Please join IPS-DC, Coalition of Black Trade Unions and Busboys' Bread & Roses Labor Series for a special event with Irvin Jim, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) General Secretary, speaking about NUMSA and the exciting new developments with the the Preparatory Assembly of the United Front in South Africa.
Actor, activist, and filmmaker Danny Glover will be joining Irvin for this event. Grammy-nominated musician Carolyn Malachi will also perform. FREE AND OPEN TO ALL
ABOUT NUMSA
NUMSA is the biggest metalworkers trade union in South Africa with more than 339,567 members (as of January 2014). On 8 November 2014, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) expelled NUMSA, its largest affiliate. For more information, visit: http://www.numsa.org.za
ABOUT IRVIN JIM
"Political power without economic power is like an empty tin." -- NUMSA leader Irvin Jim
In 1991, on only his second day at work, Irvin Jim’s fellow workers at Firestone Tyres nominated him as their union representative. Irvin laughs as he recounts the shock of company management when a general meeting was called to elect the young rubber worker. Aged only 23, Irvin turned down the nomination that day but within three months had taken on the role of shop steward, and was well on the path to becoming one of South Africa’s most senior trade unionists. In October 2008, Irvin was elected General Secretary at the Congress of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA).
ABOUT THE DECLARATION OF THE PREPARATORY ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED FRONT
"From the 13–14 December 2014 in Johannesburg 350 delegates from around the country representing a diverse range of trade unions, social movements, popular oorganizations faith-based organizations, NGOs and anti-capitalist formations assembled to lay the foundation of a united movement of the poor majority to challenge the system that has made South Africa the most unequal country on earth. The cry of the Preparatory Assembly of the United Front is KWANELE, KWANELE, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, GENOEG IS GENOEG."
Read more:
http://www.numsa.org.za/article/declaration-prepar...
ABOUT THE BACKGROUND TO THE ASSEMBLY
"The NUMSA December 2013 Special National Congress gave a mandate for the NUMSA national leadership to unite trade unions, rural and urban social movements, faith-based organisations, women’s and youth organisations and other popular formations in action to fight rising corruption, unemployment, deepening inequality and poverty as advanced by the neo-liberal policies of the ANC government.
In just a few months in several urban and rural regions around the country interim structures of the United Front have been launched or have convened. It all started with united action in March 2014 when Numsa, with its United Front allies, led an overwhelmingly successful S77 national strike against youth unemployment when it took workers and communities to the streets in protest again the Youth Wage Subsidy billed as the Employment Incentive Tax Act.
Our responsibility is nothing less than to rekindle the mass movement of the 1980s, which brought apartheid to an end. We recognize that the conscious forces of radical political, social and economic transformation are still weak and fragmented, but believe that regrouping working class, rural movements, community organizations, movements of students, youth and women as well as social movements can restore hope in collective solutions and solidarity to the crises we currently face.”
Read more: http://www.numsa.org.za/article/united-front-peopl...
