Led a group called Rail Against Apartheid (RAA). NUR executive member, London guard, DOREEN RAA's chair and secretary. Last May they met with Mike Roussos, a representative of the NUR's sister union in South Africa, SARHWU. They decided on a number of solidarity projects. When the rail strike in South Africa erupted, RAA turned to mobilising the broadest possible solidarity action.
to Britain as part of the solidarity effort but were refused entry. So it was decided to send Geoff Revell and Doreen Weppler as an official NUR delegation to make contact with their South African comrades. They were tremendously mark of solidarity, were made honorary members piled the following report.
GEOFF REVELL, and WEPPLER, became Two representatives of SARHWU tried to come well received and, as a of SARHWU. On their return this week, they comStriking rail workers battle with police gets built!
Ana ds lney come together like that in struggle, they produce these incredible leaders.
t ney don t lunction the way unions do in this counThey Ll. .u vallicl without approval from the membership They non evenk wo es witaoui approval of the mass meelig It that Knar democracy which allowed the raising OI Inel demands. The demands for a decent wage, IOT SCLLCI food In lne compounds, Genante aralus! racialism, for promotion at work. 1ob security based or non-racist criteria, an end the compound system This is a whole confrontation with apartheid and explains une orutal reaction or the What the union is saying is that they want a settlement from which they can go forward to build. Their bottom line for a return to work is the reinstatement of all the sacked workers and a commitment to meaningful negotiations, conducted by the union's negotiating committee, who prison. So their second minimum demand is for their release.
They believe they can this. Contrary WIl ports here, the strike i They'r using every avenue they' ve got including involving the church. In tact thev invite( bishops Johannesburg. atives of Britsh representatives British railworkers they thought would be additional Call pressure.
Their first demand is that the bishops sit in on the negotiations witness what's going on. SATS, the railway company, keep on posts so Hov ne tuc they wanted have the bishops there state publicly what the company was doing.
The church leaders indicated their willingness to perform this role, so then the acting general secretary ot the union savs: by the . way, we have trouble mecke Because of the bombing of COSATU House, their only meeting place is a three floors which can accommodate about 300 workers on each floor. So they have to have their mass meetings in shtesev cant nicet vulside. Iwo people together outside can be picked up under the emergency powers. So they ask one of the bishops tor cathedral for alass meeting.
After some toing and froing, the bishop finally agrees.
So then another bishop that there's another saye problem. We agree that it's à sensible proposal for us to sit in on your negotiations we're willing lo au that because you're part of our congregation. But what are we supposed to do if the employers say they are not willing to cooperate?
'Well, take their YUu names and excommunicate them'!
security forces and we cannot do that' and he told a StOry OI meeting hed had with the secretary of state tor securitv or some such.
While he was there, making an appeal for derailway workers every tion, waiting to meeting over their dispute.
withstood an unrelenting attack by continues to deepen and spread.
onslaught the government has come up with.
miles away on the barren bantustans.
formed, blow by DOw.
chanting and singing liberation songs provide a COCUS cond in size only to the miners union.
munities East Cape region.
in the dispute.
rapidly developing explosive situation.
forces.
poula evietdis cupanon by secunly lorce.
tactics. Rail strike spreads JOHANNESBURG is a tense city today. Last week the magistrate's court was bombed. Meanwhile thousands of sacked and striking day mill around the blacks-only parks near the city's major line stabe summoned to a mass For over two months, these railway workers have the South African Transport Services (SATS) and the entire arsenal of the apartheid security forces. But the workers won't budge from their demands. And so the strike, which is the largest and most disruptive dispute ever seen in souln Amm dutsc dic mmc.
SARHWU, South Africa's fastest growing union, with queues of black workers waiting outside makeshift offices to join up daily, has faced every And as the dispute continues, the union is also faced with desparate pleas for aid from workers whose families are being driven to stark destitution. A railwary worker's wage supports on average over ten other family members who are forced to remain Yet every day, after the union's co-ordinating committee meets with the shop stewards, a series of mass meetings are convened. The workers are inNot developments in ine disputes. And when the meetings draw to a close, workers can be seen filing away with fists held high, The dispute has now evolved into a major confrontation with the apartheid regime. It continues to for the anti-apartheid TOTCC. throughout the country. It takes place at a time when the trade union movement is registering major advances. Last week, the merger of the metal and car workers unions produced a 100,000-strong union, seThe dynamic of the dispute is conditioned not only by advances in other sections of the liberation movement. Union leaders explain how the antics of the state forces have spread the dispute into the comand amongst railway workers in other parts of the country beyond the Transvaal. The latest workers to join the strike last week came from the It is this spreading of the dispute into the community which is at the root of the decision by Johannesburg's major Church leaders to become involved They hope to be seen as a force capable of helping to get a government backdown. They recognise that the dispute is growing into a And they fear, rightly so, that continuing intransigence by the authorities will unleash an upsurge of uncontrollable action which will spread will beyond railway workers.
It is not difficult to see why they have drawn this conclusion. Management is using every device at its control to crush the workers determination. Workers who have joined the dispute at depots outside of Johannesburg have been served with eviction notices from their living compounds. Food supplies have been cut off from the compounds. Last week, even the first delivery of food by the relief organisation Operation Hunger was turned back by the security The union is resisting on several fronts. This week, the union tried to press ahead with three tes!
cases in the courts to establish that SATS had acted outside apartheid's own laws in sacking the 18,000.
Legal moves are also being made to stop the comand to get the union's property released from COSATU House which is under oc. SATS response to these moves has been to simply delay and postponement demanding the release of