M-TH: Souh Africa

[Bob Malecki]

[Bob Malecki] Forwarding this from the WIVL which gives quite a bit of info on South Africa.   Bob    FORWARD TO AN INDEFINITE GENERAL STRIKE! WORKERS, FORCE THE COSATU LEADERSHIP TO IMMEDIATELY SET THE DATE! BREAK THE ALLIANCE WITH THE CAPITALIST ANC AND SACP NOW! The scene is set for a sellout of the current struggle: In defiance of the August Cosatu Congress decision to call a General Strike in support of the public sector workers, the Cosatu leadership are not mobilising at all. They have deliberately abandoned the public sector workers to fight on their own. The Cosatu leadership have even separated the decision to call a General Strike against retrenchments/unemployment from this fight - they have set the date for this strike in MAY of NEXT YEAR. By this time many thousands more workers will have been retrenched and if the trend continues the public sector workers would, most likely, by that time have long been defeated. The Cosatu leadership’s statement that the govt’s end of talks does not really mean the end of talks, means that they are desperately trying behind the scenes to strike a deal to sellout the workers. Why do we say so? While formally still maintaining its position of 7,3% for public sector workers and 8,3% for educators, the Cosatu leadership HAS ALREADY AGREED TO A WAGE CUT! We say this because the union proposal for the funding of the increase IS TO REDUCE THE STATE’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE PENSION FROM 15% TO 13%. The govt wants to fund an "increase" from the backpay and delayed promotions owed to public sector workers of more than R6.5 Billion! Further, information of the latest negotiations is being kept away from members of the public sector unions and from the broader working class. No meetings are being called to get mandates from the rank and file, nor to keep them informed. The ANC-SACP-Cosatu alliance is dividing the working class! The ANC govt, ably supported by the SACP, is exploiting the fact that a long public sector strike will affect the working class more than the capitalists and parliamentarians. They have their private hospitals and schools to go to, so will not feel anything. The NP regime exploited this weak position of the public sector employees for years. Now the ANC govt is continuing this trend and over the past 2 years have cut wages. The Cosatu leadership, by saying that the public sector workers must lead this fight, are setting up the strike to fail. The Cosatu leadership understand full well that only the broader working class can stop this attack by the ANC govt. This is precisely why the August Cosatu Congress resolved to call a General Strike in defence of the public sector workers. Yet the leadership treat workers’ decisions with contempt! To the Cosatu leadership, it is more important to serve the ANC govt and their masters, capitalism imperialism, than the working class. Such leadership needs to thrown out and replaced by militant fighters that put the interest of the working class before anything else. The implications of the current struggle for the broader working class: The ANC govt knows that by negotiating now for the next year’s increase, will place public sector workers at a further disadvantage [they know it is unlikely that workers will go on strike twice in one year; further, at this time of year it is close to school final examinations] - the govt wants to force another wage cut onto the 1,1 million public sector employees - their whole conduct is to force a 2-3 year agreement. Centralised bargaining and the right to strike is being attacked by the ANC govt. The 3 year plan of the govt aims for inflation of 5% next year. Thus if the govt can force wage cuts now, then the govt will be able to manipulate inflation to supposedly drop over the next few months. This means that all workers covered by agreements for inflation-linked increases will automatically get wage cuts next year. The capitalist class will also use the lower inflation rate to force wage cuts. The trend of unilaterally forcing wage cuts and lockouts will be followed by the capitalist class. Already the recent Telkom lockout was a direct result of the govt attitude to workers’ demands for a living wage. Telkom refused to give a 10% increase, despite a R6 Billion profit over the past year. With over 9 million unemployed and their families solely dependent on employed workers for survival, any wage cut is a direct attack on their very existence! With over 500 000 school leavers facing lives of permanent unemployment, any wage cut is an attack on the youth as well! This attack is only the start. Already the ANC govt plans to amend the LRA and amend the Basic Conditions of Employment Act to make it easier to dismiss workers and to bring in more flexible working arrangements. The capitalists will go on the offensive soon and roll back several of the conditions of employment that have been won through hard struggle. Already Asmal, the Education Minister is talking about creating a non-union environment in the Council of Education. The entire union movement could be dismembered and destroyed if the ANC govt is not stopped in its tracks. The Cosatu alliance with the capitalist ANC and SACP is the biggest obstacle to the success of the struggle of the public sector workers! From the start the Cosatu leadership have put the interests of the capitalist ANC and SACP before that of the public sector workers and indeed of the broader working class: The Cosatu leadership postponed the finalisation of the public sector wage negotiations from the first part of the year until after the June elections. They gave up a strategic time before the elections when the ANC would not have dared to act as arrogantly as they are now by unilaterally imposing a below inflation increase. The Cosatu leadership knew there was going to be a deadlock but placed the election campaign of the ANC above that of workers interests. The Cosatu leadership deliberately lied to the workers, even bringing out glossy booklets by the hundreds of thousands of how "worker-friendly" the ANC is. Many officials and hundreds of shopstewards were misled or participated in lying to the working class on a big scale. Despite the massive failure of even the limited RDP, the Cosatu leadership mobilised millions of workers behind the ANC manifesto promise of " jobs for all at a living wage" and ending "the tide of retrenchments". All along the Cosatu leadership have given the assurance that this dispute was merely a dispute with the employer and the alliance was intact! By this they were trying to hide their own role of tying the working class to the interests of the capitalism imperialism. The ANC govt is a capitalist govt and an alliance with it is an alliance with imperialism These attacks are directly a result of the govt economic policy, GEAR, which was drawn up by the International Monetary Fund [IMF], an imperialist organisation. A key part of GEAR is to cut on public expenditure such as social services and public sector wages and jobs. At the same time capital is given benefits such as not having to pay tax for up to 10 years ; where company tax is paid , this has been reduced by 5%. The govt receives less tax from the capitalists and accordingly cuts on expenses. Thus the maintaining of a high rate of profit by the capitalists or even increasing it, is directly related to the cutbacks on social expenditure, wage cuts and retrenchment of public sector workers. Thus the ANC govt cannot find R600 million for the workers demands but can guarantee absolutely that their first priority is the R48 Billion interest payment for the "apartheid" debt. They are so cynical that they can approve the R30 Billion weapons purchase for being the policeman of imperialist plunder in Africa, while insisting on the wage cut for 1,1 million employees! The Cosatu leaders do not fight this - for them the solution is to reduce the workers pensions to fund the "increase". Further, the Cosatu leadership instead of defending jobs, have called for a summit to retrench fellow workers! At a recent SACP conference , the very Moleketi and Radebe, who are spearheading the IMF/GEAR attacks on the working class, were in complete agreement with SACP members who are currently at the leadership of Cosatu. With leaders like these in Cosatu, any action led by them is bound to be betrayed at the drop of a hat. Further, the top leadership of the SACP as well as the ex-leaders of Cosatu [President Gomomo; General Secretary Shilowa; Vice President Connie September, etc] are by their very silence not only agreeing with the wage cuts but also the lockout of Cosatu members! It seems the gravy train goes hand in hand with short memories! In short, the alliance is to tie the working class to the interest of capital - there can be no other explanation. Cosatu workers, now is the time to break the alliance with the ANC and SACP, the lackeys of capitalism imperialism! The importance of working class independence  Even if the alliance were to be broken tomorrow, this is still no guarantee that the fight against the public sector wage cuts and mass retrenchments will succeed. The same ANC and SACP leaders would still be at the leadership of Cosatu. What is required is to kick out the leadership and to replace them with fighters who stand for true working class independence from the govt and capital. In the British miners strike of 1985 the TUC [the trade union federation there] was allied to the Labour Party - thus it was formally independent of the Tory govt led by Thatcher, yet they failed to call out the entire working class in support of the miners. They left the miners to fight on their own for almost a year when they were eventually defeated. All public sector unions have agreed to call for participation in the MTEF [the 3 year Medium Term Expenditure Framework] process. This is a serious mistake as the MTEF is part of GEAR and calling for participation in it is to be co-opted into implementing the plans of the IMF in South Africa. Workers should reject the MTEF - the demands of the working class and fellow poor must be put first! The way forward: The Cosatu leadership must be forced to immediately set a date for the starting of the General Strike. The only way to stop the attacks by Mbeki-Thatcher is to mobilise for an this to be an indefinite General Strike. A strike of short duration could be undermined by capitalists stockpiling and by a failure of the union leadership to adequately prepare for it. Also we need to draw the distinction between a General Strike and a stayaway - a General Strike means going to the factories and workplaces and ensuring that production is shut down. A stayaway would leave the workplaces in the control of the bosses and opens the door to scabbing. We call for all workers to mobilise in their respective unions [whether public sector or private] for joint mass worker meetings to force the leadership to call a General Strike and to immediately mobilise for it! The industrial workers across the country should take the lead throughout this struggle. Without waiting for these joint meetings to be called, we call for the immediate formation of strike committees at all workplaces , ensuring that links with students and the unemployed are built. These committees should prepare the ground for the strike and be in control for the entire duration of the strike. The demands of the students for when examinations should be re-scheduled, must be accomodated. The demands of the unemployed for jobs for all at a living wage should be incorporated in the demands of the strike. Workers should take the lead in calling meeting at schools with the parents, students and teachers, to ensure united support in mobilising for the General Strike. Forming and building strike committees is the best way to organise for a strong strike and guard against a sellout. If attempts are made to sellout, which is likely under the current leadership, the strike committees would be best placed to take the strike forward. Unemployment is a feature of capitalism and its drive for profits. Each gain that we win today, will be undermined by the capitalist before a long time passes. We must never forget that the cheap labour system in SA has been born through the smashing of the resistance movement. The trade union struggle can at best be a defensive weapon against the capitalist. We need to set our sights on abolishing exploitation for all time. Thus, more than ever before, we need to build an independent revolutionary working class party to lead the fight to overthrow capitalism. It is the only vehicle to achieve Socialism. The role of the SACP is to tie the working class to capitalism imperialism - Any talk of Cosatu launching a "Red October" to build the SACP, given its class betrayal, can only be seen as a sick joke. The building of a truly revolutionary working class party will be decisive in the coming period. From the international character of capitalist system, the party we need to build must be part of a revolutionary International, the rebuilt Fourth International. Waging the current fight must go hand in hand with preparatory work to build this party. COSATU WORKERS: BREAK THE ALLIANCE WITH THE CAPITALIST ANC ANDSACP! REMOVE THE TREACHEROUS LEADERSHIP! FORWARD TO AN INDEFINITE GENERAL STRIKE IN DEFENCE OF A LIVING WAGE AND JOBS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS! DOWN WITH LOCKOUTS! DOWN WITH RETRENCHMENTS! DOWN WITH GEAR/IMF ECONOMIC POLICY! FORWARD TO JOBS FOR ALL AT A LIVING WAGE! BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY WORKING CLASS PARTY! FORWARD TO SOCIALISM! ************************************************************************************** Despite our limited resources, Workers International Vanguard League stands ready to give whatever assistance we can to this crucial fight. We can be contacted at: WIVL Head Office: 1st Floor Community House, 41 Salt River rd, Salt River, 7925. Ph 021 4476777 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gauteng: PO Box 726 Ennerdale, 1826. Ph 011 855 3481 [for messages] Kzn: PO Box 2717, Durban, 4000 Eastern Cape: PO Box 22903, Port Elizabeth, 6000