S. African strike solid despite state repression

By Norm Dixon

July 17— The national strike by the more than 110,000 members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) entered its second week on July 9. In the face of mass arrests, police violence and a slander campaign by the capitalist media, South Africa’s underpaid council workers remain determined to win a living wage.

SAMWU members, who began their first national strike in seven years on July 2, are demanding their minimum monthly wage be increased by R300 to R2,200 ($367) and that all municipal workers receive a 10% wage increase.

The African National Congress(ANC)-dominated South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has refused to increase the minimum wage and is attempting to impose an 8% increase and a three-year agreement.

In rejecting SALGA’s offer, SAMWU national negotiator Dale Forbes pointed out that inflation in South Africa is currently 9.2% and food prices had jumped 14% in the last year. He added that the accepted poverty line in South Africa is a monthly income of R2,400 and even that is inadequate for a worker with a family.

Strike participation is at least 80% of the work force at most municipalities, with around 10% providing union-approved essential services. Council offices and depots throughout the country are being picketed.

There have been large protest marches almost daily in the major cities and in the smallest towns. On July 2, 9,000 workers marched in Johannesburg. On July 3, 14,000 marched in Durban, 7,000 in Johannesburg, 7,000 in Germiston, 4,000 in Port Elizabeth, 3,000 in East London and 1,000 in Pretoria.

Many local communities are supporting the strike, especially in places like Chatsworth in Durban and in Cape Town, where residents have been fighting evictions and water and electricity cut-offs by local governments. SAMWU also has the support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

In an effort to turn other workers against SAMWU, SALGA has threatened to increase council rates by more than 20% if municipal workers win their demands. SAMWU general secretary Roger Ronnie condemned this as “blackmail.” He pointed out that SALGA “is silent about the disgracefully high wages” paid to municipal managers, councilors and mayors.

In many councils, managers are paid between R300,000 and R800,000 per year in salaries, allowances and bonuses. It was revealed on July 8 that Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, the mayor of Tshwane and head of SALGA, had just jetted off to Canada for a luxury 10-day “business trip” at a cost of more than R500,000.

In another attempt to undermine the strike, in Emfuleni (formerly Vanderbijlpark) council managers and members of the ANC Youth League dressed in overalls were discovered cleaning the streets.

Ronnie added that “SALGA has attempted to create the impression that it is the wage demands of SAMWU members that prevent local government from delivering on the promises of free services they made nearly two years ago. It is in fact the [national ANC government’s economic policy] that is the real culprit. SALGA negotiators have said they cannot give a living wage because they need to comply with this policy.”

The strike has been marked by increasing state repression. On July 2, marchers in Durban were attacked with water cannon and a woman SAMWU member was assaulted by police. That same day, police fired shots into the air in Johannesburg and Cape Town. A striker in Cape Town was rendered unconscious when struck in the head by shotgun pellets. Police in Cape Town opened fire again on July 3, injuring two workers.

On July 8, police in Welkom tear gassed strikers, while on July 9 in Balliton, KwaZulu-Natal, five workers were beaten by police during an otherwise peaceful march.

In East London on July 5, 368 SAMWU members were arrested and 102 spent the week-end in jail for “illegal picketing” within 500 meters of council property. They were released on July 8 after paying R50 bail each.

Repression has also been severe in Durban, where the ANC government was desperate to prevent disruption to the week-long inaugural meeting of the African Union, which began on July 9. Forty SAMWU members were arrested on July 5 for attending an “illegal gathering.” While in the cells, many were beaten by police. They were released after paying bail of R1,000 each.

On July 8 the ANC government mobilized the army as scab laborers to clean Durban’s streets.

South Africa’s big business press has concentrated on accusing strikers of littering and “trashing” city streets. While not condoning such petty incidents, SAMWU has pointed out that “in many townships there is no refuse removal service anyway. Litter and garbage which far surpasses the level seen in Durban and Johannesburg piles up outside people’s houses every day ... The real embarrassment is not dirty streets but the poverty wages paid to workers who have to keep the streets clean.”

Source: Green Left Weekly

LABOR BRIEFS

Whole Foods workers
win union representation
Workers at Whole Foods Market in Madison, WI voted July 12 in a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election, and with a solid majority won union representation with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1444. UFCW Local 1444 also represents workers at Kohls, Woodmans, and several other Madison-area and statewide grocery stores.

None of the nationwide chain’s 134 stores has hitherto been unionized. Despite a last-minute attempt by the company’s CEO, John Mackey, to dissuade the workers from unionizing by flying to Madison to meet with organizers until 1am on the eve of the vote, workers pressed ahead with their plans for a collective bargaining agreement, winning the vote for unionization 65-54.(1union@charter.net)

“Logan 19” to face criminal charges
The 19 immigrants arrested in February in Boston, Massachusetts during the federal sweep known as Operation Tarmac will still face criminal charges of supplying false information to obtain jobs in the US, despite the fact that similar charges have been dropped nationwide since the sweep.

US Attorney Michael Sullivan, Boston’s top federal prosecutor, says he has made his decision — the  Logan 19, despite having no criminal records, will face federal charges which allege they supplied false information to obtain low-wage jobs at the Logan International Airport. The African, Haitian, and Latino workers, who toiled as janitors and baggage checkers, allegedly committed crimes that were rarely prosecuted before Sept. 11. None have links to any terrorist activity. Sullivan met with advocates for the immigrants June 4 after receiving a 1500-signature petition demanding that the 19 cases be closed, but refused to deviate from his present course of action. Advocates say they will continue to campaign publicly for the closure of the cases. (Boston Phoenix)

Kenyan teachers attack bosses
Furious teachers in Nairobi’s Meru North District burnt the effigy of their union’s boss July 15, accusing him of failing them and asking him to resign over union officials’ failure to disclose the reasons for the withholding of promised salary increases.

The more than 3,000 primary school teachers also chased away two officials of the Kenya National Union of Teachers from the branch’s annual general meeting. A returning officer for a planned election was also told to leave the meeting. Police moved in on the meeting while teachers chanted war songs, and as the union officials hurriedly drove away from the venue.

Teachers accuse their union leaders of high-handedness, of failure to resolve the salary disputes, and of an unwillingness to update them on the progress of the pay-raise negotiations with the government. (The Nation (Kenya) via: allAfrica.com)

Government forces Toronto
strikers back to work
The provincial government in Toronto, Canada ordered some 23,000 striking city employees, including 841 garbage collectors, back to work July 11, ending what had been the largest strike of its kind in Canadian history.

The two unions representing the workers accuse the city of attempting a bust in order to usher in privatization of services. They point as proof to the city’s consistent unwillingness to broker a deal to protect workers’ job security, despite the withdrawal of essential public services. The back-to-work legislation was passed just in time to clean up rotting uncollected garbage in preparation for the visit later this month of Pope John Paul II.

The process of negotiations through binding arbitration will begin immediately. (AP, CUPE)