‘We are concluding the year with greater levels of unity and cohesion in our ranks, which will help us confront the daunting challenges of 2012’, the COSATU union federation said in its end of year message.
It added: ‘This year was most disappointing when it comes to hardcore economic issues.
‘We have seen a continuing world recession, which has plunged millions more into poverty all around the globe and starkly exposed the limitations of the capitalist economy to meet the basic needs of the people. . .
‘On the home front, although there was a tiny but welcome drop of 174 000 in the number of people unemployed in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the second quarter, the levels of unemployment are still far too high.
‘By the more realistic expanded figure which includes discouraged workers who have given up looking for work 7,504,000 people (36%) are still unemployed, down by 0.9% from the second quarter.
‘2011 has also seen a speed-up in the casualisation of employment, which means that the army of the working poor is also expanding. . . .
Year of the fight-back
‘Throughout the world workers have demonstrated to combat attempts to make the poor victims pay for the crisis caused by millionaire bankers by mass retrenchments and cuts in welfare spending. . .
‘Here in South Africa, workers have also been fighting back. One group of workers after another – Metrobus and municipal workers in SAMWU, Metrorail workers and cleaners in SATAWU, Rainbow Chicken and Coca Cola workers in FAWU, Clicks staff in SACCAWU, Chemical, petrochemical and glass workers in CEPPWAWU, steel and engineering workers in NUMSA, thousands of mineworkers in the NUM and virtually every other union in the private sector has engaged in militant protests. . .
Living wage and banning labour broking
‘The context of this campaign is that, given the stagnation in the economy, continued high unemployment and casualisation of employment, there has been no improvement in South Africa’s huge levels of poverty and inequality.
‘50% of the South African population lives on 8% of national income. This means for every R100 of national income earned, almost 25 million people share just R8 of that money a day. A 2010 UNDP Report says that 44% of workers in South Africa live on less than R10 a day, which leaves little change from the price of a loaf of bread, which cost R7.30 in April 2011.
‘Statistics South Africa show that about 60% of all workers employed in the formal economy earn less than R2500 a month, 34% earn less than R1000 and a staggering 15% earn less than R500 a month.
‘Millions of the poorest South Africans are kept alive only because of access to social grants, which now account for 58% of household income for the lowest income quintile in SA. Take-up of the Child Support Grant has increased dramatically in the decade to 2010. By that year, it was paid monthly to the care-givers of 10.4 million children, who accounted for about 68% of all social security recipients. . .
‘We are fighting for improved wages and better conditions, raising the “social wage” (i.e. access to housing, land, education and healthcare), to condemn exorbitant pay for executives, to oppose any relaxation of labour laws and to ban labour brokers.
‘Most casual workers, and those employed by labour brokers are deprived of security and access to trade union membership. That is why the battle against casualisation and labour brokers has been such a dominant feature of the year. . .
‘COSATU will be campaigning strongly against the proposed attack on the labour laws, including the suggestion that unions be sued for damages caused during trade union demonstrations, which threatens the right to strike.
‘The federation is organising a general strike and national demonstrations against labour broking at the end of February/beginning of March 2012.
Public transport and opposition to electronic tolling
‘The federation has declared war on the Gauteng e-tolling system. We are against the commodification of more and more public services and believe that our roads are a public asset, not a commodity to create massive profits for private companies.
‘These tolls will have a particularly devastating effect on workers who have no alternative but to drive to work because of the lack of a proper public transport system.
‘They will lead to big price increases in the shops to cover the increased cost of transporting goods, and some companies may even be forced out of business and have to retrench workers because of their increased transport costs.
We are to proceed with mass action, together with civil society organisations, and shall issue a final notice in Nedlac to give us a right to a protected strike around 7 March 2012.
‘In the meantime we urge people not to buy e-tags, and, if the tolls have not been scrapped, will be encouraging motorists to drive through the gantries without paying.
‘In this act of civil disobedience we shall not present ourselves to the courts and will not pay fines imposed for merely using public roads. We shall also continue to demand an integrated, safe, reliable and affordable public transport system. . . .
Anti-corruption campaign
‘COSATU has been ringing the alarm bells over the national crisis of corruption for many years. It is a cancer which is eating away at the heart of our democracy, driven by the capitalist culture of “me-first” and “get as rich as possible as fast as possible”, which is now invading our democratic institutions and liberation movement. . .
‘We welcome the many initiatives from government to deal with this problem, notably the sacking of two ministers and suspension of the head of the SAPS, but are worried at the slow rate at which perpetrators of corruption are being brought to court and convicted.
‘The launch of Corruption Watch on 26 January 2012 will be COSATU’s main contribution to the national campaign to end this scourge and we are confident that it will provide workers and all South Africans a safe haven to report corrupt activities in confidence, without fear of victimisation.
‘We call on all South African irrespective of their race, class, religion and to unite against the endemic crisis of corruption in the country before it is too late.’
Anti-privatisation
The federation has continued to oppose the privatisation and outsourcing of our public services. In particular we want provincial and municipal authorities to employ their own workers to carry out public works, rather than put them out to tender, which creates more opportunities for corruption and shoddy work by tenderpreneurs.
Electricity
‘We are concerned at the impact of the 25.9% Eskom tariff increase scheduled for April 2012, especially on the poorest consumers, and will continue to press for better protection for those who cannot afford such massive increases in their cost of living.
The 25.9% increase will aggravate the jobs stagnation in the manufacturing sector and slow down economic growth. Everywhere manufacturing companies complain that they are taking a strain due to high administered costs, including ever increasing municipality rates. . .’
Education
‘COSATU has signed the Basic Education and National Skills Accords. They deal with important aspects of our severely dysfunctional education system, in which 70% of matric passes are accounted for by just 11% of schools – the former white, coloured, and Asian schools.
12-year-olds in South Africa perform three times worse than 11-year-olds in Russia in reading and 16-year-olds in South Africa perform three times worse than 14-year olds in Cyprus in mathematics.
‘That is why COSATU has resolved on a campaign to adopt the worst performing schools. . .
National Health Insurance
‘COSATU has appreciated the excellent work of Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, particularly his determination to press ahead with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHI), against the rantings of all the vested interests in the private healthcare sector.
‘Most of our public health facilities are a disaster – derelict, under-staffed, under-resourced and short of essential supplies of drugs and equipment. Nothing less than a root-and-branch transformation of the entire system will start to provide the poor majority with the quality of service presently available to the rich minority. The NHI is the only way to achieve this goal.
‘We also continue to support the government’s excellent HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment programme.
International solidarity
‘COSATU has congratulated the workers of Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere who have taken over the streets and risked their lives to get rid of dictators.
‘We also send a message of solidarity to all those workers and oppressed people around the world who are still struggling against dictatorship, oppression and poverty – in Palestine, Swaziland, Western Sahara and elsewhere. We renew our call for the release of the Cuban Five patriots who remain incarcerated in the USA on trumped up charges.
‘The federation hails the success of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, which COSATU helped to organise in Cape Town. It exposed to the world the Israeli government’s brutal apartheid-style oppression of the people of Palestine.’
