Cape Town - Cosatu will survive without the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) because it was previously able to withstand the expulsion of three unions, says the federation’s deputy president, Zingiswa Losi.
Losi told the 4th Brian Bunting District Congress of the SACP in Philippi on Sunday that Numsa had been preparing for its exit for some time, because hours after its expulsion its leadership announced plans for an alternative federation.
Numsa was expelled from the federation last week when 33 delegates of Cosatu’s central executive committee (CEC) voted for its removal, while 24 voted for Numsa to be kept in the alliance.
Addressing members of the SACP’s Cape metro branch on Sunday, Losi said Cosatu had previously expelled three unions - the SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, the Creative Workers Union of SA and the SA Democratic Nurses Union - for failing to pay their affiliate fees to the federation. Numsa was part of those CEC meetings and was vocal about the expulsion of those unions, she said.
“There is nothing broken in Cosatu. In the past there were other unions that were expelled and there was no talk of Cosatu being dead then.
“Now that it is Numsa that has been expelled, people are saying Cosatu is dead. We as the leadership are saying that Cosatu is still alive, but we are calling the workers to come out in strengthening Cosatu,” Losi said.
She said Numsa had been expelled democratically, with some of its leadership taking part in the vote. Losi suggested the union may have intentionally had itself kicked out in order to establish an alternative federation - the United Front.
Losi quipped that some Numsa delegates may have voted in favour of their own expulsion to further this agenda. There was a trail of evidence, Losi said, including an address in September by Numsa national treasurer Mphumzi Maqungo in which he told Cape Town members the union had to focus on establishing an alternative.
Numsa had been in talks with the National Council of Trade Unions and the Federation of Unions of SA.
During his time on suspension, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi had also approached the same unions about establishing an alternative federation.
Losi used the analogy of pregnancy to highlight Cosatu’s “challenges”. She said the union was in the first trimester of pregnancy, which was most critical.
“Depending on how we handle this period, on what we do in each stage of pregnancy, there may be a miscarriage.”
She also used the opportunity to hit out at critics who questioned her credentials as second deputy president.
Losi had resigned from Ford in the Eastern Cape, where she was a Numsa shop steward.
According to the Cosatu constitution, if one of the national office-bearers ceased to be a shop steward, then they should step down from the leadership.
But Losi said she had since been employed by the SAPS and had joined the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union, where she was elected chairwoman of her branch.
Cape Times