COSATU reject the proposal for the reduction of existing public holidays
COSATU welcomes the Gauteng Premier, David, Makhura’s statement that his administration will not support the call for the scrapping of Good Friday or Easter Monday as public holidays.
The premier was responding to a proposal made by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Cultural, Linguistic and Religious Communities, that the Easter Monday, Reconciliation Day and Goodwill Day should be scraped as public holidays, because they are biased towards Christians.
The Commission subsequently proposed that three {3} religious days be provided for workers, that will be negotiated with the bosses. We are firmly opposed to this proposal and will not allow any reduction of the existing public holidays or leave days. We have informed the Commission that we reject their proposal completely and will be engaging on this critical matter at Nedlac as a matter of urgency.
We sympathise with the need to cater for religious minorities and we are therefore proposing that all persons be allowed to take up to three {3} days religious leave, in addition to the existing public holidays.