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Introduction
It is a really remarkable achievement that in just three weeks the South African Federation of Trade Unions has been able to launch a 700 000-strong new workers’ fighting force of 24 affiliated unions and that now, at our first NEC meeting, we have kick-started the work to implement the mandate our members gave us in the Congress resolutions.
There has been an explosion of hope, expectations and enthusiasm since the coming into being of SAFTU that represents the principles of independence of trade unions, a democratic and worker controlled and campaigning broad labour movement that will mobilise all of the working people wherever they are found.
We have taken the following decisions:
1. Report back to workers
Members of the SAFTU NEC will be deployed in all provinces in the coming two weeks to report back to our members and but also to introduce SAFTU to all workers and members of the working class communities. We shall announce the dates and venues of all the rallies once all necessary consultation has been concluded.
2. Launch the recruitment and organising campaign
In line with our objective to organise the 76% of workers who do not belong to unions, we have set ourselves very ambitious targets - to grow our membership by 300 000 to reach one million by the end of this year, and thereafter to grow by a million members every year. 
This campaign must reach the hundreds of thousands of workers employed by fast food shops, restaurants, casinos, horse racing and other entertainment industries, workers under labour brokers, the unemployed, community members and informal traders.
We also need to respond to the members of unions in other federations who are inundating us with requests to join SAFTU unions. Many are sickened by the worrying collaboration between sweetheart unions and employers who are attempting to block our emerging democratic and independent unions.
For example a so-called police union is conniving with management to cancel the membership of 20 000 SAPU members who have had their membership cancelled without their knowledge. Good news coming the Eastern Cape is that the CCMA has ruled against the crippling practice that has kept a certain union in the education and heath sector breathing, by double-deducting membership dues to workers joining the new militant and independent unions.
The NEC mapped out a strategy to meet this target, by developing new ways of recruiting and organising.
3. Commitment to render quality service to our members through a Service Charter
We continue to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes that are being committed by the dying sweetheart unions. The reason why unions are no longer fashionable to workers is because unions have neglected to address the real reasons why unions exist, which is to protect workers against the abuse of power by management, defend the jobs of workers and to fight to improve wages and conditions of employment. We intend to be different from others in this front amongst others.
A task team consisting of the SAFTU General Secretary, NUMSA Deputy General Secretary and the NTM Deputy President has been established. This task team will make recommendations to the August 2017 SAFTU NEC on systems that must apply across all affiliates. A Service Charter will set down the highest standards of service and accountability to members.
4. An Organising Operations Centre,
We are establishing an Organising Operations Centre staffed by experienced organisers, will be immediately opened to co-ordinate our recruitment and servicing campaigns
5. Establishment of a Call Centre
Part of the intensified recruitment will see the establishment of a well-publicized call centre employing up to 6 volunteers or contract staff who will be trained on the agreed Protocols for Recruitment Framework, the scope of all affiliated unions and the basics of labour law, so that they can as far as possible give advice on immediate problems workers face.
Legal problems however will have to be referred to lawyers for proper legal advice. Call centre staff will keep a record of all workers calling and refer them to the SAFTU Organising Operations Centre and the relevant affiliates.
6. Jobs and the economy Campaign
As we started our NEC, NUMSA was faced with the decision by General Motors to withdraw completely from South Africa, putting at least a thousand direct jobs at risk. This is just one example of the job loss blood-bath that has continued unabated for many years. South Africa is deindustrialising at an alarming rate; sections of manufacturing such as clothing, textile, leather, steel, etc. are being decimated. SAFTU intends to launch a campaign to put a stop to this carnage. 
The NEC agreed to work with AMCU to launch this campaign and SAFTU will be with AMCU to commemorate the 5th Anniversary of the first massacre under the ANC-led government on 16 August. We hope to announce a more detailed programme for this day which will lead to what will be the biggest mobilisation of the working class in a mass march to the Union Buildings in November as well as a conference on the Future of South Africa in December 2017.
This campaign will in the main focus on our demand for the total banning of the labour brokers and outsourcing and an end to casualisation of work in favour of decent work for all. We shall demand an end to the job loss carnage both in the private and public sectors. We shall demand that the Nedlac scrap the deal to pay workers R3 500 a month which was announced on 1 May 2018.
The public may not be aware that we already submitted to Nedlac under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act on 9 December 2016 with three demands. The issues are Jobs and the Economy, National Minimum Wage and the Crisis in Public Education, but Congress added more demands and a new notice incorporating these demands is being submitted. The full list now is:
Radical socio-economic transformation so that the people shall share in the country`s wealth, to transform the structure of our economy, and address the triple crisis of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Decisive state intervention in key sectors of the economy, including strategic nationalisation, the de-commercialisation of existing SOEs and the use of macro-economic and other levers at the state’s disposal, to deliberately drive industrialisation, sustainable development, decent employment creation and regional development, and to break historical patterns of colonial exploitation and dependence.
Nationalisation of the banks, in particular the Reserve Bank
Urgent steps to reverse the current investment strike and export of South African capital, which has currently left R1,2 trillion lying idle in social surplus, which employers are refusing to invest.
Capital controls and measures aimed at beneficiation, prescribed investment, and penalising speculation and taxes on mineral exports.
Abolish the apartheid wage structure, legislate a living wage and scrap the proposed R3500 a month poverty wage!
Channeling of retirement funds into productive investment;
The more effective deployment of all state levers to advance industrialisation and the creation of decent work on a large scale
Affordable safe public transport
Urgent implementation of National Health Insurance and opposition to the monopolisation of medical insurance
Opposition to e-tolling
Banning of labour brokers
Opposition to Eskom’s threatened closure of five power stations
A transition to socially owned renewable energy and opposition to and the nuclear power deal
An end to farm evictions and abuse of farm workers
Affordable housing for all, including the option to use pension funds as collateral
It was also agreed to take up the campaign to integrate the EPWP workers into the local government and government departments and to back the #outsourcingmustfall campaign at the Tshwane University of Technology by workers who are striking as a result of the betrayal by NEHAWU following the advertising of a tender against the agreement to insource all university functions.
7. SAFTU demands that Zama-Zamas be regulated
We have seen the appalling news that the death toll in the Welkom mine disaster has risen to 40 and could still rise further, and are still shocked at the low priority that the media has given to such a colossal tragedy. The NEC agreed that the employment of Zama Zamas should be decriminalised and these workers be employed with the same rights as other employees, and SAFTU also supports the idea of community mining co-operatives, within a nationalized mining industry.
8. SAFTU calls for a decisive action to end violence directed at women and children
Women and children remain the most vulnerable and defenceless members of society. We keep reading about more and more heart-rending stories of girls and women being assaulted, abducted, kidnapped, raped and murdered and the continuation of sexism, homophobia, racism and xenophobia. At the centre of this a patriarchal society that has continued to reproduced inequalities between men and women.
This is coupled with the worsening socioeconomic crisis has meant that far too many South Africans face depression as they have lost their dignity. We are losing a generation of our youth due to a dysfunctional public education system.
Unemployment ,particularly amongst the youth and women, has reached catastrophic levels. More of our young people who face no prospects of making a meaningful contribution in building our economy have become victims of drug abuse and crime.
Young women are being also targeted by the phenomenon of the blessers, and thugs who exploit the vulnerability of young women from the marginalised communities by selling them as sex slaves, even to some pastors, as the case against Omotosho seems to suggest. 
The marches and demonstrations to protest against his scourge are all important and SAFTU throws its weight behind these demonstrations, but we will only defeat this phenomenon when we succeed in removing all the tenets of colonial, apartheid and capitalist exploitation which have destroyed any moral value-based system of a normal society.
9. SAFTU is opposed to the on-going rampant corruption
The corruption, looting and mismanagement in state-owned enterprises grow more outrageous every day. Eskom’s shenanigans are in the spotlight today, but the SABC, SAA, PetroSA and others are in equally serious crises. The NEC demanded the end of ‘cadre deployment’ of people without qualifications, skills or experience in the public service and SOEs and we shall campaign to protect whistle-blowers who expose corruption in both the public and private sectors. SAFTU will initiate a new campaign to address this scourge of corruption, working in partnership with civil society formations
10. Political and Ideological Commission
We have established a Political and Ideological Commission to conduct a debate amongst our affiliates on all of the issues tabled by the Steering Committee to the founding congress. The public will recall that in the report we tabled a report on the worsening socio-economic crisis facing the working class as well as the deepening political crisis. We set up this commission not to theorise or moan about the crisis but to analyse it from the working class perspective in order to answer a question: what is to be done?
The Presidents, General Secretaries of the affiliates as well as the Provincial and Secretaries of the provinces will constitute the commission.
11. Launching SAFTU Provincial and Local structures
Without these structures no campaign can be coordinated and sustained. SAFTU may however have to adopt an incremental approach, as it may simply not be affordable to launch provincial structures with a full complement of staff and infrastructure at the outset. For now the priorities must be:
Launching provincial congresses and establishing locals
Election of the Provincial Office Bearers with a full time Provincial Secretary
Later appointing the Administrator
Later appointing an educator/organiser
Later separating these positions so that the organiser and educator are two separate positions.
12. Worker control and democracy
The NEC agreed to develop systems, rules and procedures within the ambit of the constitution to ensure that the principle of democracy and worker control does not become rhetoric but a living reality for all our members and structure of both the federation and members.
We shall make it a rule that SAFTU’s and affiliates’ structures will take mandates when preparing for NEC meetings, after which every effort must be made to report back directly to members, not just by holding press conferences or through social media. We have already drafted the year planner for 2018 to help achieve this objective.
13. Application to join NEDLAC
It was agreed to apply for the membership of NEDLAC and lawyers have already draft the application. We anticipate that COSATU, FEDUSA and NACTU in partnership with the government will do everything in their power to frustrate this application. SAFTU is likely to discover more secret deals negotiated by these collaborators and we shall definitely disrupt the class peace and class collaboration they have been enjoying.
It was also agreed that we must stop attempts by the Department Labour to prevent new unions from registering.
14. Application to Join the ITUC
We have decided to as a matter of principle to affiliate to the International Trade Union Confederation. We will be engaging the ITUC leadership to explore the practicalities of doing so.
15. Media
We used the NEC as an opportunity to launch the SAFTU website which is www.saftu.org.za to help drive recruitment and political campaigns. There will be an aggressive drive to build the profile of the federation and popularize its and the affiliates’ names and logos.
We shall set up a media hub which will revamp our social media platforms, in particular Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blog.
All affiliates websites and media platforms will be linked to the SAFTU media platforms and we shall make it possible for workers to join our unions through the website, as long as the Organising Operations Centre will monitor and ensure that unions provide a service and that these new members and new workplaces are visited to build structures.
SAFTU will also maximize the use of all other media platforms, through the mainstream and social media, local and community radio and TV stations.
We shall explore the possibility of launching our own radio station and even TV station. SAPU for example has been running its own radio station for a year now.
We shall move quickly to produce a digital and hard-copy newsletter. This will start as an online newsletter and graduate to be a three-monthly, two-monthly and monthly bulletin before launching as a weekly and even daily newspaper. 
It must be different to what we have seen before. The “workers voice” must be a platform for sharing of information, spreading solidarity amongst workers, education and raising the class-consciousness. We need workers themselves to write stories about what is happening in their workplaces, issues such as racism, lack of transformation, abuse of power, levels of unionisation, struggles workers are waging to reverse the setbacks engineered by the employers.
This newsletter must not only serve as an information platform but a mobilising and recruitment tool and must be written in workers’ languages.
16. A move towards self sufficiency
Congress mandated us to build a self sufficient and therefore truly independent federation that will fight corruption within our ranks and in society in general. We shall therefore build systems that will ensure financial sustainability and effective accountability to our members for every cent they have paid.
The NEC adopted a budget presented by the National Treasurer and it was agreed that the affiliates’ subscription should remain at R1 per member but be reviewed at the next NEC meeting in August 2017.
A Finance Committee and a Human Resources and Remuneration Committee were elected.
It was agreed that whilst the federation must never depend on external funding, it will not be able to rely solely on affiliation fees and may need some degree of fundraising directly from members of the public, sister federations outside the country and progressive institutions to support some aspects of this programme, in particular mass communication systems, education and training.
We have been directed to set up the Working -Class Bank and explore possibilities of creating one pensions/provident funds administration company as part of our goal to take control of our provident funds for the benefit of members.
We shall convene all of the Investment Companies belonging to unions affiliated to SAFTU with a view of exploring whether it is desirable for SAFTU to have its own Investment Company and if so under what conditions.
17. Conclusion
Our huge challenge is to build a mighty, strong, democratic and militant workers army, which will unite the whole working class and will never stop fighting to free the working class from the chains of a corrupt and exploitative capitalist system.

Viva SAFTU Viva!

Issued by SAFTU