The Michigan Daily -Tuesday, June 14, 1983 - Page 5
Council passes anti-apartheid day
IJit. 1iRv n~ln in A £1inIl Uin.1019
By HALLE CZECHOWSKI
Ann Arbor's City Council unanimously
passed a resolution last night
proclaiming Thursday as Soweto Day.
The day will mark the seventh an-
niversary of the Soweto Uprising in
South Africa, when police shot and
killed hundreds of school children
during a peaceful protest.
The students were demonstrating
against the forced instruction of
Afrikaans, the language of the white
minority, in South African schools.
THE Democratic-sponsored
resolution is meant to honor those who
died in the uprising, but goes further to
condemn the South African practice of
Resolution marks, death of
South African students
apartheid and to support those fighting
for black majority rule.
"We are expressing solidarity with
the People of South Africa who are
trying to end apartheid," said Lowell
Peterson (D-First Ward), who
proposed the resolution.
The resolution was passed without
any debate during the council meeting.
THE CITY plans no events to com-
memorate the day, although several
local groups will sponsor speeches in
Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor by Shuping
Coapoge, a representative from the
United Nations Office of the African
National Congress.
The Congress is a black organization
which has been fighting for black
majority rule in Africa since iviz.
Ypsilanti Mayor Peter Murdock
decided Friday that his city will also
observe SowetoDay.
"OUR community's been pretty well
opposed to the policies in South Africa,"
Murdock said.
The resolution came on the heels of
the University Regents' decision to
divest nearly all of their holdings in
corporations doing business in South
Africa.
The City of Ann Arbor still has
holdings in South African companies,
but Councilmembers Peterson and Jeff
Epton (D-Third Ward) said they will
soon propose that the city divest of
those holdings.
S. African black miners demand pay raise
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
(Ap) - Vowing that its members must
be treated "as men, not servants," the
country's first union for black gold
miners yesterday demanded a 30 per-
cent pay raise and a:: end to privileges
for whites. ,
Union leader Cyril Ramaphosa said
the union's demands were delivered to
the Chamber of Mines, which
negotiates wages for the mining com-
panies employing more than 400,000
black gold miners.
"WE DEMAND a 30 percent increase
across the board. We believe that this is
a reasonable demand which the cham-
ber can easily afford, particularly if
they are committed to the principle of
closing the wage gap between white and
black," Ramaphosa said.
Black miners now earn an average of
$240 a month, a sixth of what white
miners earn. The union wants the com-
pany to say in writing it supports equal
rights and equal pay for whites and
blacks in the mines. The union is also
demanding an end to the job reser-
vation system, which excludes blacks
from the highest-paid jobs.
Ramaphosa's National Union of
Mineworkers begins pay negotiations
today with the chamber. It is the first
time blacks, nearly all of whom are
migrant workers living in barracks-like
hostels without their families, have
negotiated wage increases in the
mining industry.
THE 30,000-member union was for-
mally recognized last Thursday, three
years after the white-minority gover-
nment passed legislation legalizing
black unions.
Under the country's laws enforcing
racial segregation, most black
nationalist groups are banned. Many
blacks see the labor movement as a
vehicle for gaining political rights, such
as the vote, now denied to the country's
black majority.
Johann Liebenberg, labor adviser for
the Chamber of Mines, declined to
comment on the union's demands ex-
cept to say "we've had higher demands
from the established unions in the
past." The unions that represent 30,000
white miners settled for 8 percent pay
hikes in the last two months.
BLACKS, DUE to receive annual
wage increases July 1, have received
larger pay hikes than whites in recent
years to close the gap. The chamber
says the wage gap between whites and
blacks has been reduced from a ratio of
21 to 1, to 6 to1 since1974.
The chamber, established at the turn
of the century, sets pay raises for the
entire industry.
Last year Anglo American Corp., the
world's biggest mining company, broke
ranks and decided to pay its least-
skilled workers more than the chamber
offered. Riots broke out at several
mines that *ere paying the lower
chamber standard. Police and guards
shot and killed six black miners.
Man attacked in Diag
A 32-year-old Ann Arbor man was
stabbed and beaten in the Diag Sunday
evening, Ann Arbor Police said. The
victim was sitting on a bench in the
Diag when he was approached by the
two suspects in the case, who are
acquaintences of the victim. Following
an argument between the three men,
one suspect allegedly hit the man over
the head with a large stick, and the
other suspect allegedly pulled a knife
and stabbed him several times. Ann
Arbor Police and University Security
officers arrested a 39-year-old Ann Ar-
bor man and a 35-year-old Romulus
resident at the scene. Both are in
Washtenaw County Jail pending
arraignment. The victim is listed in fair
condition at University Hospital.
Police officer shot
An Ann Arbor Police officer was
wounded in the arm and leg when he
was shot Friday night, Ann Arbor
Police said. Officer Richard Blake and
his partner responded to a complaint
. from a woman on Sunset Road, who
said she had heard gunshots and
something hitting her house. While
trying to determine where the shots
were coming from, Blake was hit. The
two officers then arrested Ann Arbor
resident Timothy Hicks, 20, whom they
discovered practicing his marksman-
ship on a nearby wooden post. Hicks
was arraigned Saturday night, but
remained in Washtenaw County Jail af-
ter he was unable to post $10,000 for
bail. Blake was treated for flesh woun-
ds at University hospital and released.
- Halle Czechowski
Hairstyles for
Men and Women
DASCOLA STYLISTS
Liberty off State ........668-9329
East U. at South U ...62-0354
Mpie Village .....761-2733
BIVOUAC CELEBRATES ITS REMODELING
with SUPER SUMMER SAVINGS
" Mens and Womens cotton
sweaters ................20% off
" Men's and womens tops and
bottoms from Complements
........ . .......... 20-40% OFF
" Womens fashion fleece ... 25% OFF
" Mens Levi's ................ $15.99
" Frame pack sleeping bags
. . ..............15-30% OFF
... and much, much more
BICYCLIST SPECIALS
(1) 2 LB. - 20F RATED GOOSE DOWN
SLEEPING BAGS
REG. $190...........NOW $14250
(2) ALL CYCLING
SHOES..................35% OFF
(3) ALL ECLIPSE EXPRESS
BIKE GEAR ...............20% OFF
BILIOURC 1
330 S. State
761-6207
330 S.State 61-620