SACCAWU Press Release 30 December 2009 Sun International striking workers to march on Sun City and Wild Coast Sun Wild Coast Sun, 31 December 2009
Sun City, 31 December 2009
In the light of the failure by management to seriously work towards resolving the dispute between Sun International and SACCAWU, our members will proceed with mass pickets and marches in various parts of the country on the 31st of December. These actions will be coupled with secondary /solidarity strikes by our members employed at Alpha SPAR, Squires Loft establishments and other Companies organised under the banner of SACCAWU at Sun City Resorts as well as Fedics at Carnival City. Further secondary strikes, jointly with other COSATU affiliates, is also under consideration and so far, the COSATU Moses Kotane Local is working all out to mobilise other Affiliates. This is part of our ongoing campaign to intensify pressure on management to negotiate in good faith towards resolving the strike. We note with disappointment that the attitude of top management throughout this dispute has been plagued by negotiating in bad faith. In fact, the decision by Mr. David Coutts-Trotter, the CEO of Sun International, to go on vacation while faced with the biggest strike at Sun International in recent times is an example of the disdain and arrogance with which the company has been treating the Union and striking workers throughout the dispute. Instead, the company has relied on private security, Metro Police, SAPS and middle and junior managers to assault, insult, frustrate and disrupt striking workers on the picket-line. On the picket-lines our striking members have been subjected to extreme provocation and abuse including being insulted in the most despicable sexual and racial language. While these tactics, clearly designed to break the strike, by calling workers “kaffirs” and threatening to push security batons up women strikers private parts, the unity of the workers has not been broken, if anything they have become more determined in their unity and action. We are concerned with the role private security companies like Magnun Shield are playing in fuelling violence and racial tensions as well as the sexual abuse our members are subjected to by employees of this company and intend mobilising organised workers in the sector for solidarity action. It is clear that the racism prevalent at Sun International and recently exposed by COSATU, now reveals itself as the company becomes desperate to break the strike. It is in this context and the intransigence of the company that we have decided to intensify pressure on the Company. In addition to ongoing international on-line campaign, through Labour Start, that saw more than a thousand letters written to the Company CEO, we have now also communicated with the International Union of Food workers to explore ways of further intensifying international pressure, including if necessary to communicate with FIFA about working conditions in the hospitality sector, in particular Sun International. SACCAWU also intends setting up meetings with the FIFA LOC and the Ministry of Police to discuss the problems faced by our members during the strike including the issues of racial and sexual abuse as well as the issue of violence striking workers are subjected to. The first of the actions in the intensification of the strike will be mass marches at Sun City and Wild Coast resorts planned for 31 December 2009. Mass pickets with support from COSATU and the community. SACCAWU has also begun mobilising the local and international community to boycott Sun International until the dispute is resolved. OUR DEMANDS remain:
Whilst we are still fully committed to finding an amicable settlement to the current strike and dispute we also note that the absence of the Company’s Chief Executive Officer makes it impossible to find such a settlement as soon as possible since he is the one who has to mandate the Company’s negotiating team. Mike Abrahams: 076 138 0394, [email protected] Head Office: 011 403 8333 Lucas Ramatlhodi: 082 336 5325 -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
