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The Casual Workers' Advice Office (CWAO) on Tuesday released its annual Strike Barometer covering all strikes and workplace-related actions that took place between 1 January and 31 December 2024.
The report shows that there were 84 strikes in 2024, one more than the 83 strikes of 2023, and slightly lower than the 86 strikes of 2022. Wildcat strikes continued to be higher than protected strikes. Forty-five of the 84 strikes, or 53.5%, were wildcat and 39 (46.4%) were protected. Twenty seven workplace-related actions were recorded in addition to the 84 strikes – an increase over the 17 workplace-related actions of 2023. Strikes in the public sector and privatised public services accounted for 39 of the strikes in 2024. The private sector experienced 37 strikes. A further eight strikes took place at universities, regulatory bodies, co-operatives, and non-profit organisations. The majority of all strikes (51.2%) continued to be over wage-related issues, such as underpayment or non-payment, payment at the wrong grade, failure to pay overtime, and against employers who deducte provident fund or medical aid payments and refused to pay this over to the funds. The second highest number of strikes (13%) were by workers demanding permanent jobs, an end to outsourcing and labour brokers, and for extensions to contracts. Reflecting the increased dangers to personal safety at work for nurses, paramedics and e-hailing drivers, the third biggest reason for striking was around health and safety issues. This, however, also included strikes against short staffing, a health and safety hazard for workers who have to increase their workload when their workplaces were not adequately staffed.
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