Daily News reports that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has challenged employers in the private sector not to use the economic downturn as an excuse not to pay their employees year-end bonuses.  

Provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize said:  “For many companies the first target when the economy is not doing well becomes the workers.  The point we wanted to emphasise to the Department of Labour is that employers must not be allowed to dodge paying bonuses to workers.  When the economy is hard hit, it’s the workers who end up suffering, particularly now that the festive season is upon us.  We are warning employers not to use the economy as an excuse not to pay workers their bonuses.”  He added that the festive season was often the only period when workers could spend quality time with their families.  Bonuses would help workers to budget for their children for the new year.  The federation also called for an amendment to the Labour Relations Act to penalise employers in the private sector who retrenched employees as an urgent measure to curb growing levels of job losses.

• Read this report by Samkelo Mtshali in full at Daily News

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