Dear Numsa NewsMore than 50 000 workers belong to labour brokers. They have no benefits, get no increase, have no union, no uniform. When you get old they just dump you, with nothing, no cent!Sam Ramajake, VWSA Roodekop
Dear Numsa NewsDo you ever think of a worker recently dismissed, whether a male or female with a family of one teenager at tertiary, one child at lower primary school and a daughter who has dropped out of school mid-second year as a result of accidental pregnancy in university? Do you ever think of the great work done by our officials in making sure this worker is reinstated? Do you ever think of the implications of the workers just being discarded after many years of sweating profits?Comrades it is true that you will not feel the way that individual feels. You will just know! For our officials to achieve even a tiny good “˜for workers’ is an effort. Their intellectual capacity is measured by the amount of their achievements. When the official negotiates unexpectedly in favour of the workers, they say “˜this is a real leader’ but a month down the line when engagements with capital are not the same as the previous time, they whisper “˜Oooh! I knew that one was useless!’ One day during the week we were about to settle in auto. I saw the Eastern Cape regional secretary in one of the streets in central Port Elizabeth, jogging during his spare time. I first did not know him but my eyes recognised him. I realised that was his secret to stay healthy and able to think better!Kaya ka Yoko, VWSA
Dear Numsa News
Is this the new dress code for marches?At the engineering strike in July, Phutase Tseki spotted this young Numsa member. Decked out in his red pants, red shirt, white tie, white jacket and ‘amasharpies’ he outsmarted his fellow comrades!
I have supported Numsa for many years. But my worry is that if the employers retrench me what does Numsa do for this worker that has supported them for so many years? Companies give packages, Numsa must also think quick for its members. As you are black leaders, give members something – please do!You can give your members R200 each to show your members you support them for so many years. Or do you not worry if workers get the chop from their employers? In the last meeting the shop steward told us that Numsa has made R5m – that shows us that Numsa has enough money to do this.Anonymous, Lotus Gardens
WINNING LETTERRemembering 20 years:In the last Numsa News we asked Numsa members to write in and tell us their most memorable memory of Numsa’s history. We said we would put them in Numsa News No 6. However, this one touched us so much that we are putting it in now!
A worker remembers!It was July 10 1991 when I got a job at Hawker Siddeley Transformers at Wadeville. It was at about 8.45am when another production manager threatened to fire me because I was standing at the heater. Remember I was just 1 hour 30 minutes old at the company. One brave guy intervened. The guy was a Numsa shop steward by the name of David Ntlatlana – he saved me!The next day I attended the Numsa factory meeting, that is where I joined the giant union. It was not easy as we were not able to be at work for five working days because of the violence in our township (Katlehong). In 1992 we embarked on a national engineering strike. That is where I met comrades like Elias Monage whom I knew in the early 1980s as he was one of the leaders of the Sekhukhune Youth Congress. In 1996 I was elected as a shop steward. There were three unions in the factory. My team and myself with the help of organisers and local office bearers started to negotiate with our employer about the agency shop. In 1998 we won it and the so-called Uwusa collapsed and was swallowed by Numsa. I was elected secretary of the LCCC at Wadeville local. In 2000 I was elected deputy local secretary. In 2004 I resigned as a shop steward because of other commitments and family matters. In 2006, the company invited me to receive my 15-years service award. The recipients were wearing suits and ties. I was not given the dress code, so I decided to wear my favourite Numsa t-shirt! I was number 3 on the list but I was called at the end. One foreman asked me why I was wearing a Numsa t-shirt and I answered: “Because I am proud!” It is a long story to tell. In 1998 I was charged for not being at work on Monday after I was attending the funeral of the late general secretary Mbuyiselo Ngwenda. The charges were withdrawn the same Monday. In 2000 they released me to attend the Mafikeng National Congress without pay. I never had a problem with that but after a week I got my full pay. Currently I make sure that all new employees join Numsa. I share what I have learned with shop stewards and the entire Numsa members.Long live the spirit of Mbuyiselo Ngwenda and all the fallen heroes and heroines of metalworkers.Oupa Machacha Hawker Siddeley Transformers