NUMSA - 24 years of rentless struggle for People's Power and Socialism!

24 years ago, 17 May 1987, the NATIONAL UNION OF METALWORKERS OF SOUTH AFRICA (Numsa) was formed to confront the logic of capital in the workplace and society broadly. We owe our birth to the four unions, namely Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU), Motor Industry Combined Workers Union (MICWU), National Automobile and Allied Workers Union (NAAWU) and United Metal, Mining and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (UMMAWOSA) that merged in 1987 in line with COSATU's call for one sector; one union. Our formation was also inspired by the great events of 1980's for democratic reforms and an end to the heinous and racist apartheid rule in South Africa.

The formation of NUMSA happened exactly 70 years after the triumph of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia under Vladimir Lenin. The triumph of the Bolshevik revolution was an inspiration to the working masses of the world. For the first time in history, the working masses, overthrew the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and replaced it with the dictatorship of the working class under the leadership of the vanguard party of the working class - Communist Party of Soviets Union (CPSU).

The formation of NUMSA also happened during the period that the ANC in exile under the leadership of President Oliver Reginald ‘OR' Tambo had made a call to the people of South Africa to make apartheid ungovernable. This made NUMSA to be at the coalface of the struggle as true soldiers of President OR. NUMSA was there in factories, compounds, hostels and townships as a strategic component of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) in amplifying and making South Africa ungovernable as commanded by the ANC and President OR.

We are celebrating our 24th anniversary during the 90th year of the formation of our vanguard party - the South African Communist Party (SACP), the insurer and guarantor of a Socialist Republic of South Africa. The red flag still flies high in various class battles waged by the working class at the point of production whether it be for equitable distribution of wealth or for struggles for decent jobs, or for struggles for faster and improved service delivery by communities of Diepsloot or Ficksburg in Free State.

We are celebrating our 24th anniversary of unbroken struggle under conditions not of our own choosing, but under contradictory conditions as permeated by the barbaric and immoral Capitalist system. We have lost 1, 17 million jobs which have plunged more than 5, 5 million households into poverty, we are amongst the leading unequal countries in the world, have an economy that mirrors colonial and apartheid past which is dominated by few racist males, have an education system that still reproduces our people as commodities and cheap labour to be exploited by the ruling oligarchy, and lastly a country ravaged by HIV/AIDS pandemic.

These challenges or struggles remain a permanent feature in our struggle for a Freedom Charter based society as encapsulated in the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) as pursued by the National Liberation Movement as led by the African National Congress (ANC) and the vanguard party of the working class, the South African Communist Party (SACP), and our federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

Aluta Continua - Vote ANC!

As we celebrate our 24th anniversary on the eve of the 4th local government elections happening tomorrow Wednesday 18 May 2011, we call on the workers and the poor to retain the ANC-led Alliance into power. We are saying so not out of sheer excitement as our class opponents might want us to believe, but informed by material conditions on the ground that the ANC-led Alliance remains the only formidable force that is capable of delivering the great aspirations and expectations of our people.

Already the bourgeois media and desktop commentators have written the ANC-led Alliance off in these elections. False predictions have been made in favour of Madam and her stooges making serious inroads in working class areas. In reality the Madam stands directly opposite to the interests and aspirations of our people.

Her party is a recycled racist Nationalist Party (NP) that wants to maintain and protect racist apartheid privileges of the past as enjoyed by a tiny minority. Madam and her party still envies apartheid segregation laws and subjecting our people to apartheid labour relations. By this, the Madam and her party still remain the opponents of the workers and the poor as a mouthpiece of monopoly capital.

Our vote for the ANC-led Alliance will not be unconditional or for free. We will be voting for the ANC-led Alliance as part of building a strong local government that will be at the centre of creating decent jobs and improved service delivery for workers and the poor.

As we celebrate our anniversary we are making a revolutionary call to our members and working class communities that in these local government elections happening tomorrow 18 May 2011, they should go all out to vote for the African National Congress (ANC).

As NUMSA we vow to continue championing and leading a revolutionary campaign demanding decisive changes in the structure of our South African economy, such as change in the accumulation and ownership patterns.

This anniversary imposes on us to further intensify the call for land redistribution and economic redistribution of wealth that is concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority; and intensify our demand for nationalization of mines, banks and monopoly industries.

Our support for IPAP2 is about the realization of a vibrant industrial strategy that ensures beneficiation of our minerals. That's part of the reason NUMSA calls on the Minister of Finance to accelerate the implementation of an Export Tax on our exported minerals.

We demand an Equal Share of Wealth!

As we celebrate our anniversary we will not abandon our struggle of demanding an equal share of wealth for our members from the owning class and profiteers. As we bargain on behalf our members with employers in the engineering sector and Eskom we will be putting the following demand(s);

1. 1- Year Wage Agreement;

2. 20% wage increase across the board;

These two no-compromise demands are part of reclaiming the buying power of workers which fell in real terms in 2007. The 20% wage increase demand is modest and does not necessarily mean that the quality of life of workers will improve. This should show that NUMSA is not insensitive or unaware of the current economic climate.

Anything less than this demand will mean that workers will be financing companies' fall in the rate of profit during the recession. We have never seen any sharing of wealth during good economic times and we therefore find it unacceptable that workers should now sacrifice more than they have already in difficult times. Already workers have made many sacrifices companies have reduced employment levels to maximize profits during the recession.

Statement issued by Irvin Jim, NUMSA General Secretary, May 17 2011

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