News24Wire reports that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called for organised labour to join in a strike by staying away from work on Thursday in an effort to apply pressure on government and the private sector to "fix the economic mess that the country finds itself in".
The action coincides with the Global Day for Decent Work, but also comes as SA continues to struggle with lacklustre growth, rising unemployment, the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic and the after-effects of July's civil unrest. "The strike on Thursday is legally protected and is focused on pushing both government and the private sector to act to fix the economic mess that the country finds itself in and take seriously the issues that are affecting workers and South Africans in general," the labour federation’s statement advised. Cosatu said it wanted the reversal of budget cuts that have "led to an unacceptable wage freeze in the public service, the disintegration of the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration, and retrenchments in state-owned companies". It also called on the private sector “to abandon its investment strike that has seen many companies either hoarding or exporting cash out of the country, despite receiving generous incentives to invest back into the economy." Cosatu furthermore sais that at next month's medium-term budget policy statement, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana must abandon "current draconian cuts" and move away from the current "neoliberal macroeconomic policy framework".
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
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