CEPPWAWU RESPECTS THE COSATU CEC DECISION TO EXPEL NUMSA FROM THE FEDERATION
As CEPPWAWU leadership we have decided to do the unusual, to respond to the lies made by NUMSA leadership after it had been expelled by the COSATU Special CEC which had been scheduled on the 7th November 2014.
As a union we have our own challenges like any other organization and unions all over the world and we are currently dealing with these challenges. But these cannot mute us to respond when we are under attack from anyone including NUMSA.
We are therefore releasing this statement to set the record straight about the lies which have been peddled by NUMSA leadership in the media about the COSATU Special CEC decision to expel NUMSA
Lies, half truths, fabrications, slander, malice and insults have become a permanent feature which defines the NUMSA leadership.
They behave like the followers of Hitler and Goebbels of the Nazi German who believed that"by means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven..." and that you must "use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few".
NUMSA leadership uses fiery Marxist Language as a cover up to woo the unsuspecting audience. This they do to hide their own liberalism and reactionary tendencies. They place personal interests first and the interests of the revolution second.
As Mao Tse Tung put it that they apply Marxism to others but liberalism to themselves. They keep both kinds of goods in stock and find a use for each depending on their selfish interests at any time. Their conduct remains at the service of the enemy which welcomes its preservation in our midst. That is why they are always given disproportionate air time by the bourgeoisie media.
Decision of the COSATU Special CEC to expel NUMSA
The decision to expel NUMSA was taken by a Special CEC of COSATU which had been duly convened in terms of the constitution. This decision was taken by the affiliates who are in good standing and this includes CEPPWAWU.
All unions which were in the CEC including NUMSA participated in the democratic process, including voting which led to the decision to have NUMSA expelled from the federation for violating its policies with impunity
The expulsion of NUMSA from the federation has followed a very comprehensive and painstaking democratic process which was marked by NUMSA's attempt to block the CEC from receiving its presentation including the failed court interdict against the sitting of the Special CEC to receive NUMSA's presentation.
The decision was taken after all unions had been given a chance to read through the presentation which was delivered to them many months ago.
Everything was done to allow NUMSA leadership a chance to reconsider their position on their resolutions which stood in opposition to COSATU policy. Actually it can be said that NUMSA leadership had wrongly calculated that their intention to form a new federation would receive support from the membership.
When this backfired in their Congress when the membership refused to move out of the federation they retreated to a position of deliberately creating conditions through defying COSATU policy, forcing the federation to expel them as a way of winning the sympathy of an unsuspecting membership.
NUMSA have every right like any other affiliate of COSATU to convene its congress and take resolutions.
But such resolutions must not undermine COSATU's existing policy. The duty and the responsibility of any affiliate is that upon taking any such resolution, it will subject them to the federation's constitutional and democratic processes. This is done through a National Congress of the federation.
NUMSA refused to subject its resolutions to this democratic process, instead went to the media and publicly defied and ridiculed COSATU policy. They declared that there was no turning back and that they will vigorously push for the implementation of their resolutions.
This did not only end with their media statements but they actually went full swing and practically implemented their resolutions. This included amongst others the following:
1) They made a defiant call to COSATU to break its alliance with the African National Congress (ANC)
2) They neither endorsed nor supported the ANC in 2014
3) The ceased to pay their subscriptions and political levy to the COSATU
4) They continued poaching members from other COSATU unions under pretext that members come to them willingly
5) They extended their scope of operation into: glass production, sale and fitment; car valet and wash bay establishment; manufacture of jewellery, the refining of petrol, wholesale transportation, extraction and distribution of petrochemicals, mining and smelting of both base and precious metals; drivers that provide support to activities of NUMSA sectors; building and construction; auto industry textile, security, cleaning, canteen and health services that are covered by NUMSA scope; kiosks; industrial chemicals; alternative energy, information and communication technologies
6) etc.
Going back a little while down memory lane we recall that the merger talks that gave birth to CEPPWAWU became necessary because both CWIU and PPWAWU had adopted resolutions calling for "One Country, One Federation; One Union, One Industry". COSATU along the same lines is therefore democratically informed and shaped by well-thought inputs of its Affiliates.
When the decision to expel NUMSA was taken, it had become clear that keeping NUMSA represented by its current leadership inside the federation had become costly to the life of the federation. They fear and hate democracy. They listen only to themselves. They prefer raising their voices than to raise the level and quality of their argument.
When they lose a debate in the CEC based on the force of argument presented through a democratic process they go to the media to mobilize public sympathy and use that platform to spread lies and to insult the COSATU leadership and everyone who differs with their views.
They pay no attention to anybody. In this debacle, in came the veterans of the democratic union movement, the founding fathers of COSATU, to help restore sanity and stability in the Federation. It is a matter of record now that NUMSA showed disregard to the efforts of the veterans. We are however deeply disappointed by those among the veterans who also went out to echo destructive sentiments akin to those of NUMSA. We will again welcome the assistance of our founding fathers with a slight hint that all should emulate the leadership provided by the likes of Cdes Sydney Mofumadi, Makhulu Ledwaba and Ronald Mofokeng.
NUMSA Leadership misled the membership into taking decisions which included extending their scope by an additional fifteen sectors, eight of which are currently covered by CEPPWAWU. This excludes the Plastic and Rubber sectors. It was naughty, insolent and spiteful of NUMSA to extend its scope of operation into the territory of six other COSATU Affiliates. When it attacks COSATU, the ANC, the SACP and CEPPWAWU, NUMSA's language leaves much to be desired. They hurl insults and demonstrate arrogance and disrespect. Their action disrespects COSATU's founding principle and adds to the malicious attack against CEPPWAWU that NUMSA sustained under the cloak of "overlapping scopes". The latter refers to the Plastic and Rubber sectors.
Prior to this provocative expansion of its scope, NUMSA used sector demarcation as a tool to re-demarcate CEPPWAWU members out of MEIBC (Engineering sector) and NBCCI (Chemical sectors) and into MIBCO (Motor sector) aware that CEPPWAWU is not party to the Motor Industry. Today the same NUMSA is applying for membership of the NBCCI which it is working hard to destroy through re-demarcation of companies out of it!
These also include the Plastic companies, Glass companies and Chemical companies whose products may be sold directly to individual customers and not necessarily the motor components that are "only" used in assembly of automobiles and related accessories.
The question should be asked as to why would NUMSA want to organize beyond its scope and weaken COSATU unions when it knows that this will not increase the total membership of COSATU but will weaken and destroy other unions?
Why does NUMSA hunt in a Zoo, recruit members who have already been unionized when there is glaring evidence that 71% of 10.3 million employed workers (i.e. 7.3 million) are not unionised, that 54% of the workers receive no regular wage increments or have their wages determined solely by their employers and bargaining councils cover just 9% of the workforce, while only 23% of the workers' wages are negotiated directly through unions?
Surely NUMSA has not reached a ceiling in its sector. Why would NUMSA respond to the restructuring of the economy by acting in a selfish manner which only put its interests against the interests of the federation as whole? When membership in the employ of SASOL is the main anchor of the Union, what else does NUMSA wants to achieve by poaching our members there if not to destroy the Union? How do workers at Consol Glass fit into NUMSA sectors when they manufacture flat glass, tableware and containers?
NUMSA has extended its scope knowing very well that such an action is against the policies of the Federation. The objective was bigger than just extending the scope but the objective was to use the extension of scope to recruit members and use such membership as a base for the establishment of a political party and thus a new federation.
In other words NUMSA wanted to remain inside COSATU for one reason and one reason only , which is to use the name of COSATU and its infrastructure to set up a new organisation which will stand in opposition to COSATU.
We are now aware that it is using metalworkers' hard-earned funds to sponsor court actions brought against the Union's genuine leaders by dissident individuals. For NUMSA to expand its scope into the Chemical and Energy sectors it is telling that CEPPWAWU has become its primary target. But this comes as no surprise to the Union leadership. We are happy that they came out very clear for the public and all workers to see. It is no longer a secret!
Ordinary workers receiving meager wages at an average of R3,000 have so far spent R8 million rand in litigation against their own Union in courts. The question is who is paying for them?
We have noted that the lawyers who work for those who took the Union to courts are the same lawyers and advocates who were used by NUMSA against COSATU. Again, those who took the Union to courts have employed the services of a VIP security, the same company which is used by NUMSA. We once again ask as to who is paying them?
As for the court action, we are ready to present facts as we know them. We have evidence for accusation that has been made and we have evidence about all those who have played a role to destroy the Union in exchange for a promise to be given money which belongs to the workers.
Our issuing of this statement is to set the record to our members, our associates and the public at large lest hogwash lies peddled in the public domain mislead our people. We are deeply concerned that NUMSA's disingenuous pronouncements fed the public by an equally partisan media is misleading many.
There are commentators and journalists doing much damage to the unity and hegemony of COSATU who make unfounded allegations and distort internal doings of COSATU as if they are COSATU insiders - as if they actually do participate in COSATU's decision-making processes. If left unchecked, their assertions will break the unity of the organized working masses apart. As the Union leadership, we cherish the unity of workers and the unity of COSATU. Only a united workers' movement can make a meaningful contribution in the struggle to democratize the workplace and reverse the frontiers of the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
We welcome the decision of the COSATU CEC to expel NUMSA from the Federation. They are responsible for their expulsion. They deliberately invited their expulsion in order to gain public and membership sympathy. We will continue to defend the constitution and policies of COSATU including its leadership with everything we have.
Imagine the kind of a federation COSATU would turn out to be if it brought together industry-based trade unions and one union which has a right to straddle across fifteen other industries that are already covered by the scopes of member-Affiliates!
As the CEPPWAWU leadership we are bracing ourselves for an open war of influence on the members with NUMSA. We commit to the call of COSATU to reach out to members in their different structures and formations to explain the CEC decision and guard that they should not be swayed by distracting stories. COSATU policies of strong militancy, political independence as well as its stance against Labour Brokering and e-tolling remain unchanged to this day. Our commitment to COSATU too should remain unchanged.
We call on COSATU to fast-track the decision to admit into the ranks of the federation the more than three new unions which have submitted their application. We commit to go out and spur none of our energies to strengthen our own Union as part of the process of defending COSATU.
Our members know where they stand and why are they are not members of any other Affiliate or federation. They will continue to love and defend COSATU! We, together with the members we lead, pledge our loyalty to COSATU as well as to continue to respect the decisions of our constitutional structures including the CEC.
Phambili nge COSATU, Phambili!!!
Statement issued by Cde Simon Mofokeng, CEPPWAWU General Secretary, November 17 2014
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