From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume One 1907 - 1950, by Allison Drew
Document 67 - Letter from the African Metal Trades Union, Johannesburg, to the Workers' Party of South Africa, 21 February 1937
21st February 1937
Secretary,
Workers' Party ofSouth Africa,
Cape Town Branch,
Cape Town.
Dear Comrade,
I have been instructed by the Committee of the above Union to urge you to support us in the bitter struggle that now confronts us. Messrs, Scaw Works, (Steel Ceilings & Aluminium Works. Ltd.,), one of the largest employers in the metal trades have contemptuously rejected our demands for the recognition of our Union and the amelioration of our conditions, and they force us to take strike action against them to protect our elementary rights. We ask you, therefore, Comrades, to stand by us in our struggle, to give us every aid, moral and financial that you can. Unless the employers agree to arrive at an agreement with us within the next 48 hours a strike is inevitable.
A secret ballot has already been taken which has shown that our members are unanimously decided to adopt the only weapon calculated to gain concessions from the bosses, namely the strike weapon. We appeal to you therefore to hold yourselves in readiness to organise aid for us in the districts where you are situated.
Yours fraternally,
R.Lee
Secretary.