Victory for THORN workers at Spar: former labour broker employees to be insourced

 

THORN-logo 

SAFTU press statement, 2 November 2018

The South African Federation of Trade Unions congratulates the workers at Spar South Rand and their union THORN on their victory today when they reached an agreement that all rights conferred on a recognized representative trade union are being granted forthwith to THORN.

From 1 December 2018, all former employees of two labour brokers will be insourced and employed directly by Spar, and the grievances of these former Temporary Employment Service employees will be referred directly to Spar. 

Amadiba Crisis Committee: “We are in solidarity with the Jama community protests against Sanral!”

Since Monday 22 October, the residents of Jama community in inland Amadiba area have been blocking the works for the building of the Mtentu giant bridge. The blockade continued today.

The people of Jama demand that Sanral keeps it promises of giving the jobs to the locals. They demand:

  • The security with big guns must leave the site! The children are very scared when they go to school and local adults as well.
  • The Project Liaison Committee and the Project Liaison Officer Mr Zeka Mnyamana must be changed! The PLO and PLO must be elected by the community.
  • Sanral’s truck driving testing officer must leave. All experienced local drivers are failing his “tests”. Nobody knows why.

Watch video of the blockade on the Amadiba Crisis Committee's Facebook page.

Outsourcing ends at University of Pretoria

Statement issued by UPrising, 20 January 2016

Good afternoon

After 9 days of protest concerning the insourcing of workers at the University of Pretoria we are glad to inform you that worker's and management have reached an agreement. It goes as follows:

1.Workers will receive a top-up that will have their final gross salary before deductions increase to the sum of R5500pm as of the end of this month. The amount of  R5500 will increase gradually over the years so that it reaches R10000 by the end of 2018.

2.All staff will have access to the health clinic soon as it is sufficiently equipped to deal with the increased number and the altered demographic by he 1 March 2016. 

3.All workers and their children, who qualify to study at the University of Pretoria will be allowed to study for free as applicable to other staff members.

4.Workers and students who participated in the protest will not be disciplined, dismissed or victimised. To ensure this an oversight committee will deal with any breach relating to this clause.

There are conditions to the implementation of this agreement, these being:

  1. Workers must return to work as soon as the agreement is signed.
  2.  No further protest by any party.
  3. UP will not enforce the interdict if workers return to work as agreed and protest action stops.

We hope the University abides by this agreement and the academic year can commence without any obstacles. We also trust that VC Prof. Cheryl de la Ray will also tend to the matters concerning the students memorandum signed in October 2015.

The University of Pretoria will be open tomorrow Thursday 21 January 2016. CSC will be open to all on Monday 25 January 2016 and the academic year commences on 1 February 2016.

Our parents have been dignified and we hope management will continue rwspecting them.

Aluta Continua
UPrising

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Photos of the agreement reached at the University of Pretoria follow for anyone sceptical of such good news.

#FeesmustFreefall

by Martin Jansen

The Students Lead…. Again

The student protest movement that unfolded over the past two weeks signals the beginning of the end for the ANC regime. Strangely reminiscent of the 1976 student uprisings that followed three years after the Durban strikes of 1973, 2015’s students’ protest movement follows three years after the Marikana massacre and the state’s smashing of the Lonmin mineworkers’ strike. While the students’ victory of no fee increases for 2016 will not overcome their major problem of eradicating the high costs of accessing tertiary education, it still represents a major victory and achievement for students and the entire working class movement. By directing their demands towards national government and building a non-sectarian national movement, the students demonstrated tremendous political clarity and tenacity. The rest of the working class has taken notice and has drawn this lesson. Soon we are likely to see local communities that have engaged in hundreds of militant local struggles around “service delivery” for more than a decade, seeking unity with each other and building a national movement similar to the UDF of the 1980’s. The real mass working class united front is on the horizon to challenge our rulers. Even the complacent urban middle class has been shaken out of its post-Apartheid comfort and slumber by the student protests with the state’s brutal response and sudden caving-in to their demands.