BusinessLive reports that according to two senior ANC NEC members, labour federation Cosatu should reconsider its stance on the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu).  

Speaking on the sidelines of Cosatu’s main Workers’ Day rally in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday, the party’s Eastern Cape Chairperson Oscar Mabuyane and ANC national organizer Senzo Mchunu said the expulsion of Numsa from Cosatu was harming the party and the labour movement at large.  Mabuyane said the party should engage Cosatu on devising ways of bringing Numsa back into the fold as a divided labour movement was not only bad for workers but had negative political consequences for the ANC.  "We must get to a point where we put aside issues of pride and other irritations…  those workers in Numsa and Saftu are ANC members and we want workers to be united behind Cosatu," he said.  Numsa was expelled from Cosatu in 2014 following the union’s decision not to back the ANC during electioneering.  Mchunu said ideally, the party would "love to have one federation putting the aspirations of workers in SA at the forefront".

• Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive
• Read too, Cosatu is not independent from the ANC, says Vavi, at News24

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page