'Workers are fighting for the democratic rights of all'

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The launching of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Western Cape in March 1986. Despite state of emergency, trade unions are in the forefront of the fight against apartheid. S. African metalworkers leader: African Trade Unions (COSATU). At the time of this interview (July 3, 1986), Naidoo was in hiding after the imposition of the state of emergency in South Africa.

The interview was first published in the August issue of the South African Labor Bulletin (SALB). The entire article is reprinted in the Sept. 15 issue of International Viewpoint.

SALB: What has been the effect of the state of emergency on COSATU?

Naidoo: During this emergency, trade unions have come under quite direct attack from the state—our offices have been raided and trade-union personnel harassed.

The major impact is that in the initial period our communications were disrupted, and structures were not able to operate normally-meetings were either disrupted or banned outright. In the Western Cape our publications have been banned, and on the highveld our meetings banned.

In local areas, facilities for shop stewards have been denied to us. Scores of key leaders involved in sensitive negotiations have been forced into hiding. These were the practical effects in the first period.

Consequently a systematic program of action was drafted to achieve the demands that we set out. We called for an end to all harassment of workers, shop stewards, and officials; an end to repression; and a move toward democratic solutions to the problems of our country.

We also made demands that related specifically to our continued operation on the shop floor. [These included paid timeoff for shop stewards on union business, guaranteed jobs and pay for detainees, and the right to hold union meetings on company property on company time. The demands were largely conceded by the major employers' federations—SALB.] After the first spate of detentions there was a spontaneous reaction with thousands of workers coming out on strike, especially in the retail sector. But what began to emerge very rapidly was a more coordinated response to the attack on us.

Because of our depth of organization and the way it has developed there is an intense loyalty to our organization and its leadership. Our structures are very deeply grounded on the shop floor, and what is growing is an intense pressure from the grassroots to respond to the attack on us.

SALB: What has been the response of employers to the emergency?

Naidoo: Clearly there are different responses, but substantial numbers have distanced themselves from the state of emergency while others have come out in support of it.

In the South African situation it is impossible to separate the struggle for workers' rights on the factory floor from the broader struggle for political freedom. Worker leaders on the factory floor have a democratic right to represent and lead workers in the townships where they live.

The fact that the vast majority of people in South Africa are denied access to the structures of political decision-making would mean that political grievances would be channeled through the only avenues available to them—the trade unions.

Therefore leaders and workers who take up problems that face our communities -housing, rents and forced removals-see this as a legitimate extension of their activity on the factory floor. If the state attempts to attribute the problems of South Africa to "agitators," then that would make every union member an agitator.

SALB: How does the current state of emergency compare with last year's emergency?

Naidoo: The concrete difference is the level of organization of the labor move -ment and of the community-based organiza -tions. The labor movement has developed over a decade of bitter and militant strug -gles. Its organization had, of necessity, to develop in such a way that would ensure its survival in a repressive system.

The basic principles have been those of workers' control and workers' democracy. That has rooted the labor movement very deeply on the shop floor and ensured that a substantial layer of leadership emerged.

The guiding slogan of our organization is that the union must be on the factory floor and not in the offices. That would mean that the labor movement in South Africa will survive any onslaught made on it.

The political climate is also very different in that there is a very high level of political awareness and confidence.

and discuss their problems.

MAWU: What are the sentences?

Mayekiso: In Alexandra this is

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ICCAWUSA, WORKERS 'SIXUGGLE

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