GM, cops break S. Africa sitdown strike

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Our accountants have just informed us that divesting tron SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1986 11 Cops with whips, attack dogs, mass firings—it was business as usual at the General Motors plants in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The automaker called in government security forces on Nov. 17 in order to escort scabs through a picket line of hundreds of striking Black workers. Most workers returned to work the next day, after the company threatened to fire all the strikers.

The strike was called by the National Automobile and Allied Workers' Union (NAAWU) in response to General Motors' announcement at the end of October that it was selling its South African facilities to local capitalists.

Some 2000 workers occupied the plants after GM refused their requests to repay their pension contributions and guarantee severence pay when the new owners take over next year.

General Motor's "disinvestment" probably yield the corporation higher profits from South Africa than it has made in years, investors predict. GM cars and parts will continue to flow into South Africa from abroad. Meanwhile, the parent company will receive hefty fees for use of its trademarks on products made in South Africa.

General Motors will also benefit from the repayment of loans made to South African investors to enable them to purchase its subsidiary. And GM has retained a buy-back option with the new owners-to protect its long-term interests in the land of apartheid.

Meanwhile, the 3 million-member United Democratic Front has called a "Christmas boycott" of white-owned stores beginning on Dec. 16. The 10-day boycott period will be observed as part of a national mobilization to counter the impact of the state of emergency decreed last June. Some 20,000 people have been detained without charges since then—including at least 500 children.

BY TURTIL FOR THE GW HATCHET, GEORGE WASHINGION UNIVERSITY only moral and