African Activist Archive

Paper for "Seminar on Efforts to Implement the United Nations Plan for the Independence of Namibia" held September 7-11, 1988 in Toronto, Canada by the United National Council for Namibia. The paper says the Free South Africa Labor Committee (FSALC) of the San Francisco Bay Area looks forward to imminent free and supervised elections in Namibia. Those elections herald genuine political independence and the promise of economic autonomy for the people of Namibia; the Namibian people's chosen representative, SWAPO, will become the government in an independent country. Trade unionists in the U.S. are watching with some pride as our brothers and sisters of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) call for a general strike in support of U.N. Security Council Resolution 435 on September 27, 1988. While U.S. solidarity activities have generally focused on South African unions, our demands for the end to Apartheid and immediate U.S. corporate disinvestment and decent wages in South Africa extended to Namibia. A number of U.S. trade unions have actively supported the African National Congress (ANC), SWAPO and the liberation movement. In 1984, the International Union of Longshoremen and Warehouse workers Union (ILWU) refused to unload South African cargo from the Nedlloyd Kimberley, until forced to by government injunction. The United Mineworkers Union (UMW) has forged active links with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in South Africa and has cooperatively planned support activities with the NUM. The paper mentions the Shell Oil boycott, Nomunde Ngubo, Moses Mayekiso, the Metal and Allied Workers Union, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), William Lucy, the Port of Oakland, Sealand, South African goods,, divestment ordinances, ILWU Local 10, Molders Local 164, financial contributions, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), the United Automobile Workers (UAW), and legislation mandating full divestment of U.S. companies.

African Activist Archive

PROMOTING CO-OPERATION BETWEEN NAMIBIAN AND UNITED STATES TRADE UNIONS

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