May Day is ours
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: Apr 2001
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/110743 , vital:33328
- Description: Cosatu has decided that May Day 2001 should focus on our campaign for jobs, and highlight the International Labour Organisation (ILO’s) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. This is an important document. Adopted by the ILO’s International Labour Conference on 18 June 1998, it arose out of "...concerns in the international community over the processes of globalisation and the social consequences of trade liberalisation...." The Declaration commits member countries to respect the following four core categories of fundamental rights at work, to promote it and to work for it to be universally achieved: • Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; • The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; • The effective abolition of child labour; • The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. The Declaration, importantly, emphasises that all member countries have an obligation to respect these fundamental principles, irrespective of whether they have or have not ratified the relevant ILO Conventions. As part of this special May Day edition of the Sactwu Shop Stewards’ Bulletin, we reproduce the entire Declaration and its Follow-up. Discuss, debate and report back!
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Apr 2001
May Day is ours - Crush poverty create quality jobs
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: Apr 2001
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111041 , vital:33367
- Description: Cosatu has decided that May Day 2001 should focus on our campaign for jobs, and highlight the International Labour Organisation (ILO’s) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. This is an important document. Adopted by the ILO’s International Labour Conference on 18 June 1998, it arose out of "...concerns in the international community over the processes of globalisation and the social consequences of trade liberalisation." The Declaration commits member countries to respect the following four core categories of fundamental rights at work, to promote it and to work for it to be universally achieved: Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; The effective abolition of child labour; The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. The Declaration, importantly, emphasises that all member countries have an obligation to respect these fundamental principles, irrespective of whether they have or have not ratified the relevant ILO Conventions. As part of this special May Day edition of the Sactwu Shop Stewards’ Bulletin, we reproduce the entire Declaration and its Follow-up. Discuss, debate and report back!
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Apr 2001
Ten years in defence and advancement of worker rights
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111063 , vital:33369
- Description: Whereas the SOUTHERN AFRICAN CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS' UNION is an association not for gain, non-racial registered trade union, unaffiliated to any political party and whereas the SOUTHERN AFRICAN CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS' UNION is dedicated and committed - irrespective of race, colour, creed or sex: to promote and maintain free democratic trade unionism for all workers in Southern Africa and to oppose the exploitation of cheap labour; to advance the dignity, rights, socio-economic and cultural well-being of all workers in Southern Africa through collective bargaining and free negotiation; to do all in our power to assist in fully developing the full potential of workers and their children in the economic, social, political and cultural fields; to oppose any forms of discrimination which could prevent all the people of this land from being able to trade, manufacture, practise all crafts, trades and professions and own land, live and be educated where and as they choose; to defend the right to equal status in the eyes of the law for all people and to support the rule of just law; to maintain the right to free compulsory and equal education for all children and the opportunity for all students to receive the highest specialised training; to promote the right to full employment for all people of Southern Africa; to promote the right for all people to live where they choose, to be properly and decently housed, and to raise their families in security and comfort; to promote a system whereby the aged and infirm are supported regardless of income or status; to pursuing an enlightened programme to assist unorganised workers, and to develop educational facilities within the trade union movement; to disseminate as widely as possible press democratic trade union principles among all workers in the industry; to promote the sharing of the fruits of the labour of all workers in the industry.
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- Date Issued: 2001
SACTWU - Shop Stewards Bulletin No.9
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: Apr 1999
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116962 , vital:34463
- Description: This year’s May Day celebrations will take on a special meaning and character. It constitutes an important date in the tripartite alliance’s 1999 general elections campaign. This is an important opportunity for workers to pause, and to reflect on our achievements over the last five years of democratic rule. Are workers better off than before? Have our rights been strengthened or weakened? It is also an important moment for workers to deliberate on the future challenges, as we approach the election of our second democratic government. Do we expect workers to become better off? Will our rights be strengthened or attacked? Over the past five years, many new laws have been placed before our first-ever- democratic parliament. All the new laws have been important to cement our democracy, and to bury apartheid. Some laws, like the adoption of the new constitution (with an enshrined right to strike!), the Public Holidays Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Labour Relations Act, the Skills Development Act, the Restitution of Land Act, and the Employment Equity Act, have special significance for workers. It has advanced and strengthened our rights. It has given us a good platform of worker rights from which to further our fight for a better life for workers. In parliament, some parties have voted for these new laws - others have voted against them. As we approach the June 2nd general election, there will be many . sweet promises on many issues, by all the different political parties. We must be clear, and judge the parties by their record: have they voted for or against worker rights over the past five years? Strong worker rights strengthen worker power. Strong worker power helps workers in their fight for a better life. We must call on our members to vote for a party which has strengthened worker power. Vote for a party which has voted for worker rights over the last five years!
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- Date Issued: Apr 1999
SACTWU Memo
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: Feb 1995
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/116983 , vital:34464
- Description: In July 1994 the Cabinet approved the appointment of a Ministerial Legal Task Team to overhaul the laws regulating labour relations and to prepare a negotiating document-in draft Bill form to initiate a process of public discussion and negotiation by organized labour and business and other interested parties. Its brief was to draft a Labour Relations Bill which would give effect to government policy as reflected in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP);. give effect to public statements and decisions of the President and the Minister of Labour, which commit the government to International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87, 98 and 111, among others, and the findings of the ILO’s Fact Finding and Conciliation Commission (FFCC); comply with the Constitution; be simple and, wherever possible, written in a language that the users of the legislation, namely workers and employers, could ^understand, and provide procedures that workers and employers were able to use themselves; be certain and, wherever possible, spell out the rights and obligations of workers, trade unions, employers, and employers’ organizations so as to avoid a case-by-case determination of what constitutes fair labour practices; contain a recognition of fundamental organizational rights of trade unions; provide a simple procedure for the certification of trade .unions and employers’ organizations and for the regulation of specific aspects of these organizations in order to ensure democratic practices and proper financial control; promote and facilitate collective bargaining in the workplace; promote and facilitate collective bargaining at industry level.
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- Date Issued: Feb 1995
The Campaign for a Militant SACTWU
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: May 1991
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/135598 , vital:37279
- Description: On Sunday, May 26, the Campaign for a Militant Sactwu called a meeting to form a steering committee to lead the fight for a programme to transform Sactwu into a militant union. This meeting was attended by workers from different factories all over the Peninsula. Comrades from the regional and national executive of Sactwu, including comrades Ebrahim Patel and Lionel October. They came to stop the Campaign for a militant Sactwu. The comrades from the Campaign did not oppose their attendance to discuss how Sactwu can be built into a fighting union. The intervention of the leadership resulted in chaos at the start of the meeting.
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- Date Issued: May 1991
SACTWU - Shop Stewards Bulletin Vol 1 No.2
- Authors: SACTWU
- Date: Aug 1990
- Subjects: SACTWU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/111052 , vital:33368
- Description: WHAT does the Zulu speaking steward do when the noisiest and nicest songs are sung in Afrikaans? Hum along, of course! And so indeed, through song, debate and elections a new unity was bom at S ACTWU’s National Congress. But the congress - the highest policy making body - was about more than songs and elections. It confirmed that workers need a union of energy and life.
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- Date Issued: Aug 1990