Workers Solidarity (South Africa)
article index for 1999
Issue No 9 May 1999
- Voting is your right but have
no illusions in parliament
It is better to live under a democratic government than under the
apartheid government. But we must have no illusions in the
parliamentary system
- ANC's 1999 budget makes the
bosses smile
A number of progressive organisations have claimed that the 1999
budget was a "people's budget". Nothing could be further from the
truth. Delivered in Cape Town on the 17 February, the ANC's budget
made the bosses jump for joy.
- One Big Union! South Africa's New
Giants of Labour
Unless the entire membership has direct control over the
mega-union, instead of it being controlled by its own elite class
of paid bureaucrats, it will never be an effective fighting force
for the members and the working class as a whole
- Mega unions: What does it mean for
socialism?
Buthelezi warned that if CEPPWAWU ever decided to strike, it would
"stop the whole country". "We know that employers are panicking,"
he smiled, recalling that CWIU had forced chemicals company to pay
millions of Rands into social funds to protect workers who were
retrenched
- Strikewave! : SA Labour
Flexes its Muscles
1998 was a record-breaking year for strike activity in South
Africa, and this year looks set to be even more active on the
militant labour front.More than 3-million persondays - the highest
figure since the 1994 elections - were lost to capitalist
exploitation last year
- Fight Privatisation!
In South Africa, the South African Municipal Workers Public sector
unions are the key to fighting ANC's privatisation plans. This
requires trade union independence.
- Victory! BTR-Sarmcol
On May Day 1985, workers at the BTR-Sarmcol rubber embarked on a
wildcat strike. The following day, the bosses fired all 970
strikers. Since 1985, 39 people have been killed in fighting
related to the dismissals.
- Your Boss Is A Killer!!
3 people a day die in work-related accidents
- Reclaim Our Unions!! : No! to
the "checkoff"
The checkoff system is the system where the bosses act as bankers
for the union by taking union fees out of our wages and handing
them over to the union.
- Zimbabwe unions to launch workers
party
It was announced in March 1999 that the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions is planning to launch a workers party to contest the 2000
elections. Clearly, this party is designed to intervene primarily
in elections.
- International Struggles
- Russian workers seize and run factory
- Korean workers stop retrenchments through mass strike
- Libertarian Socialism and Workers
Control
We fight for the day when the millions of strong workers march
with fists upraised towards the revolution, united in our unions,
and ready to meet force with force