Published by the New York Area Labor Committee Against Apartheid c/o Communication Workers of America, Local 1180, 225 Broadway, NYC 10007.

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rim for USA!Africa for USA . Don ' t we mean USA

for Africa? Not in this case . On February28, 350 South African workers at the 3Mplant in Elandsfontein nearJohannesburg staged a half-day walkoutin solidarity with 3M workers whoseplant is being closed in Freehold, NewJersey.

The 3M Company, based inMinnesota, decided last year to shutdown its Freehold operation, whichproduces audio/video tapes andemploys 450 workers. Their union—Local 8-760 of the Oil, Chemical andAtomic Workers—offered to negotiatewith the company to keep the plantopen, but 3M refused to consider anyoptions.

Local 8-760, with the help of NewYork's Labor Institute, then launched amajor public relations campaign to bring3M's behavior to the attention of thelarger community . The campaignenlisted the support of rock star BruceSpringsteen, a native of Freehold, whosecurrent hit "My Hometown" is aboutthe economic decline of the town hegrew up in . Together with Willie Nelsonand other recording artists, Springsteenhelped the local tell their story throughnational newspaper ads.

The South Africa connection wasmade when a member of the NY LaborCommittee Against Apartheid told theLocal about Emma Mashinini, presidentof the Commercial Catering and AlliedWorkers Union of South Africa(CCAWUSA), which represents thelargely black workforce at 3M SouthAfrica operations . Ms. Mashinini madea solidarity tour of the States last year,sponsored by LCAA . Freehold workerswere able to contact Ms . Mashinini andCCAWUSA members went into action.

In December, CCAWUSA'sbargaining team walked into a

negotiating session with 3M wearing T-shirts that read: "Don ' t AbandonFreehold, My Hometown, " and "NoRetreat-No Surrender, " taken from twoSpringsteen songs . Needless to say,management was shocked.

And February 28, the day after 3M laidoff the first 160 workers in Freehold, theentire black workforce of theElandsfontein plant walked off their jobsat 1 p .m., all 250 wearing the Freehold T-shirts. The South African workersmarched, singing and dancing, aroundthe plant and then held a solidarity rallyto protest the Freehold shutdown.According to wire service reports, whiteworkers in nearby offices looked on inamazement.

African workers explained why theystopped work, at the cost of a half-day'spay. "I'm upset and sorry for thosepeople," stated Sidney Skosana, "andthey have supported us before ." BafanaDhlanvine said, "They 're just workersthe same as us . We've suffered the samethings."

The struggle started in Freehold is farfrom over, even if the last jobs at theplant disappear in June . Workers in theUS and South Africa are learning that todeal with a global system of production,labor solidarity must be international andnew networks must be built linkingworkplaces and unions . On Thursday,May 29, from 4-10 p.m., New JerseyArtists for Mankind are holding a concertrally in the East Freehold Park tohighlight these efforts and to continuesupport for the Freehold 3M workers.Emma Mashinini is planning toattend—all the way from South Africa.

CCAWUSA is also sending arepresentative from the Elandsfonteinplant to the US in early summer to joinwith Local 8-760 president Stanley Fisherin a national "Hometowns AgainstShutdowns" tour. The tour will

(continued on back page)

Updates from South

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ECONOMY DOWN,MILITANCY UP.

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South Africa's faltering economy hascompounded the hardship faced byblack workers under the apartheid laborsystem. According to official reports, atleast 1,000 workers lost their jobs eachweek in 1985. Unemployment in theEastern Cape area, particularly PortElizabeth and East London, nowaverages 60%, fueled by layoffs in theauto industry.

At the same time, reports fromresearchers at the University of CapeTown indicate that real wages are fallingdrastically in the face of 20% inflation.During 1985, 23% of all workers receivedno wage increases and 91% of allworkers experienced a decline in realwages (purchasing power) . Thesefigures represent the worst wage erosionin a decade and are markedly worse thanin 1984, when 16% received no wageincreases, 57% saw real wages fall, and43% saw real wages rise.

The newest government budgetindicates how the Botha regime intendsto respond to growing economicdistress . The budget projects an increaseof 20% in military spending and 12% inpolice spending . The budget includes a62% increase in allocations for counter-insurgency training . The UnitedDemocratic Front (UDF) stated that theregime's budget priorities will furtherdepress employment and real wages forblack workers, intensifying laborprotests.

The UDF's prediction is backed byreports showing a continued rise in

According to Amnesty International,in its study South Africa : Imprisonmentunder the Pass Laws, some 238,000persons were reported to have beenarrested in 1984 under the Pass Laws orrelated legislation . The Pass Lawsrequire black South Africans tocarry passbooks at all times, restrictingwhere they can legally travel, reside andwork. Thousands of those arrested wereput to work for white farmers under"what is officially described as parolebut, in essence, is closer to a system offorced labor ." The "parolees" wereoften subjugated to systematic beatingsand humiliation. These practices directly

militancy and solidarity among blackworkers . According to industrialrelations experts, there has been a sharpincrease in job actions during the firsttwo months of 1986 . Over 185,000

workdays were lost in January alone—double the number reported a yearbefore . More than half the strikesoccurred in the mining industry . Figuresconfirm that the strike wave hasmounted steadily since 1984.

A rising number of job actions arepolitically focused . On March 21,thousands of black unionists across thecountry held a work stoppage tocommemorate the victims of policemassacres in Sharpeville (1960) andLanga (1985) . The stoppage was calledby the new labor federation COSATU . A

violate the Convention on Forced Laboradopted by the UN's International LaborOrganization.

In the first action of its kind, the Irishgovernment announced that it wouldprogressively ban imports of SouthAfrican agricultural products to protestthe policy of forced farm labor, with allimports to be cut off by January 1, 1987.The Irish ban was spurred by the strikeof sales clerks against the Dunnes Storein Dublin, who walked out after theirsteward was fired for refusing to sellSouth African grapefruits . Their actionsparked a national anti-apartheidcampaign.

memorial rally near the site of the Langamassacre was attended by 35,000 andreceived a message from WinnieMandela urging increased defiance ofthe regime.

Job actions have also been spreadingfrom industrial centers into the servicesector . A dramatic struggle occurred inSoweto when more than 1,700 auxiliaryworkers and student nurses went onstrike at the Baragwanath Hospital,which serves the two million residents ofthe black township outsideJohannesburg. The strikers wereimmediately fired . Police and armytroops surrounded the area andattempted to force the workers back totheir jobs, injuring several . Doctors andother professional staff then threatenedto join the strike if administration officialsrefused to meet with them about thesituation . Meanwhile, police arrested 700workers for striking "illegally" andsoldiers rounded up another 300 strikers,forcing them to collect their finalpaychecks at gunpoint.

In response, the workers signedaffidavits documenting this coercion andturned the paychecks over to theirunion, the General and Allied Workers.The union returned the wages to ' thehospital. Later the Supreme Courtreinstated the workers, ruling that theirdismissal had been illegal since thefirings had been made retroactive to adate before the strike began . The troopswhich had taken over hospital dutieswere pulled out of the hospital.

TUNE 14MARCHThousands of labor, church, andcommunity members in the NewYork area will join together in aMarch Against Apartheid onSaturday, June 14 . The march isscheduled to start from the UN'sDag Hammarskjold Plaza and theHarlem State Office Building,rallying at the Great Lawn inCentral Park. Sponsors includethe Citywide Anti-ApartheidCoordinating Council, theCoalition of Black TradeUnionists and the NY LaborCommittee Against Apartheid.Several benefit events are plannedto support the march, which willalso be held in other major cities.For updates on plans for June 14,please contact: Mae Ngai, District651UAW, (212) 673-5120 .

Published by the New York Area Labor Committee Against Apartheid c/o Communication Workers of America, Local 1180, 225 Broadway, NYC 10007.

BOTCOTT SHELL:

Organize actions to make theboycott known to consumers.Actions can include: passing outleaflets at Shell gas stations;sending delegations to localmerchants asking them to removeShell products and display signssaying "This business supportsthe Shell boycott;" letter writingcampaigns to employers usingShell credit cards or heating oil;letter writing and delegations topoliticians requesting theycondemn Shell's complicity withapartheid. Be sure to also letfriends and neighbors, church orclub members know about theconsumer boycott.

Start a "Boycott Shell" committeein your local union or communitygroup. Contact area churches,civic organizations, civil rightsgroups and other union locals tolet them know about the boycottand join with your committee.

Research Shell products in yourarea, identifying Shell gasstations, retailers that sell Shell'sautomotive and home products,government agencies which buyShell heating oil, businessesissuing Shell credit cards toemployees, and local politiciansreceiving campaign contributionsfrom Shell .

SHELL PRODUCTS INCLUDE:Gasoline, gas additives, motoroils, lubricants, tires, batteries,radios, oil filters, repair services,auto and furniture polish,

insecticides, room deodorizers, airfresheners and roofing materials.Look for the Shell emblem—andboycott the product!

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American labor solidarity againstSouth Africa's apartheid system gaineda new dimension with the launching inJanuary of a nationwide boycott againstthe Shell Oil Company . The boycott hasbeen called by the AFL-CIO, the UnitedMineworkers (UMWA) and the FreeSouth Africa Movement. It has rapidlygained the endorsement of anti-apartheid, civil rights and women'sorganizations across the country.

Shell has a notoriously dismal recordin South Africa, with extensiveinvolvement in the apartheid economy.Despite an international oil embargoagainst South Africa, this multinationalcorporation is still a major supplier of oilto South African business andgovernment, including the military andpolice forces . At the same time, Shell hasmaintained numerous investments inthe petroleum refining, chemical andmining industries there.

The issue that triggered the boycottwas Shell's firing in 1985 of 86 coalminers at its Rietspruit mine, afterworkers took one hour off to attend amemorial service for a miner who hadbeen killed on the job . The firings wereaimed particularly at shop stewards andunion activists . Managementsubsequently banned workplace unionmeetings and has prohibited any contactbetween shop stewards and members.

The South African National Union ofMineworkers (NUM), which representsthe Rietspruit miners, immediatelyprotested these union-busting tacticsand appealed for an internationalboycott of all Shell products . The MinersInternational Federation, together withmany unions worldwide, have voicedtheir solidarity with the Rietspruit minersby endorsing boycott actions andorganizing public events to exposeShell's anti-labor, pro-apartheid policies.

In the US, the Shell Boycott is beingbuilt by union members on thecommunity level . The UMWA offersthese suggestions for local campaigns :

COSATU:A GIANT STEP FORWARD.

The formation of the Congress ofSouth African Trade Unions (COSATU)in November 1985 represents a newstage of unity and influence for theSouth African labor movement.COSATU joins 500,000 union membersin every region of the country into onefederation . Its 33 affiliates representevery major sector of the workforce,from basic industry to publicemployment . Member unions includeSouth Africa's largest labororganizations, the National Union ofMineworkers, the Commerical Cateringand Allied Workers Union, and theMetal and Allied Workers Union.

Just as importantly, COSATU is a newpolitical force in the battle againstapartheid and for the democraticreconstruction of South Africa.

COSATU embodies the principles of ademocratic South Africa in its ownstructure and platform, drafted at theInaugural Congress . COSATU'sfounding slogan is "One Federation,One Country," representing itscommitment to a unified labormovement and its insistence that SouthAfrica is one society, which cannot bedivided, segregated, or partitioned onracial and ethnic lines . COSATU iscommitted to non-racialism, opening itsunions to white as well as black workers.

Another cornerstone of COSATU is"One Union, One Industry . " In comingmonths, its affiliates will merge to createa single national union for each of tenemployment sectors . Upholding theprinciple of industrial unionism, localsinclude members from all skills andclassifications . COSATU's guidingmotto is "An injury to one is an injury to

The new federation and its affiliatesare also pledged to worker-controlledunions, stressing the importance of theshop steward system and shopfloordecision-making . An important goal is

strengthening worker educationprograms at the national, regional andlocal levels to promote union democracy.Such programs will also emphasizecultural activities, including the demandthat May 1 be recognized as a nationalworkers ' holiday commemoratinginternational solidarity and the traditionsof labor struggle . May Day—whichbegan as a tribute to America'sHaymarket martyrs in the fight for theeight-hour day one hundred yearsago—is now a key symbolic issue inSouth African bargaining.

Organizing the unorganized is also acentral part of COSATU's platform . Thefederation currently encompasses 15% ofSouth Africa's black workforce, allorganized in the six years since thegovernment granted official recognitionof labor unions . Unions are growingrapidly in every industrial sector, butCOSATU also plans to form a union foragricultural workers and a union for theunemployed, recognizing everyworker's right to a job and security.

The rights of women workersemerged as a key issue at the InauguralCongress and resolutions includedprograms to combat discriminationwithin the federation as well as in theworkforce and society . One resolutioncalled for equal pay for all work of equalvalue—the principle of comparableworth . Other resolutions called for daycare facilities, maternity leave, protectionagainst sexual harassment, and aworker-controlled subcommittee toensure implementation of thesedemands.

In its national labor program,COSATU calls for a minimum livingwage for all South African workers, a 40-hour work week at full , pay, a ban onovertime, and the legal right to strike.The Congress condemned apartheid'smigrant labor system, specifically thePass Laws and Influx Control Laws .

These laws regulate where blacks canwork, reside and travel . The laws divideworkers into permanent residents andmigrants, separate workers from theirfamilies, and make workers virtualcaptives of their employers . TheCongress also called for abolishing thehomeland or "bantustan" system,which forces blacks to live on bleak andremote reservations, ' displaced fromtheir own land, ethnically segregated,and dependent on migrant work.

COSATU's political platformdemands that all troops and securityforces be withdrawn from blacktownships, that all political prisoners anddetainees be released, that all bans onindividuals and organizations beremoved, and that government beconstituted on the principle of "oneperson, one vote ." COSATU hasdeclared its support for all forms ofinternational pressure on the SouthAfrican government, includingdisinvestment by foreign firms . Thefederation has also pledged its solidaritywith the labor movements of otherSouthern African countries and seeks tobuild bilateral relations with unions incommon industries around the world.

COSATU members know better thananyone the enormous struggle ahead tomake their vision a reality in SouthAfrica . -One of the most urgent tasks is tocombat ethnic and regional divisionsamong black workers, which areconstantly exploited by apartheid'srulers. A second challenge is to deepenthe links between COSATU's strongbase in the workplace and the currentupsurge of protest in black communities.But the very existence of COSATU, inthe face of apartheid's ruthlessoppression, is confirmation that SouthAfrican workers are moving historyforward .

The leaders of Cosatu .

M=NEWORKERSTAKE THE LEAs

Perhaps only veterans of America'scoalfield wars in the 1930s can reallyimagine the conditions of struggle inSouth Africa's mines today . Underapartheid, black miners are hired asmigrant workers, paid one-tenth thewages of white miners, made to live insingle-sex hostels (barracks) at the mines,policed by both mine operators and thegovernment . Though their labor hasbuilt the wealth and power of whiteSouth Africa, black miners are"expendable" workers in a f orced laborsystem.

Black miners are also the largestorganized sector of South Africa'semerging labor movement . In the sixyears since unions gained officialrecognition, the National Union ofMineworkers (NUM) has grown to250,000 members and has conductedover half of all job actions in the country.I~f UM played a key role in the formationof the new labor federation, COSATU,whose first president is NUM leaderElijah Barayi.

The following reports do not give acomplete picture of the miners' struggle,but they do convey what it takes to builda democratic labor movement in SouthAfrica:

Over 30,000 African miners went onstrike at five platinum mines in January,demanding higher wages, betterworking conditions, and recognition ofthe NUM. The mines are owned by theGeneral Mining Corporation(GENCOR) and are located inBophuthatswana, an area declared an"independent homeland" by the SouthAfrican government . Bophuthatswana,which is not recognized as a state outsideSouth Africa, bars non-"homeland"unions from operating in its territory.GENCOR's mines there account for 60%of the platinum produced in the Westernworld.

Declaring the strike "illegal, "GENCOR immediately dismissed 20,000strikers, in what may be the largest mass' 'gin South Africa since the labor

conflicts of the 1920s . GENCOR isknown in business circles as the "mosthardline and implacable industrialrelations operator." NUM hasdesignated GENCOR as an ' `enemycompany" because it has persistentlyused firings to break strikes . The unionis planning an international corporate

campaign targeting GENCOR . ..The Anglo-American Corporation has

admitted to the existence of a teargassmoke system installed in the liquorstore, hostel kitchen and administrativebuildings of its Western Deep Levelsgold mine . The system, designed for usein the event of "unrest" among Africanmineworkers, is also operational at amine in Klerksdorp owned byGENCOR. Management at Anglo-American confirmed this informationafter the former Prime Minister ofAustralia, Malcolm Fraser, charged thatsystems f or pumping disabling gas intoSouth African miners quarters had beeninstalled. Mine company officials nowclaim the systems have beendismantled . ..

In March,l9, 000 African miners helda three-day work slowdown at the VaalReefs mine, the world's largest goldmine owned by the Anglo-AmericanCorporation . The job action protestedthe arrest of several miners during astrike the month before over the killing ofblack supervisors . The action was alsoprompted by the mass firing of blackworkers several months earlier and bylongstanding grievances over hostelconditions and discriminatory practices .

During the March action, clashes brokeout between different ethnic groups atthe mine, killing seven African minersand injuring eight others . S' ' ar ethnicclashes had occurred earlier and l~(UMofficials blamed Anglo-American forinstigating these incidents in order to getrid of trade union activists . ..

The South African government hasrevealed that it is preparing contingencyplans to expel foreign migrant workers inresponse to international economicsanctions against South Africa . There arecurrently 1 .5 million foreign workers inSouth Africa, largely from Africanborder states . The threat to expel them isseen as a punitive move by thegovernment to shift the burden ofsanctions onto border states, whilesowing division in the workforce.

The I~f UM, which represents 150,000foreign mineworkers, has called thethreat of expulsion "provocative" andhas vowed that such a threat .will "notgo unchallenged." The I~f UM has joinedwith mineworkers' leaders fromZambia, Botswana, Lesotho andZimbabwe to f orm the Southern AfricanMiners' Federation. The new federationhas resolved to resist with ' 'tant actionany repatriation move by the SouthAfrican government . ..

At NUM's 1986 Annual Congress inFebruary, the union decided to call anational strike later in 1986 unless theSouth African Chamber of Mines agreesto an industry-wide wage agreement.The NUM Congress also decided thatminers would unilaterally observe thisMay Day as a public holiday, a demandemployers have ref used to negotiate inthe past. The Congress adopted thelongterm demand that employersdismantle the worker hostels at themines and replace them with villagesthat could accomodate f ' 'es . Thedemand is seen as a direct challenge toSouth Af rica's migrant labor system anda prod to mine owners who say theydeplore the system . Responding to therising protest movement in blacktownships, the Mineworkers resolved toimmediately join up with communityorganizations in political actioncampaigns against the apartheidgovernment . In addition, delegateselected Nelson Mandela as NUM'shonorary life president .

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HOMETOWNS

AGAINSTSHUTDOWNS

AFRICA FOR USA (continued)

publicize an Economic Bill of Rights tocombat corporate abandonment ofworkers and communities, and willspread the story of how 3M workers builta new kind of solidarity.

Africa for USA is also the theme ofrecent support by the Sweet Food andAllied Workers Union of South Africa(SFAWU) for the striking meatpackers ofLocal P-9 at the Hormel plant in Austin,Minnesota . The Hormel Company hasdone business for the past several yearswith Renown Food Products in SouthAfrica, profiting from licensingagreements which give Renown use ofHormel's sophisticated meat processingtechnology at its Deep City plant nearJohannesburg . Renown Food is one ofSouth Africa's top three meatpacking

firms and is a subsidiary of a leadingSouth African conglomerate, BarlowRand.

According to SFAWU generalsecretary David Makahma, RenownFood is notorious as an anti-unioncompany, which has severely harassedunion members and has instigated thearrest of several activists . Makahmaadded, "The South African meatpackingindustry is highly brutish, even by SouthAfrican standards ."

SFAWU workers have good reason tounderstand Local P-9's consumerboycott against Hormel, since RenownFood Products is one of seventeencompanies targeted in a national boycottcampaign by SFAWU's parentfederation COSATU. SFAWU has senta contribution to Local P-9 in Austin tosupport the Hormel strike, which is nowin its ninth month.

Africa for USA—USA for Africa . Youbet!

NY Labor Committee Jim Butler, President, Local 420, William Lucy, President, Bettye Roberts, President,Against Apartheid DC 37, AFSCME Coalition of Black Trade Unionists District Council 1707, AFSCME

c/o CWA Local 1180 Arthur Cheliotes, President, Local 1180, James McIntosh, President, Cleveland Robinson, Secretary-Treasurer,

225 Broadway, NYC 10007 Communication Workers of America Committee of Interns & ResidentsDistrict 65, United Auto Workers

Charles Ensley, President, Local 371, Josie McMillian, President, Edgar Romney, Manager, Local 23-25,

Co-Chairs : DC 37, AFSCME Metro Area Postal Workers Union, APWU Int'I Ladies Garment Workers Union

Jim Bell, President, New York Barry Feinstein, President, Local 237, Sam Meyers, President, Local 259, Charles Sallee, Executive Vice-President,

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Intl Brotherhood of Teamsters United Auto Workers ACTWU

John Hudson, President, Henry Foner, President, Furriers Council, Henry Nicholas, President, Mike Shay, Manager, Central &

Headwear Joint Board, ACTWU United Food & Commercial Workers Nat'l Union of Hospital & Health South Jersey Joint Board, ACTWUJohn Glasel, President, Local 802, Care Employees Jack Sheinkman, Secretary-Treasurer,

Steering Committee American Federation of Musicians William Nuchow, Secretary-Treasurer, ACTWULou Albano, President, Local 325, Stanley Hill, Associate Director, Local 840, Intl Brotherhood of Cecil Toppin, Manager, Service &DC 37, AFSCME DC 37, AFSCME Teamsters Allied Industries Joint Board, ACTWUEd Allen, Associate Director, Dan Kane, President, Local 111, Jan Pierce, Vice-President for Ida Torres, Vice-President, Local 3,Corporate Campaign, Inc . Intl Brotherhood of Teamsters District 1, Communication Workers Storeworkers Union, RSDWU

Ted Barrett, Director, Josephine LeBeau, Vice-President, of America Coordinator : Bill HenningRegion 9A, United Auto Workers NYS Coalition of Labor Union Women

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