Stop privatisation - Join the campaign
- COSATU
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: June 1991
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: June 1991
Transforming ourselves to transform society, Report of the Organisational Review Commission to the Central Committee
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Nov 2001
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118674 , vital:34657
- Description: This report focuses on COSATU’s organisation in the 21st century in terms of organising and service strategies; organisational structures; and leadership, management and staff development. In each section, the proposals point to key directions for organisational renewal. The report will be discussed at the Central Committee meeting on November 19 to 22, 2001. It should be subjected to detailed debate and mandating in the run up to the Central Committee. The Seventh National Congress established the need for this organisational review. It noted the “need for a thorough organisational review,” in order to avoid a piecemeal and ad hoc approach. It therefore resolved, “A commission be established: to review structures of the Federation at all levels, including the substructures of the CEC, to propose policy changes and where appropriate propose constitutional amendments. The commission must report to the Central Committee in 2001, which will refer any proposed constitutional amendments to the next Congress.” In February 2001, the CEC established the Organisational Review Commission. At the time, it noted worrying trends in some unions’ ability to maintain services to members, and therefore decided to extend the review to include all aspects of organisational development. In April, the CEC approved terms of reference. The members of the Commission are listed in Appendix 1. They include NOBs of COSATU and affiliates, regional office bearers, some COSATU heads of department, representatives of NALEDI and DITSELA, and an (expert on organisational review. In preparing this report, the Commission held several workshops, and the extended September CEC discussed the draft in depth. Still, the Commission’s work was constrained by the lack of time and resources. Members have many other responsibilities, including mobilising for the strike against privatisation in August. The Commission itself did not have a dedicated budget.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 2001
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Nov 2001
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118674 , vital:34657
- Description: This report focuses on COSATU’s organisation in the 21st century in terms of organising and service strategies; organisational structures; and leadership, management and staff development. In each section, the proposals point to key directions for organisational renewal. The report will be discussed at the Central Committee meeting on November 19 to 22, 2001. It should be subjected to detailed debate and mandating in the run up to the Central Committee. The Seventh National Congress established the need for this organisational review. It noted the “need for a thorough organisational review,” in order to avoid a piecemeal and ad hoc approach. It therefore resolved, “A commission be established: to review structures of the Federation at all levels, including the substructures of the CEC, to propose policy changes and where appropriate propose constitutional amendments. The commission must report to the Central Committee in 2001, which will refer any proposed constitutional amendments to the next Congress.” In February 2001, the CEC established the Organisational Review Commission. At the time, it noted worrying trends in some unions’ ability to maintain services to members, and therefore decided to extend the review to include all aspects of organisational development. In April, the CEC approved terms of reference. The members of the Commission are listed in Appendix 1. They include NOBs of COSATU and affiliates, regional office bearers, some COSATU heads of department, representatives of NALEDI and DITSELA, and an (expert on organisational review. In preparing this report, the Commission held several workshops, and the extended September CEC discussed the draft in depth. Still, the Commission’s work was constrained by the lack of time and resources. Members have many other responsibilities, including mobilising for the strike against privatisation in August. The Commission itself did not have a dedicated budget.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Nov 2001
Work in Progress issue no.52
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/173573 , vital:42385
- Description: As this edition of Work In Progress was going to print the state effectively banned 17 organisations and an undisclosed number of individuals, and severely restricted the Congress of South African Trade Unions. By doing this the government of State President PW Botha has escalated its ongoing war against the people of South and Southern Africa. Precisely why the state chose to act this way at this time is not clear. Visible resistance to apartheid in the townships has declined under the burden of emergency rule, and popular political and community organisation has been severely weakened. One possibility is that government is attempting to limit the massive resistance expected against the October local government elections, including the boycott call made by a number of those organisations effected by the latest clampdown. But whatever the reason, there remains no excuse whatsoever for believing that ‘reformers’ within the state hold any power. If the distinction between ‘militarists’ and ‘reformers’ is real, then the militarists have so obviously won ascendency that talk of ‘reformers’ wielding influence in government is absurd. There is even less excuse for those elements which stubbornly hold to the belief that the Botha administration has a reform programme. There is no doubt that it has plans to change the face of South Africa. So did the Nationalist government of Verwoerd. But it was never suggested that this involved ‘reform’. Change can be for the worse - and this is what the changes being made by Botha’s militarists involve. South Africa is a society at war. Government is at war with the majority of South Africans and Namibians, with the Angolan nation, and with the majority of frontline states. In Natal, it seems unwilling or unable to use the might of its laws against the vigilante perpetrators of a bloody and enduring civil war. On the labour front, its proposed amendment to the Labour Relations Act, combined with emergency restrictions on Cosatu, aim to close down trade union organisation or render it impotent. This war against the working class has another side, seen in Botha’s new economic deal, the wage freeze and moves to privatise substantial areas of the public sector. Many of the articles in this issue of WIP deal with facets of this war - from the ANC’s armed struggle to Botha’s economic war against the working class; from the Maritzburg civil war to allegations of riot police on the rampage in townships. Government’s 24 February banning of organisations and individuals, and the restrictions on Cosatu activity, must be seen in this context of a society at war with itself.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1988
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/173573 , vital:42385
- Description: As this edition of Work In Progress was going to print the state effectively banned 17 organisations and an undisclosed number of individuals, and severely restricted the Congress of South African Trade Unions. By doing this the government of State President PW Botha has escalated its ongoing war against the people of South and Southern Africa. Precisely why the state chose to act this way at this time is not clear. Visible resistance to apartheid in the townships has declined under the burden of emergency rule, and popular political and community organisation has been severely weakened. One possibility is that government is attempting to limit the massive resistance expected against the October local government elections, including the boycott call made by a number of those organisations effected by the latest clampdown. But whatever the reason, there remains no excuse whatsoever for believing that ‘reformers’ within the state hold any power. If the distinction between ‘militarists’ and ‘reformers’ is real, then the militarists have so obviously won ascendency that talk of ‘reformers’ wielding influence in government is absurd. There is even less excuse for those elements which stubbornly hold to the belief that the Botha administration has a reform programme. There is no doubt that it has plans to change the face of South Africa. So did the Nationalist government of Verwoerd. But it was never suggested that this involved ‘reform’. Change can be for the worse - and this is what the changes being made by Botha’s militarists involve. South Africa is a society at war. Government is at war with the majority of South Africans and Namibians, with the Angolan nation, and with the majority of frontline states. In Natal, it seems unwilling or unable to use the might of its laws against the vigilante perpetrators of a bloody and enduring civil war. On the labour front, its proposed amendment to the Labour Relations Act, combined with emergency restrictions on Cosatu, aim to close down trade union organisation or render it impotent. This war against the working class has another side, seen in Botha’s new economic deal, the wage freeze and moves to privatise substantial areas of the public sector. Many of the articles in this issue of WIP deal with facets of this war - from the ANC’s armed struggle to Botha’s economic war against the working class; from the Maritzburg civil war to allegations of riot police on the rampage in townships. Government’s 24 February banning of organisations and individuals, and the restrictions on Cosatu activity, must be seen in this context of a society at war with itself.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1988
Election Programme for COSATU as adopted at COSATU EXCO 10 July 1993
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1993-07
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/106431 , vital:32651
- Description: COSATU has three main priorities in relation to the elections. To ensure a victory for an ANC that is ready and able to govern. To build our organisation and prepare it for the struggles ahead. Worker's interests are foremost in an ANC led government
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993-07
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1993-07
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/106431 , vital:32651
- Description: COSATU has three main priorities in relation to the elections. To ensure a victory for an ANC that is ready and able to govern. To build our organisation and prepare it for the struggles ahead. Worker's interests are foremost in an ANC led government
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1993-07
Information Digest issue 8
- COSATU
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Feb 1991
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Feb 1991
6th National Congress Resolutions
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149120 , vital:38806
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/149120 , vital:38806
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
Election Programme for COSATU
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: July 1993
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113977 , vital:33865
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: July 1993
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: July 1993
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/113977 , vital:33865
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: July 1993
Information Digest - Number 8
- COSATU
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Feb 1991
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Feb 1991
Report on the COSATU national workshop on the code of conduct for investors in a post-apartheid South Africa
- COSATU
Debate on globalisation
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172083 , vital:42156
- Description: At the Cosatu National Congress, a debate around the issue of globalisation erupted. At the core of the debate was whether the federation was opposed to globalisation or not. Some unions fell that as a federation we should be opposed to globalisation and all what it represents. Others felt that we should be opposed not to globalisation but its negative effects or the current form of globalisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172083 , vital:42156
- Description: At the Cosatu National Congress, a debate around the issue of globalisation erupted. At the core of the debate was whether the federation was opposed to globalisation or not. Some unions fell that as a federation we should be opposed to globalisation and all what it represents. Others felt that we should be opposed not to globalisation but its negative effects or the current form of globalisation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997
Negotiations Bulletin - Workers speak with one voice
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: May 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137411 , vital:37521
- Description: Almost two million organised workers from COSATU, NACTU and FEDSAL are speaking with one voice on the Labour Relations Bill. The country’s three major federations have identified a number of areas in the draft LRA that need to be dealt with for the benefit of all workers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: May 1995
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: May 1995
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/137411 , vital:37521
- Description: Almost two million organised workers from COSATU, NACTU and FEDSAL are speaking with one voice on the Labour Relations Bill. The country’s three major federations have identified a number of areas in the draft LRA that need to be dealt with for the benefit of all workers.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: May 1995
Southern Africa perspective - In South Africa: The Bloody Campaign Against Organized Labor
- COSATU
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
- 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.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1991
6th National Congress Resolutions
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/134883 , vital:37214
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/134883 , vital:37214
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
Namibian workers organise
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/139645 , vital:37762
- Description: In 1987, long before Namibian independence was even on the agenda, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) decided to produce a joint book on the Namibian trade union movement. At that stage the Namibian trade unions had just begun to assert themselves. The idea of the book was to provide information useful for both Namibian and South African workers on the history of the working class struggle in Namibia. It was hoped that this would help to build a powerful working class solidarity between South African and Namibian workers. The International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG) - a research and educational service organisation specialising in working class struggles internationally — was commissioned by COSATU and NUNW to research, write and produce the book. Work on the book started in 1988. Between then and May 1989, two ILRIG workers visited Namibia a number of times - once with comrades from COSATU - and gathered a vast amount of information on the struggle in Namibia. Information came from workers, from trade unionists, from SWAPO, from documents and from observation. At all times in the process of writing the book, material was referred back to COSATU and NUNW for discussion and approval. The final chapter on solidarity was done at the end of August 1989, when a delegation of COSATU leaders visited Namibia to discuss setting up a permanent Working Committee with the NUNW. The book is coming at a time when Namibia is about to achieve her independence from South African colonial occupation under UN Resolution 435. The Namibian workers’ struggle for a living wage, for the right to strike, for decent houses, for jobs for all and against privatisation will not end with independence. The need for strengthening and extending trade union organisation in Namibia will not end with independence. The necessity for building solidarity between the Namibian and South African working class will not end with independence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/139645 , vital:37762
- Description: In 1987, long before Namibian independence was even on the agenda, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) decided to produce a joint book on the Namibian trade union movement. At that stage the Namibian trade unions had just begun to assert themselves. The idea of the book was to provide information useful for both Namibian and South African workers on the history of the working class struggle in Namibia. It was hoped that this would help to build a powerful working class solidarity between South African and Namibian workers. The International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG) - a research and educational service organisation specialising in working class struggles internationally — was commissioned by COSATU and NUNW to research, write and produce the book. Work on the book started in 1988. Between then and May 1989, two ILRIG workers visited Namibia a number of times - once with comrades from COSATU - and gathered a vast amount of information on the struggle in Namibia. Information came from workers, from trade unionists, from SWAPO, from documents and from observation. At all times in the process of writing the book, material was referred back to COSATU and NUNW for discussion and approval. The final chapter on solidarity was done at the end of August 1989, when a delegation of COSATU leaders visited Namibia to discuss setting up a permanent Working Committee with the NUNW. The book is coming at a time when Namibia is about to achieve her independence from South African colonial occupation under UN Resolution 435. The Namibian workers’ struggle for a living wage, for the right to strike, for decent houses, for jobs for all and against privatisation will not end with independence. The need for strengthening and extending trade union organisation in Namibia will not end with independence. The necessity for building solidarity between the Namibian and South African working class will not end with independence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
Towards developing a long term stratergy for COSATU
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/176133 , vital:42662
- Description: The aim of this discussion document is to begin a debate about the future role of COSATU. Its success will depend on concrete debate, discussion by membership and criticism of issues and/or direction. The analysis of the past three years will be addressed in a separate paper in preparation for the CEC and 5th National Congress] Since our inception, our guiding principle has been to bring about the transfer of power to the people. The present political settlement, no matter how flawed, takes us a step closer to that goal. All polls indicate that barring a miracle, the ANC will have around 60% representation in the next parliament and Government of National Unity and Reconstruction. This will indeed represent a break with the past and a real victory for workers and the country as a whole.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1994
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/176133 , vital:42662
- Description: The aim of this discussion document is to begin a debate about the future role of COSATU. Its success will depend on concrete debate, discussion by membership and criticism of issues and/or direction. The analysis of the past three years will be addressed in a separate paper in preparation for the CEC and 5th National Congress] Since our inception, our guiding principle has been to bring about the transfer of power to the people. The present political settlement, no matter how flawed, takes us a step closer to that goal. All polls indicate that barring a miracle, the ANC will have around 60% representation in the next parliament and Government of National Unity and Reconstruction. This will indeed represent a break with the past and a real victory for workers and the country as a whole.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1994
Insurance Second Amendment Act and the Demutualisation Levy Bill
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Aug 1998
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/109835 , vital:33194
- Description: COSATU has for many years been campaigning for the democratisation of the Mutuals in order to see to it that their considerable resources could be used more effectively in promoting economic development. In our 1996 Social Equity and Job Creation document COSATU, together with the other major trade union federations, argued that: "Mutual insurance companies such as Old Mutual and Sanlam are nominally controlled by policy-holders, but in practice are controlled by their managers. These companies control and manage large sums of provident fund contributions from workers yet grant no real ownership rights to workers". On this basis we proposed that: "Organised labour and other representatives of policy holders, be given immediate representation on the governing structures of the mutual companies, and that these companies be requested to commence negotiation through Nedlac on this proposal. Thereafter, appropriate legislative changes should be introduced through parliament."
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Aug 1998
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: Aug 1998
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/109835 , vital:33194
- Description: COSATU has for many years been campaigning for the democratisation of the Mutuals in order to see to it that their considerable resources could be used more effectively in promoting economic development. In our 1996 Social Equity and Job Creation document COSATU, together with the other major trade union federations, argued that: "Mutual insurance companies such as Old Mutual and Sanlam are nominally controlled by policy-holders, but in practice are controlled by their managers. These companies control and manage large sums of provident fund contributions from workers yet grant no real ownership rights to workers". On this basis we proposed that: "Organised labour and other representatives of policy holders, be given immediate representation on the governing structures of the mutual companies, and that these companies be requested to commence negotiation through Nedlac on this proposal. Thereafter, appropriate legislative changes should be introduced through parliament."
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: Aug 1998
6th National Congress Resolutions
- COSATU
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/173694 , vital:42401
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996
- Authors: COSATU
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: COSATU
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/173694 , vital:42401
- Description: COSATU must intervene in affiliates where it has identified problems, where problems have been brought to its attention and / or has been requested to do so. The CEC should draw guidelines on how and under which circumstances the federation and its structures may intervene taking into account clauses 3.9 and 3.10 of the constitution. Such intervention should not undermine affiliates where such problems exist. COSATU leadership must be visible during major disputes between affiliates and employers and co-ordinate solidarity with workers involved in such disputes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1996