EWN reports that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) expects hundreds of its members at the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to wear black on Wednesday as part of the build-up to a shutdown on Friday.  

Unions are fighting back against planned retrenchments at the public broadcaster.  Some 981 permanent staff and over 1,000 freelancers are expected to be laid off as the cash-strapped SABC tries to restructure and claw itself back from financial disaster.  The SABC said last week it would approach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for assistance with the process.  The CWU’s Aubrey Tshabalala said:  “We experienced that the SABC management is wanting to forge ahead with the mass retrenchments on mass dismissal of workers without even giving an ear to alternative views that we’ve as labour [sic].  So, the basis of that is that they showed no sensitivity around the matter.”  Meanwhile, the SA Communist Party (SACP) has warned the ANC that should retrenchments go ahead at the SABC and other government entities, it could cost the ANC a chunk of the workers’ votes next year.

• Read the full original of this report by Katleho Sekhotho at EWN

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