The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its affiliated organisations are expected to embark on a nationwide protest against the state of the South African economy and the country’s poor governance.
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According to a statement released by the trade union yesterday, 3 July 2023, the protest is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 6 July 2023.
The statement read, ‘It is a demonstration by workers that government needs to do more to end the levels of load shedding, cable theft, crime and corruption, wasteful expenditure, and austerity crippling the state, suffocating the economy, and further plunging workers into high levels of indebtedness and misery.
‘This is also a signal to the government, the Reserve Bank, and the commercial banks that the working class can no longer afford to bear the burden of rising levels of inflation, electricity tariff hikes, and relentless and reckless increases in the repo rate.’
The union has obtained a strike certificate from Nedlac, granting them protection under section 77 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). This means that participants cannot be fired for their involvement, although the principle of no work, no pay will be enforced.
Here are some of the suggested requests put forth by the union to alleviate employee pressure and uplift the economy:
- Raise the social relief of distress grant to the food poverty line at R624
- Ensure the timely implementation of the two-pot pension reforms by March 1, 2024.
- Address the obstacles causing delays in the rollout of the public infrastructure programme.
- Take immediate action to address the consistent non-payment of employees in 36 municipalities.
- Revoke the clause in the Municipal Systems Amendment Act that prohibits all 350,000 municipal workers from holding political office at any level.
- Intervene urgently to revitalise and modernise Transnet and Metrorail.
- Take urgent measures to prevent the collapse and liquidation of the Post Office.
- Allocate additional resources to equip the SAPS, NPA, SIU, Hawks, and judiciary adequately to combat crime and corruption effectively.
- Allocate additional funds to SARS to combat tax evasion and customs fraud.
According to Cosatu, its affiliates have a combined membership of 1.8 million individuals, but many are essential services workers who are prohibited from participating in strikes.
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Picture: @_cosatu / Twitter