The former head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) told striking public-sector workers on Wednesday that negotiations should take place at the table and not on the streets.
Mbhazima Shilowa’s comments were a sign of deepening differences between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its allies.
”The negotiations have been going on for far too long. It is important for all of us that we put our heads together and that we find a settlement that is in the best interest of workers and the government,” said Shilowa, also Premier of Gauteng, the country’s richest province, after accepting a memorandum by protesters in
downtown Johannesburg.
Tens of thousands of workers marched across the country on Wednesday in demand for a 10% wage increase during a day of labour action that brought South Africa’s largest cities to a standstill.
One union said 600 000 workers took part in countrywide marches, while the government put the figure at 70 000.
Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said initial reports suggested Wednesday’s events had been ”excellent”.
Solidarity action from municipal workers and taxi drivers indicated the ”depth and support” for the public servants, he said.
The Public Service and Administration Department, however, said the mass action had a ”minimal impediment” on most service delivery.
”It is estimated that in all centres across the country 70 000 workers participated in the marches,” said spokesperson Lewis Rabkin.
However, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said reports showed a significant or general public-service shutdown, ”despite government’s obvious propaganda to the contrary”.
”Our overall assessment is that more than 600 000 workers participated in the marches,” the union said.
The escalation of a 12-day-old strike staged by public-sector unions disrupted schooling, healthcare and transport services.
Municipal workers also heeded the call to hold a one-day strike in a show of solidarity. Other unions also took part in lunchtime protests.
However, with a heavy police presence in all cities, the protests went off peacefully and there have been isolated reports of violence.
‘People are angry’
Willie Madisha, president of Cosatu, the country’s largest federation of unions, said the labour action had been successful.
”It is an indication that indeed people are angry. Workers are not happy that they have negotiated for more than eight months without achieving anything at all. I only hope that after this show of power by the workers government will be able to move.”
About one million teachers, nurses and other civil servants have been on a strike since June 1, crippling hospitals and forcing soldiers and police to step in to provide protection and medical services.
In a showdown with unions, the government said medical staff, regarded as essential workers, who went on strike in violation of a court order would be fired. Dismissals have been announced at some hospitals but the unions are demanding these be reversed.
Protesters outside Shilowa’s office were angry that he did not respond to this issue and many branded him a ”sell-out,” an insult he shrugged off.
”I will wear it as a badge of honour,” he told the South African Brodcasting Corporation.
The labour federation, which has about 1,8-million members, has been part of a historical alliance with the ANC and the Communist Party that has led South Africa since multiracial elections in 1994.
Tensions
However, cracks began to appear in the alliance a few years later, when a more conservative macro-economic policy tightened social spending in a country that has one of the most progressive sets of labour laws in the world.
Shilowa, who joined the labour movement in 1981, was Cosatu general secretary during the height of the anti-apartheid struggle when the unions challenged the minority-rule government on behalf of the exiled ANC.
The former president of the Transport and General Workers Union, he enjoys huge popularity and is considered close to President Thabo Mbeki. However, many question his commitment to workers since he developed a taste for expensive cigars and whiskey.
Many observers see the strike as a further breakdown among alliance partners.
Aubrey Matshiqi, senior research fellow at Centre for Policy Studies, said tensions in the alliance were one of the drivers of the strike but not a primary one.
”It is a factor to the extent that public servants can see the gaps in who benefits from the country’s economic growths. They perceive the leaders of the ANC and the middle class to be the main beneficiaries of growth and that is a sentiment behind the strike.
”They compare their lot to the lot of those in the private sector and those deployed in government and parastatals. And the deficit represents the difference between what the ANC promised and the reality of their lives as public servants. This doesn’t help relations in the alliance.”
However, Steven Friedman, research associate at Idasa, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, said he did not expect the strike to have much impact on relationships in the alliance.
”Workers go on strike to improve their employment situation. The strike is not a contest between the ANC and labour, it’s a contest between the government and labour. Yes, it’s a government that’s governed by the ANC. The ANC has been very careful to just call for a negotiated settlement.”
Negotiations between government and public-sector unions are expected to resume on Friday. – Sapa-AP