CWA, UNI Aid Struggle by South African Workers To Win Bargaining Rights at Vodafone Subsidiary

CWA has joined with UNI Telecom and other unions around the globe in condemning Vodafone's South African subsidiary, Vodacom, for refusing to recognize its workers' union in violation of the law. In South Africa, employers are required to grant automatic recognition when 30 percent of the workforce supports unionization. That threshold was surpassed this spring when more than 1,300 of Vodacom's 4,000 workers had joined the Communications Workers Union.

Instead, Vodacom chose to wage war against its employees, mainly women employed in call centers, by firing union activists and threatening supporters. In other tactics designed to dilute union support, the company promised promotions to workers if they agree to leave the union and padded its employee list with the names of contractors and supervisors.

Vodafone owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless and its South African subsidiary shows much of the same animus towards unions and workers' rights as its American cousin. In 1999, Vodacom, the largest mobile carrier in South Africa with over 20 million customers, agreed to allow the CWU to recruit on company facilities, but has since broken every part of that agreement.

The workers were set to strike this spring, but Vodacom was able to persuade a court to issue a temporary injunction against the action on March 12. A final ruling on the case is expected by May 14. 

Despite the company's actions, union support among the workers continues to grow. "These workers will prevail. Their struggle serves as a reminder of what we can achieve despite history and the odds," said CWA President Larry Cohen.  "A little more than a dozen years ago, these workers would have been jailed under South Africa's brutal anti-worker apartheid regime," he said. "Yet today, apartheid is gone and South Africa's labor laws are more progressive than our own in the United States."  Cohen recently stepped down after five years as president of UNI Telecom, the world's largest voice for telecommunications workers worldwide.

CWA, UNI, and the U.S-based Solidarity Center have been assisting the Vodacom workers' campaign for union representation. Read more about the worker's campaign at www.cwuvodacom.blogspot.com.