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COSATU

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COSATU Constitution as amended at the 4th National Congress

Authors: COSATU
Date: 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135027 , vital:37228
Description: We the Trade Union representatives here present firmly commit ourselves to a unified democratic South Africa, free of oppression and economic exploitation. We believe that this could only be achieved under the leadership of a united working class. Our history has taught us that to achieve this goal we will have to carry out the following tasks : Organise the unorganised and build effective trade unions based on the democratic organisation of workers in the factories, mines, shops, farms and other workplaces. Organise national industrial trade unions, financed and controlled by their worker members through democratically committees. Unify these industrial unions into a national worker controlled federation. Combat the divisions amongst the workers of South Africa and unite them into a strong and confident working class. Encourage democratic worker organisation and leadership in all spheres of our society together with other progressive sectors of the community. Reinforce and encourage progressive international worker contact and solidarity so as to assist one another in our struggle. We call on all those who identify with this commitment to join us and the workers whom we represent, as comrades in the struggle ahead. We call on all trade unions to strive to unite their members in their ranks without discrimination and prejudice, and therefore resolve that this federation shall determinedly seek to further and protect the interests of all workers and that its guiding motto shall be the universal slogan of working class solidarity: "An injury to one is an injury to all".
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Date Issued: 1991

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COSATU Political Discussion Paper

Authors: COSATU
Date: Feb 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/109650 , vital:33164
Description: This discussion paper is being issued seven months after the 7th National Congress. The Central Executive Committee (CEC) of February 12 to 14, 2001 debated it, and felt that with minor changes it should be issued to COSATU structures and members for debates on the current political situation. This paper is presented to the members and structures of COSATU as a political discussion paper for 2001. A further detailed political discussion will take place in the November 2001 CEC. As the last CEC of 2001, it will be expected to take stock of the political situation, taking into account issues raised here. The February CEC took place almost five months after the Seventh National Congress. The Congress was a watershed moment and a turning noint in the life of the organisation. For 'months"before as well as xiuriiig the- Congress itself, our members and the public focused on the Congress deliberations and discussions. In political terms, this process underlined the central role played by COSATU in the post-apartheid political landscape
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Date Issued: Feb 1991

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Information Digest - Number 10 - Focus on COSATU Campaigns Conference

Authors: COSATU
Date: Mar 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/110194 , vital:33246
Description: Three hundred delegates from COSATU’s 14 affiliates and nine regions met on the 9th and 10th March to discuss COSATU’s Campaigns programme of action for 1991. The Conference decided that the major campaigns for the year will be: Campaign for a Constituent Assembly and Interim government closely linked to a Campaign for Workers Rights in a new Constitution. Campaign for job security and job creation entitled: "Jobs for ail - no retrenchments" Campaign for the extension of the Labour Relations Act to farm, domestic and public sector workers as weil as workers in the Bantustans.
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Date Issued: Mar 1991

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Information Digest - Number 8

Authors: COSATU
Date: Feb 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/110183 , vital:33244
Description: More than two years of worker struggle, mass action and negotiations resulted last Thursday 14th February in the scrapping of the 1988 amendments to the Labour Relations Act. The State President has to sign the new Act within ten days of it being passed by parliament. Some of the most important changes contained in the new LRA are: The 1988 definition of the "unfair labour practice" is gone, removing strikes and lockouts from this definition. It will now be easier to use the Conciliation Boards and the Industrial Court to help resolve disputes. It will no longer be presumed that a union 0 is responsible for an illegal strike of its members. An employer can’t interdict a strike without giving 48 hours notice or, if shorter notice is given, without informing the union. Unions with public and private sector members can now register. COSATU will be organising regional workshops for organisers to look at the implications of the Act, and how to apply the new provisions. COSATU has stated that the scrapping of the amendments are only the first step in the process of creating a workers LRA. Immediately on the agenda, in terms of the agreement reached with employers and the state last year, is our demand for rights to be extended to farm workers, domestic workers, public sector workers, and workers in the bantustans. June is the deadline which has been set for real progress to be made in these areas. COSATU is also calling for the restructuring of the Labour Appeal Court and the National Manpower Commission.
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Date Issued: Feb 1991

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Information Digest issue 8

Authors: COSATU
Date: Feb 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/119167 , vital:34708
Description: More than two years of worker struggle, mass action and negotiations resulted last Thursday 14th February in the scrapping of ^ the 1988 amendments to the Labour Relations Act. The State President has to sign the new Act within ten days of it being passed by parliament. Some of the most important changes contained in the new LRA are: The 1988 definition of the "unfair labour practice" is gone, removing strikes and lockouts from this definition. It will now be easier to use the Conciliation Boards and the Industrial Court to help resolve disputes. It will no longer be presumed that a union 0 is responsible for an illegal strike of its members. An employer can’t interdict a strike without giving 48 hours notice or, if shorter notice is given, without informing the union. Unions with public and private sector members can now register. COSATU will be organising regional workshops for organisers to look at the implications of the Act, and how to apply the new provisions.
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Date Issued: Feb 1991

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ROB report to the COSATU Western Cape Regional Congress

Authors: COSATU
Date: Mar 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135365 , vital:37261
Description: In this report we have focused more on policy issues than on an assessment of problems in the region, as we need to use our Regional Congresses in preparation for the issues which will be debated at National Congress. The government and the bosses are also trying to stop us making further gains. How do we respond? STATE OF THE NATION In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In the past year, a number of gains have been made by COSATU, some demands have been won, but many new areas of struggle have opened up. In October 1990, the SCN accord was signed, which gave us back the old Unfair Labour Practice definition, and also set the scene for introducing new legislation for farm, domestic and public sector workers. Since then, a number of unions have been meeting with sub-committees of the National Manpower Commission as well as the Commision for Administration (CFA) to argue for basic rights and legislation for these workers. COSATU now has a national Public Sector Forum under the COSATU Organising Department, and we are gearing up for this struggle as well as the struggle for an entirely and progressive Labour Relations Act.
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Date Issued: Mar 1991

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Southern Africa perspective - In South Africa: The Bloody Campaign Against Organized Labor

Authors: COSATU
Date: 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/169033 , vital:41677
Description: A year after African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, South Africa’s Black trade unions, particularly the million-member Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), remain at the heart of the movement for political democracy and economic and social change. Union activists have been instrumental in revitalizing mass opposition to apartheid — launching ANC branches, organizing local consumer and utility boycotts, and leading strikes over wages, job security and workplace racism that cost the white-run economy over four million work days during 1990. But labor’s role in the struggle for political and economic democracy has increasingly made the unions the target of state-sponsored political violence. Black labor’s resistance to oppression goes back to the 1920s, when the militant Industrial and Commercial Workers Union built a national membership of over 100,000. But it was not until 1981, after a wave of illegal strikes forced the apartheid regime to lift the ban on Black unions, that labor began to emerge as a major anti-apartheid force. With Mandela’s African National Congress and other organizations still outlawed, Black workers increasingly saw their unions as a vehicle for their political aspirations.
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Date Issued: 1991

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Stop privatisation - Join the campaign

Authors: COSATU
Date: June 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135389 , vital:37263
Description: Privatisation is when government hands over the management or assets of government services to private interests. Privatised services don't provide well for the poor, who can't pay, because private interests must make profits. Government says it will ensure the poor get good services through contracts and regulations - but it doesn't have capacity to enforce them. Privatisation makes it harder to maintain cross subsidies. Cross subsidies mean rich communities or industry pay more, so that poor households can pay less. Getting rid of cross-subsidies tends to make the prices for services for the poor go up. Privatised companies don't take the broader economic needs of the country into account, for instance by buying goods locally as a way to create jobs, and providing affordable services in remote regions.
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Date Issued: June 1991

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VAT Summit

Authors: COSATU
Date: Aug 1991
Subjects: COSATU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135438 , vital:37267
Description: We welcome you to this Summit to discuss VAT. By yesterday afternoon, 22 organisations had indicated that they would be attending. COSATU is very gratified that so many organisations have felt the need to come together to discuss this pressing problem. COSATU has called this summit out of deep concern about the implications of VAT especially for workers and members of lower income groups, that is the vast majority of South Africans. We believe that unless we can reach consensus on this tax, we will be facing a disaster of national proportions. There will be a decline in the standard of living for all, and for those not protected against cost of living increases, starvation will stare them in the face. The Inkathagate scandal and the fact that the majority of the people in South Africa are taxed without representation, already angers our people. If tax changes are introduced without the widest possible consultation and consent, heightened conflict could jeapordise the transition process in its current delicate phase. The government should not underestimate the volatile character of unpopular taxes- this is a lesson which Maggie Thatcher had to learn the hard way! It will only be through the unity of organisations from all walks of life, that we will be able to successfully achieve modifications to the tax system. That is why we called this meeting. We sincerely hope that from this meeting, we will be able to develop a common approach.
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Date Issued: Aug 1991

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