Achieving rights at the workplace is the first hurdle. Guarding them against erosion is the second. But if workers are divided and the union does not service its members well, that is all an employer needs to push workers back to the first hurdle. Vanessa Le Roux reports on the whittling away of workers’ rights at Cape Town engineering firm, Andrag.
“Mr. P Andrag was a German missionary who came to South Africa with his bible under his arm and prayed for our people. But when our people opened their eyes, they stood with the bible and he with our land.” That is how one of the Andrag workers describes his old boss.
Workers at the 101 year old company have lived through a lot of changes.
In the apartheid era, workers were called “outa (ape), hotnot or oujong”. Paul, who is still working at Andrag recalls, “when I started there one of the manager’s names was Paul. They told me ‘your name cannot be Paul’ and so they called me Mugabe.” Up to today his co-workers still call him Mugabe.
In the ’70s coloured workers performed the duties of foremen, but their job titles could not be the same as the white men so they were called leading hands.
In those years workers earned a mere R23 per week For them it was a lot as they had no travelling expenses. The majority of the workers resided in Kraaifontein not far from the factory.
As workers they had little schooling and accepted these conditions, the ‘boer’ had a right to hit workers; they had no workers’ rights.
The union changed things
But things started to change in 1985. Comrade Cummings from the National Automobile and Allied Workers Union (Naawu) came from Leyland South Africa .
He told them of unions and workers’ rights. They then joined Naawu and paid subscriptions by hand at the offices where Joe Foster was their first organiser.
Foster was a hard-liner. He gave the company hell. Workers went on a 3-day strike for trade union recognition. After the second day they suspended the strike and won recognition. The shop stewards won rights to meetings with management and general meetings.
Throughout the apartheid struggles, workers were very militant, they proudly say, “we fought for our freedom in South Africa; every stay-away Andrag workers participated.”
If there was an issue in their community, for example housing, workers would march to the municipal offices and table their demands.
In the early “˜80s they managed to get the company registered with the engineering bargaining council. They were now paid with payslips – no longer in little envelopes.
In the ’90s Numsa called a national engineering strike. Gathered in the cloakroom on the second day, they were told they were fired and stayed at home for two weeks.
They took the matter to their union offices and the labour court ruled that the dismissal was unfair; the company had to take them back.
Workers win more rights
The company fired some of its managers and the management structure changed. In 1994 the hype of the ‘new South Africa ‘ brought improvements for members.
In 2000, they gained more rights. They won a service allowance, an employment equity committee was established, workers received training at various institutions and ABET took place during working hours.
Shop stewards won organisational rights including the right to caucus during working hours with regular monthly meetings. The company assisted with housing by opening accounts where they could buy building material at cost price.
They were entitled to a free doctor’s visit, had a permanent nursing sister at the plant and welders were sent for regular tests at private hospitals. Every year they received the flu vaccine free of charge
Late in 1994, the amendments to the LRA spelt out that all company agreements and industry agreements must be aligned with the new LRA and Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Workers felt that the union official failed them badly by not re-negotiating their recognition agreement.
Rights reduced
In 2000 the company issued them with new contracts. All the rights they had won over the years were taken away.
The new director Theo Andrag who came from Bophutatswana where he was used to exploiting workers, made it very clear, “hier word nie skeidings pakette gegee nie.” (If you go on retirement the company doesn’t owe you anything.)
Numsa shop stewards tried on various occasions to meet with the company’s legal advisor, Dr. Jordaan, but he was never available to discuss matters.
In 2001 workers demanded to see their employer and remained in the canteen. In the meantime, the union declared a dispute on the interpretation of the merger as it believed the Recognition Agreement signed in 1988 was still valid.
Jordaan has made it clear that he does not want Numsa in the plant. The company believes it is through Numsa that productivity is low. But Numsa members believe they are the most productive workers. They say non-members stand around and are the cause of low levels of productivity.
The company, workers say, seems to have separate rules for Numsa members and non-members. Should Numsa members step out of line, they open themselves for discipline.
They have lost their lives and their dignity, members feel depressed and humiliated. The Employment Equity Committee has ceased to work; members feel that Numsa is doing nothing for them. Training is not taking place at all, their pay dates vary from month to month. For the past three years, half an hour extra lunchtime has been forced on workers.
Members feel unhappy and disgruntled; they do not get answers or joy from Numsa officials. The turnover of organisers leads to frustration; the same story must be explained repeatedly to the new organiser.
Status of Andrag matters
However, despite members’ perception that the Union is doing nothing, Numsa is overseeing these Andrag issues in the labour court:
Recognition Agreement
Strike to be declared lawful
Changes to conditions of employment with the signing of new contracts
The extension of lunch breaks.
But the process at the labour court is a long one and it is not surprising that Andrag members feel disgruntled that their issues are not taken up.
Meanwhile the region has agreed that the local organiser will visit the members twice a month to ensure that the organisation is kept strong.