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NEWS & LETTERS, June -July 2007South African public workers out in forceCape Town, South Africa--We had our public sector marches on May 28. We were all relieved that they were so big and peaceful. I attended the one in Cape Town, where about 30,000 public sector workers came out to march--although local papers reported that only 12,000 marched. It was magnificent. Ordinary public sector workers are saying that enough is enough. They are asking how they can carry out effective service delivery to the masses if they are not appreciated as the workers who are the face of delivering public services. Public sector workers in South Africa today are very angry, especially because they have heard that some members of parliament are getting a 57% pay increase while these same people are refusing to give them a 12% pay increase. Public sector workers have experienced a wage freeze since 2004. As the Left in the labor movement, we are saying we need to be involved in these struggles, since the working class learns so much during strikes. We enjoyed the march, but we realize that the real work will begin on June 1, when an indefinite public sector strike of one million members is planned to begin. Some comrades say that it is un-strategic at the beginning to speak about an indefinite strike, since you are exposing your strategy to the enemy. Others argue that if you speak about an indefinite strike, it means that you can call it off any time--even after one day. My view is that I would rather have the leadership take people out on a one-week strike and then work for another week and then have another strike the alternate week. In this way we would show the country that their labor is central to the functioning of the whole country. In any case, the labor movement, especially the unions of COSATU, seems very organized. They have formed strike committees in all provinces and have met with school students and parents about not having school when the teachers go on strike--more than 60% of the schools in the country were closed because of the strike. However, there was no presence of the social movement organizations at the march. I really do not know the reason, since they do not need a special invite to attend. COSATU is the giant--the best organized and most political organization of the South African working class. Despite the bankruptcy of a lot of its officials, there are also those like me and the current COSATU leaders in the Western Cape (and other provinces) who are really sincere socialists who do not support the alliance with the African National Congress. This strike is a golden opportunity to link workplace struggles with community struggles, since it is about the public sector workers and service delivery. The strikes are also about the Growth Employment and Redistribution program and the budget allocation for public services. Over the last two years we have seen many social movement-community struggles over lack of service delivery --Althea MacQuene, Left trade union activist, Cape Town |
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