Volkswagen workers fight to defend jobs in South Africa
1,382 workers fired by Volkswagen in Uitenhage, South Africa in February are still fighting for their jobs. The second round of arbitration hearings ended on 11 August but arbitration will not start again until November.
"This is deliberate," says one worker, "it greatly favours the bosses. We have no income and are under great stress. Two comrades have already fallen ill and died."
Indeed the story of the VW workers goes something like John Steinbeck's book In Dubious Battle . From day one of their struggle they faced all kinds of pressures, the best known of which was President Mbeki denunciation of the workers in his State of the Nation address to parliament as 'selfish, anti-social elements'.
Other forms have been harder to bear. Sipho Nqirana died after being discharged from hospital although he was still sick. His medical aid had expired because he was 'not employed'. The comrade was 35 years old.
There's also a concerted effort on the part of creditors to unduly pressurise workers. Several repossessions of furniture have taken place as well as attempts to repossess houses. VW's capacity to do this kind of thing in Uitenhage is almost infinite. The bulk of the town's economy turns around the company.
The state also did their part. The postponement of the case by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is an attack on the workers. So is the state's refusal to pay the workers their unemployment benefits and provident funds.
The police have raided the worker's office looking for 'stolen goods'. And at the mass meetings and marches, the army and police have taken a threatening stance recalling the Apartheid days.
Another kind of pressure was present from the start. The top politicians and officials of the Cosatu-affiliated Numsa insist the whole problem was caused by 'irresponsible far left elements'. They point to the fact that the workers have joined the unaffiliated Oil, Chemical, General and Allied Workers Union (Ocgawu).
Ocgawu's general secretary Abraham Agulhas and some other officials belong to the far left Workers International Vanguard League (WIVL).
Workers control of production
"Even our friends don't understand many things about our struggle. That is why our enemies can confuse things," says dismissed shop steward Mxolisi Fellum.
He then speaks softly, slowly, with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I think the real reason the bosses dismissed all of us is because they fear workers control of production."
Workers control of production?
"Yes. The conflict started in 1998. VW (SA) won a contract to produce Polo's for sale in England. This contract entailed bad changes in the pace and conditions of our work. The bosses handpicked the shop stewards with whom they negotiated. This is where the split started.
The 13 (shop stewards who were dismissed from Numsa) were those who spoke for the workers to have a say in the production of these cars. The bosses want no challenge to their control of production and that's why they want to choose our leaders for us."
Comrade Fellum scoffs at the idea that the conflict had nothing to do with the company, as they claim. "The whole thing is about the company corrupting certain union officials to help them worsen conditions of employment. Yes, it is an intra-union conflict. But the bosses induced and took sides in it."
"Our ideals are running on an empty tank"
The struggle has been very difficult from the start. Now with all the postponements it has become a battle for survival. "Money has run out," says dismissed worker Zimasile Boyi, "and our ideals are running on an empty tank."
Despite all the difficulties, when you visit the workers you are struck not by despair but by their fighting spirit.
One incident illustrates this. A delegation went to Germany to ask for support among VW workers there. Apparently a top official of IG Metal, the German union, said to one of the delegates:
"Listen I want to make it clear I am the president of this union. I expect to be treated like a president and then there will no problem." The delegate answered: "Listen I also want to make something clear. I am a human being. I expect to be treated like a human being and then there will be no problem."
The money might have run out but the tank is not empty!
"Like in 1985"
The worker leaders are indeed very conscious of the fact that they are in the vanguard of continuing the same fight for human dignity that fueled the struggle against Apartheid.
Wilfus Ndandani, chairman of the Uitenhage Crisis Committee formed by the workers, says bitterly:
"We are expendable, created by the Apartheid and dismissed by VW." He describes the cause of the problem as globalisation, which is "modernising poverty". "For the residents of Langa (township in Uitenhage)," he says, "the struggle has just begun. We want to claim our place in the sun...and that means fighting the corporate predators who want to keep us in poverty."
This idea pervades the place. "This is not what we overthrew Apartheid for. A luta Continua. The struggle continues. Against corporate predators! Against globalisation!"
No wonder the state and the bosses acted so ruthlessly. This was a direct attack against the government's neo-liberal orientation.
With the living experience of mobilising against Apartheid present in Uitenhage, this attack was bound to be dangerous. Hence the attempt by the government/bosses alliance to retreat after intimidation failed. They offered the workers their jobs back if they would leave Ocgawu, rejoin Numsa and go back to work on the company's terms.
But the workers answered with more protest actions. During these marches and sit-ins the similarity in scenes and spirit between these actions and those of the 1980's is obvious. The workers are consciously making the connection all the time. "If they don't listen we'll make it like in 1985".
This is no surprise, given the role South Africa's workers have played in getting rid of Apartheid. And Uitenhage with its concentration of car workers was in the forefront of the struggle. This was the only town to achieve 100% unionisation.
So Mr. Mbeki, did these workers suddenly lose their brains to become puppets in the hands of 'ultra leftists'? Or are they perhaps still in the vanguard of the struggle?
"In the vanguard"
In Cape Town some far-left groups have come together with Ocgawu to form the Uitenhage Support Committee. The idea is to rally the rest of the working class behind the VW vanguard. The committee has had moderate success in organising solidarity actions and raising funds. They are continuing their activity.
This committee was initiated by the Socialist League who recognised the importance of the VW struggle. Faizel Brown, Socialist League secretary, says: "On the left you get groups proclaiming themselves the 'vanguard of the workers'. They are the vanguard only in their own heads. The real vanguard of the workers now is the Volkswagen workers.
They have breached the neo-liberal stranglehold enforced by the ANC-led tripartite alliance. They have proved that neo-liberalism will not be broken by some self-proclaimed, propagandist 'vanguard'. It will be broken by the struggle of the workers to fulfill their human needs.
For those who want to overthrow neo-liberalism and fight for socialism the immediate task is clear. It is to do everything in your power to help the VW workers win."