Workers demand action now!
The Congress of South African Trade Unions will be leading workers to the streets on the 07th October 2015, the National Day of Action, to mark the internationally acknowledged World Day for Decent Work. This is a day for mobilization for all trade unions across the globe.
Our National Day of Action will take the form of marches and demonstrations across the country.
We shall be protesting a number of issues that are affecting the workers and the working class in general. Central to our list of demands is the issue of affordable, accessible and efficient public transport system. We demand that government ensures that there is an improvement in the coordination of our multi-faceted public transport system and do away with the current fragmentation.
Thousands of people are killed on our roads each year and thousands of workers lose their jobs because of the unreliability of the public transport system. This also is negatively affecting the economy because an inefficient public transport system slows down the wheels of the economy.
We are calling for a radical improvement, innovation and accountability across the entire system. We are not only demanding safe and reliable public transport but we are also demanding that it be made affordable and accessible to the working class.
Public transport should not only be used by those with no other choice, but should become a mode of choice for all citizens.
The recent problems engulfing Prasa are a deep concern for the federation because they are defocusing, this critical component of our public transport system. We demand an urgent and decisive intervention from our government. We will also be reiterating our rejection of the e-tolling system which privatises our public roads. Our opposition to e-tolls is unwavering, and we will be intensifying our campaigns against the attempted privatisations of our roads across the country.
We are also sending a message to both centres of political and economic power that, workers will not tolerate the tide of retrenchments and high unemployment. The federation supported by alliance partners and the progressive civil society will be making a stand against deepening poverty and unacceptable levels of inequality.
Currently, the economy is shedding jobs across all sectors including the mining manufacturing, services, communications, transport, steel industry etc. There are 23 880 workers, who are facing retrenchments under section 189 in the mining sector. It is estimated that the mining sector will lose about 100 000 jobs and 50 000 in the steel industry, this financial year. This is alarming and demoralising and if the trend continues, it will exacerbate the already unacceptable and unsustainable level of unemployment.
There are about 8 million unemployed people in this country and the majority of them are young people. This is a crisis that needs urgent attention because it has the potential to cause political instability for our democracy.
We shall be demanding that these matters be taken out of company level engagement but be elevated to a national level engagement, as was the case during our response to the Global Crisis. We demand that while all stakeholders including business, government and labour are looking for solutions, employers must put a moratorium on retrenchments.
This happens at a time, when monopoly capital continues to take the profits out of the country. This massive outflow of profits needs to be stemmed as soon as possible and we view it as nothing short of economic sabotage by big business.
COSATU demands bold and decisive action from both government and big business to tackle these issues.
Capital should start to display a certain level of developmental consciousness and work with government and labour to develop genuine solutions, and craft a comprehensive strategy to ensure that not only does the economy grow but it creates decent jobs, that pay decent salaries. Workers are tired of being subjected to the apartheid wage structure and discriminatory grading systems.
On Wednesday, we will be demanding the development of a new wage policy for the country, which will be aimed at deliberately and systematically transforming the current apartheid wage structure. It is a travesty for the workers, that 20 years after the 1994 democratic breakthrough, over half of South Africa’s workers work for less than R3000 a month!
The Federation calls for the creation of a powerful developmental state, which intervenes decisively in strategic sectors of the economy. We need a radical shift in economic policy, and a serious commitment, from government, to the full implementation of the Freedom Charter.
Cosatu is unwavering in its commitment to the eradication of abusive and exploitative practices particularly labour broking, and casualization, and the super-exploitation of vulnerable workers.
We will make it clear to both government and big business, that we are opposed to these exploitative practices.
Many unscrupulous employers exploit workers and pay them as they please, because there are no minimum wage rates set for all workers.
We demand that that a minimum wage be implemented so that workers are not exploited. This will be a first step that will take us closer to achieving a Living Wage.
We are calling for the creation of decent living conditions in both rural and urban areas. We want workers to get houses close to where they work in order to end the apartheid spatial development.
Government should take drastic and urgent steps to address the crisis facing the public health system, and we reiterate our resolute call for free education for all. We demand an urgent release of the White Paper on National Health Insurance (NHI. We will be marching with our communities, on Wednesday, demanding a responsive and accountable local government.
We will also be demanding that councillors and government officials adopt a people first approach to service delivery.
The ongoing electricity crisis remains one of the major constraints in achieving economic growth and creation of decent jobs. We demand an electricity security supply both for economic growth, job creation and for household at an affordable price for our communities. We further demand that government should suspend the nuclear energy procurement until further engagement at NEDLAC to ensure open, transparent and participatory processes. We reject any suggestion of the Privatisation of ESKOM.
We are going to this National Day of Action, with the overwhelming support of the workers and we expect government and big business to listen. We call on all communities, our alliance partners and the progressive civil society to support the marches on Wednesday.
We want to emphasise this point; this is a National Legal Strike which means that no worker can be victimized for participating in it.
Workers should refuse to be intimidated and come out in their numbers on Wednesday.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 5 October 2015
