By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — In the midst of the euphoria and hopes generated by this country's historic first democratic elections, few trade unionists would have believed they would again see police opening fire on strikers with rubber bullets and tear gas, vicious dogs savaging picketers and workers in their hundreds being bundled into police trucks. Two months into the "new" South Africa, such scenes have been repeated throughout the country as police attacked supermarket workers striking for a living wage.
Members of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU) voted overwhelmingly to strike in support of a wage increase for all workers at Pick 'n Pay's 350 shops nationwide. Management offered an increase of R175 (A$70) per month which would result in a minimum monthly wage of R1650 ($660). There would be no further rises for 16 months. SACCAWU has demanded a rise of R229 ($92) per month.
The union dismissed management's claims that their offer, an 11% increase, is generous. It argues that wages are already too low, inflation will be close to 10% this year, and that the rise comes after several years of wage reductions. It also angrily accuses Pick 'n Pay of paying "loafing" company directors and senior managers, mainly white, between R5000 ($2000) and R2000 ($800) a week while workers struggle with as little as R350 ($140) a week.
SACCAWU members at 100 Pick 'n Pay supermarkets went on strike on July 12. Hundreds of workers picketed stores. Management admitted that half their stores were "adversely affected" by the actions that day. Later that night, management sought, and was granted, a court order that prevented SACCAWU members from picketing within 500 metres from a Pick 'n Pay store.
On July 13, the rest of SACCAWU's 15,000 members at Pick 'n Pay walked out. Most SACCAWU picketers were unaware of the court order as they peacefully gathered outside supermarkets to prevent scabs taking their jobs and dissuade shoppers from spending their money in Pick 'n Pay outlets.
SACCAWU spokesperson Sithembele Tshwete told Green Left Weekly that the courts gave the union just two hours notice before the court order came into effect, making it impossible to inform the picketers. Even before the order was served on the union, there had already been several arrests, Tshwete said.
At stores around the country, police moved rapidly to enforce the anti-picketing order on behalf of Pick 'n Pay. At the Norwood store, in Johannesburg, the notorious Internal Security Unit riot police used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse strikers. Seven picketers were bitten by police dogs. Similar actions occurred in PWV, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu/Natal. By the end of the day over 800 workers had been arrested.
Similar scenes were repeated on July 14. Hundreds of workers were again arrested. At least 60 were injured by rubber bullets and dog bites. Police also prevented workers from marching on Pick 'n Pay's head office near Johannesburg.
COSATU president Sam Shilowa joined the 3000 workers. He told the strikers that it was their right to strike for a living wage. He also condemned the conduct of the police and called on the ANC ministers of police in the regional and national governments "to explain what their position is with regard to police entering into the industrial arena".
Sithembele Tshwete told Green Left Weekly on July 15 that the Pick 'n Pay workers were the victims of a conspiracy between the company and police. SACCAWU met with the national and PWV ministers of safety and security, Sydney Mufamadi and Jessie Duarte, to express the union's "deep concern" over the use of police in the dispute.
He told Green Left that at the meeting with Duarte, a police legal adviser, Johnny Nagee, admitted that he had met with Pick 'n Pay management prior to the arrests to advise them on "contingency plans on how to deal with us as strikers. We then asked the PWV minister: How does this happen that the police are advising the company? We view that as a conspiracy to disrupt and disunite us".
Tshwete said that the police ministers explained there was not yet a "proper police act in place" but they would investigate the conduct of the police and their contacts with the company prior to the arrests. "There is a commitment from the ministers to control the police", he said.
"The problem is with the police", Tshwete told Green Left Weekly. "We suspect that there are elements in the police who want to create the situation where an ANC-led government is seen as failing. There are still elements in the police who cling to the old order and are trying to, by all means, confuse issues. From the beginning, they were meeting with management to legally advise the company on contingency plans and they did not inform the [PWV] minister about those meetings."
SACCAWU has called on the provincial and national governments to prohibit the involvement of police in industrial disputes. The union wants the PWV parliament to reconvene to discuss the conduct of the police in the present dispute and wants Mufamadi to publicly announce that police will take a neutral position in future industrial disputes. It also wants all charges against strikers dropped, those in custody released immediately, and compensation paid to all injured by the police.
The union also demands that national labour minister Tito Mboweni and justice minister Dullah Omar "change the attitude of the courts towards interdicting legal strikes".
Talks with the company broke down late on July 15. "What bedevilled the whole process was to find out that there was a conspiracy between Pick 'n Pay and the police against the union", Tshwete told Green Left Weekly. "That made our members furious. We have not set any other meetings. The industrial action continues. The strike is indefinite and intensifying."