5,000 workers at the Clover Dairy giant in South Africa have been on strike for two weeks.
This follows a nine-week strike which ended in victory for the workers at the end of 2020. Under that agreement, Clover management were forced to concede a 6,5% wage increase, the insourcing of 380 contract workers, and an end to compulsory work during holidays.
ISA is proud of the role WASP played in mobilising support for that strike. They also arranged for solidarity action organised by the Socialist Struggle Movement in Israel-Palestine, where the international headquarters of the company are located.
A full report of that strike can be found here.
Now management is trying to recoup its losses. It is trying to slash labour costs by R300 million (just under $20 million) by retrenching several hundred workers, slashing the pay by 20%, introducing a six-day working week and with compulsory work on public holidays. It is significant that the pay cuts are being applied to the black workers only. Management has demonstrated its vindictive nature again by announcing that striking workers will not receive their traditional 13th month of pay, seen as a Christmas bonus.
WASP is again mobilising full support for this strike.
The General Industrial Workers’ Union of South Africa reports on that “WASP stands in solidarity with the workers of Clover against their brutal oppression by neo-imperial, neo-apartheid capitalism in South Africa and beyond!” They carry a video of the speech by WASP member Sacha Knox at the solidarity rally at the end of November. It can be viewed here.
South African television eNCA too is carrying important reports on the strike. WASP’s contribution can be see at 3.55 minutes.
ISA expresses its full support for the strikers at Clover, hoping to see a speedy victory.