Politically Marikana and entire Platinum industrial areas had become a highly contested political terrain by various AMCU and political movements since the 2012 protest and massacre of 34 mineworkers. And after many years of poorly attended May day rallies, it was very impressive and encouraging to witness NACTU's 2013 MAY day success achieved through AMCU as a host affiliate. The membership numeric growth of AMCU signifies what shop floor based mobilization of workers sustained through workers' determination to fulfil immediate demands of workers to grow a trade union and a trade union federation such as NACTU. Commonly May Day rallies serve to strengthen workers' unity and solidarity, thus federations will mobilise workers through trade unions across all industries as pivotal so as to inject the spirit workers' solidarity against the rising unemployment, cost of living and retrenchment.
AMCU's ability and success to mobilise the mass of workers must be commended as its dominance remain undisputed, but the general attendance by other NACTU affiliates at the MAY day held in Marikana at Wonderkop stadium was generally disappointing, and this exposes the scarcity of required leadership and organizational capabilities in NACTU to mobilise and organise workers across all industries. The absence of NACTU affiliates that has a significant membership such as MEWUSA, SACWU, PEU, MWASA, NPSWU and Hotellica with banners and t-shirts was vocal. AMCU did not dominate the MAY Day Rally it was the only trade union affiliate of NACTU. Evidently NACTU leadership had dismally failed to organise the entire industrial and public sector workers on a common and basic principle of working class unity and solidarity. In the last three years NACTU lost majority of its official and closed all provincial and regional offices consequently, NACTU lacks the required operational capability to drive campaign and basic administration. One is just wondering what is happening to hard earned workers subscriptions that they pay to NACTU. Demise of NACTU including absence of a clear PAC strategy to galvanise workers and trade unions requires full and urgent attention. The membership numeric growth of AMCU obviously translates to some form of financial injection in terms of monthly subscriptions for both AMCU and NACTU. However such gains do not necessary translate to political and organisational for NACTU in terms of organisational capability for mobilisation of workers and influencing public policy discourse based on the working class constructed political agenda. The recent particularly the May Day event exposes NACTU's organisational weaknesses and limitations. NACTU's loss of key official such as Mahlomola Skhosana (former Deputy Secretary General, Siphiwo Ganca (Labour Market Analyst), Brenda Modise (Gender Coordinator), Moemedi Keapadisa (National Education Coordinator), Provincial Coordinators and other administrative staff NACTU's resulted to current state whereat NACTU lacks organisational capabilities to drive strategy and influence public policy defending and advancing the interests of workers. The high membership of AMCU does not necessary translate to immediate and long terms organisational gains for NACTU in terms of shaping public policy and influencing decision making in NEDLAC, Presidential Task Teams and other public institutions. The General Secretary of NACTU will he rise to demand of resolving the ailing and limping NACTU when he also holds two equally demanding same position in the BCAWU and PAC, logic and common sense dictate that two of the three formations namely PAC, NACTU and BCAWU will suffer from non-delivery from the office of the Secretary General. NACTU's office of the Secretary General similar to a determine and thoughtful political party or trade union is a daunting task which requires a full time official to focus on driving operationalization of the organisational strategy to achieve the desired impact on national public policy discourse, one wonders of the injustice that will arise from a man holding three demanding positions, evidently someone is been taken for a ride. NACTU and particularly AMCU will only thrive if there is a deliberate strategy focused on future levels of trade unionism noting the low membership numbers among young workers. The bargaining power of trade unions in times of high unemployment, combined with the new structure of workplace organisations and the predominance of small organisations, has been severely eroded and worsened by trade union leadership holding shares in companies thus sharing a common interests with the same capitalist exploitative class. AMCU should build shop floor capabilities among shop stewards so to effectively intervene to protect the members against unfair dismissals and stop retrenchments. This is particularly true for mining and manufacturing industries, where retrenchments are commonplace, and the levels of job insecurity are particularly high. The question is, is NACTU and AMCU fundamentally different from the existing trade unions ravaged by labour aristocracy and trade union leadership collusion with capital and the neo-colonial system? AMCU's and its leadership should not be a case of one labour aristocracy replacing the other, being NUM? History shall answer that question very soon But also PAC members and structures should beging taking interests of the labour movement such as NACTU, AMCU, MWASA, BCAWU, MEWUSA and many others. Trade unions do not only serve as training grounds for workers, they equally possess the political potential to link itself with party and community based struggles, including sharpening class contradictions and heightening political class consciousness of the African workers. NACTU's growth and its rise, is depended on it being freed from the labour aristocracy which has a stranglehold on the federation suffocating any form of progressive and revolutionary socialist ideas of organisation and mobilisation of workers against the neo-colonial state and capitalism. For AMCU to sustain its militancy will be depended upon political and ideological orientation of its leadership, shop-stewards and the entire membership. It is not enough to mobilise workers around wage increment, workers since 1994 poor service delivery and rising cost of living continued to demand that the trade unions pronounce around policy matters such as the thrown around flexible labour market system as envisaged by capitalist and the neo-colonial state, the South African structural political economic system which defined the country as a supplier of raw material and cheap labour and poor service delivery in rural areas and townships compounded by the rising cost of living. There has been either a deliberate silence from trade union leadership including throwing dust into the eyes of the most downtrodden and exploited African workers when trade unions leaders organises a one day protest march and throw bucket full of rhetoric and fictitious militancy. South African trade unions, worse of all NACTU and most of its affiliates have become a genuine capitalist buffer system to contain and depoliticize African workers using phrases such as political independence. Today's challenge requires new organisational forms, new alliances and new strategies. there has been a loss of ideological support for unions since South Africa became a democratic society. South Africa has a two-tiered economy; it is both a developed country with good infrastructure, but also a country with huge social and economic problems associated with a developing country uneven distribution of wealth and income. Practices such as subcontracting, outsourcing and the hiring of temporary and part-time workers, long considered as atypical employment, are becoming more common, especially at the lower end of the labour market. The apolitical position dubbed political independence of NACTU has not only rendered NACTU irrelevant, it has furthermore made NACTU to betray the African workers' class' interest for the repossession of land and nationalisation of the mines, agriculture and industries. NACTU should also advance abolishment of the slave wage system which perpetuates the servitude living conditions among workers, NACTU should focus on mobilising workers and communities along equitable distribution of wealth can be achieved only when mines and other commanding heights of the economy are under direct control and management of workers and communities. South Africa has 32 903 million working age group, with the labour force reported by Statistic SA to be 17 9 million with only 13 4 million people employed, and the combination of the those classified as unemployed reported 4.5 million plus those unemployed classified as "Not economically active" reported as 14.7 million implies the total estimate of unemployed people in the country is 19. 3 million as per the quarterly labour force survey. Arising from this empirical data it implies unemployed in South Africa as at June 2012 stood at 59% and proportionally represents 0.76% while COSATU is 15.7% factually therefore membership density of NACTU is negligible in regard to its effect. And there is 10 million unorganised workers in the country, it cannot be disputed that there is significant mass of industrial workers, with high levels of inequality and poverty these mass of workers requires activism for mobilisation and organisation. COSATU has an estimated 1.8-million in 2007 to 2.07-million in 2011, while NACTU total membership lingers around (less than) 100 000 dispersed all over the country. COSATU , evidently the task and challenge for NACTU Central Committee and ist affiliates is greater that thought. The significance of numerical strength in terms of membership base is it serves as a collective strength and also give the organisation a collective bargaining strength including when pursuing socio-economic protests. A higher membership density also serves as a political weapon to exert pressure on the state and also for mobilising members of the communities thus the organisation will be taken seriously when it expresses or voices its policy positions or demands. Worth to state that for those down play the significance or are failing to understand the content of the modern class struggle and the role of the working class as the leading force of the socialist revolution leading to total liberation and unification of Africa. It worth to state that the African working class and peasants who constitutes the majority of our population are the only revolutionary class capable to face and overthrow the capitalist class including its appendage neocolonialism. Marx in the Communist Manifesto alluded that: "Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry, the proletariat is its special and essential product." Every activity of this class was therefore, is important for the PAC-activity in which the class got consciousness to move forward. The formation and existence of trade unions and the trade union movement are important steps in the formation of a solid class, a common class-consciousness. The superior organisation- the political party of the working class could not be formed and expanded in isolation from this practical struggle involving the large mass of workers. That is why the statutes of the International Working Men's Association provided for affiliation of trade unions and other organisations of the working class, along with individual membership. The PAC at its coming conference should place as a matter of strategic necessity the party's role and interests on trade union movement particularly NACTU including defining and describing the type of trade unions party members and cadres should be build and deploy. It is not given as matters stands today that NACTU is in alliance or politically supports PAC or Pan Africanism! Shango lashu Nkrumah Raymond Kgagudi 074 922 6361 -- -- Sending your posting to payco@googlegroups.com Unsubscribe by sending an email to payco-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com You can also visit http://groups.google.com/group/payco Visit our website at www.mayihlome.wordpress.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Pan Africanist Youth Congress" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to payco+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
