Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, 12 September 2006
President of COSATU, Comrade Willy Madisha,
General Secretary of COSATU, Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi,
SACP, Deputy Secretary General, Comrade Jeremy Cronin,
Alliance Leadership,
President of SATAWU, Comrade Ezrom Mabyana,
First Vice President, Comrade June Dube,
Second Vice President, Comrade, Robert Mashego,
General Secretary of SATAWU, Comrade Randall Howard,
Deputy General Secretary of SATAWU, Comrade Johnson Gamede,
National Treasurer of SATAWU, Comrade Nadeema Syms,
Members of the Central Executive Committee of SATAWU,
Comrades delegates,
Friends and comrades,
It is an honour and privilege for me to address the Second National Congress of SATAWU, since its formation through a merger in 2000. It is a great honour for me as having been present at your union¡¦s birth in 2000, at its First National Congress in 2003, and now again in 2006.
Allow me to pass warm and revolutionary greetings from the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress and its entire membership.
It is a pleasure to be with you today, because SATAWU is one of the youngest trade unions within the COSATU family of unions having been formed a mere six years ago, in May 2000, and yet SATAWU has also shown the signs of being one of the fastest growing unions within COSATU. This is a good sign it shows a lot of capacity for growth.
The fact that in the past three years you have grown from about 82 000 members to about 133 000 to date is a positive development that needs to be applauded and encouraged, a rise that positions SATAWU as the fifth largest union within COSATU.
You have managed to build a united union that is developing its cohesion faster than many other unions who had gone through mergers. You have a single identity you are coming to this congress from single regions and branches. The structures you have formed reflect broadly a single identity. You are not fragmented along the lines of former this or former that.
You need to build on these strengths in order to take your union forward and contribute meaningfully towards both COSATU and the Alliance. Not many unions can achieve this at such a short space of time, therefore your growth is remarkable. This you have done possibly under the most difficult conditions for a union that also attracts members from the public enterprises.
This means that there is something you are doing right as members of SATAWU, and it means you have a solid leadership collective, that understands the challenges of your sectors better and they know what type of strategies to employ in order to attract membership.
One of the critical challenges this congress and the rest of the South African workers face is that of building a united movement that transcends divisions of the past, that builds unity amongst working people irrespective of the race, sex or religious background.
Your challenge is to ensure you recruit the thousands of transport, cleaning and security workers that are outside your ranks. But first you must recognise you can. You can successfully do that if you turn the current membership into active organisers and ambassadors of your union.
Such members must be infused with the spirit of service to their members. They will not be good ambassadors if they are not happy with the service you provide them with.
For us the growth of SATAWU means the growth of the ANC as your members are also expected to play a meaningful role either as direct members of the ANC or through their participation in alliance structures.
I am saying this because I also hope that a good SATAWU member will know that he or she is also a member of the congress tradition, and knows and understands the dynamic relationship that exists between the labour movement led by COSATU and the SACP and the liberation movement led by the ANC.
I want to believe that you impress upon all your members the importance of the Tripartite Alliance, its significance in achieving the goals that we set ourselves in the Freedom Charter.
That relationship was best described by the late ANC President, Chief Albert Luthuli when he spoke about ¡§the trade union movement as being the spear, and the ANC as being the shield¡¨ and saying this in the context of a revolutionary trade union movement.
I have watched the union of transport, cleaning and security workers grow from strength to strength, in numbers, analysis and in depth. You have not been afraid to square up to anyone in the interests of your members. In your short life have fought some major battles and made a mark, among them:
fá You have stood up for the rights of taxi workers and won the introduction of a Taxi Determination. fá You have stood up against Transnet and unilateral restructuring, and have protected your right to be properly consulted. fá Your determination has helped convince our government to keep our railways and ports in state hands.
And most recently, through your long security strike, which took about three months, SATAWU exhibited strong unity during that strike, we commend you for that, we say however that the violence behaviour that accompanied the strike was most regrettable as it helped to distract people from focusing around genuine demands that workers had.
Coming out of that strike, I believe you must have learnt the importance of organization and discipline. They are a cornerstone of any successful action. It must be a lesson to all of you that organization is power and can help you to sustain a peaceful and successful strike.
The ongoing strike of the cleaning workers, will also help to raise the profile of their working conditions and expose the continuing exploitation of some of the most vulnerable workers in the economy.
These battles signify the importance of struggle, and engaging in struggle against a mighty opponent, where some thought as a new union and a young union you were punching above your weight.
Your union is strategically placed and we expect it to play a crucial and important role in ensuring that our country host the best ever 2010 World Cup in the African continent.
Your members will be a key link in ensuring that our international tourists are taken safely to their destinations. It will be important that the issue of an affordable, safe and accessible public transport system is developed by 2010, and the restructuring of the taxi industry must be completed by then so that taxi operators will have access to subsidy benefits that bus operators enjoy.
Seventy percent (70%) of the people of South Africa rely on public transport, so the way that public transport system is transformed will have to be negotiated carefully, ensuring that all stakeholders are represented and commuters are more involved in the recapitalization process.
SATAWU has proven itself to be principled, strategic, and determined. It has proven to be a union that cares for its members, and respects democratic worker control. The union¡¦s leadership has been able to lead decisively by reflecting the wishes of the membership, not by posturing.
I wish to salute Satawu in its achievements, and urge you to continue to build on the traditions and practices that have already proved to be the foundations of your success.
But of course there will be many challenges ahead. SATAWU is located in service sectors that are not always so visible, and yet they play a vital role in keeping the economy going. This makes your sectors susceptible to national and global pressures.
Where companies in your sectors are privately owned, they are highly susceptible to competition. Private owners whether in the cleaning, security, taxi, road freight or bus industry are constantly trying to maximize profits by keeping costs down.
This challenges you to continuously fight for centralized bargaining and minimum conditions of employment. You will have to continue to find ways of bringing casual workers into formal employment, and you will have to continue to find ways of controlling labour brokers. And where companies in your sectors are state owned, they will continue to be under pressure from private companies trying to get their hands on them.
But the struggles against casualisation of labour, for centralized bargaining, and against privatisation are not the ones you can wage on your own. You will have to continue to link with your comrades in other COSATU affiliates. And as part and parcel of COSATU, you will have to engage the Tripartite Alliance to win the arguments.
Direct bilateral engagement with government either by your own union, or by COSATU, is important, but if we are serious about developing ANC and parliamentary oversight over government, then a lot more energy and focus has to go into the Tripartite Alliance.
If you are serious about membership accountability in the ANC then you have to take your issues to ANC membership structures. When we speak about the Alliance we must avoid a perception that the Alliance is a committee of top leadership. Of course top leadership engagement is critical, but where is the structured Alliance engagement at lower levels ¡V at provincial level, at city level, at ward or local level?
As members of COSATU, you should be making it your business that every ANC councilor, every ANC MEC, every ANC MP, has worker concerns at the forefront of their minds.
This will enhance the understanding and effective implementation of our policies and programmes, and will enhance good relations within the Alliance.
Comrades, the ANC is a broad church, thus we cannot be apologetic about wanting it to have the interests of the poor who form its largest majority at heart. We should also bear in mind that the poor and the poorest of the poor see the ANC and the Alliance as the only hope in addressing their plight.
We therefore, cannot be apologetic for wanting the working class content to be dominant within this broad church. We therefore have an obligation to address their concerns of joblessness, poverty, poor housing, and ill health, amongst others.
The current climate is a challenging one. But if we can all focus on the basic principles of democracy and accountability, at all levels of our movement and Alliance we will then be in a position to advance our National Democratic Revolution (NDR). We need strong and independent unions which will support the ANC¡¦s transformation agenda and advance the NDR.
Comrades, while what you have achieved is admirable and important, allow me to express my thoughts about some of the fundamental issues that you should guard against if you want your union to gain in strength and grow even further.
I am raising these issues because you are still one of the younger unions within COSATU, and therefore I assume that you will understand better the importance of learning in order to grow.
One of the critical lessons of struggle is that unity is important in order to run and lead a successful union. Unity as reflected by the clarity of purpose, direction and vision are some of the most critical elements of building a strong union that is relevant to its members.
This is especially important for your union as it attracts members from diverse backgrounds, and there is always a danger that some of the sections of your membership may feel more important than others and some may feel that their interests are being neglected. But if you are united by common purpose vision and direction you will be in a better position to fight against disunity. The key issue for the survival of any union is by building, nurturing and strengthening unity, because unity is the bedrock upon which both the liberation movement and the unions are founded. Another critical issue that your congress should discuss seriously is that of the prevalence of HIV and AIDS among Truck drivers who are your members.
We commend the fact that SATAWU is involved in discussions about how to best combat the spread of HIV and AIDS among Truck Drivers and call for a workplace policy to end any form of discrimination and that will allow employers to contribute to the welfare of the workers affected by the disease.
Comrades your congress takes place at a critical stage of our revolution, in the year when COSATU that giant federation of the workers celebrates its 21st Anniversary, and is about to hold its most important national congress as well. Your input will be crucial in this congress and will help to shape the direction of COSATU.
Key to the tasks of the oncoming COSATU congress is the question of unity of the federation itself, which is crucial for the unity of the working class in our country.
We must always remember that the unity of the unions affiliated to COSATU, COSATU as a federation and the unity of the Alliance is critical and key to the advancement of the National democratic Revolution.
Comrades, I wish you well in your deliberations in this congress, may you emerge even stronger and more united than before.
Amandla!! Viva SATAWU Viva!!