But do members agree?

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UNIONS CALL FOR ACTION BY THE

END OF 1985

But do members agree?

T H E C O U N C I L o f Unions o f South A f r i c a ( C U S A ) has stated that it wants federal legislation on disinvestment t o be enacted in the U S by the end o f this year.

T h e C o u n c i l w h i c h represents 12 trade unions comprising 249 000 members, issued a statement on disinvestment after its leaders met w i t h Senator Edward Kennedy.

( I t is not k n o w n whether the executives o f any o f the major Black trade unions in S A have held general meetings/ballots and put the issue o f disinvestment to their membership f o r a mass and democratic response. Newspaper files d o not record any such meetings/ballots having been held.)

T h e statement said it expected Senator Kennedy t o pursue a vigorous campaign o f

" c o n s t r u c t i v e disengagementM and t o ensure that nuclear, computer and defence technol- ogy was " n o t sold o r licenced orfranchised i n South A f r i c a . . / *

C U S A also asked him t o use his "personal c a p i t a l " t o divest f r o m companies which d i d not meet certain criteria.

These include those w h o :

— " D o not adhere t o just and equitable labour practice:

— " D o not endorse that all South Africans should enjoy all the freedoms that United States investors e n j o y :

— " D o not c o m m i t themselves towards a j u s t and free and undivided South A f r i c a . "

C U S A ' s president. M r James Mndawem said the envisaged disinvestment legislation w h i c h M r K e n n e d y was expected t o achieve should clearly:

— " S t o p new investments in South A f r i c a while apartheid still exists:

— " R e s t r i c t the sale o f Krugerrands;

— " W i t h d r a w all investment w h i c h supports the apartheid system;

— " T e r m i n a t e U S involvement in so-called homelands:

— Cease all supplies o f whatever nature which assist the apartheid m a c h i n e r y . "

Early this year, at a conference in Washington, some Black SA trade union leaders c o m m i t t e d themselves to a policy o f selective A m e r i c a n disinve. tment.

I n t h e U S for a conference w i t h U S unionists, they said they d i d not believe that U S companies in South Africa were a force for good o r adhered t o the Sullivan Code o f

fair employment principles.

M r L o n g w a y K w e l e m t h i n i , president o f the F o o d and Beverage Workers* Union o f SA said foreign companies used the Sullivan Code and a similar code p u l forward by the European c o m m u n i t y t o j u s t i f y their presence i n the Republic.

M r s Jane H l o n g w a n e . funeral secretary o f the Steel, Engineering and Allied W o r k e r s ' U n i o n , added that the Unions1 d i d not take the principles seriously because neither they nor the A m e r i c a n unions were i n v o l v e d i n m o n i t o r i n g the companies' adherence t o t h e m .

She said n o A m e r i c a n c o m p a n y had encouraged the g r o w t h o f Black South A f r i c a n trade u n i o n i s m .

B o t h the m o t o r company F o r d and the mining and manufacturing firm. 3 M . were cited by the unionists as not adhering t o the principles.

B o t h are signatories o f the Sullivan Code and last year were rated in the highest category by the A r t h u r B. L i t t l e accounting f i r m w h i c h m o n i t o r s the companies.

In his meeting w i t h Senator K e n n e d y . Chief Buthelezi said it was good that he had spoken t o various labour leaders.

He said labour unions were still " t r y i n g to find their feet i n a new ball g a m e " f r o m w h i c h

£ £ ?n s ^a (* ^ ° e n excluded f o r many years.

Chief Buthelezi added: " . . . there are people (in Black politics) w h o dread the back- b r e a k i n g j o b o f organising people (and) w h o t r y t o poach membership o f some trade unions using them as political cattle w h o must d o their b i d d i n g . . , "

He went o n : " S o m e functionaries w h o help i n running our trade unions, particularly o f other race g r o u p s , behave just like Whites behave towards us w h e n they pontificate for members o f trade unions w i t h o u t consulting t h e m , just as Whites dictate t o us without consulting us...

"Please d o listen t o what labour leaders say. but bear i n mind that Black workers, as Black workers, have not yet called for d i s i n v e s t m e n t . . . "

• * „ . I have not yet advocated disinvestment i n South A f r i c a , I have actually called for Increased foreign investment on stringent conditkns... but i f a p a r t h e i d has not been dismantled w i t h i n t w o years* I w i l l c a l for puni- tive economic sanctions whatever the legal consequences of doing so might b e . . . " Bishop Desmond Tutu on the occasion o f his enthronement as

Bishop of Johannesburg In February.

" A n y examination o f labour relations i n the current economic climate in SA start a n d end w i t h the unemployment question. The correlation between unemployment and civil u n r a t i n South A f r i c a has been adequately establish- ed over the past t w o decades. It k being reinforced by patterns of more recent unrest which have been concentrated in those areas where retren- chment and lay-offs have been most severe — the East Rand, Vaal T r i a n g l e and the Eastern C a p e . . . " M r A n d r e w Levy, labour consultant, in an Interview w i t h The Star, Johannes- b u r g .

" L o s s of A m e r i c a n investment would mean South A f r i c a would lose one percent o f a required annual economic g r o w t h of about five percent. That would be a serious blow t o South Af- rica because It makes the difference between a barely adequate and an i n - adequate g r o w t h rate... the biggest help i n f i g h t i n g disinvestment is evi- dence o f f o r w a r d momentum in re- f o r m . W e would like to think the over- w h e l m i n g m a j o r i t y of South Africans see change as being i n their own in- terests as w e l l . . . the j o b is to prove the disinvestment lobby does not have a monopoly on anti-apartheid senti- ment — even conservativeslin the US) cannot have attachment to them the label *Soft on Racism, soft on apart- h e i d . . .1 The disinvestment question raises serious constitutional issues i n t h e I S such as t h e Prudent Investive Rule, the Commerce Claise and the Supremacy Clause which leaves foreign policy to the Federal Govern- m e n t . . . M r H e r m a n W Nickel, US Ambassador to South Africa, in a S A B C - T V interview i n Fehmarv.

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Surveys canvass Black opinion

A NUMBER of surveys canvassing urban Black opinion on the issue of disinvestment have shown that an overwhelming majority oppose ihc

strategy.

Internationally recognised sociol-

ogist. Professor Lawrence Schlemmer. Director of the Centre for

Applied Social Studies at the Univer- sity of Natal, showed inone report that 75 percent of working Blacks were op- posed to disinvestment.

"Rising unemployment will result in

increasing unrest

^?*

A Human Sciences Research Coun- cil survey of I 500 Blacks over 18 years of age in the Pretori a-W it water s- rand-Vereeniging area revealed that:

— A substantial 64 percent regarded economic pressure as their biggest problem -- including a lack of money and housing as well as un- employment problems. 21 percent

felt that apartheid was their most serious problem.

— Over 60 percent said they felt Blacks would suffer most through disinvestment: 14 percent thought Whites would be more affected.

— Just over 56 percent felt Black pupils were wrong to boycott clas- ses: 35.8 percent approved of boycotts.

— About 27 percent believed White Government institutions and lead- ers were responsible for the boy- cotts: about 25 percent blamed pupils and their representative councils.

Clarion Call was told that although the Minister of Manpower. Mr Piet du Plessis. puts the unemployment figure

«n South Africa at 500 000. unofficial estimates put it between 2.75 million and 3 million — and rising.

Concentrated in the major metropo- liton centres in South Africa, unemp- loyment is hitting mainly semi-skilled

Chief M G Buthelezi talking support disinvestment.

to factory workers... none have told him they

and unskilled Black workers.

It is feared that the rising unemploy- ment figures will result in increasing unrest.

In an interview with The Star in Johannesburg. Mr Loet Douwes Dek- ker. senior lecturer at the Wits Graduate School of Business Admini- stration, highlighted another problem.

"Most South African employers see labour as a liability and not as an as- set." he said.

"As a result, in a recession the first cost factor which managements look at is the wage bill..."

Professor Nic Wiehahn. head of the UNISA's School of Business Leader- ship and chairman of the Wiehahn Commission, also told The Star he be-

lieves it is time to re-examine the type

£ t Most employers see labour as a

liability and not as an asset..."

of free-enterprise system needed for South Africa.

"Until there is freedom in the eco- nomy, unemployment will be one of the negative side-effects of structural restrictions in South Africa."

The lifting of restrictions on labour such as influx control, the Group Areas Act and discriminatory legisla- tive practices would go a long way to- wards freeing the economy, he added.