NUMSA condemns irresponsible arrest of its members by SAPS

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) condemns the irresponsible arrest of its 39 members in Deal Party industrial area outside Port Elizabeth by members of the South African Police Services (SAPS).

The workers are being detained at the Mount Road police station, Port Elizabeth.

The arrest of these workers by police is a clear indication that police are being bullied or co-opted by capital to undermine our industrial action for a living wage and improved conditions of employment for workers. We want to remind the SAPS that they are not a Bargaining Chamber neither do they have a mandate to mitigate over industrial disputes involving workers and employers.

They major assignment as police services is to deal with criminals or the dangerous class that is running amok in our townships by stealing from the exploited class and poisoning the children of the working class with drugs.

We demand the immediate release of our members in order to intensify our strike action for a living wage. The SAPS should understand that this struggle for a living wage is also in their best interest as workers. These workers that they have arrested are their brothers and sisters, and even worse some of these workers reside with them in our apartheid created townships that are engulfed by poverty, squalor and social misery.

As Numsa, we will engage our ally POPCRU to sharpen class consciousness amongst its members in order to build a strong trade union movement to confront the hegemony of capital and deepen the struggle for a living wage and sustainable livelihoods.

Statement issued by Castro Ngobese, NUMSA national spokesperson, July 13 2011

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