S.A.C.T.U. Solidarity Committee (Canada.)
Organization profile published 1981

Year Published:  1981
Resource Type:  Organization
Cx Number:  CX2369

Formed in May, 1980, the SACTU Solidarity Committee of Canada (SSC), with a mandate from the South African Congress of Trade Unions, carries out education and solidarity work amongst Canadian Trade Unions (SACTU).

Abstract: 
Formed in May, 1980, the SACTU Solidarity Committee of Canada (SSC), with a mandate from the South African Congress of Trade Unions, carries out education and solidarity work amongst Canadian Trade Unions (SACTU). SACTU is an organization that has worked underground since the mid-1960s cushioning and strengthening independent black trade unions and promoting unity amongst these unions in their struggle against the bosses and the apartheid state. SSC's principle aims and objectives are: to promote the principles and policies of SACTU; to establish educational programs with trade unionists in Canada regarding the situation of workers in South Africa and to raise funds for SACTU's internal work in South Africa.

Ongoing work of the Committee involves three areas: education, research and action. Educationals are carried out at various levels of the Canadian labour movement, sometimes with the aid of visiting SACTU representatives. A monthly newsletter is published and now has a readership of 1000.

Research is carried out in response to particular requests by the Canadian labour movement. SSC updates Canadian corporate complicity and analyzes recent trade union developments in South Africa. A goal of SSC research is to provide regular information to Canadian unions about the status of their respective industries and conditions of black workers therein, for example in the wine, liquor and sugar industries.

Educational and research measures combined serve as a basis for action. The United Auto Workers and unions involved in the handling of South African liquor, are in the process of considering collective action in support of South Africa workers.

Two specific projects that are meeting success are a SACTU Strike Fund and Canadian Voices in Solidarity. The first project has in the past 12 months collected $13 000. The second project encourages Canadian workers and union leaders to record taped messages of support. Already, Dennis McDermott and Bob White (of the UAW) have sent along messages of support.

Also available is SACTU's official history, Organize or Starve: This History of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (at $10 per copy).

In essence then, the existence of SSC is based upon the idea expressed by SACTU's motto: "An injury to one, is an injury to all."