Sikhula Sonke

Thursday, 28 July 2011

SIKHULA SONKE successfully held her 2011 Branch General Meetings, which included the Branch Executives elections form May until July in all 13 branches in the Western-Cape, where this union organise farm workers and farm dwellers. Again Sikhula Sonke shows her strength in building leadership at grassroots level. When it comes to women leadership we dont compromise, as the staff used to say..."you either in or you out because this union remain women led".

Having the principle of being women led does not mean that we exclude  men because we comprised of women and men. The men in Sikhula Sonke shows the world that women are capable of leading the struggles and they dont feel intimidated but support the initiative and stand 100% behind the women. Sikhula Sonke men also shows that being a leader does not always mean that men must be infront to prove a point, women are powerfull too.We salute our male members for proving to the patriarchal   world otherwise.

Branch General Meeting and elections were held in Bottlary, Ceres, Citrusdal, Franschoek, Grabouw, Lady Loch, Paarl, Rawsonville, R44, Sakha Ulwazi, Vlottenburg, Villiersdorp and Ubuntu. The elected executives represents a total of 47(90%) women in the executive positions and comprised of 13 Chairpersons, 12 Vice Chairpersons, 10 Secretaries and 12 Tressurers. Now you can see why we are a women led trade union...maybe the institutions that are still so clenching to the ideology of men being the best leaders can learn a thing or two from fx15 Sikhula Sonke...who knows the world might become a better place.

A SPECIAL THANKS to the Sikhula Sonke staff, and the Leadership for the long hours, late nights and weekends away from their love ones, to ensure that the standards and vallues of this beuatiful organisation is sustained. Also a BIG THANK YOU, to all our partners and funders(WOW, AGS, FOS, FNV, FHR and LRC), for making this a reality for our farm worker and dwellers, so that we can educate and be educated to be able to resist the violations of human rights.

WA TINTHA ABAFAZI....WA TINTHA IMBOKOTHO (YOU STRIKE A WOMAN...YOU STRIKE A ROCK!!!

ONELOVE...

31 March 2011

Fifteen farm workers will be joining two members of Sikhula Sonke to discuss "media issues", before the release of the organisation's official newspaper.

Sikhula Sonke, a women led trade union, has selected 15 lida members to write for its quarterly newspaper which is expected to be released by the end of April.

The writers' role in the organisation is to capture events that have occured in their communities and on their farms, and send it to the organisation's headquarters for verification and editing.

All written articles and pictures will be captured by the writers and sent via their cellphones.

The meeting will include educational sessions where topics such as the difference between a news, feature, opinion and editorial pieces will be discussed.

Writers will also have a chance to go through and debate the newspaper's potential style guide.

A step-by-step process will be conducted, to guide writers to use the features on their cellphones effectively, to ensure that all articles and pictures biber hapı which had been captured, is stored and sent to the organisation's offices.

"Our hope is to see the release of Sikhula Sonke's official newspaper by the end of next month," said Elizabeth Boonzaaier, an organiser of Sikhula Sonke.

"We are going to ensure that communication between the editorial staff and the writers is consistent and that results are produced. This is a team effort and if this is to work, then everyone should bring their part to the table."

The aim of the newspaper is to communicate and educate zayıflama hapı all farm workers in the Western Cape, and its mission is to inform them about their rights, but will also contain debates affecting the quality of their lives.

Boonzaaier said it is crucial that "media issues" are discussed and understood by all members before any other work is done.

The organisation stated that they are ready to expand their communicational ground to each and every farm worker in the Western Cape, through the birth of an internal newspaper, dedicated to issue ssurrounding farm workers.

23 June 2011

A SUCCESSFUL wage negotiation process has brought about cohesion and a better understading between the farm workers and employers on Simonsig farm in Stellenbosch.

"This has been our fourth wage negotiation process on this farm since 2008. I am so excited and proud about the way our members were able to see the process through in a calm, confident and reasonable manner," said Eveliene Ockers, Regional orgnaniser for Sikhula Sonke.

This year, all farm workers ranging from post level 1 to 4 on Simonsig received a wage increase of just below 10%.

"All it took was two days and the wage negotiation process was complete, with smiles across the board. They way things look, I feel that I dont even need to be at next year's wage negotiation on that farm, they have it all under control," said Ockers, with a warm-hearted smile.

Government requires all farm owners to adhere to its minimum wages of R317.51 p/w.

At Simonsig, farm workers who receive the lowest income still manages to earn 39.81% more than the law requires.

"Everyone came out of the meeting with smiles and couldnt be happier," said Ockers.