WINNING LETTERA challenge to other shop stewards!
I think it is fair for me to share with you my first experience as a shop steward representing my comrade in a disciplinary hearing. I was very nervous and scared of making mistakes, but I quickly gathered some courage and made the comrade feel well represented.
The proceedings went on despite our argument that the chairman should excuse himself because he was the complainant. And the comrade was found guilty and she was dismissed. I felt a very big rock crashing my heart and I could not even look at the comrade in her eyes ‘coz I felt I had failed.
During lunch-time I reported to the comrades what happened and they all called for the reinstatement of the dismissed comrade and that the chairman must go. Production was stopped for about an hour and a half. Ultimately the comrade was reinstated. And she is at work as I send you this. This showed to me that when you are united you can conquer. Viva Numsa viva! Viva comrades viva!
Druza, ZF Lemforder
Accreditation of trade union educationAs a recruitment strategy, trade union education must be accredited and taught as a school subject. Students are taught ‘human resources’ at tertiary level and therein trade union history in South Africa is taught as a perception from capitalism. Trade unions were not consulted to talk to their history. Students as potential workers must be taught trade unionism, its origins and history to prepare them for the workplace environment.
We have been approached by students studying human resources who want to undergo in-service training in trade union institutions and not capitalist establishments.
The problem we were confronted with was that their technikons would not recognise our in-service training simply because our trade union education is not accredited. This is still the apartheid set-up. We therefore call upon Numsa to implement the Education Indaba Conference resolution to realise this dream.
Simon Tladi,Sedibeng regional secretary
The role of the Transport Seta in the Losses to the Mineworkers Provident FundWhen the till is full, rest assured someone will put in their hands. The whole premise that the Setas would harvest money from business to fund training means that vast sums would be in transit. This must be a bonanza for the more wicked members of society who see dollar signs flash in front of their eyes and now want some of the action.
The dues paid to the Setas are public money, placing a burden on the Setas to ensure that the moneys are risk free and not to be bandied around the JSE and third rate investment management companies. With the seeming lack of capacity and neglect of governance it would be surprising if many of the Setas were not looting the store.
They need to be investigated, not just forensic investigation of how they manage their investments. The losses incurred by The Mineworkers Provident Fund need to be investigated to determine whether or not the Fund followed the lead of the Transport Seta and if so is there some culpability within the Transport Seta that could provide some if not all recovery for the Fund. If the Setas are suspect they should not only be investigated on their financial management but also their training providers and the standard of those providers and the relationships of those providers to the Setas.
The collapse of Fidentia is criminal in the extreme and latent thoughts regarding capital punishment come to mind, but it does open a very large can of worms and places the role of the Setas under suspicion. What is needed now is a Government Commission of Enquiry into Seta mismanagement.
Greg Stanley,Toyota SA
Negotiations 2007 – Do or Die!That time of the year has come where as a trade union movement we will be focusing on our fundamental business of fighting for what is the right of our members. Members themselves will develop proposals that in their view will make a huge difference in changing their lives for the better. As a reformist organ we will be engaging capital in the global context and all our sectors will be subjected to this phenomenon.
The auto and tyre sectors are facing a huge challenge. The Japanese have taken a strong view to ensure that they take pay and cuts and that there should be an increment freeze. Companies such as Daimler Chrysler are about to introduce a new C-Class with four months layoff. Other sectors take the tune from these sectors in one way or another.I’m raising these matters because our President Tom said in the 2001 NBC that we must make demands that are achievable, talk to members’ needs and that we are able to defend in public. The “Do or Die” (see pamphlet) kind of approach vis a vis the kinds of challenges that we are faced with in all these sectors has an element of creating an expectation that we will not be able to meet. It’s my view that we should be able as an organisation to understand the membership that we have and the environment that they operate under.
It is a known fact that our members can stand up and be counted in a battle against capital and it’s also important to note that it becomes difficult to retreat once that battle has begun. We cannot raise the expectations of our members even before the battle has begun, in fact even before they actually formulate their demands. I believe we might be shooting ourselves in the foot because once we are unable to sustain the dying part we might end up with a weak organisation that is unable to have life after death!So for me comrades the issue is not about whether we cannot deliver but whether our history of shopping lists of demands will ensure that we deliver our members to prosperity through the DO or DIE slogan. I’m not trying to be a prophesier of doom but we need to be cautious with the slogans that we develop as our president did in 2001.
We always strive to ensure that our members receive the best deal through collective bargaining. Comrade Vavi has always indicated that what we don’t win on the streets we can win in the boardroom. It’s important to approach these negotiations with clear goals and a mission. Let’s stand up and be counted!
Xolisile Copiso, Queenstown local