Strike Over Killing
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-02-11Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 1 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 1
BL: Vehicles struggle stays solid but Cars support blocked; backTHE non-racial unions in South Africa have called a national half-hour stoppage this Thursday in protest at the death in jail of union leader Neil Aggett.
Aggett was a white official of the non-racial Food and Canning Workers' Union, part of the biggest non-racial union group, FOSATU. Apartheid police chiefs said that he hanged himself in his cell while under detention without But union officials give no credit to this tale. "Neil died because of his outstanding work for our union and for the unity of all workers", said a colleague.
The national strike reflects the growing strength of the non-racial unions, which operate with the most scanty legal rights. Official figures show 342 strikes in 1981, an increase of 65% over the previous year.
The police murder of Aggett illustrates the vicious response of the apartheid state, also shown in its proposals last week for new press laws. These proposalsempowering the government to set up a register of journalists and strike off those it does not like-have been condemned even by the right wing Afrikaans press.
ground to the betrayals
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Organiser, Thursday 11 February 1982 Page 2 ¡ocialist -ay. aunt.