Railworkers score a major victory
IN A SUDDEN turnabout, the South African railroad trust made important concessions in early June to striking workers in order to end the walkout. The strike had been prolonged, and had been marked by violent government attacks on the independent union movement.
On April 22, near
Doornfontein in the
Johannesburg area, police killed six striking workers.
On the same day, they charged into the headquarters of the confederation of independent unions,
Cosatu, looking for workers wounded at Doornfontein, causing extensive damage.
The government seemed determined to launch a general attack on the Black labor movement.
GERRY FOLEY on to note: "Political and labour conditions have changed much since 1982 with the labour movement enjoying community and international support."
The railway corporation agreed, among other things, to:
• Re-employ all workers within two weeks on the same grade without loss of benefits, except annual bonuses and pay while on strike.
• Re-employ workers currently in detention within a week of their release, provided they are not found guilty on criminal charges.
• Grant permanent employment t all workers who qualify, irrespective of
• Allow workers to democratically elect their own representatives.
The militancy of the striking workers as indicated by the fact that despit rese major concessions there was stil a sentiment for continuing the strike until all those arrested were released.
pointed out: "On two occasions Sarhwu [South African Railways and Harbours Workers" Union] officials and lawyers tried to persuade strikers to return to work, as it would have been tactically advantageous. But the speakers were booed and accused of selling
The issues in the strike were basic — protection against arbitrary firing and the workers' right to join trade unions. of their choice. The railways are covered by the Conditions of Employment Act of 1983, which denies the elementary trade-union rights granted to workers in the private sector. The transport minister has the power to decide what unions can be recognized.
At the time of the strike, Sats recognized 11 unions, all of them company unions. Nyaka wrote: "Sats preferred its own staff associations, which it upgraded to the Blatu [Black Trade Union] during the strike."
The strike was touched off by the firing of a Sarhwu member, Andrew Nendzama, on a flimsy pretext. Workers went on strike demanding his reinstatement, and after six weeks out, 16,000 tried to cover up the unions' victory, speaking to the South African House of Representatives. He said that no agreement had been negotiated or agreed with COSATU, but that the agreement was between Sats and its employees.
"Louw's statement is seen as an attempt to give credit to Sats' in-house union, the Black Trade Union," Nyaka wrote. But SARHWU got the credit where it most counted. It "increased its membership to 22,000 at Transvaal depots."
Cosatu victim of smear campaign and bombings
Cosatu had to face a major smear campaign and numerous physical attacks. Besides the direct attacks striking workers, such as the Doornfontein shootings, Cosatu House was bombed and several regional offices were destroyed.
Nyaka thought that the slander campaign against the independent labor movement had been very grave:
"Even moderate sympathizers were stunned by allegations of 'necklacing' and torture at Cosatu House. More so as Cosatu didn't have the media and the resources to counter the allegations. The banning of Cosatu rallies and the confiscation of pamphlets also hampered the federation from stating its stand on violence."
However, the slander campaign seems to have backfired:
"The first sign that Sats was cracking came when they withdraw a court inter-. dict against Cosatu and Sarhwu on allegations of torture and assault. Sats apparently couldn't substantiate claims that some workers were tortured at Cosatu House."
Sarhwu was also preparing a court case to show that the company had not even observed its own disciplinary procedures in firing three workers. Sats officials could have been called to testify about the company's labour practices and general working conditions. Publici-
HE VICTORY of the railworkers SARHWU is all the more impressive in that context. A sympathetic journalist writing in Johannesburg's Weekly Mail of June 12 speculated why the semi-state rail company suddenly caved in:
"What is...surprising is why Sats [South African Transport Services] handled the present strike differently from the 1982 General Workers' Union
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strike, when a few hundred workers were summarily dismissed after a demand for the recognition of their union. This time the workers were fired only after several weeks and were then rehired."
The writer, Sefako Nyaka, then went International Viewpoint • June 29, 1987 of them were dismissed.
The issues in the conflict soon grew to include the demand for recognition of Sarhwu and
Sats' in changes disciplinary procedures.
A small union,
Sarhwu was severely tested by the conflict.
"The strike almost dried up the union's financial resources," Nyaka wrote. "It was an expensive strike for a union that had not yet consolidated its membership in the public sector."
The transport minister, Eli Louw, ty about that would have been distinctly embarrassing.
However, the effectivenes of all these factors depended on the pressure of international public opinion and the international labor movement on
South Africa.
The outcome of the railway strike confirms the need to keep a spotlight on the treatment of Black labor in
South Africa and the need to continue building solidarity with the class- struggle union movement. *