This matter about CWU has been addressed. The outdated article and its further circulation represent nothing but attack on the union and could be a misfiring in the extreme. Sent by AlexM
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] Sender: [email protected] Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:17:03 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [YCLSA Discussion] CWU faces loss of legal status over late reports! Five years???? And who has been auditing all this time; if not, aren't there legal implications for that? And shouldn't the office bearers during that period be held responsible? What was being reported to members by the treasurer all this time? And was it an audited report? Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you! -----Original Message----- From: Castro Ngobese <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:00:22 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] CWU faces loss of legal status over late reports! Print this page CWU faces loss of legal status over late reports December 19 2011 at 05:00am Asha Speckman Thousands of workers in the communications industry could soon lose their union representation. This comes after the Department of Labour last week threatened to terminate the legal recognition of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) following its failure to submit financial statements for the past five years. The CWU is the largest trade union representing workers in the communications industry in South Africa and draws monthly fees, often via stop orders and debit orders, from a membership of about 30 000, who pay R60 a month for union protection. Johan Crouse, the registrar at the Department of Labour, said last week that the trade union had not provided financial statements since 2006. “It’s quite a number of years, that’s why we’ve taken steps,” Crouse said. If the union is deregistered it would not be able to enter into a collective agreement with employers and its access to certain rights, including access to an employer’s premises and the deduction of membership fees via salary stop orders, might be terminated. “This is potentially serious but in law they can still function,” said an official in the registrar’s office who is not authorised to speak to media. “There’s freedom of association in our constitution and we cannot make illegal the right to associate.” The union could re-register but would have to follow an official process. A notice published in the government gazette on November 25 indicated that the department intended to cancel the CWU’s registration because it had failed to “comply with sections 98, 99 and 100 of the (Labour Relations) Act” and had “ceased to function in terms of its constitution”. The sections of the act compel unions to keep records of financial transactions, prepare financial statements every six months, and avail these to members for inspection. The reports should be submitted to the department annually. The CWU had 60 days to motivate why its registration should not be annulled. Last Tuesday Thabo Mogalane, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, said: “We are submitting 2006, 2007 and 2008 tomorrow. Before the end of January we’ll submit the outstanding (reports).” Mogalane would not comment on why the union had fallen behind. “The general secretary is in a better position to answer,” Mogalane said. CWU general secretary Gallant Roberts is in South Korea with Telkom and could not be reached via cellphone. Roberts said in a letter to CWU provincial secretaries dated December 8: “We have since written a letter to the office of the registrar. We have been assured this morning by the independent auditors that (a) draft report will be ready and available for the office of the registrar by December 14.” Patrick Craven, the spokesman for Cosatu, of which CWU is an affiliate, declined to comment. “Obviously we monitor all our affiliates but we do not discuss their problems with the media. I wouldn’t like to go into the details. We have to give them time to sort this out.” Castro's iPad -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
