South African municipal workers strike for living wage
By Gery Armsby
One hundred thousand angry municipal workers in South Africa
have been striking for a living wage and against economic
apartheid since July 2. Strong solidarity with the strike, now
in its second week, is building across other sectors of the
South African working class.
The fight for a higher minimum wage and the right to
collectively bargain for wages involves more than 220,000
employees of municipal government, represented by the South
African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU). The strike is the
first nationwide municipal workers strike in seven years.
Striking workers held large marches and rallies in dozens of
cities and towns and engaged in varied, militant tactics to
support and defend their strike demands. Blocking busy
intersections, marching through neighborhoods and communities
were means the workers employed to defend their depots from
scabs, explain their demands to the people and dispel
distortions and lies promoted in the big business media about
the strike.
Due to protections won by a strong union movement in South
Africa, employers cannot legally retaliate against striking
workers with disciplinary actions or dismissals. And the union
negotiated an agreement ensuring that essential services are
carried out for the duration of the strike so that the
community would not suffer.
But that didn't stop the bosses from retaliating. At least
40 strikers in Durban and hundreds nationwide were arrested
June 5. Several were reportedly beaten or sustained serious
injury during arrest. Lawyers have encountered great difficulty
in trying to meet with jailed strikers.
SAMWU has remained steadfast in its demands, which include a
pay increase of 10 percent and a 300 rand ($30) increase in the
minimum wage from R1,900 to R2,200 per month, applicable for
next year for all employees within the sectors represented by
SAMWU.
The municipal workers rejected a June 20 counter-offer by
the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) for an
across-the-board 7-percent increase and no improvement to the
current minimum wage of R1,900 and a condition that would bind
the union to that agreement for three years. Many workers
viewed SALGA's proposal as a refusal to negotiate with the
union until 2005.
Economic apartheid
Studies show that the minimum living wage for the average
South African worker is approximately R2,400 per month, or
about $240 U.S.
Managers of municipal operations take home monthly salaries
more than 40 times higher than what the lowest-compensated
workers are paid. Union members have characterized this and
other conditions as economic apartheid.
In defending the disparities between labor and management,
SALGA argued that most municipal workers in rural areas are
paid "more than other workers in the local market."
However, rural unemployment levels are approaching 80
percent. According to a SAMWU statement, in this context, a
monthly salary of R20--just $2 U.S.--would be more than what
the average worker can earn.
Dale Forbes, a union negotiator said, "This is insulting in
the current economic context. Inflation is at 9.2 percent and
food prices have rocketed 14 percent in the last year.
"Every worker is struggling to make ends meet. ... SALGA has
not taken its cue from central government that granted public
servants a 9-percent increase. We regard SALGA's position as an
attack on workers and a refutation of electoral promises of
improving the lot of municipal workers."
SAMWU called on management to "move away from its
intransigent stance and negotiate in good faith." Negotiations
between SAMWU and SALGA resumed July 6. However, the bosses did
not budge on the issue of an increase in the minimum wage and
were only willing to increase other wages by 8 percent.
As the strike continued on July 8, the Congress of South
African Trade Unions (COSATU) urged SALGA to meet the municipal
workers' demands or face the likelihood of the strike
broadening to other sectors where unions strongly support the
SAMWU demand for a living wage.
COSATU and several large national unions, such as the
Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union, also
threatened to open up a campaign of exposing the apartheid-like
disparity between municipal workers and management if the
workers' demands are not met.
Reprinted from the July 18, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page