More people have died in connection with the security guard strike than any other since 1994, prompting one prominent Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) leader to suggest that Cosatu’s South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) should consider calling off industrial action.
Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu’s Western Cape provincial secretary, also urged the government to intervene.
”We can’t just carry on with business as usual — any of us,” said Ehrenreich. ”There can be no defence for working people killing each other.
”I understand that the union and government don’t want to set a precedent by allowing violence to force their hand. But we should not be so cautious that we don’t take the difficult steps that need to be taken.”
Up to nine people have been killed in connection with the strikes, according to police and newspaper reports. This figure includes six men who were thrown from a train on the Benoni, East Rand, line on Monday; an organiser of Satawu, who was shot dead last Sunday in the Cape town township of Langa and two security guards who were shot on April 5 and April 19.
A national strike by 16 unions began in late March. Since 14 of the unions signed a pay deal with security employers on April 1, only Satawu has been on strike since April 13.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven confirmed that more people had died in relation to the recent security guard strike than any other he could recall since 1994. Cosatu’s campaign secretary, Theo Steele commented that not since the apartheid era had so many deaths been associated with industrial action.
In 1987, four non-striking workers were necklaced by South African Harbour and Railways Workers Union members. Also during that strike, the police killed six striking transport workers, according to the Cosatu publication, The -Shopsteward.
In August 1987, 11 workers were killed and about 600 injured in the National Union of Mineworkers’s 21-day wage strike.
But while violence in the 1980s was systematic and routine, said Craven, strike-related violence after 1994 mainly consisted of isolated incidents.
Recent deaths in association with strike action include:
- In December 2000, two guards were reportedly shot dead in Cape Town in connection with a security guard strike.
- In July 2002, one man was killed during a three-week municipal strike, when a senior municipal official allegedly opened fire on demonstrators in Limpopo.
- Also in 2002, two miners were killed by security guards during a strike at East Rand Proprietary Mines.
- Last August six union members allegedly beat a worker to death during a strike by members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.