I sudafricani protestano per aumenti salariali
+ Wsj 100504, Disoccupazione al 25,2% in Sudafrica
o Sudafrica: Seconda settimana di sciopero nazionale nel PI; migliaia di salariati (5000 a Cape Town, 10 000 a Johannesburg) manifestano per aumenti salariali: +8,5% e il sussidio di 1000 rand per l’abitazione.
o nel 2007 un simile sciopero durò un mese.
o forte adesione allo sciopero negli ospedali pubblici.
– Il Sudafrica è stato fortemente colpito dalla recessione globale (la prima per il paese in 17 anni,
– -1,8% nel 2009, tagliati 900 000 posti di lavoro, primo trimestre 2010 la disoccupazione era al 25,2%; +35mila nell’agricoltura; stabile il minerario, -126mila settore finanziario; -33mila industria, -64mila costruzioni; gli occupati sono 12,8 mn.. Il calo occupazionale nel manifatturiero è ascritto alla rivalutazione del rand su $ ed altre valute.
– Il sindacato della polizia ha annunciato uno sciopero: i dirigenti cercano di impedire che aderiscano allo sciopero nazionale, con la minaccia di repressione violenta. Il Sudafrica è uno dei paesi con il maggior tasso di omicidi, 50 al giorno.
– Il potente sindacato Congress of South African Trade Unions (Comatsu): le federazioni non ancora in sciopero pensano di aderire allo sciopero per una settimana per solidarietà con il PI.
o Il segretario generale di Comatsu: la federazione non voleva lo sciopero ed aveva invitato il PI ad accettare l’offerta del governo di un aumento del 7% + 700 rand per l’abitazione.
– Lo sciopero ha creato tensioni tra il partito al governo, African National Congress, e i suoi sostenitori tradizionali.
– Il presidente sudafricano, Jacob Zuma, ha estromesso il predecessore in una lotta intestina con l’appoggio di Comatsu e la sinistra prima della vittoria elettorale dell’ANC nel 2009.
o Alcuni leader economici temevano che Zuma si piegasse facilmente alle richieste operaie, timore che in queste lotte si dimostra infondato.
– Il segretario generale di Comatsu ha dichiarato che Comatsu continuerà ad appoggiare l’ANC, nonostante i risultati delle sue scelte politiche: perdite occupazionali e crescente divario ricchi-poveri.
– Mentre lo sciopero si intensifica, Zuma è in visita in Cina con una delegazione di 13 ministri e 370 dirigenti aziendali.
Scoppia la violenza durante uno sciopero in Sudafrica
● Scontri violenti tra polizia e insegnanti aderenti allo sciopero nazionale a tempo indeterminato del PI per aumenti salariali;
o la polizia ha disperso con proiettili di gomma gli scioperanti che cercavano di bloccare un tratto di autostrada a Johannesburg.
o Scontri con la polizia anche all’esterno di alcuni ospedali, dove erano stati organizzati di picchetti per impedire ai crumiri di entrare.
– Il maggior sindacato del PI, South African Democratic Teacher’s Union, ha dichiarato che lo sciopero continuerà fino a risposta positiva del governo alle richieste dei lavoratori.
I lavoratori sudafricani di Eskom minacciano lo sciopero
ROBB M. STEWART
+ Mineweb 100705, I sindacati sudafricani revocano lo sciopero in Eskom, Shapi Shacinda
● I 30 000 salariati Eskom Holdings Ltd, il gruppo statale sudafricano dell’energia, avevano minacciato lo sciopero, dopo aver respinto l’aumenti dell’8,5% offerto dall’azienda.
● Hanno chiesto ed ottenuto +9%, 1500 rand di sussidi per l’abitazione (contro i 1000 precedenti, e i 2500 richiesti);
o l’inflazione ufficiale è al 4,6%.
o I due maggiori sindacati NUM e NUMSA hanno
o Eskom genera e distribuisce quasi tutta l’elettricità del Sudafrica; è in corso un massiccio aumento della capacità produttiva, per impedire i si ripetano i blackout del 2007 e 2008.
o Eskom ha un deficit di $24,76 MD, nonostante abbia aumentato le tariffe medie del 25%/anno, per i prossimi tre anni.
– Lo sciopero di Eskom avrebbe danneggiato industria e minerario (il SA è il maggior produttore di platino e il 4° di oro), e lo svolgimento della World Cup.
– Il sindacato National Union[e] of Mineworkers era deciso alla lotta nonostante Governo e azienda avessero dichiarato illegale lo sciopero nei servizi definiti essenziali, compresa la produzione di elettricità.
– Aveva respinto l’offerta Eskom e deciso lo sciopero anche il sindacato dei metalmeccanici, National Union[e] of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). Il sindacato NUM ha 16 000 iscritti in Eskom, NUMSA ne ha 8000; Solidarity è il terzo sindacato che rappresenta lavoratori Eskom.
South Africans Protest for Higher Pay
– JOHANNESBURG—Thousands of civil servants took to the streets across South Africa Thursday in a peaceful demonstration for higher wages, while police management tried to bar officers from joining a nationwide strike entering its second week.
– There was no resolution in sight to the strike that has left volunteers changing babies’ diapers and retired nurses dispensing medicine at the country’s public hospitals. A similar public service strike in 2007 lasted a month.
– "The gap between the rich and poor is growing, yet South Africa is a rich country which can afford to feed its entire people," Khaya Magaxa, a local leader of the South African Communist Party, told a crowd of 5,000 who marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday.
– Another 10,000 marchers took to the streets in Johannesburg seeking wage increases.
– The police union[e] said its members would start striking Saturday, raising security concerns in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime in the world—some 50 murders a day.
– Police management, however, obtained a court order early Thursday barring police from striking, and said officers who joined the protests could be fired. Norman Mampane, spokesman for the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, said union[e] lawyers will challenge the court order.
– Many South Africans have been aghast at how the sick and frail have suffered because of the strike. Answering a government call for help, army medics and ordinary South Africans have stepped in to volunteer at public hospitals hard-hit by the strike. Private hospitals, which haven’t been affected, are also taking some of the sickest patients.
– Nolwazi Langa, a nurse at Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital who joined the marchers in Johannesburg Thursday, said the 5,500 rand ($750) she earns a month lasts only a week, leaving her relying on money lenders for the rest of the month. She also complained about lack of equipment in the hospital, the largest in the region. "Our managers and the CEOs are arrogant and they don’t want to address our grievances," she said.
– The powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions said member unions who weren’t already striking were making plans to stop work in a week in solidarity with the civil servants.
– Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu’s general secretary, said the federation hadn’t wanted a strike and had recommended civil servants accept the government’s offer of a 7% wage increase plus 700 rand for housing. The workers, though, are holding out for an 8.6% raise and a 1,000 rand housing allowance.
"We have to be loyal to our numbers," Mr. Vavi told reporters Thursday. "If they say this deal is not good enough, we have to march with them."
– The strike showed growing tensions between the governing African National Congress party and its traditional supporters. President Jacob Zuma ousted his predecessor in an internal power struggle with support from Cosatu and leftists before leading the ANC to victory in elections last year. Some business leaders had expressed concern that Mr. Zuma’s government would bow easily to labor’s demands, but that hasn’t been the case during this strike.
– While the strike intensified, Mr. Zuma was in China leading a delegation of 13 cabinet ministers and 370 business people searching for business partnerships.
– South Africa has been hit hard by the global recession, losing 900,000 jobs last year on top of already high unemployment. The government has said it wants to devote funds to creating new jobs, not just raising the salaries of those already working.
– Striking workers took aim at Mr. Zuma during Thursday’s rallies, with one protester holding a sign that read: "Want four wives" and "Need 8.6% increase." Mr. Zuma has acknowledged having three wives and is reportedly engaged to a fourth woman. Another protester’s message was: "Don’t run to China please."
– Mr. Vavi, Cosatu’s general secretary, said the job losses and a widening gap between rich and poor has left his organization frustrated with ANC policies. But he said the union[e] would continue to support—and try to influence—the ANC. "We have a class interest to defend and advance," he said. "We are not happy. The mood is anger and disappointment and despair."
Mary Madonsela, who said she took home 2,500 rand a month from her job cleaning government offices, said money lost to corruption could instead be used to raise salaries. "They must pay us this money and not waste it," said Ms. Madonsela, who was among the Johannesburg marchers.
JOHANNESBURG—One in four working-age South Africans was unemployed in the first three months of the year, a rise from the previous quarter even as the continent’s biggest economy continued a slow recovery from last year’s recession, official data released Tuesday showed.
– The unemployment rate rose to 25.2% from 23.5% in the previous quarter and 24.3% a year earlier, Statistics South Africa’s survey showed. The number of people with a job dropped by 171,000 on the quarter to 12.8 million.
– Close to 900,000 jobs were lost last year as South Africa’s economy was tipped into its first recession in 17 years, undermining the government’s commitment to boost employment and reduce poverty. The economy grew 3.2% in the final quarter of 2009, narrowing the average contraction for the year to 1.8%.
"Further job losses are disappointing as we expected employment to increase along with improving economic conditions," said Johannes Khosa, an economist at Nedbank.
– Stats SA’s data showed that despite an additional 35,000 agricultural jobs in the first quarter compared with the previous period, jobs in the mining industry were flat and 126,000 finance jobs were lost. The manufacturing industry lost 33,000 jobs and construction 64,000 jobs.
– Razia Khan, regional head of research at Standard Chartered in London, said the decline in employment in manufacturing comes despite recent restocking by companies and may reflect the strength of the rand against the dollar and some other key currencies. She said the drop in construction jobs comes ahead of the soccer World Cup in June and July, when the industry would be expected to be reasonably robust.
"What South Africa needs for a sustainable economic turnaround is some uplift to consumption, and we just don’t see it coming through," Ms. Khan said.
Violence Erupts During South Africa Strike
Associated Press
– JOHANNESBURG—Police fired rubber bullets on protesting teachers throwing bricks and stones as a nationwide civil-servants’ strike for higher wages took hold in South Africa on Thursday.
– On the second day of the strike for higher wages, teachers in the red T-shirts of their union[e] scattered as police fired to stop them from blocking a stretch of highway during a protest in Johannesburg.
– At least one officer was seen being taken from the scene bleeding from the head. There was also scattered violence outside some hospitals. Nurses tore down a gate at one Johannesburg hospital and striking workers were keeping their nonstriking colleagues and patients from entering hospitals around the country.
– Col. Lungelo Dlamini, a police spokesman, said police had no further information on violence associated with the strike. The indefinite strike was also delaying trials because court stenographers weren’t at their desks.
– Unions are demanding an 8.6% wage increase and a 1,000 rand ($137.70) housing allowance. The government is offering a 7% increase plus 700 rand for housing. In a statement Thursday, the government said it couldn’t afford to offer more.
– "It’s a choice between improving the wages of state employees and continuing to address the service delivery needs of poor communities and the unemployed," the government said.
– South Africa has been hit hard by the global recession, losing 900,000 jobs last year on top of already high unemployment.
The government said it deplored the scattered violence and the South African army was on standby Thursday in case soldiers were needed to provide services at hospitals and elsewhere.
"While the majority of public servants have protested peacefully, the disruption of classes and health facilities is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated," the government said. "Those who break the laws must not expect any sympathy from the law enforcement agencies."
Nomusa Cembi, the spokeswoman for the South African Democratic Teacher’s Union, the largest civil service union, told The Associated Press the strikes would go on.
"This will continue until we get the response from government that we need," she said.
By ROBB M. STEWART
JOHANNESBURG—Labor unions representing thousands of workers at South Africa’s state power company have threatened to go on strike next week after rejecting a revised pay offer.
– Any action by workers at Eskom Holdings Ltd. threatens to disrupt industry and mining, as well as the World Cup soccer tournament as it enters the quarter-finals stage.
"We have made up our minds to go on strike next week," said Lesiba Seshoka, a spokesman for the National Union[e] of Mineworkers.
– When asked about the legality of the strike, Mr. Seshoka said "Our members have told us they will cross the legal bridge when they get there." The utility and the government have repeatedly said workers in so-called essential services, including electricity production, aren’t permitted to strike.
– The National Union[e] of Metalworkers of South Africa has also rejected Eskom’s latest offer and said industrial action is planned to protest against the deadlock.
"Our members have to guide us on what action we will take," said Castro Ngobese, a spokesman for the metalworkers’ union.
– The NUM said it has 16,000 members at Eskom and Numsa about 8,000. The third union[e] involved in wage bargaining, Solidarity, wasn’t immediately available to comment.
– NUM’s Mr. Seshoka said the unions have rejected an offer from Eskom that includes an 8.5% increase in wages. They are demanding that Eskom, which generates and distributes almost all the country’s electricity, lift wages 9% and offer a housing allowance and other benefits.
– Eskom last week referred the dispute to arbitration, and said any decision an assigned arbitrator reaches would be binding on it and its nearly 30,000 employees. It has said it would implement contingency measures to reduce the impact of any strike action.
– The utility is in the midst of a massive expansion of its generating capacity to avoid a repeat of the rolling blackouts that hit the country in late 2007 and early 2008, knocking manufacturing and the mining industry. The company is faced with a 190 billion ($24.76 billion) rand shortfall in its funding for the next seven years, despite being allowed to raise average electricity tariffs about 25% a year for the next three years.
South African union[e] calls off Eskom strike
The National Union[e] of Mineworkers has called off the strike which, it concedes would have been illegal, after receiving a higher wage offer or 9%
– South African unions said on Sunday they had called off a planned strike at the power utility Eskom after receiving a higher wage offer, ending concern about power supplies during the football World Cup.
– Widespread power cuts could also have dented manufacturing and mining companies’ output in Africa’s biggest economy, the world’s top platinum and fourth-largest gold producer.
– Eskom had said it would be illegal to strike at the utility because it is an essential service and warned it would punish strikers who had planned to go on strike this week.
– "We think that it is a very serious offer and ask our members to seriously review it. We are not in a position to support an illegal strike by workers," Irvin Jim, the general secretary for the National Union[e] of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), told a media briefing.
– The National Union[e] of Mineworkers (NUM) and Numsa said they felt 9 percent was the best offer they could get from Eskom and conceded that a strike would have been illegal under South African law.
Last year the unions called off a strike planned at Eskom at the last minute after accepting a pay deal.
Analysts had predicted Eskom would strike a compromise deal with the unions.
– The decision was taken jointly by officials of Numsa and NUM, the biggest union[e] at Eskom with about half of the 32,000 staff.
– Numsa has some 7,500 members at the utility, similar to a third union, Solidarity, which had asked Eskom to revise its offer by Monday before deciding whether to join the strike.
Eskom’s new offer came in last ditch talks at the weekend between the power firm and the unions.
– The unions said Eskom raised its offer to 9 percent from 8.5 percent, nearly double South Africa’s inflation rate of 4.6 percent, and said it would pay a 1,500 rand per month housing allowance, up from its previous offer of 1,000 rand.
The unions had wanted a 9 percent wage raise and a housing allowance of 2,500 rand.
Had the strike gone ahead, there was a likelihood of blackouts, which would have embarrassed the country and angered fans during the World Cup, which ends on July 11. Stadiums are equipped with their own power generators but millions of fans watching from home on TV could have been affected.