COSATU+reaffirms+support+for+Transnet+unions



=COSATU reaffirms support for Transnet unions= The Congress of South African Trade Unions reaffirms its full support for the mass action the unions at Transnet are taking in defence of workers’ rights and a transport service that puts people before profit. The unions are absolutely right to insist on a genuine process of negotiation over the restructuring of the Transnet Group, including proposals to privatise Freightdynamics, the Transnet Pension Fund Administration, Autopax and the Blue Train, and plans to transfer SAA, Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl out of Transnet, and to move other business units within Transnet. All the workers are demanding is that they must be given firm guarantees that their job security, collective bargaining rights, pensions and travel concessions will be satisfactorily safeguarded in the proposed restructuring. COSATU also reiterates its conviction that the reorganisation should prioritise providing a better and safer service to the hundreds of thousands of commuters who use train services daily. They have the right to demand that service and safety - not commercial considerations - are Transnet’s number one concern. The freight divisions must not be run simply to make a profit, but to contribute to the regeneration of the whole economy and job-creation by providing the fastest, safest and most efficient service to the whole of the South African economy and all its industries. Transnet provides essential services and that is why COSATU has argued for continued state ownership. While we welcome the decision not to privatise Transnet wholesale, we oppose any kind of creeping privatisation through hiving off so-called ‘non-core’ sectors into separate ‘businesses’. Management must stop running the utility in the same way as they would a private company. We must, as a society, reject the capitalist, materialist morality that prioritises the amassing of wealth for a few directors and major shareholders. We must get back to the principle of serving the public and taking forward the transformation of our society. COSATU urges Transnet again to return to the negotiating table, engage in serious talks with the unions and stop announcing unilateral decisions. We are a democratic state, in which the people must have the opportunity to influence what happens where they work and where they live. Employers like Transnet must start treating the unions as their partners in the transformation process, rather than as obstacles in the way of commercialisation. As COSATU said in its previous statement: “Workers have rights, including the right to be fully consulted about matters that affect their lives and futures.” Let us see swift action by the employers to bring this about! 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 E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za**
 * Patrick Craven (Editor, Shopsteward Journal)