Vavi explains why his salary has been doubled

I did not understand the headline...'Vavi explains why his salary has been doubled'. Are you saying that unionist should not earn a competitive salary. That they should take whatever they should get cos many of its members earn not even a living wage. Like as in many sectors, in order to retain skilled staff, to offer quality services to its members, they should be paid accordingly. We have this scewed economics of a person working in the private as oppose to those working in the public or NGO's sector. I think that the GS's salary is not an issue as it compares with the other sectors too. And by the way, im not even a union member.

That headline simply means that if you live in a glass house you don't throw stones,finish and klaar!!

Well said Desmond. Mr Vavi has made and continues to make a huge contribution to economic and political thinking in this country and he deserves the reward and recognition.

Given what you are saying Sisa...do we reasonably expect anyone 'leading an organisation, putting in so much time, energy, expertise, etc to work for a pitance or you compensate them as per the market. As said, is just sad that we have people in this country who earns a whole lot of money cos we are being 'competitive' and they therefore justify the huge gaps in salaries for 'cleaners and CEO's. Yet, we all pay the same premium for goods and services.

Do you really think he was earning R250K per annum...more like per month...check the suits out next time...what car does he drive, where does he stay? Just like Juliarse he has his range rover , sports merc and the rest...on R20K per month...and the band plays on!!!!!

Desmond, your argument makes sense, and his salary seems low for the leader of an influential organisation. Nevertheless the concept that individuals should be compensated for time, energy and expertise expended is very much a capitalist concept. If an organisation is losing expertise because they are not paying competitive salaries, they have to admit that the skilled people they are losing do not believe in Marxist principles.

For a person in his position R500 000 is not a lot of money. I mean in the private sector an analyst with less than 30 months experience will probably take that much home every year.One might even ague that he is way underpaid.

But then again, people just hear a salary increase and they flip! which is understandable considering how much the union memebers are getting relative to R500 000.

The consequence of this salary hike might be that next time when Vavi start negotiating salalry hikes for his members they might want 100% salary adjustments too.Afterall the increase is financed from membership fees, so he will have to deliver!

Vavi - while you earn more than R1,500 per DAY (exluding your car/petrol/food...etc) the poor worker that earns less than R50 a DAY must pay for your salary...

Real idiots ....

Mr Vavi should be earning at least R500k per annum - that's about R40k per month and after tax only R29.5k. He is earning what any mild mannered middle manager in the private sector earns and, in my respectful opinion, probably is worth much more than most these middle managers.
If he continues with the good work, he should get a further increase.

Desmond:

The point is that COSATU (and Vavi) are always the first to shout when costs (Eskom rates etc etc) increase more than inflation. Now that his salary increases by 100% I think (given that he elected to live in a glass house) he owes it to his followers and supporters to just explain the reasoning behind this massive increase.

Another point - can we now accept that a wage of "less than R4000" is "decent" and that COSATU will not infuture again claim that this is not a decent job and wage?

Make no doubt I fully agree with you point of being paid for your worth. However, I think the issue here is the same issue running through the entire tripartite alliance – “we are all equal – some of us are just more equal than others.” Perhaps if we put this into perspective – Vavi went from R20k a month to R40k a month. The security guard went from R4000 to R4600pm. Vavi’s salary increase could have paid for 4 additional security guards to be employed (or similar permutations for admin etc). The crux of this is that for the head of an organisation whose mandate is to look after the rights of the workers – they have a very skewed way of going about it...

As the old saying goe: Practise what you preach, Mr Vavi,

Don't compare Vavi's salary with that of someone heading up a private business.
Vavi heads up a business that collects subscriptioins from members. Many of those members are co-opted and co-erced into making these contributions. Let me repeat this for Benny Hill and for Desmond. Some of the dues collected by COSATU are not voluntary. They are ENFORCED. Unions exist ONLY by threat of intimidation and violence. Part of Vavi's salary is from ill gotten gains and extortion. Vavi is essentially the leader of a big gang

He was ONLY earning 20k a month and yet he owns a 4x4, a holiday house, wears expensive suits etc....... Then again he preaches one thing and practices another. Attack the capatalists (eg nationalise wealth of rich) but then demand a capatalist salary. It would be funny if it weren't so serious.

I am a COPE member, but let us be realistic, R250 000 for a general secretary of a big union like COSATU is unjustified. Infact he deserves more than R500 000.

The 100% increase is for running the country in his spare time.

Why does he not start a business with his skills and show everyone how to develop and grow the economy in order to create more decent jobs ? - seeing that logically we have to increase the size of the cake instead of smashing it as we seek to secure a bigger part for a specific interest group ?

Only R250k for a person in Vavi's shoes? I don't belive it for a sec. Unless ofcourse he's got other businesses on the side, so being a politician is just a strategic positioning to building up his profile.

On the other hand, i think he's become more of an opposition party to the fumbling ANC. Well done and you certainly deserve the increase!

Better increase salaries, than spending Government cash on buying cars and other accesories.

Just check Vavi's lifestyle on Destiny Man and stop all this malicious rumourmongering and misleading speculative innuendo........

One must understand......Vavi is the true communist that is on the side of the people.....in fact so close to their side that he feels he has the right to slip his hand as deep into their pockets as he can.....catch a wake up, this guy is a politician and he is out to line his own pockets as do they all and to hell with you, the man in the street, who pays for all this nonsense....

Big salaries should not be given to trade unionists.
They are reserved for productive member of society like administrators of medical aids, soccer bosses, advertising agencies. These things are all essential. Fighting for justice is something that should be done for freee

Cosatu’s Membership fees will also be increased by 100%. Mass hypnosis – an art Cosatu, et al, have perfected in short space of time. If no work no pay, applies, does Mr Vavi and his cronies, also forfeit their earnings during the period of a strike. Trade Unions, the cANCer of any society.

True big companies pay skilled individuals hefty salaries 2 retain such workers...but the qstn is does Vavi really deserve such a large amount??Is Vavi 4 the left or 4 the right?If he is stil comunist y did they not "CoSaTu" that is oppose the implemenation of GEAR which has witnessed the continued strtification of modern day South Africa?they were actualy 4 the policy if u read the public statements that Vavi made in 1996...which is a shift 4rm the ideology they postulate as being adherents 2.If u say that COSATU is doin well thn y has there been the recent wave of strikes ranging 4rm work related issues to service delivery?if u say COSATU is doin well thn y why hev they not addressed the issue of casualisation that is now the order of the day that has witnessed the violation of worker rights and the continued division of workers...is COSATU not being used as a stepping stome 2 higher office and the witnessing such individuals profiteering?thn wat is the point of departure n y shud u live a lie n say u are communists wen u not?corect me if um wrong but is Transnet not under COSATU and is it not privatised?hmmm clearly sumtin is amiss?read bwtn the lyns!!

Gone are the days of armed robbery, Evolution is taking its toll.

Many writers seems to be attacking the person and not the issue. Do some believe that GS he should wearing clothing bought at a fleamarket, that he should live like a monk, and not be driving a reasonably reliable car. Some of the COSATU members drive far better cars, live in better houses than the GS. Isaebella, get serious, u think that the Trade Union movement is a joke, that people should not be paid a competitive salary. Some seems to also suggests that Trade Unions does not make a difference and its an evil. Wake up till you have a dispute. or are wrongfully dismissed, etc. There's lots of expertise in the unions, some even self taught.

Vavi is merely the face of the federation, his job is to articulate and defend the position of the organisation. The people who do the real hard work are the researchers who work behind closed doors. They should also be rewarded handsomely! Without them Vavi would not know what to say.

Ah, so that's how he's gonna repay that wedding of his. Horse-drawn carriage, a great white dress and top hat and tails for Comrade Vavi. The man's public statements are in flagrant contradiction with his private life. White dresses, horse drawn coaches and things of that ilk are straight out of European wedding traditions. And a R500K salary is a lot of money irrespective of whether it is a union job or a private sector one. There are millions of people in this country living on less than US$2 a day. And Mr Vavi claims to speak for them? If you can find reason to justify, then I suggest you swap try live on US$2 a day.

I hear dem bones rattling in a cupboard somewhere...

500k isn't a lot of money given the amount of work he does. top flight executive assistants make more than that. [seriously; i think maria ramos's EA gets around 3x that.]

and if he was only getting 250k before... again, that isn't a lot of money for someone in his position. i thought he was getting at least a million.

i guess that's why he is always in street clothes on the teevee, with that pittance of salary.

My dear Desmond
You obviously never did "Irony 101" at university

@ Desmond COSATU has jus lost its bearing 2 a certain extent...do u thnk the Tripartile Alliance has done the nation any good?wat are the levels of social dialogue in this nation and by that I mean the extent 2 which communication has bin fostered btwn social partners in influencing & arrangin work n social related issues...whilst SA has the most advanced system in place 4 dialogue as evidenced by the setting up of NEDLAC the rewards r limited and if at all they hev managed to keep the status quo.In fact they hev created a new social order were there are marked disparities btwn those that hev (who own the means of production)and those that dnt have(working class.
I agree with u that trde unions play a part in work related issues but the motherbody COSaTU has sold out on the pple on a a lot of issues luk @ GEAR read up on whether it adresed the issue of employemt in SA?and the facets that mek up Igoli especialy in lyt of the recent strikes?if the measures they seeked 2 address hev been sucessful thn hardworking individuals in COSATU shud clearly be rewarded!!!!

Isabelle irony does't live here, we are comparing apples with apples and not cucumber with lettuce. Again. if we want to 'retain' skills, knowledge, experience, we think that people should work for the love of it. Nobody does that anymore. Its about the bread and butter issues as it were. People need to be compensated/rewarded and recognised for their worth. Why should this only reside within the private sector. or as you suggests, medical administrators, doctors, firefighters, etc. How about the person working on the farms, factories, cleaners, home-based carers. The list goes on so 'irony 101' you must progress to 'reality 401'

How many Cosatu fee-paying shop-floor MEMBERS earn half a mill bux a year?

Don't see why Vavi is explaining himself to think that he was earning 250K before I get around the same and I'm just a programmer.
500K is still not that much for a man of his position he is the leader of a national structure that safeguards and champions the interests of the poor. What do u expect him to earn 10K......get outta here.

Ja. I think Vavi's salary should be increased to R5 000 000 per annum. The wekkas can afford it and they can always just go on strike for a bigger increase just to make sure.

Wasn't he who cried foul when the Tito Mbowenis, Thabo Mbhekis and CEOs of companies were getting salary adjustments to align their salaries to the market and reward them according to their “time, energy, expertise, etc”?
I’m not against him getting a fair salary but he should understand when others do it.
As Sisa said: “If you live in a glass house you don't throw stones.”

If we can carefully apply our minds to what Vavi has contributed to this country we would all realize that much as he is trying and fighting for the poor @ least he has not tantalized the nation pertaining what we believed in.

My point is and i emphasis that do phone COSATU head quarters now and demand to speak to Patrick and Vavi now you will find excuses but will be transferred to one of the now unless they are both out for the working class call.

Power Velizwima Vazi

B Pearson, David Wood and louise doidge to mention a few, you took the words out of my mouth.
Desmond you are more interested in the structure of your sentences than you are in what is true. I suggest you try your luck at writing childrens books

Who is "Velizwima"?

What you are all seem to gnore is the fact that Vavi is just an elected official, not a person employed by the union. His salary is financed by union members who some earn less than R40k per month. His salary should and must be a living wage not a hefty one that compares with the private sector. Remember also he must be in his position for only 3 years then he can look for greener pastures, but with this salary any GS will be reluctant to leave.

shut up Jon Low!, this issue is about blacks so stay the hell out of it, you only comment to degrade and discredit blacks, actually most of you stupid DA Members are not even in the the organasation why cant you form ytour own union so that you can comment and see if it will be the same as the one to Vavi, or you van form you union as your parents has stole a lot from blacks that will sustain you for ever! morons

That's some Zen explanation: explaining by not explaining at all. Vavi is a public servant, he is not in an economic position because he is not qualified to be in one.

Look at the 'correct beliefs', strictly Marxist and according to Vavi's convictions, held in Zimbabwe and where nationalisation got them.

Vavi deserves the increase... I always thought that he was on that salary scale... long overdue.

Anash

zach chauke on November 4, 2009, 12:53 pm
Get that chip off your shoulder retard....unions are one f the worst orginizations for growth and development... and vavi intellegence is left wanting and doesn't justify the 500 K. When he calls for a strike and the workers are not getting paid, does Vavi still get paid?

Desmond seems to be confused in support of tehleft project- u c one of the basic criticism directed at capitalism is the concept of competition. Salaries paid in capitalist firms and society are said to be competative - entreching the competition concept.
To argue that Vavi need to earn a competitive salary is a contradiction in terms - for Vavi by his own admission is opposed to competititve conception in society. Unless he is not commited to what he preaches... which would mean he is the ugliest hypcrite alive!

chauke: Solidarity.

Quite simple really: Check what trade union leaders in a similar position to Vavi's earn and look at the comparable figure.
Home and abroad. Some whould be pleasantly surprised.

Leave Vavi alone, he is my comrade in arms. Let him enjoy life with his (makoti)new wife. Vavi is working beyond salary & donations and he is fighting for workers all most 24 hours.

AMANDLA.

M.Dyasi
Pretoria

Moxter: If you seek to justify Vavi's salary by comparing it to others, home and abroad, will you please compare the golden handshakes, car allowances, dinner party expenses of the South African government to those abroad?

Animal Farm-1209 is heart-broken and saddened by the news that Comrade Vavi has doubled his salary to 500k a year. We now beginning to think Comrade Vavi is posing a security risk to the Socialist Agenda.

How can you live on Brown Bread and Water being such an important leader of our revolution, what is 500k per annum. Animal farm-1209 feels his salary should have been tripled to bring it to a more reasonable level.

When we say we are going to a socialist Azania, we do not mean our leaders have got to live on bread and water and wearing sack-cloth.

Animal farm-1209 salutes Comrade Vavi for the good work he has been doing over the years and we would like to wish him many more years in this Socialist revolution.

You only have to look at the surnames of those commentators who are objecting to know that you need not take the argument furtehr.

ha ha! Do you guys really believe that he earns R500K? Sure says a lot about those who do!

Why does HIS salary have to double. I don't see much policy capital in him, and it's not like he would otherwise leave!

Hippocrate.

If unions were wholly voluntary in the way they raised subs, sure, pay market related wages but then focus on delivering sustainable employment and order instead of using disruption at every conceivable opportunity to advance narrow personal or elitist political ends. SA loses millions of manhours every year due to unnecessary job shedding strikes and the only people who score are in leadership positions.
Skills in the unions should be compensated but then do not advocate for the poor or the marginalised when your support base is proletarian and do not be so arrogant as to claim that working classes represent everyone when they clearly do not. In other words, be ideologically consistent instead of being morally flexible. This raise is only possible in a capitalist system that rewards ability and places premiums on scarce skill sets.
One cannot credibly advocate for a revolution, an overthrow of the existing economic order, if one is still trapped in it. And I thought Virtue was its own reward.
Is it perhaps time that we think that the whole ethos 'from each according to his contribution, to each according to his ability' is really a mercantilist-capitalist mantra.

Futile wrangles will get us nowhere, d fact remains: the poor(people who Vavi supposedly stands for) will stay poor and the likes of Vavi will keep getting richer!

Mr Vavi is a Fat Cat, and it is in the nature of the Fat Cat to dip into the cream, regardless of how comfortable the Fat Cat is already, or to whom the cream actually belongs.

Percy Ntombela my sentiment's exactly.

"My salary doubled because we were losing all the policy capacity in the federation," said Vavi.

"The economists and accountants were all gone, because if you keep the salary at R250 000, it means the economists can't make those sacrifices for years and years. They lose out."
He is saying the decision to raise his salary was to come in line with market driven salary structures BUT THEN he says 'the market-driven polices of the past were to blame for poor delivery and, in part, the recession.

The answer was fostering a mass socialist movement, true to Marxist principles and built around the SACP', he told unionists in Limpopo.

Does this strange contradiction not bother you Animal Farm and others who think his increase is fair? ('We are all equal, but some are more equal than others' springs to mind).
If he wants to live as a capitalist, fine, but then he should stop spouting socialism as the way forward - it called being a hypocrit.

@Klasie Koek

You hit the nail on the head, I do not know why most Vavi supporters in this forum fail to pickup that.

com on brother vavi ! think intelligent, open a labour broking service then you can earn R100k per month boet with your expertise..it is called capitalism.

Not many trade union leaders overseas live in countries with a whopping 40% unemployment and NONE of them earns a wage hundreds of times that of their union-dues-paying shop-floor membership. Vavi stands quite alone in this self-indulgent splurge.

He was earning 250k per annum, what a bluff. If this is correct surely there needs to be an investigation to establish how does Vavi maintain such kind of lifestyle with a mere 20k per annum.

By the way he doesn't deserve to earn 500k, he is working for a union, which happen to get most of its money from the so called subscription fees paid by the poor of the poorest. Vavi needs to know that, thats the price he needs to pay for advocating communist ideologies.

Klasie Koek,

Animal Farm-1209 would like to thank you for giving us this golden opportunity to correct mistaken ideas.

It would be fallacious for Mr. Vavi to say "My salary doubled because we were losing all the policy capacity in the federation," but if COSATU’s Secretary General salary as COSATU policy is pegged with those of Economists and Accountants then it’s a different case all together, then Mr. Vavi’ statement would be 100% valid.

Animal farm-1209 sees no contradiction whatsoever in Mr. Vavi saying their salaries are informed by capitalist standards and that capitalistic policies are to blame for poor service delivery and, in part, the recession. He says the answer to this problem caused by capitalism is socialism.

So Klasie Koek, Animal Farm-1209 is not bothered at all as we see no contradiction in what Mr. Vavi is saying but Animal Farm-1209 is concerned though by his salary increase as we feel it’s too small for the position of COSATU Secretary General.

Klasie Koek you are saying it springs to your mind that 'We are all equal, but some are more equal than others'.

Let Animal Farm-1209 tell you this, that this “Absolute Equalitarianism” problem was resolved as early as December 1929 by Chairman Mao Tse Tung on his “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas”. Please google him, you will find this chapter on his Selected Works.

Mao says “It even went so far that when there were two wounded men but only one stretcher, neither could be carried away because each refused to yield priority to the other.”

Animal Farm-1209 firmly believes that Absolute Equalitarianism is a bad tendency for any revolutionary collective and this applies to our Azania as well. So Klasie Koek, Animal Farm-1209 would like to correct you again that there is no hypocrisy here.

Animal Farm-1209 is looking forward to a Socialist Azania Period!!

All a bit pointless. Vavi explaining why his salary has doubled is rather like a burgular explaining why he stole my plasma TV. He did it cos he could....and to the comments regarding he should be paid in accordance to his contribution to the economy I agree; but then he would probably be paying us.

Dikotze Molefe, yes I am white you racist dog and to all those out there that hang onto the notion that whites stole from you stop finding an excuse for stealing. I through working hard and using my ability to think sensibly earned what I have. So put a sock in it.

As the rest of Africa seems to be socialist/communist with Stalinistic ideas, I don't see why SA shouldn't follow suit. The capatilists leave and the people can go back to feeding themselves by tilling the land, hunting, gathering and herding. The elite government officials will of course tax the people because cars, clothing et all still have to be had!! But at least this will bring an end to the racism and fingerpointing - everyone will be equally poor except those at the top - absolutely fair!

This is a joke, He cannot earn R250 grands annual, I hope there is another sources of income even though cannot be labelled as salary

What is disgusting just to put it mild is that people who are not affiliated to COSATU are the ones making lot unfounded allegation and insult our GS. If the manner you reacted to salary increase of COSATU GS suggest that you are educated it means SA must revisit its education system. Salary does not qualify you to be a capitalist or fat cat is mentioned by Percy Ntombela & Fana Fana.

Zweli has life as a father and family man. You failed to challenge SAFA on Perreira and Santana who are earning over R1 000 000 (Million rand) per month and you are challenging R500 000 per annum. Chancellors and Vice Chancellors are earning more than a million and yet you are complaining of mere R500 000. Is because hatred to COSATU or you fear Zweli.

Thanks have a nice boring life.