Mass+action+for+SATAWU+contract+cleaning+workers+060901

COSATU announcement
=SATAWU National Mass Action - 1 Sept 2006=

The Congress of South African Trade Unions calls upon all its members and supporters to join the rolling mass action organised by the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union for Friday 1 September, as a show of solidarity with striking workers in the cleaning sector.

The SATAWU statement below demonstrates precisely why this is the kind of battle that COSATU’s Jobs and Poverty Campaign is targeting. We agree with SATAWU that this is a slave-wage industry and that their members are justified in calling for an improved offer from the employers. If we are serious about bridging the apartheid wage gap then we must raise the living standards of workers like these.

We urge all workers to join the protests on Friday 1 September in the major centres listed below in order to put pressure on cleaning sector employers to return to the negotiating table and offer working conditions and salaries which will improve conditions in this most vulnerable sector.


 * Marches will be held at 10h00 in the following places:**


 * **Johannesburg (assembling at Beyers Naude Square)**
 * **Cape Town**
 * **Bloemfontein**
 * **Secunda**
 * **East London**
 * **Port Elizabeth**

SATAWU intends serving notices for secondary strike action to all employer organisations. They will be staging demonstrations and pickets at targeted employer and client offices.

Durban will not participate because they have a separate bargaining forum and they are currently engaged in wage negotiations.

Further details of the demonstrations will be sent out as soon as we get them.


 * Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)**
 * Congress of South African Trade Unions**
 * 1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets**
 * Braamfontein, 2017**


 * P.O.Box 1019**
 * Johannesburg, 2000**
 * SOUTH AFRICA**


 * Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24**
 * Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940/ 086 603 9667**
 * Cell: 0828217456**
 * E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**



SATAWU Press Statement, 29 August 2006
Exploitation and profiteering continue to destabilise the country’s labour environment. The current wave of industrial action by workers bears testimony to a capitalist system gone wrong.

In SATAWU we are currently involved in a dispute in the Contract Cleaning Sector, where workers are clearly abused and given slave wages. Workers earn a pitiful R594 per month while employers, who pocket millions from clients see nothing wrong with this. In other COSATU unions we have witnessed strikes by workers in the retail sector where company executives earn up to R5million per month in salaries, share options and benefits and yet find it “offensive and inappropriate” for workers to demand a salary of R2500.

Many other sectors within SATAWU and COSATU Affiliates have had similar grievances since the year started.

We at SATAWU find the contract-cleaning sector to be a particular sore point. As veterans of many disputes and strikes, we have found this to be one of the hardest sectors to work in, ranking alongside farm labourers and domestic workers as one of the sectors with the worst abuse in our country.

As custodians of fair labour practices and standards, we have a duty therefore to identify, promote, defend and fight for these comrades’ right to a decent life and decent wages. Our demands are totally reasonable and justified. Currently the situation is as follows:


 * Wages:**

In terms of actual wages, we currently have two areas in this sector, namely area A and area C. The former refers to urban centres while the latter refers to rural areas. Their rates are as follows:

Area A is paid at an hourly rate of R8. 57

Area C is paid an hourly rate of R6.87

Typically, most employers pay only the lowest possible wage that the sectoral determination allows. That is, their pay package is based on a four-hour day and thus pays them a take home salary of R745 a month for Area A and R594 for Area C.

There are still however, some employers that pay their workers according to the old scale of R8.05 per hour and still reduce the number of hours.


 * Conditions:**

Conditions of employment also remain pathetic.

Workers are not allowed any financial benefits, save for an annual stipend equivalent to one week’s pay. The sector is also characterized by physical and verbal abuse. The recent murder of our members in the so-called Dry Clean killings in Vereeniging bears testimony to the potential morbidity of this industry.

There are other occupational hazards caused by working with strong cleaning chemicals, these may result in medical conditions like asthma.


 * Demands:**

SATAWU’s financial demand therefore is that both areas be given an increment of R88.30 thus improving the minimum salaries from R594.00 and R745.00 to R682 and R833.00 respectively.

We also demand that the annual bonus be based on the equivalent of one month’s pay, as the sectoral determination indicates.


 * Strike:**

The above demands have been met with a lot of hostility from the employers. They have insisted on their original position of 5.7% which amounts to a mere 23 cents per hour. We believe the cleaning industry can afford an increase of R1.02 per hour across the board. However since we are not making any breakthroughs, we have resolved to seek secondary action from our comrades within the federation as well as sectors within SATAWU.

This will be in the form of a march billed for Friday 1st September in all major centres of the country. We will be delivering memoranda to departments of labour in all the places where we will be marching.


 * Regards,**
 * Ronnie Mamba**
 * National Media Officer**
 * SATAWU**
 * 011 333 6127**
 * 082 646 5353**

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