Labour federation Cosatu has confirmed that it will embark on another national shutdown this week. The news of the impending national strike comes after Cosatu and SA Federation of Trade Unions and their affiliated trade unions collaborated in a series of marches across the country in response to the rising food, energy crisis and high unemployment rate in the country.
On Monday, Cosatu in a statement said it had been forced to embark on yet another nationwide protest to mark the World Day for Decent Work due to the unchanging material conditions of the poor working class.
According to the federation’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, the protest earmarked for Friday, October 7, is in celebration of International Day of Decent Work Day and is a Section 77 protected national action.
Pamla said Cosatu was encouraging all workers to participate in the planned activities and exercise their right to demand that employers and policymakers respect labour laws and take seriously the calls for decent work.
“Recently, the South African government finding itself incapable of dealing with this ongoing capitalist crisis has resorted to increasing austerity measures. This has seen cuts in public spending, leading to massive reduction in all aspects of social and economic benefits to the people, in wages, retirement benefits and pensions, health and education and social welfare transfers. These draconian public service cuts in the public service wage bill have plunged this economy into meltdown and decimated the township and rural economy.
Pamla said the country, which was battling an energy crisis on top of rising food prices, had resulted in depressed people who are battling depression and mental illness due to socio-economic challenges.
“As more working people are attacked, through salary cuts, job losses and foreclosures, inequalities have widened. The increase in inequality means working families’ purchasing power is significantly diminished,” he said.
Cosatu has called on all workers in the country to unite behind their call for the nationwide strike.
“Workers need to unite in defending jobs, fighting corruption, as well as the shortcomings of our law-enforcement agencies in fighting corruption and gender-based violence. We need to fearlessly express our determination to protect the integrity of collective bargaining, and to resist all attempts by employers to undermine it.”
Pamla said it was important to use this week’s national action to demand a response to the memorandums that were submitted in August during their socio-economic strike over the economic crises.
“A strike remains a primary tool of exercising power that workers have at their disposal. Acts of sustained civil disobedience are paramount at this time because sitting down and doing nothing will mean that we accept the death sentence that is handed to us by the political and business power structure that is mismanaging the economy and attacking workers’ rights. We need to refuse to be fooled by empty commitments and public declarations but demand action and effectiveness from our leaders,” he said.
The second wave of the national shutdown comes hot on the heels of Cosatu’s recent 14th National Congress which took place at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand from September 26-29.
“During our 14th National Congress it was clear that being a leading federation is not merely a matter of the numerical size, it is a question of the quality of contributions, both in theory and practice. Our priority is to deal with the structural economic changes that are also associated with the changing workplace organisation and mode of work,” he said.
Cosatu said it was demanding the government to abandon its neo-liberal policies and austerity measures which had resulted in budget cuts through the upcoming Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in order to address the basic needs of the country’s poor working class.
“The failure of the public transport system during the extreme Covid-19 lockdown and the rising cost of fuel this year are a reminder that very little will be achieved without the majority of people having access to a reliable, affordable and integrated public transport system,” he said.