Striking workers in South Africa need our help today

3,500 striking workers at Sun International in South Africa need your help.

LabourStart Plea

South Africa: Sun International must negotiate with strikers - not try to break their union
More than 3,500 SACCAWU members at the Sun International South Africa have been on strike since 4 December 2009 for wage increases and improved working conditions. The country has become one of the premier tourist destinations in the world and saw the company more than doubling over the last few years. Throughout the period of negotiations which stretched over months now, management has demonstrated extremely bad faith, continuously derailing the negotiations, this is despite all efforts by the union to settle the strike. Since the beginning of the strike more than thirty union members have been arrested while other workers are continuously being provoked, harassed and subjected to all sorts of racial insults from the police and private security firms as the attempts to break the strike continue. The last negotiations, just when it appeared that a agreement was reached, short of both parties agreeing on the text of the resolution and signing it the company once again returned to a pre-strike position as the final position. The union is of the opinion that this is a deliberate strategy by the company to break the strike.

Their union is asking each of us to take a moment to tell their employer to stop arresting workers, to stop provoking and harassing, and to stop racist insults.

All they want is for Sun to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair contract.

Please take a moment and send off your message today.

And when you're done, please share this email with your fellow trade unionists, your co-workers, your friends and family.

Thanks very much.

Eric Lee