Strike looms at SABC after wage increase talks collapse
By Staff Reporter
UNIONS representing workers at South Africa’s public broadcaster have once again declared a labour dispute with the employer after an attempt to force the state entity’s board to increase employees’ wages by 10 per cent failed last week.
And South Africa’s metal and motor industry workers have vowed to exhibit a united force similar to that of the working class behind the 1917 Russian October Revolution and tenaciously fight the ruling African National Congress’ recent attempts to strip them of their right to strike.
According to media reports monitored from the Johannesburg-based Metro FM as well as Business Day on Monday, Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union (BEMAWU) spokesperson, Hannes du Buisson said they had instituted a fresh salary dispute with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), demanding a 10 per cent salary increase.
“We filed a new dispute on Friday, and it has been acknowledged by the SABC. We are now waiting for them to schedule a dispute resolution meeting, and we believe if they are serious in settling this dispute, they would do it in that particular meeting. If not, then of course the dispute will automatically proceed to the CMMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) again, but this time it will be under our name,” du Buisson was quoted by TimesLIVE as saying.
Business Day further reported that du Buisson’s announcement of the re-ignited labour dispute follows last week’s failed attempt to get the SABC increase salaries, after meetings between the public broadcaster’s executive and shop stewards from both BEMAWU and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) led the workers to abandon demonstrations.
The media reports further indicate that owing to logistical problems, CWU which represents about 1,500 members at SABC, called off the work stoppage but that a day later, BEMAWU which represents about 1,800 members at the public broadcaster, lodged a fresh dispute after the state broadcaster told the aggrieved workers that salaries would only be hiked in the coming financial year – an offer that was totally rejected by BEMAWU.
“If this issue is not resolved, we will issue a strike notice again, after we receive a fresh mandate from our members. Our members are adamant that we should proceed with the dispute, and they are adamant that they will strike again, if the SABC is not going to resolve this issue du Buisson declared.
SABC acting chief executive officer Nomsa Philiso, was also quoted confirming BEMAWU’s fresh labour dispute against the state entity.
“We didn’t reach any agreement (last week)…what happened is that they withdrew their notice (called off the strike). But what has subsequently happened is that they’ve now gone back to follow the actual correct procedure, and they have sent us a letter of the declaration of dispute, so we are now on step one, where we should have been in the first place,” Philiso said.
She, however, said the dispute resolution meeting is not likely to take place this week as SABC’s head of legal services, Sizwe Vilakazi, was shot dead on Saturday at his family’s bottle store, and that the public broadcaster was making preparations for his funeral.
Meanwhile, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago is quoted as saying employees who had not reported for duty would not be paid in line with the principle of ‘no work, no pay’.
And during a centennial commemoration of the 1917 Russian Revolution held in Johannesburg, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) second deputy president Ruth Ntlokotse informed a not-so-amused group of workers that the ANC government’s tampering with the basic labour conditions using the Department of Labour was meant to make it difficult for the workers to strike.
“The strike is a weapon we have, Ntolokotse said. “We must demonstrate to the Department of Labour, to the elite that we are not agreeable with what they want to do to us as workers.”
She reminded the gathering that the Russian Revolution was a reminder that true power resides with the working class.
“The working class in Russia took charge of the society, the economy and the state and they transformed society in their own interests,” Ntlokotse said. “The Red Centennary celebrations are a reminder of who we are as the working class, and the true power that we yield when we are united with common vision. We were united in defeating the tyranny of the white apartheid state, but the work of dismantling the economic structure of Apartheid, which is responsible for the suffering of the African majority, has yet to be completed.”
Later the workers attending the commemoration led by NUMSA acting national spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi demonstrated their displeasure at the ANC’s attempts to strip them of their strike by chorusing that they will never allow such an act.
“Are you going to allow them to take away your right to strike?” Hlubi shouted from the stage and the audience, some standing and jumping, chorused: “Never”.
The ANC government’s proposed amendment to section 65 of the Labour Relations Act, number 66 of 1995 has raised concern among the country’s trade unions, saying it’s an attempt to limit the right to strike, a guarantee in the South African Constitution, which has been cited as an important bargaining tool for trade unions.
