Aug-Sept 2014 K.indd

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www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

2015 Plan, in line with current condi tions, and the discussions and Reso lutions of this Congress. • Set new recruitment targets for each sector, targeting young workers, women workers, vulnerable workers (very low paid, contract, part-time, seasonal etc), non African workers and migrant workers (including for eign nationals). Although some work has been done to achieve these goals, we have tragi cally been diverted by internal disputes and divisions which have seriously dis rupted our organisational work. All shop stewards and activists are duty bound to read the secretariat re port which will be circulated in draft form on 16 September 2014 to all af fi liates. The draft will go through inter nal discussions before a fi nal report is circulated on 10 October 2014 to all structures with a month to discuss the challenges we face. Everything possible is being done to resolve these problems, with the assis tance of an ANC task team and a group of COSATU veterans, but this will be a key challenge before the CC. Unless we are able to heal the wounds and emerge more united and strong, we shall be struggling to implement Con gress’s resolutions. The CC must act decisively to put a stop to practices which lead to dis unity and divisions between and within or between unions. We must reject the alien cultures of factionalism, rumour mongering and character assassination which sadly have in fi ltrated our move ment and paralysed us. We must reaf fi rm are long-standing position that COSATU must be an in dependent, worker-controlled and radi cal federation, still part of the tripartite alliance, but mandated solely by the resolutions of National Congresses and by the needs and demands of the workers. We must remain a militant force, fi ghting for better wages and working conditions, and fearlessly exposing the white monopoly capitalism, greedy employers, corrupt politicians and in competent of fi cials, while never losing sight of our goal of a united non-ra cial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa and a peaceful, socialist world.

productive investment; 7.Comprehensive land reform, and measure to ensure food security; and 8.The more effective deployment of all state levers to advance industrialisa tion and the creation of decent work on a large scale. The CC will have to review progress on this Section 77. Organisational renewal The other key area where the Na tional Congress took a very strong line was organisational renewal, on which it warned that “We cannot afford to fi ght silly battles against one another when the house is on fi re”. It called for “all of us to go back to basics, focus effec tively on workplace issues, organisa tion and recruitment, deliver service to our members, and implement our 2015 Plan! “It is only through building powerful, uni fi ed organisation that workers will have an effective engine to drive the changes we want to see at the work place, in the economy, and at a political level”. Congress instructed us to com bat: • Social distance between leaders and members, by entrenching deeper forms of accountability and worker control; • Bureaucratisation of our structures, at af fi liate or federation level, by en suring that we remain a campaigning mobilising organisation; • Divisive and undemocratic conduct in our unions, which attempts to un dermine worker unity, or create splin ter unions worker-controlled unions, focused on issues of concern to our members, at the workplace, socio-economic and political levels; • Organise the unorganised, particular ly farm workers and other vulnerable and super-exploited workers, and bring all workers under the umbrella of this mighty federation. • Develop a detailed 3-year strategy to systematically take forward the 2015 Plan, monitor implementation of this strategy, and present a report on progress to our 2015 Congress. We also mandate the CEC to update the They mandated us to: • Build strong

being sabotaged by other ministers and departments, and particularly the business sector, all of whom are wed ded to exactly the opposite policies – conservative, free-market, neoliberal economic policies, which are also at the heart of the National Development Plan. Rather than co-operate with govern ment’s expansionist plans, some of them want to shift the blame for low economic growth, from themselves on to the workers, who, they complain, keep making ‘unaffordable’ wage de mands; they are attacking collective bargaining, the labour laws and insti tutions like Nedlac and the CCMA, all of which were set up to provide better ways for the peaceful resolution of dis putes between works and employers, and even workers’ constitutional right to strike. They cling to the false belief that monopoly capitalists and the mar ket economy can play a constructive role in resolving the crisis, when the re ality is that they are the main problem. Their failure to invest the R1.2 trillion in social surplus which they are hoard ing illustrates why we need to have a strong developmental state to inter vene, just as President Lula did in Bra zil with his measures to raise minimum wages and social grants, incentivise small businesses, which created more demand for goods and services and lead to faster growth, more jobs and lower in fl ation. Congress instructed the Central Executive Committee to submit a Section 77 notice based on the fol lowing speci fi c socio-economic is sues: 1.Urgent steps to reverse the cur rent investment strike and export of South African capital. These mea sures need to include capital controls and measures aimed at prescribed investment, and penalising specula tion. 2.The urgent introduction of compre hensive social security. 3.The role of Treasury, monetary policy and the Reserve Bank; 4.State intervention in strategic sectors including through nationalisation; 5.Measures to ensure bene fi ciation, such as taxes of mineral exports; 6.Channelling of retirement funds into

Editor’s Note