Sunday Independent reports that ahead of its national congress, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has blamed SA’s ailing economy and fierce rivalry among unions for the continued decline in its membership.
Still the largest trade union federation in SA with just over 1.5 million members, Cosatu will hold its four-day 14th national congress in Johannesburg later this month. Membership numbers have declined by almost 60,000 since 2018 and Cosatu has shed over 416,000 members between 2015 and this year. Cosatu asserts that its membership has been greatly affected by retrenchments due to the economic downturn, greedy employers putting profit before people, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown. Figures provided by Cosatu reveal that the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) were largely responsible for the loss of about 60,000 members since 2018. Satawu had about 218,000 members in 2015, but the once-powerful union now has fewer than 59,500 members. The membership of the NUM declined from 250,000 in 2015 to 158,000 in 2022. But, the SA Municipal Workers’ Union now has more than 161,000 members, an improvement from the 151,000 in 2015, while the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union currently has 148,000 members, which is down from 157,000 in 2015. The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadftu) are the largest of Cosatu’s 18 affiliates. Nehawu currently has just over 275,000 members, while Sadtu has about 251,000. Both unions have enjoyed steady growth in the period between 2015 and this year.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loyiso Sidimba at Sunday Independent
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