Fawu finds loophole to get rid of ‘errant’ members

AN OUTDATED constitution has stopped the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) from expelling rebels within its ranks – they have instead been handed a 20-year suspension.

The faction, which has fought the union on many of its resolutions, including its decision this week to disaffiliate from Cosatu, will however not be left out in the cold.

Cosatu said yesterday it was not surprised by the union’s decision to leave the federation. Cosatu’s leaders said they would meet the suspended members, who have been “purged by Fawu’s polarising leadership”.

Fawu has been engaged in a 17-month battle with the group of 18 provincial leaders and members it has labelled divisive and an impediment to the union’s growth.

After a call by delegates at its congress in Bela-Bela this week that the members be expelled immediately, the union’s leaders consulted Fawu’s lawyers.

“The legal advice was that the way our constitution is written doesn’t allow that we expel members,” Fawu general secretary Katishi Masemola.

“The best we can do is suspend them, and that’s why our constitution is undergoing an overhaul. Meanwhile, the congress said the NEC (national executive committee) decision to expel them should be rescinded, and those members should be suspended for 20 years as a final sanction as we can’t go beyond suspension and expel them.”

During yesterday’s discussions, delegates were angered by the inability to permanently shut the door on members they now consider foes.

Fawu leaders pleaded with them on several occasions, stating that going against the law would not only be irresponsible, but bring on more lawsuits it could not afford.

The union has spent more than R3 million on legal fees to fight the faction.

Cosatu leaders have, however, said the dismissals were meant to silence the voices of some members in the union.

“This leadership purged members, defied court orders and bankrupted the organisation to a shell of its former self,” Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said.

“Many of their structures who did not agree with leaving Cosatu were purged and their right to participate at the congress was taken away.”

Cosatu slammed the union’s decision to shut down its KwaZulu-Natal structures before its congress, saying the union had done so because members of the structure wanted to remain with Cosatu.

However, it was unclear how the province, which Fawu said was disbanded for being ineffective, could have swayed the decision if it was at the congress, as all the other provinces, with the exception of the Western Cape, resolved to leave Cosatu.

We can’t expel them but we can suspend them