For just more than one week in August, more than 20 newish Numsa organisers together with two from the newly formed Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions attended a Numsa organiser course. Organisers were equipped with the basics on the different sectors in Numsa, how to manage their time, running effective campaigns, the importance of servicing members and how to use the Labour Relations Act to defend and assist workers. Bonga Ngwane, Pietermaritzburg local organiser, shares his views on the workshop. I was privileged to be a part of Numsa’s New Organisers Workshop which took place in Johannesburg at the Elijah Barayi Memorial College from August 24-30, 2003 .
Amongst other things, we learnt the importance of rendering quality service to our members. I want to share with other comrades what I think this means:
meeting the needs of our members
making sure that our members leave our offices happy
making sure that our offices are accessible to our members
avoid committing ourselves without diarising our appointments
avoid procrastination because it is the thief of time
be friendly to our members at all times
treat our members equally – no member is better than the other
continue operating professionally so that we cement the relationships that we have built with our current members.
There will be no organisation without members. To sustain our organisation for the betterment of our future generation, we should do everything possible to keep them happy.