May 1987Launch of Numsa. Moses Mayekiso elected general secretary although still in jail.
1987 Bosses use law to declare engineering strike illegal;
1988 National engineering strike wins May Day and June 16 as paid public holidays
1989 Auto workers stage successful demonstrations and work stoppages to force all auto employers to join the new National Bargaining Forum.
1989 Tyre industrial council extended to cover all plants across country (except for Dunlop)
1989 Numsa now the biggest single union at the Metal Bargaining Council; Numsa demands and wins conversion of Engineering pension fund to provident fund
1989 Numsa active in massive campaign against proposed amendments to the LRA. The campaign included: short stoppages/demonstrations in all factories on specified day; two-day stayaway; month-long consumer boycott of white shops; ban on overtime.
Late 1980s – Early 1990s Violence between workers supporting Inkatha and those supporting Cosatu intensifies. Many Numsa activists and officials murdered or injured.
1991 25000 auto workers go on strike for 13 days
Nov 1991 Maxwell Xulu, Numsa’s President, suspended for being a police informer
During 1991 35 000 engineering workers retrenched
1992 3-week national engineering strike – thousands of workers dismissed after employers challenge legality; employers agree to pay increase on actual rates of pay
1992-1995Motor workers receive no wage increase as employers delay negotiations and try to break the Council
1993 Auto employers agree to 5 grades with 10% differentials between grades and agree to agency shop
1993 Union adopts three-year bargaining strategy
1994 Month-long auto strike to demand ‘closure of wage gap’
1994 Many Numsa officials and shop stewards leave Numsa to join government as MPs, Ministers and councillors
1995 Numsa signs first 3-year agreement with the auto sector. Agreement closes the wage gap, provides training and time to report back to members
1997 Numsa general secretary, Enoch Godongwana, leaves to take up post in Eastern Cape government. Ngwenda takes over as GS, Peter Dantjie as Deputy GS
1998 Motor workers come out on strike for the first time ever and stay out for 5 weeks
1999 Numsa GS, Mbuyi Ngwenda, dies after a short illness; Government passes new laws that promote skills training for workers and encourage employment equity; Nationwide shop steward elections
2000 Cosatu launches jobs campaign 1300 workers fired at VWSA, Uitenhage after illegal strike over Numsa’s suspension of its shop stewards Setas replace industry training boards
2001 Numsa begins organisational renewal process ; Numsa starts research on causes of job losses in the lead up to the engineering and auto job summits
2003 Engineering agreement extended to entire SA; Agency shop in engineering starts from April; May – 51 Cosatu members killed in bus accident while travelling to May Day in the Northern Cape; Pension legislation finalized which gives workers a right to surpluses in pension/provident funds; Numsa wins wage increases for motor workers of 3% above inflation rate and bigger increases for Area B; National shop stewards elections – to hold office until 2007
2004Numsa campaigns for ANC, especially in KZN and WC, and helps ANC to win in those provinces; September: 7th Numsa National Congress; Engineering employers disagree on distribution of pension surplus; motor sector signs three-year agreement
2005Unemployment continues to rise. Numsa puts its weight behind Cosatu’s campaign against job losses participating in marches, demonstrations throughout the year.Numsa holds training and education conferences to focus its strategy around these two areas. Engineering march to demand employers increase their wage offer. Cosatu turns 20
2006Numsa’s Mbuyiselo Ngwenda Bursary Scheme begins; Numsa campaigns for ANC in local government elections; more than 10 Numsa comrades elected as councillors; Cosatu activists arrested at Swaziland border blockade; Numsa active participant in Cosatu’s jobs and poverty campaign; Numsa’s Western Cape region holds Non-racialism conference; Former 1st Vice President, Vincent Mabuyakhulu, passes away; Numsa’s Moses Mayekiso Conference Centre opened; Numsa now owns all its regional offices and its head office
Numsa salutes you, its members on 20 years of struggle!Ask people to think of Numsa and people will give you the leaders’ names – Daniel Dube, Moses Mayekiso, Mbuyiselo Ngwenda, David Madupela, Mtutuzeli Tom, Silumko Nondwangu. But Numsa’s militant character does not rest on its leaders. It rests on YOU, the members who have not hesitated in coming forward when needed to support the union’s militant stance on issues.
In Cosatu strikes, marches and demonstrations, it is YOU who have been and are in the forefront holding banners, and flying the Numsa flag high. When Numsa turns 20 in May, many of you will also celebrate 20 years in Numsa. It is YOU that are Numsa’s unsung heroes. It is you that Numsa salutes on its birthday!
Birthday bash!Come and celebrate The first Numsa members to get to the venues will receive a free Numsa t-shirt. Find out details from your shop steward or union office.
May 19 2007
May 26 2007
DurbanCape TownPort ElizabethBloemfontein
Curries FountainBlue Downs StadiumCentenary HallLoch Logan
Gauteng
Huntersfield StadiumKatlehongGauteng.
From the early members’ mouths!Xolisile CopisoStateline Pressed Metal in Queenstown has a rich history of workers’ struggle and 100% membership including casuals because of its high consciousness level. Many of these comrades have 20 years in Numsa. This is what they say about Numsa: “There are stories to tell – it’s a shame that there are no ears to listen.”
“We have been through hell in this company. The unions prior to the formation of Numsa did not manage to unite workers and face capital head on. Comrades went to jail for this union. It is still vivid in my mind when the then Transkei government (Mbotoli) came to Stateline and said that if Transkei citizens were part of Numsa they were going to be taken back to Transkei.”
“In 1998, three of us went to a Numsa meeting in East London at the Kennaway Hotel. During lunch we took a stroll and met two policemen. They asked us who we were and what we were doing in East London. These two officers wanted to arrest us (for being out of our homelands). We told them that we worked for Stateline. The officer thought that we were working for the State. We told them we were on an undercover mission. They believed us and that’s how we managed to be released!” Toto Nondyol
“I remember when a tiny small comrade (a Numsa organiser) by the name of Bimba Manqabashana, a very intelligent boy, came to visit our factory. We undermined him at first because we believed that comrades that came to Queenstown were supposed to be mature individuals who had lots of experience. But this ‘young boy’ could really talk which resulted in the whole factory driving to town to participate in a march that was taking place during our 30-minute lunch break.” Comrade Skepe
“We were dismissed left and right and treated as nobodies. The liaison committee tried its best to protect us but to no avail. We were part of the Border region then and the merger of the union consolidated our struggle. The formation of Numsa was indeed a liberation of the mind and the beginning of the untangling of the shackles of exploitation,” said V Maqoko.
“In those days we put joining forms in our lunch boxes to ensure that impimpi zamabhulu would not see them.” Comrade XeloWe salute just some of the Stateline shop stewards and activists who played a critical role in building Numsa – Joe Marasi, Archie Sondlo, Steven Ndzandza, Mzwandile Facu, Mxolisi Xelo, Toto Nondyola, Zola Mehlala, Welsh Maqoko, Zandisile Gqola, Bathini Njokweni, Simphiwe Tikolo.
Numsa through a shop steward’s eyesMany shop stewards have held the reins at their workplaces for many, many years. For many it was not an easy ride and continues to be a challenge! Ayanda Billie spoke to Eric Stemele, a VW worker who has been a member since 1987 and who was first elected a shop steward in 1995.
Tell us about those times:During those times members were well mobilised and ready to take action at any given time. I still have a warning in my records for refusing to work on Goodyear tyres since we were pledging solidarity with Goodyear workers. Management knew that workers everywhere made use of their weapon to fight back any kind of malpractice in the workplace. Tool-down was a normal practice by workers and they made sure that they achieved their demands. Numsa assisted them to make sure that there was minimal impact by the employers in disciplining workers who had embarked on strike action.
What was your most difficult time as a shop steward?When the union was negotiating the draft agreement in 1998 because there were a lot of issues that management wanted to introduce and these were rejected by workers. Those issues that the Union couldn’t win made some workers hostile towards the Union. They passed a vote of no confidence in the leadership to an extent that some of these issues led to the mass dismissal of workers in 2000. It was also after this dismissal that I experienced difficulty as a shop steward. Workers seemed not to trust the Union, some even blamed the Union for such a dismissal, others even openly said they wanted to see the case of the dismissed workers finalised and only then would they think about joining the Union. It really took time for the Union to be on its feet again through dedicated membership and leaders that vowed to carry the Union to its heights once again.
Is there any change in the life of workers?There is a great change. Through training, workers have acquired skills that they can use to earn more money in their pockets. Computer literacy is one of those skills which workers didn’t have before the multi-skilling framework.
Here in VW after completion of the multi-skilling, employees are remunerated at maximum skill level 4 and also qualify to hire a lease car which is one of the benefits available after being trained. Further to this there is what is called learnerships where advanced stages of training are provided and these break the ceiling of maximum skill level 4 but through applications workers can move to higher levels.
What does the future hold for workers?With the era of globalisation, it is difficult to tell. Capital is maximising profits where cheap labour is and they simply relocate production to where such a situation exists. Multinational companies are taking orders from mother plants abroad and they can’t reverse decisions taken by these plants. The competition amongst workers in different locations gives workers a huge challenge because they are made to benchmark against each other and for those regarded as unproductive; their jobs are on the line. European factories have got capacity that can easily take away jobs from other countries if bosses so wish. Workers are forced to save costs on work done and reworked without being paid for such rework. Those that are unskilled or semi-skilled are hardly hit as there is no future for them. We must encourage workers to acquire skills that they can use in the future so that their jobs can be secured.
Uyinsimbi KayigobiPaulina Mohale
Numsa my unionUyinsimbi kayigobiYou fought side by sideFor workers liberationYou fought against privatisationOne industry one unionIs our policy.
It is almost dawn, dawn for privatisation20 years you go stronger
Stronger in fighting for workersAnd the liberation of our country….
Bosses detect workers’ survival wagesAnd conditionsConditions conduciveTo themselves
Workers survive on peanutsJust peanuts and nothing but peanutsThe wages they pay haveThe magical spillDisappear from our pocketsAnd from our hands…
The bosses make profits in millionsYet the workers eat fromCrumbs like biblical Lazarus!The divas and divassesThey show you a white toothYet they do not laugh but grinThey are never bossesBut parasites in disguise…
Numsa ngiye saba uku’kubiza ngegama’Ngoba wena uyinsimbi kayigobi!
You are unshakeableYou shake the GearWe will smash capitalismAnd introduce socialismSocialism is the future….