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Moneyweb reports that the country’s two largest union federations, namely the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), together with fellow fedrations Fedusa and Nactu, have given government 14 days to respond to their demands.
On Wednesday, the federations embarked on a national protest against corruption, unemployment, and gender-based violence, as well as the government’s failure to implement this year’s public sector wage increase. More mass action is on the cards if the government fails to respond to the demands within time. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla claimed that it had been a successful day because droves of people hit the streets to join the protest. He commented as follows: “We are more than happy with the turnout. Members did not go to work in their numbers, and they were well behaved. We got a lot of support from other labour formations and this gives us a solid foundation to plot our pushback going forward.” The majority of those who took to the streets were public servants who expressed distress at having to cope with their existing salaries despite the increased cost of living. It was laid down in a multi-year agreement in 2018 that the state would hike the wages of public servants in April this year by up to 5.4%, but it has failed to honour that deal. Pamla said he felt that public servants were being targeted and sidelined, because the government has been continuously providing state-owned entities with financial bailouts.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Melitta Ngalonkulu at Moneyweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page