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SowetanLive reports that the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) together with the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) have called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare 27 December a public holiday.
With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday this year, the two biggest union federations said in a joint statement that workers would forfeit their pay or resting day if the president did not make the declaration. “The 25th of December 2022 is on Sunday and the Goodwill Day's public holiday would fall on Monday the 26th. This means that workers would lose out on both holiday pay and rest time during this public holiday,” Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla pointed out. He said this was important for workers as the Christmas period was the only time they could travel home to rural areas to spend time with their children and families after a long year’s hard work. However, Business Unity SA’s Cas Coovadia disagreed with the proposal, saying the closure of businesses would negatively affect the economy. "It will have significant impact on an economy that is already not growing. In the current context we need to grow the economy, we need to grow jobs, we need to increase our tax income. All I am saying is that we should be bending over backwards to do business on as many days as we can rather than closing the businesses," he said.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Noxolo Sibiya at SowetanLive
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