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CCS hosts mineworker solidarity event, 31 May |
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(CCS hosts the Democratic Left Front for mineworker solidarity knowledge and action today, UKZN TB Davis at Howard College, Room L4, starting at 11am. Screenings of Miners Shot Down in numerous communities will continue all week. For details contact China Ngubane nguchina@yahoo.com)
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MINEWORKERS! AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
More than 70,000 AMCU platinum mineworkers downed tools on 23 January 2014 to demand a LIVING WAGE of R12,500! It is the longest strike in the history of the mining industry and the demand for a living wage of R12,500 is one of the most important demands of the workers struggle since 1994. The demand is not just for a few more crumbs from the bosses’ table but it is a demand for a life a dignity with decent housing, water, electricity, food, healthcare, education and transport. This is what we all need. But the bosses refuse! The mineworkers are standing strong! They are giving hope and confidence to workers and communities across the country and beyond!
The bosses are refusing the demand not because they cannot afford it. The bosses at Amplats have just given themselves bonuses of R125 million! Griffith the top dog at Amplats says he is worth the R17,5 million salary he has just been paid. This is 257 times more than an entry level worker. The mine bosses pay billions of rands in profits to the shareholders who do no work! In the negotiations, workers agreed on a new mandate: by 2016 every worker should earn no less than R12,500. But the bosses still refuse! The bosses play games and lie while workers continue to suffer.
Workers remember the lies of Lonmin when they said they will increase wages by 22% after the Marikana massacre in 2012. This was not done. Workers are still waiting!
The whole system is against the strike! The bosses and their allies, including the state, the ANC government and bosses’ trade unions, are working together to crush the strike, victimise and intimidate workers because the demand for a living wage threatens the whole system.
In 2012, workers were massacred on strike for R12,500. This year, strike leaders have been falsely charged with attempted murder, Amplats bosses have filed a claim against AMCU for nearly R600m in damages, and bosses sent workers smses trying to divide workers by calling for a return to work and threatening job losses if workers did not return. Police and private security are being used to defend the bosses’ profits.
Let us unite in the fight for a living wage!
It is the blood and sweat of the employed and unemployed workers that produce everything we need in society and keep society running. It is because of the millions of working class in the mines, farms, factories, shops and communities that children and elderly are looked after, that there is food to eat, water to drink, schools to go to, and trains and busses to travel in. We make the wealth but the bosses own the wealth and want to squeeze every last drop of blood out of us. So we have to fight for what we need. The Democratic Left Front calls on all the millions of the working class, employed and unemployed, young and old, women and men, in the rural and urban areas. Join together and support the AMCU strike and its demands! It is not just an AMCU strike, it is a strike for all of us! The strike needs the weight of the working class behind it so workers are not starved and intimidated back to work! If the mineworkers win, we will all win! The Democratic Left Front calls for: Solidarity meetings in communities and workplaces to discuss support for the strike. Food and money collections in every organisation, community and workplace. Don’t let the bosses starve the mineworkers back to work! The rolling out of solidarity protests and pickets. Support for any secondary, sympathy or Section 77 strikes that AMCU calls for. International solidarity from our class brothers and sisters – dockworkers refuse to handle platinum! Transport workers refuse to transport platinum! Mineworkers and trade unions across the world, stand with your brothers and sisters! The demand of R12,500 to be taken up in all our struggles, in communities and the workplace. A victory for mine workers will be a victory for all workers, employed and unemployed. It will be a victory against a system that creates misery and poverty. Only solidarity in action can win the struggle! A LIVING WAGE R12,500 IS ALL OF OURS! Forward for our children’s future! VIVA SOCIALISM VIVA! The Democratic Left Front’s mission is to unite trade unions, social movements, community-based organisations, issue-based organizations and political groups into a united front of action against neoliberalism and capitalism. It is part of the struggle for a socialist society. www.democraticleft.net.za
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