretary
said, “It is an honour and I am very proud to be
here as it does take one back to the past. FAWU,
with its roots in the Food and Canning Workers
Union was the only union to have survived the
series of bannings in the 1950’s. It participated in
the formation of South African Congress of Trade
Unions and we can proudly say it comes with that
history.
I started organizing in 1982 and what guided me
was the reflection on the tradition of the FCWU
and SFAWU who formed part of FOSATU and the
strong focus on workers’ issues without getting lost
in the political situation. As unions we had some-
thing in common- our closeness to our communities and the dependence on them for support in
strikes such as the Fatti’s and Monis Strike and
Simba chips strikes. One other thing we can be
proud of is the fact that FAWU was the first union
to join COSATU. FAWU led the way and was a
learning experience to other unions. What carried
us through was workers’ control. The workers of
those times were educated, politicized and were
strong- they could hold their leaders accountable.
As a leader you could be in one day and out the
next if workers felt you could not service them.
The political role unions played then are still
relevant today. The role of COSATU is even more
important today. Those of us who have served the
unions back then are still available today and we
would like to be called upon to assist”.
COSATU president Sidumo Dlamini stated that the
25th anniversary celebrations took place on the eve
of the 5th CC of which the FAWU leadership are
members of. He said, “We had a very successful
bilateral with the SACP and there is no doubt that
we go to the CC with one vanguard party of the
working class. FAWU ensured that COSATU was
born in December 1985 as it played a significant
role. It is therefore no coincidence that the
COSATU’s first General Secretary came from
FAWU.
We celebrated the existence of FCWU, SFAWU
and RAWU as they took the principle of one union,
one industry forward. The unity talks in 1986 were
a moment to celebrate and other unions such as
NUMSA and SACTWU learnt from FAWU. As we
reflect on FAWU’s other roles in COSATU, it
donated a leader such as Jay Naidoo who we still
revere and respect. He has been given a huge task
to contribute a chapter in book that celebrates the
ANC’s 100th year of existence next year and he is
committed to this.
I want to thank both past and present leaders
because when COSATU adopted the Freedom
Charter, it was due to FAWU’s influence. Back
then, each member was an organizer, they organized other workers and called the official afterwards. Thanks to FAWU and its leaders for their
contributions.
SACP CC representative comrade Charles Setsubi
said cde Elizabeth Mafikeng inspired him. I am
one of the lucky people who were brought up by
your union leader, cde Mafikeng alongside with
Ray Simmons and co-author of the classic works
on the class and national struggle along with her
husband Jack Simmons. I first met cde Mafikeng in
1977. She was banished to Vryburg and around
1957, at the time when the National Party took
over party, and then later to Basutoland. She was a
victim of the Suppression of Terrorism Act and was
the ninth women to be banished since 1948. He
said that today, we live in a patriarchal society and
that the solution for us workers cannot be found
under the current capitalist system.
13
FOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS MEDICAL SCHEME (FAWMS)
BASEBETSI MEDICAL SCHEME BROKERAGE
An Authorized Financial Services Provider
Basebetsi Medical Scheme Brokerage: An Authorized Financial Services Provider (The Intermediary)
We offer different medical aid schemes, products, to FAWU members. For purposes of not promoting those schemes at the expense of
our ultimate objective, note that as a Medical Aid Intermediary, we have contracts with 8 schemes, but we are not limited to those.
Should a company have a scheme outside out offering, we may approach that particular scheme and enter into a contract to service
FAWU and/or Bargaining unit employees of that particular company.
OUR MISSION IS TO ESTABLISH AN INDUSTRY SCHEME
(FOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS MEDICAL SCHEME-FAWMS)
FAWU once started a medical aid scheme which is currently in operation, it’s called Food Workers Medical Benefit Fund. The leadership is engaging the scheme, and engagements are at an advanced stage with the view to bring the scheme back into the FAWU fold.
These engagements are intended to take us to the Food and Allied Workers Medical Scheme era.
ROLE OF STAKEHOLDERS
Members, leaders and officials of FAWU are called upon to rally behind this initiative as we consolidate and as we drift towards Food
and Allied Workers Medical Scheme and National Health Insurance (NHI), in the best interest of the industry, particularly vulnerable
workers within the food and allied sector and the general public of South Africa at large.
IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL OF US
To ensure that FAWU members, in particular, and the industry at large, particularly vulnerable workers, have access to quality and
affordable healthcare. As well as to contribute, in the bigger scheme of things, to the state’s objective of National Health Insurance
with the view to ease the healthcare burden from the state and share this burden between private and public sectors;
HOW?
Companies on medical aid must ensure that Basebetsi is appointed as their broker. Where FAWU has recommended a scheme, we
must ensure that we increase participation of members on those schemes. Where necessary, we must take over these schemes as
part of consolidation towards FAWMS and strategically positioning the industry for the NHI. Members, Leaders and Officials of FAWU
are expected to contact Basebetsi Medical Scheme Brokerage on the details below for analysis of their respective companies and
implementation based on the outcome of that particular analysis. In companies where there are In-house Schemes, FAWU must take
a conscious decision on a policy to the effect that the National Executive Forum or Executive Shop steward committee must constitute the Board of Trustees, BOT, of that particular scheme and be accountable to the Benefits Desk in this regard. Current BOT
members must be accountable to the Benefits Desk headed by the National Benefits Coordinator. Trustee members, under the
auspices of the Benefits Desk, must have regular meetings, say quarterly meetings. The 2011 Congress Attendance Register has a
provision for Medical Aid and Medical Aid Trustee and must be completed in full.
We must resist the temptation of listening to sceptics who will do anything with the attempt to destroy and reverse the gains of
FAWU as we drift towards this noble ideal. Remember, “no battle can be fought and won with unhealthy soldiers”.
Contact Buti Sigasa on 011 333 0828, fax 086 671 2712 or [email protected]
14
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FAWU 2011 NATIONAL CONGRESS
FAWU’s National Congress from 5-9 September
2011 with the theme “1941-2011: 70 Fighting Years.
Towards 250 000 members in 2015”, held at the
Parktonian Hotel in Johannesburg, will feature six
thematic issues for discussion, an impressive list of
guest and keynote speakers as well as an award
ceremony to honour leaders past and present as
well as to long-serving union staff.
The Business of the Congress will have
six key pillars:
Bargaining Strategies, Benefits Programme,
Socio-economic Development, International
Solidarity Relations.
The Congress will discuss the setting up of bargaining structures and the strengthening of bargaining
approaches towards improved wage increments,
working conditions and employee benefits within
companies locally and in transnational companies
across the world. This pillar will also see the
Congress discussing strengthening of socioeconomic engagement with both the state and
business towards better conditions.
Organisational Renewal and Political
Programme.
The congress business will discuss the strengthening of the constitutional, coordinating and other
structures as well as building institutional and
individual capacity to wage campaigns on political
and socio- economic objectives.
Financial Turnaround and Investment
Strategies.
This pillar of the congress will discuss the union’s
financial situation and developing the mandate to
the unions’ investment company. Part of discussing
the union finances will include the minimization of
costs and increasing the revenue as well as mobilizing operational and other needed resources for
effective campaigns.
Organising Strategy and organizing vulnerable
workers.
In this pillar, the congress will be developing an
organizing strategy to achieve increased recruitment
of vulnerable workers in the farming, forestry,
sea-going fishing, and food merchandising sectors
as well as to increase membership levels of FAWU
in the traditionally strong sectors of food processing
and beverage manufacturing.
Capacity building, political education and leadership development.
This pillar of the Congress will develop
programmes on shop steward and office bearer
training, political education, leadership and
cadreship development, as well as technical and
skills improvement as part of the wider capacity
building objectives of creating an organizationally
vibrant union with sufficient and efficient capacity.
Part of this goal is to achieve member mobilization
for mass-action on both bargaining and socioeconomic objectives.
Constitutional Amendments
and Policy Changes
Award Ceremony:
This Congress pillar will discuss the review of the
constitutional provisions and policy documents with
a view of further building the administrative and
organizational functions of the union.
Eleven recipients will receive the following awards
from the union:
‡
Vuyisile Mini Award – In recognition of
immense contribution to the struggle for
our national liberation – given to Winnie
Mandela at the 2007 Congress
‡
Oscar Mpetha Award – Presented to Recent
Past\Present Leader - In recognition of
dedicated service to members across South
Africa within FAWU
‡
Ray Alexander Award – Veteran Leader –
In recognition of dedicated service to
members across South Africa within
FAWU
‡
Elizabeth Abrahams Award – In recogni
tion of being one of the longest serving
staff members within FAWU - two awards
given in 2007 Congress
to be continued on page 18
15
cont. from p.15
‡
‡
Elizabeth Mafikeng Award – In recognition
of being one of the longest serving Shop
Stewards within FAWU - two awards given
in 2007 Congress
Neil Aggett Award – In recognition of being
the Best Performing Branch within the
FAWU.
Profiles Of Veteran Awardees To Be
Honoured By Fawu
David Maseko is
one of the founding
fathers of the trade
union movement
during the 1970’s.
Being part of the
brains behind the
1973 strike actions
who shook the
apartheid regime, he is also credited with recruiting
a young Chris Dlamini, who grew up to be one of
the leading lights in the trade union movement in
the 80’s and the inaugural 1st Deputy President of
COSATU. Maseko is regarded as the pioneer of the
concept of union investment companies as a result
of his push for union’s self-sufficiency.
Maggie Magubane, was a leading female figure as
she was the General Secretary of the Sweet Food
and Allied Workers’ Union (SFAWU) during the
70’S. This position was later filled by Jay Naidoo.
Being one of the few female General Secretaries at
that time, she became an inspiration to female
comrades within SFAWU to emerge from within the
union to fill organizing and leadership positions.
Billy Nair was an anti- apartheid activist belonging
to the SACP, UDF and Umkhonto We Sizwe. At one
point, he was the secretary to 17 unions, including
the Dairy Worker’s Union. He was a long-serving
political prisoner with Nelson Mandela on Robben
Island. Today, his prison card is used during prison
tours to illustrate prison conditions. In 1991, he was
elected to the ANC’s NEC and served as a Member
of Parliament for 2 terms prior to his retirement in
2004.
18
19
Emma Thandi Mashinini
played an instrumental role
in the Garment Workers
Union (GWU) where she
won the right for workers
to have unemployment
insurance. She later
became the President of
CCAWUSA andpresent at the Congress of the
People in Kliptown in 1955. She was arrested under
the Terrorism Act and later formed part of the group
that formed COSATU in 1985. During the early
90’s, she was President of the Mediation and Conciliation Centre in Johannesburg and became a vc
Commissioner for the Restitution of Land Rights in
1995. She was awarded the National Order of
Luthuli in Bronze for her contribution to the trade
union movement.
Sophia Williams De Bruyn
was born in 1938 in Port
Elizabeth. Since her involvement with the Van Lane
Textile factory, she rose
through the ranks in the trade
union movement and
ultimately worked with great
stalwarts like Ray Mhlaba, Govan Mbeki and
Vuyisile Mini. She was an organizer for the
Coloured People’s Congress and later became one
of the heroic women who participated in the
women’s march to the Union buildings in 1956 to
protest against pass laws. She is the only surviving
leader of this event today. She still participates in
various women’s structures, belonging to the ANC
Women’s League and being a Commissioner on
Gender and Equality. She has received several
awards for her selfless contributions.
Frances Baard was the first person to be appointed
as the National Organiser of the Food and Canning
Workers Union. She later became the treasurer of
the ANC Women’s League and a NEC member of
the Federations of South African Women
(FEDSAW). She helped to draft the Freedom
Charter and was one of the women organizing the
women’s march in 1956. A defendant in the Treason
trial, she later became a member of the executive of
the South African Congress of Trade Unions
(SACTU).
FOOD AND ALLIED WORKERS FUNERAL PLAN (FAWFP)
FAWFP
Funeral Plan
BABEREKI DIGNITY PLAN (PTY) LTD
Babereki Dignity Plan Brokerages Pty Ltd, hereafter referred to as “Babereki”, is a funeral brokerage company established by
Basebenzi Investment Pty Ltd, hereinafter referred to as “Basebenzi”, in partnership with Shandu Financial Solutions, hereinafter
referred to as “Shandu”, with a view to ensure that all members of the Food and Allied Workers Union, hereinafter referred to as
“FAWU”, and workers generally have access to and thereby covered for funeral benefits.
Therefore, Babereki has two share-holding concerns namely, Basebenzi (80% majority share-holder) and Shandu (20% minority
share-holder).
FAWU membership of 120 000 is in the food and beverage manufacturing industries as well as in the farming, forestry, sea-going
fishing, and the food merchandising sectors.
FAWU has taken a well-considered decision to ensure that its members have access to funeral cover to ensure dignity in their
burial hence their assistance-request from Babereki, to shop around for cost-effective insurance underwriters and/or administration companies in providing such funeral schemes for FAWU members and workers generally.
Babereki has a Board with three directors. Katishi Masemola in his capacity as Acting Basebenzi CEO is Board Chairperson. Simon
Thupudi Mabunele in his capacity as the FAWU’s Benefits Coordinator. Phumlani Mbatha is the Head of Business responsible for
day-to-day functions.
Babereki, signed a profit-sharing agreement with Safrican Insurance Company, and formed a funeral scheme named the Food
and Allied Workers Funeral Plan (FAWFP). In addition, Babereki is also a broker of FAWU Funeral Scheme (an identical scheme
with FAWFP), which is administered by SALT/Thebe Employee Benefits.
MEMBER ONLY BENEFIT
CATEGORY OF COVER
PLAN ‘A’
PLAN ‘B’
Principal Member
R 5,000
R 7,500
PLAN ‘C’
R 10,000
Rate per Principal
Member per Month
R 5.65
R 8.15
R 11.90
FULL FAMILY BENEFITS
CATEGORY OF COVER PLAN ‘D’ PLAN ‘E’ PLAN ‘F’ PLAN ‘G’ PLAN ‘H’
Principal Member
R 5,000
R 7,500
R 10,000 R 15,000 R 20,000
Spouse
R 5,000
R 7,500 R 10,000 R 15,000 R 20,000
Child 14 – 21
R 5,000
R 7,500 R 10,000 R 15,000 R 20,000
Child 6 – 13
R 2,000
R 3,000
R 5,000
R 5,000
R 5,000
Child 1 – 5
R 1,000
R 2,000
R 2,500
R 2,500
R 2,500
Child 0 – 11months
R 750
R 1,000 R 1,250
R 1,250
R 1,250
Stillborn
R 750
R 1,000 R 1,250
R 1,250
R 1,250
Rate per Principal
Member per Month
R 15.75
R 22.60 R 26.25
R 34.90
R45.75
EXTENDED FAMILY BENEFITS
CATEGORY OF COVER
Under 65
Age 65 – 74
Age 75 – 84
PLAN ‘A’
Benefit Premium
R 5,000 R 25.00
R 5,000 R 56.25
R 3,000 R 37.50
PLAN ‘B’
Benefit Premium
R 10,000 R 41.25
R 10,000 R 105.00
R 10,000 R 130.00
Please Note
·
·
·
·
·
Maximum entry age for Extended Family is 84 years.
A maximum of 10 (ten) Extended Family may be covered.
Rate applicable per Extended Family Member per month.
There is a 6 (six) month waiting period for claims due to natural causes
6 months waiting period waived if ALL members join at any respective company
CALL 011- 333 0828 Or Email [email protected]
19
POST- PARLIAMENTARY SUBMISSION ON WALMART
job losses and industrial
capacity of food manufacturing
in the country.
2.1‘Narrow’ Interpretation
of the Competition Act
1.
Introduction And Background
FAWU was not part of the initial Competition
Commission proceedings considering the transactions because only labour unions having a direct
interest (membership in Massmart) were informed
of this intended transaction as required by the
Competition Act (1998) as amended.
However, the union (FAWU) had subsequently
expressed interest to form part of Competition
Tribunal hearings for reasons relating to the obvious impact of the transaction on the food production and supply chain in the country, including on
potential job losses as it will be demonstrated later
in this submission.
2.Substantive Areas Of Concerns
FAWU is a labour union mainly organizing workers across the food production and supply-chain
before the retail and other food services stage. This
stretches from farms and sea-going fishing, to food
processing and beverage manufacturing, to warehousing and distribution, up to sales and merchandising.
It is therefore our submission that the scale and
scope of this transaction (merger) will have a major
impact on this value-chain in terms of
20
It is our submission that competition authorities (both the
Competition Commission and
Competition Tribunal) have
erred in applying a narrow
interpretation of the
Competition Act on considering this transaction. While the
primary object of the Act is to
maximize consumer benefits
arising out of increased competition and reduced or
eliminated anti-competitive conduct, the Act is
equally alive to important considerations of industrial development, job retention and creation, and
increased participation in the economy by additional players, particularly the small and historically disadvantaged entities.
Therefore, in weighing the consumer benefits of
any transaction the ‘de-industrialization’ and
employment costs of such a transaction should
have weighed even more in the final analysis.
As it will be pointed below, potential job losses in
the ‘up-stream’, or in the primary and manufacturing stages of the food value-chain, far outweigh the
‘lower’ consumer prices that may be likely from
this transaction.
In any case, history has taught us that a giant
player can engage in predatory pricing (i.e. lowering of prices) which will benefit consumers in a
short-run. However, in a medium-term, when
competitors are eliminated or potential competitors
fail to enter, consumer prices begin to steeply rise
and consumer welfare/benefits gets quickly and
deeply eroded.In the beginning of the 1990s, The
Coca Cola Company (TCCC) did not provide
breathing space to the entering Pepsi Cola
Company (PepsiCo) when it employed predatory
pricing.
While consumers benefited from lowered prices,
both of Coca Cola and that of Pepsi Cola products,
the consequence was the ‘death’ of PepsiCo which
even closed the only factory is has built – an
example of ‘de-industrialization’. It could be
further argued that Massmart is the national champion or at least national asset that should not have
been allowed to fall into ownership of foreign
hands. Even more compelling, is that Massmart
was in ‘adequate’ competition with other local
retailers.
2.2Industrial Development-related
Considerations
FAWU is of a view that Walmart-majority owned
Massmart will use its massive global supply-chain
to procure food products, which have some longer
shelf-span, from foreign manufacturers. Examples
in this regard include but not limited to cereals,
tin-canned products, frozen food, and sweets
among others. Even worse, some of these foreign
procured products will be manufactured from
so-called low-wage economies, which may be
regarded as ‘sweat-shops’ with little labour protection standards.Therefore, it is our submission that a
process of ‘de-industrialization’, reduction of
manufacturing due to factory closures or downsizing or liquidations, will result as more of locally
manufactured food products find it difficult to
compete with foreign products manufactured in
foreign ‘sweat-shop’ or low-wage economies.
In terms of value and volume, food products
constitute a larger percentage of business of
Massmart and, by implication, a sizable chunk of
its revenue stream.
Therefore, the country will witness retail shelves of
Massmart stores packed with foreign products,
including frozen chickens, tin-stuff, sweets and
chocolates, and other long shelf-life food items.
3.Conclusion And Way-forward
The only conclusion one will arrive at is that this
merger, if allowed to prevail at those next-tonothing conditions, will certainly bring consumer
benefits but at the expense of a de-industrializing
food manufacturing and increased unemployment
rate.At a horizontal level, competitors of Massmart
will either react proactively by reducing ‘wastagecosts’ and increasing their competitiveness or react
negatively by closing plants, retrenching workers
and casualizing labour in the wake of predatory
pricing by Massmart.At a vertical level, we will
witness manufactures or even primary producers
overlooked from Massmart’s procurement and the
horizontal competitors to Massmart may follow
suit in opting to procure abroad whenever they can
to keep up with survival with foreign ‘competition’
or dumping channeled through Massmart global
supply-chain.
It is therefore our submission that the first prize for
us is for parliament to ensure its prohibition or to
place stringent conditions, including on local
procurement target, as a second prize. The
so-called conditions attached to the merger is
nothing but volunteered ‘charity’ gesture on the
part of Walmart and they are very far from being
reasonable and stringent.
Prepared And Initially Delivered By:
Katishi Masemola
General Secretary
2011 STRIKE SEASON & SETTLEMENTS
The strike season really heated up in June 2011
with protracted strikes such as the Rainbow
national strike of about 4500 members that last
almost three months. About 5000 workers in the
pelagic industry also embarked on strike in demand
of a relief fund sorely needed for workers who earn
zero income for month on end due to the nature of
their jobs. It was apparent that employers
remained as intransigent as ever, employing union
bashing, discriminatory and legal routes to undermine the right to strike.
Pelagic Fishing Strike
Three thousand workers in the pelagic fishing
industry from various areas in the West Coast Hout
Bay and Gansbaai in the Western Cape province
started their protected strike action on 3 June 2011
in demand of a relief fund to assist workers during
times when they have no income. After few days of
industrial action, the pelagic employers association
went to court which granted them a temporary
21
Fishing sector organizer Mthunzi Mhlakane said,
“It was a matter of mutual interest. The issue of a
relief fund does not exist in any collective agreement with the union as this was discussed for the
very first time during the CCMA proceedings that
started in June 2011.” FAWU believes this is a
seasonal performance bonus payable at the end of
the year and which is calculated according to the
workers’ annual catch. It cannot possibly be seen as
a relief fund for periods during which there is no
work such as between August and December of
every year.These workers are battling to survive
during months of no work production and would
therefore not embark on a strike if they were in fact
earning some money as the employer body claims.
These vulnerable workers do not even qualify for
Unemployment Insurance Funds (UIF) as they are
in fact being “employed” without earning an
income during periods of no production.
It is simply a no-win situation for these workers
and needs to be addressed by way of a relief fund,
which is what the union demands. During the
month of August FAWU and the pelagic employers’
association were busy negotiating wages and other
benefits while the issue of a relief fund has been
referred to each plant. The parties will meet in a
few months time to assess each company’s position
on the issue. It seemed that some companies might
react positively towards such a relief fund. During
the time of negotiations, workers demanded a 1
percent increase in seasonal bonus from 17 percent
to 18 percent, a 10 percent wage increase and a 50
percent subsidy on the funeral scheme. Meanwhile,
employers are offering an 8 percent wage increase
and zero on funeral subsidy.
Rainbow Chicken (Pty) Ltd
The workers initially demanded a 14.9 percent
wage increase for farming workers and 11.2% for
those in processing as well as backpay to April and
a reduction in working hours . After several days,
FAWU revised its demand to 8 percent for farming
workers and 7.5percent for processing. The workers
22
ultimately settled on 7.8% (farming) and 7.2% for
those in processing.After more than two months of
intense industrial strike action and altercations with
police, teargas and rubber bullets, FAWU, National
Union of Food Beverages, Wine, Spirits and Allied
Workers Union and the employer finally settled
towards the end of July 2011. Parties settled on a
7.8 percent for farming workers while processing
workers settled on a 7.2 percent. But workers
received a transport allowance increase of R
335.00(processing) and R325.00 (farms) as well as
increases in the funeral, Christmas voucher, quarantine, long service voucher and meal allowances.
The issue of medical aid and a 40 hour work week
was referred to the National Working Forum. About
4500 workers returned to work on August 1, 2011.
The workers did not receive backpay, to the dismay
of union members who were adamant that they
would not go back until they have received it. The
union will also take the issue of backpay to Labour
Court since this employer has already selectively
rewarded employees who chose not to go on strike
with backpay. FAWU thinks this is nothing but
discrimination in its purest form and will not let the
issue rest until we have battled it out in court.
However, workers in Western Cape, Mpumalanga
and the Kwa-Zulu Natal province are now facing
disciplinary hearings, says cde Sipho Khumalo,
Bargaining Secretary. The union, by way of its
legal department, is still looking at ways to lessen
the impact of this.
Commercial Cold Storage
About one hundred employees of Commercial Cold
Storage in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town
downed tools on Monday, 9 May 2011 in protest
over the company’s refusal to engage in centralized
bargaining as well as wage disparities across the
different cities. Workers believe that it would make
much more sense for the union and the company to
engage in one national bargaining process over
wages and working conditions instead of negotiating for each plant as the practice was. These
employees are also unhappy over differing working
conditions since they are all performing the same
jobs and should be earning the same salaries. At the
time management was not in favour of central
bargaining. As we know, centralised bargaining
benefits the company in several ways by saving
time and money by negotiating for wages and
working conditions in a single process instead of
negotiating on plant level.
interdict stating that the strike is unlawful seeing that
the issue in dispute is part of the collective agreement
where as FAWU believes this is not the
case.Commercial Cold Storage would do well to
follow in the footsteps of well-known local companies who follow this process seeing that they claim
to be the biggest bulk commercial cold storage
provider in Africa. After a month’s strike action,
workers returned to work as the employer refused to
budge but according to cde Sipho Khumalo, the
issue will be taken up again during national meetings in October this year and March 2012.
Unilever Kwa-zulu Natal
About 513 FAWU members, employed by Unilever in Prospekton in Kwa –Zulu Natal embarked
on protected strike action on Wednesday, 21 July
2011. They demanded a 14 percent wage hike,
shift allowances, the banning of labour brokers and
a once-off housing allowance of R15 000. At this
stage the company is offering a 7, 25 percent wage
increase but is prepared to settle at 8.5 percent
while the union is prepared to settle on ten percent
at the very least. At the time of print, these workers
were still on strike. Some casuals employed by the
labour broker at the company, are also participating in the strike action. Nhlabentle Mkhize, chairperson of the shop steward committee at Unilever
said that the session with the employer on Friday,
12 August was fruitless as the employer claim they
cannot go beyond 8.5%. Cde Mkhize said that they
were prepared to compromise on other demands if
the employer could give them at least a ten percent
wage increase.
Sasko Grain National Strike
2000 FAWU members have embarked on a nationwide strike on Wednesday, 13 July 2011 in demand
of wage increases, wage disparities, BEE –shares,
labour brokers and a revolving fund. Two days into
the strike Paarl and Malmesbury strikers protested
in front of the Pioneer Foods head office in Paarl.
The workers are demanding a 9% wage increase
while the company is offering 7.25 percent. At first
the company refused to discuss the differences in
income between their mills and depots claiming
that closing wage gaps would have a negative
impact on them. Our members demanded payout
of their shares in a broad-based employee share
scheme in which have full voting rights and 30
percent dividend rights. Our members feel that the
scheme should be more representative and consultative. The union also wanted a revolving fund of
three thousand rand, the banning of labour brokers
and the conversion of long term casuals’ positions
into permanent employment.
After about a week’s strike action, workers
accepted an eight percent wage hike for all grades
and categories effective from July 1, 2011. The
company agreed to close wage disparities on
minimum wages by making gradual adjustments
each year until 2012. In addition, the Malmesbury
depot will be adjusted to 1.8%, Aliwal North,
Kimberley and Newcastle at 5.6% while Lebowakgomo will remain unchanged. Workers agreed on a
R 2000 revolving fund but employees could apply
for an increase in extraordinary circumstances.
While various other areas were improved, the issue
of the employee shares, the FAWU funeral scheme
and precarious employment were deferred to the
Interim Forum.
King Foods -division Of Tiger Brands,
North West
Being one of the longest strikes of the year, more
than 150 workers of King Foods, a division of
Tiger Brands in Potchefstroom embarked on strike
since 2 June 2011 in demand of a 9% wage
increase.FAWU will approach the Board of Trustees during which they will table their concern on
the issue to the trustees for their consideration.
They also demanded an agency shop agreement
since non-members also benefitted from the
union’s bargaining efforts. After two months of
intense strike action, workers returned to work
during the first week of August, settling on a 7%
wage increase, a R 1000 employer contribution to
a providend fund while the shift allowance
remained status quo. It was decided that the issue
of an agency shop agreement needs further
engagement possibly with the intervention of an
independent mediator while also resolving to
discuss the FAWU funeral scheme at a later stage.
As a gesture of goodwill, the company agreed to a
month’s salary payable on August 25th, and to be
deducted in four equal parts.
23
FARM WORKERS: A NORTH WEST PLAN OF ACTION
“TSEBE MOFATSE RE EKARABELE”
Labour to get information from these poor
workers in order to root out the occurrence
of corrupt officials.
Farm workers and farm dwellers are now been the
target of the continuous public debate on Land
issue. The North- West province has been observing the following critical issues on farms:
‡
/DWHO\HPSOR\HUV·RUJDQLVDWLRQVFDOOWKH
shots as they will even go to the extent of
wanting farm workers` children to leave
the farm where they are living with their
parents (minors who are dependent). Some
thing is wrong with that approach –surely
the farmer must look at a reasonable
alternative and should provide the child
with a house outside the house no matter
what the age.
‡
:KHQDPDOHIDUPZRUNHUSDVVHVRQKLV
wife is automatically supposed to pack up
and go after a year. We believe this
approach is not responding to the problem
atic situation of the widow whether she is
working on the farm or not. We are of the
view that the farmer should provide assis
tance to the widow to find alternative
employment and housing.
‡
24
0LQLPXPZDJH0RVWRIWKHIDUPHUVZLOO
obviously claim that they comply with the
law in terms of wages but we must avoid
competition between representative organi
sations that has to revert back to the
employer. Each and every farm should be
audited and inspected. Real inspections by
labour officials should be done by visiting
workers’ houses and talking to them about
the working and living conditions instead
of just visiting the employer’s offices.
Furthermore, the important task of getting
information from the workers themselves
should not be done by the employers. It
remains the task of the Department of
‡
+DWHVSHHFK:HQRWLFHGWKDWWKHUHDUH
those employers who still call farm workers “kaffers”. We urge all workers to
respond without delay and if you want to
know where these employers are we are
prepared to take anyone there. We call on
these employers and anyone else to just
stop it NOW.
‡
/LYLQJFRQGLWLRQV:HDUHDZDUHWKDWWKH
sectoral determination act will indicate to
us what type of houses complies. Most of
these structures do not meet the require
ments as stipulated in the sectoral determi
nation act and ESTA. We will take anyone
who is questioning these facts to the houses
in question. Most are not fit for any human
being to live in and does not comply with
the act and those who doubt us, are free to
come and see for themselves.
‡
7ZRLVVXHVWKDWZLOOLGHQWLI\DQLQGLYLGXDO
as something else is when you evict or
refuse employees bury their family at the
farms. We will never be a better country
when these things are still happening. For
those who have a short memory, one
organisation said themselves that ESTA is
not a legal document.
‡
:K\LVLWZKHQGLVDVWHUOLNHWKHUHFHQW
floods happen, only those who have
(employers) are given so much attention?
Farm workers, because of the housing they
live in, are affected severely. Both parties
were affected but only those who have can
tell government how huge losses are.
Government please change your approach
as we are different and we will remain
different. We need to have a general understanding of this financial assistance given
to employers and how it should be applied.
‡
3XEOLFKHDULQJV:HDUHUHDOO\GLVDSSRLQWHG
that employers’ organisations attend these
hearings and not the farmers themselves.
These organisations cannot be the farmers
and they will never be.This also applies to
those representing the farm workers as they
will also not be farm workers. The
employer and the employees need to engage
directly with each other and not via chan
nels. Workers need to be able to engage
their employer and get direct answers. If we
want these hearings to be true reflections,
they should be district-based and public
hearing should take place in every district in
the entire country.
‡
‡
.LOOLQJVRQIDUPVHLWKHUE\WKHVHGDQJHURXV
animals, or by farmers, must stop! To avoid
and minimise this, let us take our discus
sions out of the boardrooms and transfer it
to those who really needs protection.
0HGLDGLVFXVVLRQVZLOOQHYHUVROYHIDUP
workers and farm dwellers issues. Stop
making noise and let us go and help the
people who need it NOW.
We therefore call upon those farmers and employers organisation to stop treating farm workers and
farm dwellers as slaves, for not allowing them to
stay with their families. We call upon government
to give farm workers and farm dwellers a fair
hearing before they force you to hear them.
months. Once assault is identified, such a
team shall deal with those matter`s urgently
as well as visit the scene. Tau is also serving
in the national team of SAPS’ rural safety
committee.
3.
Home Affairs, Sassa, Human Settlement,
Education and other governmental depart
ments not mentioned will have also agreed
to deal with social issues as they arise e.g.
when a farm dweller or farm worker is in
need of an Identity Document we get in
touch with the relevant department to deal
with and attend those matters of concern.
4.
We have initiated the engagement with
various employer organisations of the farm
owners to start to establish district councils
for the agricultural sector.
5.
In terms of improving the agricultural
sectoral determination, we believe the
public hearings must be done annually and
must be district-based so all farm workers
and farm owners will attend and at least
deal with their own problems.
6.
Lastly, cde Project Co-ordinator Howard
Mbana must seriously draw up a similar
program that will assist other provinces to
follow the same route and they should take
a lead instead of referring us to Becondev
2008. NOB`s must also draw a national
program with the same department men
tioned in order for us to advance the resolu
tions taken in the provincial and national
summits.
7.
We need to regularly distribute pamphlets
that explain the program of FAWU.
A Programme Of Action For
The North West Province
1.
2.
We have developed an agreed program with
the CCMA, Department of Labour and
FAWU on advocacy sessions to respond
directly to issues affecting the farm work
ers. It will include the following (UIF,
sectoral determination, role of Labour to
inspect compliance on variety of issues UIF,
Payment injury on duty hours of work and
condition of houses, the role of the CCMA
in dealing with issues of disputes and to
attend to matter`s of the organisation in
responding to the need of the employees
being members.
Article by Tseleng Tau
North West Provincial Secretary
We have developed a program with the
Department of Agriculture and SAPS to
deal with issues of land, evictions, assaults
and killings on farms. The meetings take
place regularly at least once in three months
and we will conclude to form district
programmes where we will establish a top
five per district and a top five of the prov
ince to meet also at least once every three
25
A PUNITIVE SENTENCE: INCARCERATION BY VIRTUE OF BEING EMPLOYED
AS FARM WORKERS SERVING AT PLANTATION FARM PRISON
The Plantation Farms
management contended that
they were in compliance with
the Sectoral Determination
Act No. 10 and therefore
were under no obligation to
negotiate and agree to
anything above the set
determination’s minima. Off
course Mbulelo, members
and the union remained
convinced that this was and
is untrue. The strike action
Plantation farm workers march
This is the SAD real story about the life and time of a
farm worker as experienced by the Plantation farm
workers during the past three to four years of hardship
under the guidance of Mbulelo Joloza, the Provincial
Organiser in Gauteng.
Looking into the tearful eyes and sorrow – face of these
workers they ask: “what is our sin? why us? Is there
democracy and freedom for us as farm workers? And
they remarked with a descending voice, maybe it was
our mistake to work in the farms and to join the union!
Sometime in April 2008, Mbulelo, then employed as a
contract organiser, noticed the potential membership in
and around the Rondebult; Witpoortjie and surrounding
areas, identifying Costa Farms, Concalves and the
tormenting Plantation Farms with a combined estimate
of 600 workers and the latter with just over 200
workers. Aware that workers’ normal queries consist of
low wages; poor benefits and terrible working
conditions, he could not have known that FARMERS’
resistance to trade unions would be the worst problem
of all. It took FAWU 9 nine month of ups and downs;
to’s and fro’s to be recognised as the majority union
after the CCMA process to enjoy organisational rights.
Having passed this hurdle and preparing to launch a
campaign for negotiations, Mbulelo Joloza had a sense
of what he was dealing with and he had gone about
building members’ confidence, rallying them behind the
demands and mobilising them for a confrontational
employer engagement and the most offensive industrial
action. In his mind he was sure that after more than six
months of negotiations, including going to the CCMA
and being in possession of a Certificate to go on a
strike, he anticipated that a three to four week long
strike would bring the farmer to reason.
26
ensued with members fit and ready for a “war -of- all
wars” since the organiser had by now felt the wrath and
arrogance of this particular farmer and therefore roped
in strategic and alliance partners .i.e. the ANC; SACP &
SANCO to be ready for combat and well- positioned to
advance support and mass action if need be. After two
months, the office launched the first missile launching a
march in Germiston at the Plantation Stall / Market and
the Department Of Labour dropping threatening and
stringent memoranda and after 4 months of strong and
undying efforts, the ANC led a hopeful march and
handed over a scorching memorandum. Plantation Farms
management remained unshaken and steadfast on its
NO OFFER stance and demonstrated the worst form of
arrogance in the most palatable manner.
The December 2009 – February 2010’s ABI – Soft
Drink Division of SAB gave hope and a leap of faith for
these workers’ plight seeing the dawn of media
coverage; COSATU And FAWU NOBs, in particular
the General Secretaries, Cde, Zwelinzima Vavi and
Katishi Masemola speaking viciously on the need to
find an immediate and lasting resolution to the pending
dispute and ensuing strike. Members stood firm and
constant to their demands and with the sole saying “re
ka se khutlele mosebetsing tlasa maemo a re a seileng
ka Plantation Farm ho se na diphetoho” loosely
translated:- we will never go back to work under the
same conditions we left Plantation Farms without
changes” little could the leadership do to transcend the
Farmer vs. farm workers’ at loggerheads and source a
sacrificed / compromised settlement.
Around April 2010, after more than twelve month
period without pay, and the longest protracted strike I
have personally experienced in my whole 9 years of
trade union experience (out of which 5 of those years
with FAWU) without an inch of progress, about 4 of our
members succumbed to the determinant of life’s
eternity DEATH, without a cent to show or even to
think about buying a coffin or an animal to slaughter for
the mourners at the funeral. Hence, our greatful and
considerate National Office Bearer of this gigantic
FAWU saw it fit and appropriate to assist in the burial of
one of the eldest known only as Ma – George who was
in her early fifties and a Lesotho national who have had
to spend more than four months in an ice cold mortuary
freezer. Her bereaved family mourned her death and was
still hurting over the fact that they could not afford to
bury her in a decent manner and move on with their
lives.
To this extent, the Department Of Agriculture And Rural
Development got a “warm – klap” from farmers make it
possible for the department to call for a Farm Workers
Summit at the Provincial Level in April 2010, and
ultimately National Summit in October 2010 in Cape
Town. All these summits were attended without failure
and with attentiveness by workers and shop stewards of
Plantation Farms-listening to speeches, messages of
support, crafted resolutions and practical programmes of
actions developed. They left with embroidered
government logo bags, t – shirts, jackets and documents
attesting to “An Ideal Change & Life of a Farm Worker”
hopeful and faithful that their prayers are answered, the
plantation management told them without hesitation that
this farm does not belong to their government but is
theirs and they make the rules, the rest follows.
As the situation deteriorated the Provincial Congress
supported the Wits East Special Resolution to fight the
farmer with ALL that the union has, and in particular, to
explore legal action. Comrade Mbulelo, shop stewards
and in some instances Sipho Mhlahlo with his legal
books and the political analysis by Moleko Phakedi the
Provincial Secretary, was clearly the last straw. Our
beloved CTH launched a legal battle that took almost
another 6 months or so only to shake the employer to
consider agreeing to allow our members to go back and
implementing the legally effected SDA on 10 March
2011 with increased minima.
period in June 2011, then dismissing a further 11 in July
2011 and now in August 2011 more than 46 members are
on suspensions awaiting disciplinary inquiries. Those
surviving were those on leave and certain that their
eventuality at Plantation Farms is known, they will be
jobless on their return.
Leading a Province with an estimated membership of
just over 34 000, excluding about 10 500 sales and
merchandising workers, we find it implausible, helpless
and discouraging that a “kort-broek” farmer can act this
way in a democratic country, in which we have fought
hard for democracy with blood and tears- yet farm
workers cannot enjoy their constitutional human and
labour rights.It brings a huge amount of irritation, anger,
hatred and belief that white (foreign) South African
farmers will not respect a black person as human beings.
Their employees will remain less human, without any
sense of dignity and worthwhile but just utensils covered
in human flesh for use and dumping.Our own
government’s pro – farmer and so – called Agricultural
Investors’ Policy and Approach will take us nowhere but
for sure it brews the worst form of retaliation and
reaction by workers at some point. It may be not now,
but surely in the future as a form of defence and an
attack as a form of defence.
Our own union’s silence and moderation of workers’
plight, endless strategic sessions and action-less
programs, ill – allocation of resources and misplacement
/ dedication of human resources to respond to these
complex issues will lead the union to be judged by
history and haunt the union for a very long time.
‡
‡
‡
‡
‡
Ultimately on the 29th April 2011, about 105 workers
returned to work out of the 127 workers who embarked
on the strike. The farmer subsequently made it no secret
that within three months, he would have swept them all
out of the employ of Plantation Farm’s premises and that
they will leave his farm with their tails between their
legs. The union, through the organiser, had a conciliatory
and calculated strategy to raid the company with the
useless Depart Of Labour, to ensure compliance to the
SDA 10; OHSA; EEA & SDA. Little did the union
anticipate the farmer flushing out 5 workers with
fabricated dismissals in May 2011, taking a cooling off
7KHYLROHQFHWKH\VXIIHUVXFKDVEHLQJGUDJJHG
by a bakkie;
7KHKRUULEOHFRQGLWLRQVWKH\OLYHLQGULQNLQJ
water from the same stream as animals;
7KHDEXVLYHWUHDWPHQWWKH\UHFHLYHZLWKVRPH
being painted in a silver or white paint;
0DGHIRUHYHUKRPHOHVVHYHQEH\RQGGHDWK
evicted unlawfully and denied burial and
exhumed ;
'H²KXPDQLVHGDQGDOZD\VYLFWLPLVHGIHGWR
the lions and shot “mistakenly” for baboons.
Day- in, day- out, these workers ask themselves these
questions over and over again, one day they will answer
themselves and realise that they are on their own and
have to do it themselves, using extreme means and form
of actions to fight these war on all fronts.
Compiled by
Moleko J. Phakedi
Gauteng Provincial Secretary
27
FORESTRY WORKERS: THE RECRUITMENT CHALLENGE
alleviate the concept of illitracy that is used to
deny them better skills that will ultimately,
ensure better salaries.
A forestry worker
The latest in the Forestry sector organizing as FAWU we
are not doing as well as expected. Most of the forestry
plantations that are organized are in Mpumalanga and
there are a few in KZN, Limpopo and Eastern Cape.
It is FAWU’s objective that the identified 30 000
vulnerable forestry workers should be organized into the
Union, and particularly those from the plantations in
KZN. This will necessitate the implementation of the
resolutions adopted in the recent Farms, Forestry and
Fisheries National summit, which include:
28
‡
6RFLDOGHWHUPLQDQWVRIKHDOWKIRUYXOQHUDEOH
workers including the forestry sector, in that
these workers from the forestry plantations are
not receiving adequate services of health such as
clinics and social benefits from the government;
‡
3RRUZRUNLQJFRQGLWLRQVIRUYXOQHUDEOHZRUNHUV
like forestry workers expose them to serious
risks that require proper safety measures. In most
private companies, provisions of the Basic
Conditions of Employment Act and the sectoral
determination for forestry workers are simply not
observed;
‡
3URSHUDZDUHQHVVRIWKH([WHQVLRQRI6HFXULW\
Tenure Act (ESTA) and its applications should
be regularly preached to these workers as well as
to provide the necessarily assistance when
needed. Forestry workers, similar to farm
workers, are now and then caught in -between
the illegal evictions battles with owners;
‡
(PSRZHUPHQWDQGWUDLQLQJIRUYXOQHUDEOH
workers: is the one prominent aspect that should
be implemented as it will assist our members to
advance in life and be in a better position to
FAWU is currently enjoying a massive membership in
one giant forestry company namely Komatiland Forests,
which employs 1980 plantation workers of which we
have 1560 members in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and
Kwa-Zulu Natal. However, in this company we are faced
with the challenge that the land on which the plantations
are, is under land distribution claims and 61% will soon
be handed over to the Traditional leaders Council. As
FAWU we are engaging the stakeholders for future
employment security of our members to the margin of
1450.
It has been established that the other two Forestry giant
companies Mondi and SAPPI are operating mainly with
subcontractors in their plantations business. There are no
statutory deductions and their work is mainly task-based
which allows them to work for a few hours a day for a
lower wage at the end of the month, seeing that taskbased duties are on a hourly rate. I have met SAPPI
management and it is worrying to note that in their
fulltime employed workers we only have 157
members(based in Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu Natal)
out of 750 –the remaining 600 workers resides within
KZN. It is therefore a challenge for our Union to
consolidate a membership in these two companies given
the fact that each subcontractor has its own management.
Some of their plantations are again been handed over to
the claimants where you will find that workers in that
plantation are from a community trust that is owning the
land although the plantation trees belongs to SAPPI or
Mondi.
As a forestry sector organizer, I have seen that these
workers are indeed vulnerable in that their earnings are
task-based and statutory deductions are not there. Most of
them have no benefits and particularly the retirement
benefit remains absent.There is a sectoral determination
existing and the minimum for forestry workers currently
is R1278 per month below the farm sector determination
not knowing the reasons thereof. It has come to light that
the 30 000 forestry workers that are not organized are
from this subcontractors and private forestry companies.
For FAWU, these facts suggest hard work and dedication
from all provinces that have these plantations. They
should come up with strategic recruitment plans that will
purposefully focus on this vulnerable sector and we
might save the uncalled- for practices by these
employers.
Another problem experienced in the sector is that the
scope for Forestry in FAWU is too broad in that some
contractors are taking the Union to CCMA in that its
constitution only talks about forestry plantations and
harvesting. It should be more specific to state that
forestry business includes planting, harvesting,
silviculture, processing and selling and this will enable
FAWU to recruit the entire forestry companies such as
York timbers which are currently organised by
CCEPWAWU seeing that their business is plantations,
planting, harvesting, silviculture, processing and selling.
FAWU thus do not organise those in the processing line
which is the products from the trees like your papers and
furniture.
What Should Be Done?
Firstly, FAWU organisers in KZN areas where there are
forestry plantations, should not wait for the deployed
sector organiser to recruit those people, the sector
organiser’s role is to assist with a support system. We
need to work closely with local councillors and ANC
branch leaders to educate these vulnerable workers
about their rights with which they are not familiar with.
This will assist FAWU to recruit these members. Having
said the above, FAWU will do much better if the
recruitment becomes more efficient since we are capable
to negotiate better salaries, benefits and working
conditions. It is happening to those that have seen the
importance of joining a Union.
In conclusion, the common saying of “working together
we can do more” is an appeal to all soldiers of our
organization to devote their abilities and time to assist in
this sector organizing to improve the lives of the forestry
sector workers.
Jerry Makhanya
National Forestry Sector organizer
F.A.W.U. SUBMISSION ON FISHING
company stipulates in their application the number
of workers that will benefit from the quota. In
addition, we asked when Premier Foods was
closing down the Saldanha plant and Oceana
consolidating their quota, whether these companies
stipulate where these quotas will be processed?.
Workers in a fish factory
Over the past few years FAWU has been assessing
the effects of Long-Term Fishing Rights to see if it
has achieved its intended objectives, which were
mainly to ensure job security and to provide quality
jobs.
It is quite disturbing to notice that quite the
opposite has happened. We have to deal with
massive retrenchments, closing of factories,
consolidation of quotas resulting in closure of
factories as the quota was moved to other areas for
processing. All of this happened soon after these
companies secured their Fishing Rights. When we
engaged Marine Coastal Management (MCM) on
this matter, they couldn’t give us an sufficient
response: We asked them- when Oceana was
planning to retrench 529 workers- whether this
It became clear to us that there are no clear
guidelines in terms of appropriate recourse
whenever a company doesn’t live up to the
stipulations reflecting on its application.
When the Portfolio Committee on Labour was
doing oversight visits on fishing factories, they
have witnessed first- hand the companies that are
still purely white on their top management. With
regards to Sea-going most Skippers are white and
also racist; recently we have forced Sea-Harvest to
take action against the Skipper that was making
racist utterances to the Black crew members. In the
Squid industry, there have been allegations of
companies fronting Fishermen as shareholders of
companies, yet they don’t benefit from the gains of
the company. Instead, these workers are exploited
to the extreme. We have raised this with MCM,
prompting them to investigate the matter but
nothing has happened thus far - despite us
providing evidence to that effect.
29
Health and Safety has been a matter of great concern
to us, as we have been hearing horrifying stories from
the men at sea. We have been receiving reports,
especially from the Squid fishers, that if a fisherman
fell sick on a fishing trip he will either wait up until
the trip is finished to get proper medical attention, or
he will be off-loaded in the nearest town and he will
have to find his own way back home. In this same
industry, fishermen are required to buy their own
protective gear despite the low salary levels of these
workers.
This affects the quality of the gear, which, in turn
compromises the health and safety of these
workers.The most disturbing issue, especially for the
Sea-going workers, are the low levels of income. In
the Pelagic industry, for instance, fishermen are at the
mercy of their Skipper for their salaries, except for
those of Oceana. These Pelagic companies have a
labour brokering type of arrangement with Skippers
in as far as wages of crew members are concerned. In
the Squid sector, Fishermen get a R30 daily
allowance and R5 per kg on his catch. This ridiculous
low income cannot respond to the basic needs of
these workers, hence the levels of alcoholic and drug
abuse are extremely high amongst these fishermen.
We have requested the DOL to intervene in this
regard as talks with the employer’s association didn’t
yield any positive results!
‡
,WLVRXUVXEPLVVLRQWKDW0&0PXVW strengthen its monitoring tools with regards
to the adherence to the stipulations of the
application.
‡
0&0PXVWDOVRGHYHORSFOHDUJXLGHOLQHVLQ
terms of appropriate recourse when
companies are not adhering to the
stipulations of their applications.
‡
0&0PXVWDOVRHQVXUHWKDWWUDQVIRUPDWLRQ
is a condition of quota allocation thereby
giving a guarantee on issues of employment
equity and share trust.
‡
0&0PXVWDOVRPDNHWKHLVVXHRI permanent employment of Sea-going
fishermen and Seasonal workers a
condition of quota allocation thereby
ensuring quality jobs and job security.
‡
0&0PXVWPDNHDOLYLQJZDJHDFRQGLWLRQ
of quota allocation, thereby doing away
with exploitation that is currently tarnishing
the industry.
‡
+HDOWKDQGVDIHW\PXVWDOVREHDFRQGLWLRQ
of quota allocation- thereby ensuring that
these employers take full responsibility for
the fishermen’s health and safety.
Mthunzi Mhlakane
National Organiser – Fishing Sector
THE FAWU PROJECT ON FARM WORKERS 2007 – 2012
implementation strategy, roles and
responsibilities of the partners,
activities, assumptions and risks,
project organisation, monitoring and
reporting and conclusion.
Objectives
Mpumalanga Farm Workers discussing summit resolutions
The name of the project is STRENGTHENING THE
ROLE OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN
POVERTY REDUCTION AND PROMOTION OF
DEMOCRACY. It is funded by the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA). The Project Partners
in the agricultural sector in South Africa are FAWU and
United Federation of Danish Workers (3F).
This summary will give information on the project
objectives, project inputs,
30
The immediate objective for the
agricultural sector is that:
The trade unions within the Agricultural sector in
Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa have
increased their capacity to act democratically, represent
workers towards employers and governments at
national and regional level, and service members better
through improved Collective Bargaining Agreements,
Trade Union training, improved Occupational Health
Safety (incl. HIV/Aids standards), and advocacy and
lobby efforts
FAWU will be actively participating in the sector
network facilitated and coordinated by IUF, and FAWU
is required to include this participation in regional and
sector activities in its regular monitoring and reporting.
Project Inputs
3F provides the financial support for implementation of
project activities as per the agreed budget and
implementation plan, provide technical assistance from
advisers, support for project implementation and
monitoring from 3F programme officers, and necessary
support from the Regional Office in Maputo,
Mozambique. FAWU provides office space, project staff
and technical resources from staff members in
implementation of project activities.
Implementation Strategy
The agreement between FAWU and 3F is that FAWU
should take upon them the obligation to continue and
expand ordinary recruitment and servicing of farm
worker members, while the project should support
FAWU in development of the quality of the work. This
project role includes:
‡
'HYHORSPHQWRIDVWUDWHJ\IRURUJDQLVLQJIDUP
workers
‡
6XSSRUWWRLPSOHPHQWDWLRQRIWKHVWUDWHJ\
‡
'HYHORSPHQWRIDSROLF\IRU)$:8RQ Agriculture, and Forestry
‡
6XSSRUWWRLPSOHPHQWDWLRQRIWKHSROLF\
‡
3DUWLFLSDWLRQLQUHJLRQDO,8)DFWLYLWLHV
Activities
2007:
(VWDEOLVKLQJD0HPEHUVKLS'DWD6\VWHP
Training organisers and administrators
Establishing of maps per region
Outcomes
‡
A membership data system is in place and
continuously being improved.
‡
Organisers and administrators were trained to
be able appreciate the plight of farm workers
2008 – 2009
'HYHORSDSROLF\DQGVWUDWHJ\IRURUJDQLVLQJDQG
training in the agricultural, fishing and forestry sector
'HYHORSDSROLF\RQWKHDJULFXOWXUDOVHFWRU
Outcomes
‡
The above policies were developed and adopted
by the National Executive Committee (NEC)
‡
They are used as tools of engagement and for
developing programs of action
2010- 2012
Branch workshops to implement organising strategy
Recruitment campaign
Outcomes
‡
Through workshops members are empowered to
establish structures develop recruitment
programs
‡
'LVVHPLQDWLRQRI1DWLRQDO6XPPLWRQ)DUP
Workers results to structures
Outcomes
‡
Members are aware of resolutions taken, what
is being done about their plight and how to
participate.
Influence legislation review process
Outcomes
‡
A workshop was held to capacitate the union in
influencing the latest labour review process
Formulate a policy workshop on migrant workers. This
still outstanding.
Assumptions And Risks
Assumptions.
It is assumed that:
‡
7KHOHVVRQVRIHDUOLHUHIIRUWVGDWLQJEDFNWR
1997, have been taken to heart, and that the
level of detail and precision that are required
for success on the difficult terrain of farm
worker organisation is now genuinely
understood and will be attended to.
‡
7KHFRPPLWPHQWWRWKHIDUPZRUNHUV emphasised by the national leadership in FAWU
will prevail in the overall strategy of FAWU.
‡
7KHSURYLQFHVZLOODGKHUHWRWKHSULRULW\RIWKH
farm workers and willing to adjust their
structure and activities in accordance if
necessary.
‡
7KDWWKHSURMHFWZLOOEHDEOHWRFRRSHUDWHDQG
liaise with all relevant partners inside and
outside FAWU. And that;
‡
)$:8ZLOOFRYHUWKHFRVWRIWKHSURJUDPPHQRW
included in the project.
Risks
Whatever strategy the national leadership adopts and
whatever resources are allocated to the provinces, the
efforts depend on the priority the provincial leaderships
give to this task. If the will and commitment is not there,
the project will fail. Then, all FAWU’s effort to organise
the farm workers will fail.
31
The primary risk affecting the project in itself and the
2YHUDOO6WUDWHJLF2UJDQLVLQJ3ODQRI)$:8LQUHVSHFW
of farm workers is that pressures within FAWU reduce
its capacity to give sufficient attention to an area of
activity.This project also depends on positive
cooperation with key staff at Head office. If the project
is met with resistance or rejection of finding new
avenues to solve problems, the project is in risk
Project Organisation
The project ownership rests with Fawu, which has
responsibility for its implementation. FAWU together
with 3F are overall responsible for the project,
including project accounts, towards the donor
'DQLGD$&RRSHUDWLRQ$JUHHPHQWGHILQLQJLQGHWDLO
the specific responsibilities of the project parties, is
signed between Fawu and 3F, the signatories being the
)5HJLRQDO3URJUDPPH&RRUGLQDWRUDQGWKH)$:8
*HQHUDO6HFUHWDU\
$3URMHFW6WHHULQJ&RPPLWWHH36&LVFRQVWLWXWHGE\
)$:8FKDLUHGE\WKH*HQHUDO6HFUHWDU\RUKLVKHU
GHSXW\7KH36&LVUHVSRQVLEOHIRURYHUDOOPRQLWRULQJ
including the quality of project activities, and for their
implementation according to this project document,
EXGJHWDQGLPSOHPHQWDWLRQSODQV7KH36&LV
accountable for project implementation towards the
project parties and for securing the coordination with
the union’s structures and activities. FAWU in
FRRSHUDWLRQZLWK)QRPLQDWHVD3URMHFW&RRUGLQDWRU
ZKRLVUHVSRQVLEOHWRZDUGVWKH36&IRUGDLO\SURMHFW
implementation and coordination and for the project
DFFRXQWV7KH36&LVFRPSRVHGRIHOHFWHGRUQRPLQDWHG
representatives of Fawu and one representative from 3F.
7KHQRPLQDWHG3URMHFW&RRUGLQDWRUDFWVDVVHFUHWDU\WR
tKH36&7KH36&PHHWVTXDUWHUO\
Monitoring And Reporting
The continuous monitoring (supervision) of project
activities is the responsibility of Fawu and rests
IRUPDOO\ZLWKWKH3URMHFW6WHHULQJ&RPPLWWHH)
programme officers and visiting advisers support Fawu
in the correct technical and financial monitoring. 3F as
SDUWRIWKH36&HQVXUHVWKDWWKHSURMHFWPRQLWRULQJLV
FDUULHGRXWDQGDGYLVHVWKH36&DFFRUGLQJO\$UHSRUW
narrative and financial is done on a quarterly basis.
Conclusion
:HKDYHJLYHQDEULHILQWURGXFWLRQRIWKH)DZX3URMHFW
on Farm workers, about the objectives of the project,
project inputs, implementation strategy, roles and
responsibilities of the partners, activities, assumptions
and risks, project organisation, monitoring and
reporting. We take this as a point of entry to sharing
information about the project. In future, we hope to be
consistent in giving more information about the project
activities and other relevant matters.
Prepared by: Howard Mbana
Project Coordinator
EDUCATION AND TRAINING: AN OVERVIEW
Shopstewards and Leaders during a gender workshop
There is a Cosatu resolution that 10% of the income of
the union must be put aside for Education & Training
and this decision has not been fully implemented. I
must also commend the current leadership in terms of
their commitment to Education and Training in the
32
in the Cosatu Congresses.
Fawu has set aside R10 000-00 for
each staff member towards his/her
own development. More and more
staff members are taking advantage
of this opportunity. Remember this
is not what Fawu says you must do.
Staff members are allowed to
choose what kind of course/
programme they want to do that will
add value to the organization.
Staff Development
The only shortcoming here is that Union and the fact
that they are able to put aside funds for it even though it
is not 10% of the income as agreed we do not have a
clear internal programme which is job/occupationally
based and has a clear strategic objective of achieving
the goals of the organisation. We need a programme
that makes each and every employee to be effective and
efficient in doing his/her work.We also do not have a
conscious career path-way or pathways so that a worker
should choose, which trajectory to follow. We currently
do not have a programme that a cleaner could follow
until he/she becomes an Accountant. We have identified courses that are work related where we have send
administrators, particularly in the Head Office, to
courses that are related to their jobs. For instance, we
have send Administrators in the Subscription, Travel &
Accommodation to courses that relate to their jobs.
Again the shortfall here is the follow up, monitoring &
evaluation of these programmes so that you can see the
effects that it has in the organisation. This is not a Job
of an H.R. person but the line managers (General &
Deputy Secretaries, Heads of Department, Provincial
Secretaries). The reason for this is that they are the
ones who are involve in the staff recruitment, selection
and appointment, they are also supposed to be the ones
that identify the weaknesses, and the kind of interventions that must ensue. Training needs, for an example,
should be identified by them and then recommended to
the Education & Training Department. After such
training has been done, they must monitor and evaluate
the impact of training. These are just some of the things
that I think we should look at in terms of staff development.
Shop Steward Training
This is the very important sector of our organization as
these are the foot soldiers of our movement. They are
the first line of defense of our members’ rights and
interests both at the workplace and at community level.
Shop stewards are not just leaders in the workplace.
Every individual is a member of the community before
even becoming a worker which means what affects the
community also affects them. You can imagine then the
kind of Education & Training that you would need for a
shopsteward.
Basic Shop Stewards Training
This kind of training is very important and it cannot be
outsourced, it must be done internally by the organisation itself. It must also be funded by the organisation
itself. It is the same as Basic Organiser's training which
we hardly talk about or do in the Union. The organisation has Principles, Policies & Resolutions which needs
to be understood, first & foremost, implemented and
defended. How is this going to happen when you
outsource it? Clearly it is not going to happen. The
Training Material on Basic Shop Steward Training has
been developed and we are “strengthening” it from time
to time as we are also learning from the workshop that
we are running currently. The Training Materials for all
Labour Laws has been completed and it will be our
second round of training after the Basic training. We
also have material on Leadership Training, of which
certain areas need to be reviewed. We also ran Collective Leadership Training for all Leaders in the Prov-
inces. We might have to repeat this training given the
new leadership that has just been elected. The Basic
Shopstewards Training has started and it is still continuing. It is slow though because we do not have capacity
in the form of Provincial Educators. We hope that as
soon as this is attended to as a matter of urgency, we
would be able to move faster. Shop stewards also need
to be trained on socio-economic issues. There is a
tendency of separating socio-economic issues from
political issues and my argument here is that the two is
not separable. Every mode of production- whether it is
capitalism or socialism- it ends up being political, you
can't divorce economics from politics. Yes, shop
stewards should be exposed to all economic theories so
that they are able to engage in these types of discussions. Even economic theories themselves are ClassPartisan. An example is the Keynes Theory used to
bailout the decaying Capitalism, which we did not take
advantage of as the Left.
Funding Of The Shop Stewards
Education & Training
In South Africa, we have what we call the Skills Development and Levies Act, we also have the National
Skills Development Strategy that is reviewed every five
(5) yrs. We have not fully looked at this Act and
develop strategies as to how do we used it for the
benefits of our members. In terms of the Act, employers who qualify must deduct 1% of their wage/salary
bill and pay it to SARS (South African Revenue
Service). 20% of this money goes to NSF (National
Skills Fund) and the rest to the relevant Seta (Sector
Education & Training Authority). The Sector Education
Authority will take 10% for its Administration while the
rest will be distributed to all the companies who comply
with the provisions of the Act and NSDS as Mandatory
and other Grants. Whatever is left from the Companies
who did not comply it is taken to a Discretionary Fund.
The Discretionary Fund is where the Trade Union
Education is catered for and it is wrong. Trade Union
Education must be funded by companies in terms of
their Workplace Skills Plan. By Trade Union Education
I mean both Shop stewards and members education.
The kind of Education and Training that shop stewards
and membership need must find expression in the WSPs
of companies. Companies will then claim Mandatory
and other grants from the Seta after the implementation
of training.This training must be controlled and
conducted by the Trade Unions or the institutions
appointed by the Trade Unions themselves.There is
nothing in the Act that suggests that shopsteward
training needs must not be part of the WSP/ATR and
Sector Skills Plans. We plan to develop something as
the Department to sensitize the shop stewards and
organisers as to how to engage with the process going
forward.There are a lot of things to talk and write about,
I hope some will emerge in the coming Congress, one
that I can think of is the issue of Climate Change which
our industries are some of the big contributors to it.
Forward with the 70th anniversary of Fawu Forward!!!
Mantla ke warona!! Amandla Ngawethu!! Power to the
Working Class!!
Lancelot Giba (National Education Office)
33
THE SHOP STEWARD: NORMAN CHAUKE
CHAIR PERSON, GAUTENG PROVINCE
workers in your province/branch respond to this?
This was not an issue at all to the workers as it was
explained very well. The ANC, in turn has expressed
the confidence it has in our communities for the first
time its candidates to be subjected to test by their
communities. This contributed to strengthening the
dynamic link between the movement and its core
constituency.
Norman Chauke
We spoke to comrade Norman Chauke , chairperson
of the Gauteng Province and fulltime shop steward
for The Cold Chain about some of his observations
of the May 2011 Local Government Elections.
How did you personally experience the local
government elections earlier this year?
My personal experience, indeed it does appear to me
that “overall” there are a large number of people
lacking a political home at this stage.
How did you experience the election in your
province?
The elections have taught us that there is a need for
continued dynamic interaction with our communities
by our structures and our councilors.
Do you think that the ruling party, the ANC could
have done better in terms of campaigning or do
you feel that it has done well on campaigning?
The ruling party did it quite well as the results
confirmed that the majority of South Africa still have
an overwhelming confidence in the ANC. However,
there still is a lot to be done by the movement.
How do you feel about the fact that mayors were
only announced after the election? How did the
What do you think needs to happen in the Western Cape for the ANC to win with an outright
majority in the province?
The challenge for the ANC and the alliance in the
Western Cape is to develop a thorough programme to
be able to mobilize and advance its progressive and
non-racial agenda amongst Coloured, Indian, and
White middle and working classes.
With regards to the above, do you think that it
was a good strategy to put forward cde Ehrenreich as mayoral candidate in the Western Cape
and do you think the same (use of Cosatu comrades as mayoral candidates) should be done in
other provinces?
Particularly at Western Cape, a number of lessons
which primarily reflects that it are only the working
class and the poor of our country that can keep the
ANC in government. The people have spoken and it
is about pulling up our collective sleeves and ensuring delivery of basic rights such as jobs, housing and
sanitation, etc and making people a central part of
their own change.
Any other comments on the local government
elections?
Indeed some of our ANC internal squabbles have led
to some of our voters staying away from the polls.
We need to urgently work towards addressing these
problems, further more we must continue to visit our
communities and listen to their needs at all times.
BACK TO BASICS: ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
OF SHOP STEWARDS
Who Is A Shop Steward?
Shop stewards are the foundation of the Union. It is
through them that Union is able to exercise democracy and workers’ control.Shop stewards are elected
representatives of Union members in the
workplace.All workers in a workplace who are
members of the Union will elect shop stewards
according to the constitution of the Union. As shop
stewards you are accountable to the members who
elected you and your Union as a whole.
34
A shop steward does not speak for the workers
her/she must have a mandate from the workers they
represent and the Union.You have to report back to
your members and the Union structures.
You form part of the shop steward committee (in
FAWU’s constitution). A shop steward does not work
on his or her own. They are part of the collective
leadership in the workplace. Shop stewards need to be
committed, hard working, disciplined, progressive and
literate.
The Shop Steward’s Role As An Organiser
The shopsteward is an organiser in his/her workplace.
The main duty of the shopsteward is to build up and
maintain a strong discipline, progressive and
informed membership at the workplace.
A Shop Steward Should:
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the workplace;
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bers into the union- FAWU even outside
your workplace.
The Shop Steward As A Representative
He/she must:
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ment ;
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1HJRWLDWHRQDOOLVVXHVZKLFKFRQFHUQ workers;
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with management
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Union structures and in Cosatu, ANC &
SACP;
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commu nities and in political structures.
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sorting out differences of opinion between
workers;
:RUNDVDFROOHFWLYH²QRVKRSVWHZDUGFDQ
do everything alone.
The Shop Steward As A Learner
A shop steward must be knowledgeable and well
informed and should be able to learn through experience. The Union should provide training for you.
You Need To Know:
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your Union and Cosatu;
(PSOR\PHQWSUDFWLFHVDQGFRQGLWLRQVLQ
your workplace;
/DZVDQGDJUHHPHQWVWKDWFRYHUVWKH various sectors we are organising;
6RFLDOEHQHILWVWKDWZRUNHUVDUHHQWLWOHGWR
The Shop Steward As An Educator
You must pass on your information and knowledge to
your fellow members. You must be able to inform
them about what is happening in their workplace, in
FAWU & COSATU. You should be able to inform
members about their rights and be able to participate
in political debates. You should participate in Education structures of the Union in workplace, in your
branch and in your Cosatu Local.
Things To Remember:
The Shop Steward As A Monitor
As A Shop Steward You Should Not:
Shop stewards must make sure that management
sticks to agreements which have been negotiated with
workers. They must also make sure that management
carries out decisions reached in negotiations. It is
important to be vigilant. It is important to get written
undertakings from management to hold them to
account later.
‡
‡
‡
‡
The Shop Steward As A Leader
‡
Shop stewards are the leadership of their workplaAs a
shop steward you are a leader in FAWU as well as in
COSATU.
You should be able to do the following:
‡
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*LYHPHPEHUVJXLGDQFHDQGGLUHFWLRQ²EXW
don’t think you need to control workers;
'LVFRXUDJHGLYLVLRQ²GRQ·WWDNHVLGHVZKHQ
‡
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*RWRPDQDJHPHQWEHKLQGWKHEDFNVRIWKH
workers or without a mandate;
6LJQDQ\DJUHHPHQWZLWKRXWWKHPDQGDWHRI
the workers;
&DXFXVZLWKPHPEHUVDJDLQVWRWKHUVKRS
stewards;
$FWDVDQLQGLYLGXDOZLWKRXWIXOO\FRQVXOW
ing with other shop stewards in your work
place;
5HSUHVHQWDPHPEHUZLWKRXWWKDWPHPEHU
being present;
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ment;
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give shop stewards the correct information
no matter how painful it is.
Compiled by : Tseleng Tau, Provincial Secretary
FAWU North West Province
35
FAWU INPUT ON FOOD SECURITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
In our input as FAWU, we will speak about the
issues affecting the safety of food security; and we
will also propose some solutions addressing the
ability of our country to feed its citizens and
residents, including the household ability to feed
itself. We will talk about food security needs and we
will also address the crucial land question in this
context.
We want to highlight the key issues which affect food
security and to reflect on proposals to address some of
the challenges involved. There is always a need to
assume definitions of certain concepts to ensure that we
are all on the same page when it comes to this important issue, hence the following submission:
It is assumed that National Food Security
(NFS) will be understood here to be the
ability and capacity of a country to produce
enough to feed her citizens. In this context,
it will be further assumed that a country
should be able to export more food, particu
larly staple, than it imports.
Household Food Security (HFS) should
mean that food supplies will be readily
available for a family to access at affordable
prices. It would not make sense for a country
to be food secure yet sections of the population remain food insecure. The last time we
checked, 90% of food consumed was
purchased and 10% was produced, either by
cooperative farming or by subsistence
farming, for own consumption.
Therefore, a big section of society depends on
retail-supplied food for feeding themselves.
Availability of food supplies depends on sustained
production and/or processing by private sector players
in the food production/processing stage of the value
chain.
Food accessibility relies on distribution channels to
ensure that food supplies are able to reach retail centers
in communities, both urban and rural.
What then becomes critical to communities,
particularly households, is the ability to purchase food,
particularly staple food products, at reasonable prices.
Let’s now take a look at some food security challenges
and our proposed solutions to those challenges.
36
There a lot of factors negatively affecting food security
at both the national and household levels. Some are at a
macro-level, including global agricultural commodity
prices, and some are at the micro-level, including
dominance of a few players in the
production and supply chain.
At the center of enhancing national food security
should be the drive to reverse this country’s status of
being a net food importer back into being a net food
exporter. In doing so, some of our proposals should to
be considered. The government’s Industrial Policy
Action Plans 2 (IPAP2) does prioritize agro-processing
as one of the sectors with potential to create more jobs
and to meet the basic need of food security for South
Africans. However, this should be supported by trade
policy measures such as tariff protection against highly
subsidized food imports from Europe and other
exporting countries.These are some of the macro-level
interventions. There are many more measures to
consider implementing at this level of macro-level
interventions.
We should be promoting small-scale enterprise and
cooperative and subsistence farming and food
processing all over our country.
Our country must move with speed to promote the
emergence and sustainable existence of small-scale
cooperative and subsistence farming entities and food
processing operations on a broad-based national scale.
These small-scale cooperative and subsistence activities
will require infrastructure support. At the heart of the
successful growth of small players will be
infrastructure roll-out. These range from roads and rail
infrastructure to a public transport system, and from
electricity and water supply to telecommunications
facilities. And this infrastructure support should be
supplemented with other services support.
At the primary agricultural level, our country needs to
give focused support services to subsistence,
cooperative, and small-scale farmers on a range of
needs. This stretches from extension services and
research and development needs to support on
affordable supplies of seeds and fertilizers.
We cannot exclude Land Reform and Land Ownership
Policy, Agricultural Transformation, and Rural Development from Food Security policies.
There is a need to fast-track the land reform and
agricultural transformation programmes in order to
create and support cooperative, subsistence, and
small-scale farming and agro-processing enterprises
across product lines, from live-stock and crops to
virticulture and horticulture. Part of land reform
should involve distribution of idle state-owned land to
the land-hungry for purposes of agricultural economic
activity. This land reform must be accompanied by
agricultural transformation which must see the state
aggressively pursuing a large-scale support
programme to the land reform beneficiaries.
In addition, commercial and established farmers must
engage in some affirmative procurement and enterprise development to ensure growth of cooperative and
small-scale farmers and cooperative and small-scale
input and agricultural services suppliers. Land ownership policy should heavily regulate ownership of land
such as game farming, golf course, entertainment, and
other luxurious and non-economic activities, and even
prohibit sheer speculative activity. Also, expropriation
policy is needed on idle and absentee-farmer land in
the private sector for land reform for agricultural
activities.
Part of Rural Development, in addition to building
rural institutions and economic infrastructure, should
be the revival, increasing, and reorientation of agricultural colleges in collaboration with food and agricultural SETAs to generate skills and knowledge in
agricultural and food processing industries.
We also have to expand Household Food Security. To
ensure that households are able to afford paying for
food prices, there is a need to intervene in both the
supply-side and the demand-side. On the demandside, this will involve sustaining and increasing
household incomes. Government’s intervention on the
demand side thus far has been in the form of increasing value and volumes of social grants, which remains
welcomed by FAWU as a necessary relief for the poor
and to allow them to purchase staple food.
However, there is a sizable ‘chunk’ of the population
that is out of the social safety net and therefore do not
enjoy these relief measures. There are families with
unemployed people who are too young to receive
old-age grants and too old to receive child support
grants and too healthy and able-bodied to receive
disability grants. It is thus necessary for government
to introduce income transfer mechanisms that cover
those falling outside the current social safety
net/security system.
The most cost-effective mechanism remains a Basic
Income Grant for everyone. We would like to see a
State-Owned Food Procurement and Distribution
Company.
On the supply-side, the most sustainable intervention
will be an active participation by the State throughout
the production and supply chain of staple food items.
We particularly think it is urgent to have the State
playing this role on procurement and distribution of
stable food.
It is for this reason that we are calling for the setting
up of a State-owned food procurement and distribution
company which will purchase food from producers
and processors and retail those at very affordable
prices to poor communities and households.
Ultimately, we will be happy with State involvement
at other stages of the value-chain, including in farming
and processing of selected staple food items, including
but not limited to, maize-meal, bread, milk, cooking
oil, and meat products. Eventually, this will help bring
retail food prices down as the countervailing power of
State-owned companies provide the much needed
price competition in the increasingly few-players
dominated production and supply chain.
In the mean time, there is a need to get competition
authorities to enhance price competition within the
food value-chain. Price fixing and other forms of price
collusion by big yet few players in the food production
and supply chain is evidence enough on how household food insecurity is being increased given that
prices are fixed upwards and not downwards. Therefore, effective Competition Policy and other measures
are needed.
In conclusion, these are just some of the initial ideas
that FAWU has on how best we can get enhanced
national food security and expanded household food
securities for thousands of poor families in South
Africa who are facing regular hunger and in many
cases starvation. It is about time that the State becomes
interventionist on ensuring expanded household food
security through active participation in production and
distribution as well as through policy measures that
defend the nation’s food security and sovereignty.
Compiled By Katishi Masemola (FAWU GS) and
presented By: Attwell Nazo FAWU President to
Parliament on the 15th November 2010
37
ECHOES OF FARM WORKERS’
SILENT VOICES
Somebody somehow should speak:
Whose cries are so loud yet not audible?
Whose tears run out yet with dry eyes?
Whose scars are so big/old yet so fresh?
Whose wounds so deep yet painless!
BIG LIPS AND TONGUES ARE SILENT
Somebody somehow should feel and see;
Their souls are torn apart
Their strength and hope still
Their guilt is little and foretold
Their punishment is permanent and so severe
BIG UNFOLDED EYES ARE BLIND
Somebody somehow should listen:
Farm workers plight is untold and unrecognised
Farm workers actions condemned with greatest contempt
Farm workers home is no place
Farm workers work is slavery
Farm workers sin is their trade-farming
SHARP EARDRUMS ARE DEAF
Somebody somehow should act:
Their life is no DIGNITY
Their death is no GRAVE
Their burial is no SERVICE
Their homes is no FAMILY
Their BEING IS NOT HUMAN
Farm Workers Rights Are Human Rights
ACTIVE PRIESTS, LEADERS; POLITICIANS AND AUTHORITIES ARE MOTIONLESS
Somebody Somehow Should Listen!
Somebody Somehow Should Act!
Somebody Some How Should Speak!
Somebody Somehow Should Feel & See!
LISTEN, SPEAK, FEEL, SEE & ACT FOR FARM WORKERS &
DWELLERS
Moleko Phakedi
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