The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will sign a pay agreement on Thursday with security employers, Satawu general secretary Randall Howard said.
He was addressing a large number of striking security guards who had gathered at Beyers Naude Square in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Howard said Satawu intended suing Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula for the police’s reaction during the strike. He said police had treated striking security guards like animals and criminals.
Howard condemned last week Thursday’s incident when police fired stun grenades at security guards.
He said Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana had complained about the language he (Howard) had used while addressing the striking guards.
”When I first addressed you, there were two words he [Mdladlana] did not like, shit and masimba [shit].”
He said union leaders were expected to be diplomatic and sound nice to people from Sandton, Rosebank and other rich suburbs. ”I do not give a shit what they think. I am here to defend you … I am not a priest, I am the general secretary of Satawu.”
He criticised parliamentarians and provincial legislature members for only discussing the violence attached to the strike.
”In 2009 there will be another election. They should not take for granted the support we have given them because we can change that support.”
He said workers should not blame the African National Congress for the actions of individuals.
”The ANC is our movement. We must claim it back and redirect it in 2009.”
Howard said if President Thabo Mbeki continued condemning their strike then workers should also condemn him.
”No president of a movement can do what he has done … It is his right as the state president to condemn crime in the country, but not in a one-sided manner.”
Howard said he hoped that employers had learned a lesson that Satawu would never tolerate low wages and poor working conditions.
He said the new offer was accepted by all regions of Satawu.
”Tomorrow we will continue with ‘Operation Intensify’ by signing the agreement.”
The Satawu leadership told the crowd to gather at the square on Thursday to be shown the agreement.
”Because if you go back to work tomorrow the employers might not come [to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration offices] to sign the agreement,” said Satawu’s coordinator for the security industry, Jackson Simon.
The striking guards dispersed in a jovial mood as they marched from Beyers Naude square to Johannesburg’s Park Station.
Guards represented by Satawu and the Transport and Allied Workers’ Union of South Africa (Tawusa) went on strike in March in pursuit of an 11% pay rise.
A deal signed in April by 14 other unions for an average 8,3% increase has been replaced by another thrashed out at the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration.
Satawu and Tawusa were canvassing members for permission to accept the new, three-year deal, which offers a 9,25% increase in the first year and 7,25% in the second and third years of the agreement.
The unions have until Thursday to accept or reject the deal. — Sapa