A strike by security guards from the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will continue, the union warned on Friday.
”Satawu is not prepared to call off the strike. We are prepared to suspend the strike if the employers return to the negotiating table,” Satawu general secretary Randall Howard told a press briefing.
He said Thursday’s Labour Court ruling that the guards’ strike was legal was a ”fantastic judgement” because it laid the basis for employers to stop using legal tactics and return to talks.
The union saw Friday’s talks at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as laying a basis for a resolution to the dispute.
Howard could not give details of the meeting’s progress as it started two hours late. He said the meeting would probably try to resolve semantic differences. ”Employers have termed it exploratory talks. We term it negotiation. Today we will try to create the condition for real negotiations.”
Both parties have to grapple with the matter. ”You have to keep talking until the solution comes.”
Satawu wants a commitment from employers that union members will not be victimised once they return to work. ”If we get that commitment, then we don’t have a problem to suspend the strike,” Howard said.
Reconciliation with the 14 minority unions that signed an April 1 wage agreement for an 8,3% increase will be difficult, he said. ”The other unions decided to undermine trade-union rules by signing … we believe they collaborated with the employers. Respect for those unions will be difficult to reinstate.”
Cooperation between all the unions, however, has to be pursued so that ”workers’ power” in the security sector can be properly consolidated.
Howard said the blood of scab labourers killed or injured in the strike is on the employers’ hands. ”I believe that the employers must take responsibility if they are willing to invite those desperate for work.”
Any worker who chooses to associate with an employer during a strike also needs to be aware of the consequences, he said.
Despite this, he condemned the recent violence and said Satawu has called on its members not to resort to such behaviour, even against scabs.
He also called on members to expose those who use the strike for ”opportunistic criminal activity”.
In the latest incident on Thursday, three people, believed to be security guards, were seriously injured when thrown off a train at Johannesburg’s Cleveland station.
Satawu continued striking on April 3 for an 11% wage increase and four months of paid maternity leave. — Sapa