OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 10, 2008

We are greeted at Community House by
Brother Leonard Gentle, Director of ILRIG

ILRIG has a long history of working with the unions and the community dating back to the struggle against apartheid. They take up issues from around the world and make the information accessible to working people and the disenfranchised – through booklets, charts, workshops, debates, etc. Last year they hosted a Globalization School attended by workers from South Africa, Argentina and Canada – co-sponsored by USWA in Canada.

The five main areas of their work include:

• Trade and Investment
• Building Women’s leadership
• Democracy and Public Power (in the face of privatization, P3s, etc.)
• New Forms of Organizing
• Youth and Globalization

I was quite impressed with the work they are doing and we talked of future possibilities and collaboration between OPSEU and ILRIG.

Today we said goodbye to Brother Bevil Lucas, former Organizer for South African Commercial Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) who has been assisting us in so many ways – driving us around, cooking a wonderful Cape Malay meal for us and relating the history of the Cape Town working class.

Saying goodbye to Bevil outside his home in Salt River, Cape Town

Unfortunately we have to say goodbye to Cape Town too.
We will report next from the Eastern Cape region…

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 10, 2008

Brother Archie Sibeko also joins the line

NEHAWU strikers display their demands

Strikers chanting “Injure One, Injure All, Injure One, Injure All…”

Although sorry to leave the picket line, we had other meetings back at Community House. The House is buzzing with community and union activity. These are a few of the activities at Community House today:

• A group of Dutch Journalism students on an educational tour;
• A group called “Khululani” meeting to talk about proper reparations from the South African government – still waiting many years after their loved ones were murdered by the apartheid regime

We dropped in on the Workers World Media Productions preparing their radio programs and other media events. Then we sat down to meet with Leonard Gentle, the Director of the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG).

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 10, 2008

Sister Soraya Jahwodeen, Western Cape Secretary, NEHAWU and
Brother Tony Ehrenreich, COSATU Western Cape Provincial Secretary join the strikers

Brother Phumzile Nombila, a nurse, proudly displays his OPSEU pin and a Canada/South Africa sticker (courtesy of OPSEU) on his NEHAWU T-shirt

Smokey and Phumzile

“Management wants to starve and overwork us to death while they enjoy profits generated through our sweat”, says NEHAWU leaders. What is the difference between major corporations operating in Canada and South Africa? Absolutely none! Workers’ struggles are the same the world over.

Brother Thomas and Brother Lavigne join the workers in singing
Solidarity Forever

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 10, 2008

Today was just like any other day at home in Canada! Just as we were off to meetings at a place called “Community House” where many unions and progressive organizations have their offices, we got a call from the National Union of Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) in the Western Cape.

President Smokey Thomas next to murals inside Community House,
Cape Town

Another mural of a worker with a sign, “Long Live COSATU”
(Congress of South African Trade Unions )

“Sorry, Comrades (the term used by unionists in South Africa instead of Brothers and Sisters), we cannot meet today – we are off to the picket line for the first day of a strike!” I immediately asked if we could join them there and the response was emphatic –“We would love it!”

NEHAWU strikers welcome us to their picket line

President Smokey Thomas brings a message of solidarity from OPSEU

The strikers are a group of 100 workers at a private health care administrative scheme - Medscheme. They are members of NEHAWU who have been in negotiations since October 2007. Counsellors, nurses and clerical staff, they are standing strong against this employer. Their slogan? An Injury to One is an Injury to All! Their demands? They want the employer to stop union bashing and recognize their representatives and they refuse to participate in the performance based pay system the employer is attempting to introduce. They also want:

• an average of 15% wage increases (the lowest paid workers get the equivalent of only $1000 per month)
• the employer to accelerate the implementation of employment equity
• access to training in accredited institutions
• an increase in their sick leave, study leave and annual leave days
• housing and medical aid subsidies for workers

It’s amazing how similar these demands are to workers anywhere in the world. I brought greetings from our union and wished them all the best in their struggle. I also promised them a concrete form of international solidarity (watch the website for details of how you can harass their employer by phone from Canada!)

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 9, 2008

What a wonderful day - just back from a ferry trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. We toured the Nelson Mandela Gateway Museum before boarding the ferry for a 45 minute trip. It was more like a fishing boat than a ferry but an eerie experience as we ventured out into the fog from the port of Cape Town for the 13 km. trip.

Now a museum and a UN World Heritage site, the island is one of the most popular tourist sites in South Africa. We left the boat and boarded buses for a guided tour around the island, stopping at the lime quarry where Mandela and other prisoners slaved. A cave within the quarry was used both as a toilet (they would be shot if they left the quarry pit) and as a lunch area. The phrase 'each one teach one' began there and it became known as the University of Robben Island.

We were met at the gates of the maximum security section by a former inmate of Robben Island - Derek Grootbroon. Arrested at 19 for his political activities, he was imprisoned in 1986 and was freed along with Mandela in 1990. Can you believe it? He is now working alongside his former prison guards as part of the Robben Island Museum! What does this tell you about these courageous South Africans?

He guided us inside the prison walls where he gave us a detailed account of life for African prisoners in particular. My friend, Archie Sibeko was with us and was visibly moved by the tour. Our tour guide Derek recognized Brother Archie and thanked him for being an inspiration to younger men like him. The whole tour group applauded Archie and it was a beautiful but tearful moment. Then we all walked solemnly by prison cell No. 4 - Nelson Mandela's cell - a bare four by four cell with a bucket for a toilet and very little else.

It was getting late as we left the island and we all left silently, gathering our thoughts on the way back to the boat. The only thing that lightened up our walk was the sight of two penguins (very common creatures on this island and on some beaches near Cape Town).

Keep watching for our updates....

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi: March 8, 2008

Today I met up with Brother Archie Sibeko (known to many Canadians as Zola Zembe) who was a trade union leader arrested with nelson Mandela in the Treason Trial in South Africa in 1956 and was constantly harassed and imprisoned by the police. Faced with a long prison sentence he fled the country in 1963 and became a commander of the armed wing of the African National Congress. Later he coordinated the solidarity work for his organization, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and that's how he came to know and respect Canadian unions for their support for the struggle. I had read and loved his life history ("Freedom in our Lifetime") and so it was an honour for me to finally meet him here in his home country - a country free of apartheid, but, as Archie says, a country and its people still "damaged" by that system.

OPSEU in South Africa and Malawi

OPSEU President, Brother Smokey Thomas and his Assistant, Brother Ron Lavigne are presently on a solidarity tour of Southern Africa where they will visit projects in South Africa and Malawi. They are there at the invitation of project leaders (including veteran South African trade union leader and freedom fighter, Archie Sibeko) and the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Upon his arrival in Cape Town, Brother Thomas commented, "It is an honour and a privilege to represent my union in this amazing country still struggling to free itself of the vestiges of apartheid. OPSEU has a proud history of anti-apartheid work and I want to make sure that our union steps up our solidarity once again...I will be sending regular updates on what we are doing here, so keep checking our web-site for these updates."