Workers mustn't vote for ANC, DA - Nactu

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Redeemed

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Cape Town - The National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) is about to recommend that members of affiliated unions should vote for any one of a range of political parties on May 7, but not for the ANC or the opposition Democratic Alliance.

Nactu affiliates include the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) now on strike on the platinum belt.

The federation decided to call on six political parties to outline their policies to representatives of affiliated unions.

The intention is that, from April 12, they will relay the policies to their members who will then be free to decide.

However, by the time the invitations were sent, the Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa), a breakaway from the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) had joined with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) who was also invited.

The other invitations went to Azapo, the Pan Africanist Congress, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the recently formed Workers and Socialist Party (Wasp).

Only the UDM, with four parliamentary seats, Azapo (1) and the PAC (1) are represented in the national assembly.

By this week all of the parties with the exception of the Wasp, had apparently made presentations of their policies to Nactu union leaders.

This tactic is similar to the one employed by Nactu before the first non-racial election in 1994.

Then the union federation called on members to vote for “a liberation movement of your choice”, listing the ANC, PAC or Azapo.
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Link.
Thumbs up to Nactu. :)
 
Why not let the workers hear out the ANC and the DA's policies and let them decide for themselves? And why only six parties?
 
NAG - Wesley said:
Why not let the workers hear out the ANC and the DA's policies and let them decide for themselves? And why only six parties?
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Democracy, for all its good, has one major flaw - the majority uneducated and uninformed (to say it harshly, do not understand the impact of these policies) are allowed to cast "emotional" votes. In a way this will level the playing field (any vote not for the ANC is a good one imo).
 
This kind of dictatorship is not what fighting against Apartheid was for!
 
NAG - Wesley said:
Why not let the workers hear out the ANC and the DA's policies and let them decide for themselves?
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They have been written off because of their well-known endorsement of policies that are seen as anti-workers by the workers. I'm referring to the NDP, Youth Wage Subsidy and Labour Brokers amongst others. Workers have already protested against these policies in the past.
 
Redeemed said:
They have been written off because of their well-known endorsement of policies that are seen as anti-workers by the workers. I'm referring to the NDP, Youth Wage Subsidy and Labour Brokers amongst others. Workers have already protested against these policies in the past.
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So you're saying the right to choose who to vote for, enshrined in our hard fought for constitution, is no applicable if your union bosses decide otherwise?

What the unions should be saying is that these are the principles we disagree with, as proposed or implemented by these parties. Now go make you choice, as is your right.

Instead they use the workers ignorance to further their own agenda, which is autocratic nonsense. Sisulu, Mandela, Tambo, Slovo and Govan Mbeki would be ashamed!
 
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Hamster said:
Democracy, for all its good, has one major flaw - the majority uneducated and uninformed (to say it harshly, do not understand the impact of these policies) are allowed to cast "emotional" votes. In a way this will level the playing field (any vote not for the ANC is a good one imo).
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Redeemed said:
They have been written off because of their well-known endorsement of policies that are seen as anti-workers by the workers. I'm referring to the NDP, Youth Wage Subsidy and Labour Brokers amongst others. Workers have already protested against these policies in the past.
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Fair enough, if that's their intention. But to not outline the policies of the ANC and the DA and explain why the union itself doesn't agree with them would better their member's understanding about SA's political climate and better inform them of who to vote for.

I agree that it's a good idea to take out some time to educate people about what parties offer, but six parties is a very small scope to cover. Doubling it at least to twelve and including the two major ones and discussing why a two-party state like the US wouldn't work in SA would give them more tools to decide on the country's future leaders.
 
phaktza said:
So you're saying the right to choose who to vote for, enshrined in our hard fought for constitution, is no applicable if your union bosses decide otherwise?
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Union bosses are not there with you in the voting booth so no right to choose is taken away. But you join the union to achieve certain goals and if those goals are contradicted by a party there's no reason you should vote for that party. The union is justified to advise against voting for such a party.
 
NAG - Wesley said:
Fair enough, if that's their intention. But to not outline the policies of the ANC and the DA and explain why the union itself doesn't agree with them would better their member's understanding about SA's political climate and better inform them of who to vote for.
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Like I said workers have gone to the streets to protest against policies championed by the DA and the ANC so why on earth should those policies have to be outlined? There was a reason workers stayed away from work to oppose the policies. :confused:
 
Redeemed said:
Union bosses are not there with you in the voting booth so no right to choose is taken away. But you join the union to achieve certain goals and if those goals are contradicted by a party there's no reason you should vote for that party. The union is justified to advise against voting for such a party.
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You're assuming workers are educated enough to make this realisation. The union bosses know they're not and are exploiting their members for their own nefarious reasons.
 
satanboy said:
Making a recommendation is dictatorship?
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Not educating your workers/voters and exploiting that failure is tantamount to autocracy. Many of these workers don't realise they have a choice or the power in their vote, if they did it would be a recommendation.
 
The colonial thiking as espoused by Verwoerd that says blacks are stupid or retarded and cannot think for themselves is the problem. Hence your statement "Many of these workers don't realise they have a choice or the power in their vote,". I don't know where you get such nonsense!
 
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The Union members want socialism due to it sounding like in providing everything, believed workers control. Then these socialist systems are backed by communist parties with dictating leaders. These people don't realise that you cannot play with your resources, this needs to be managed.

We need an educated democracy.
 
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