Johannesburg- The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called for organised labour to join in a strike by staying away from work in an effort to apply pressure on the government and the private sector to fix the ‘economic mess’ that the country finds itself in.
Cosatu is finalising and intensifying its national mobilisation efforts in the build-up to the upcoming socio-economic national strike set to take place on Thursday, 7 October 2021- the Global Day for DecentWork
The labour federation recently held its central committee last month, looking to renew its commitment to workers’ rights and a programme to increase recruitment numbers during a period that has been difficult for all unions and labour federations.
Cosatu said 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”.
“It is also disheartening that government is reacting to the Covid-19 inspired economic crisis by going back to the old logic of GEAR (Growth, Employment and Redistribution), in the sense that it is selling some of its state-owned companies like SAA (South African Airways) and unbundling Transnet to prepare for its privatisation,” the statement said.
“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 statement said.
#Cosatu North West declares its readiness to embark on a #nationalstrike tomorrow, #October7 on #WorldDayforDecentWork @motswedingfm @OFMNews9497 @POPCRU1989 @MySACCAWU @ceppwawu_news @DENOSAORG @NUM_Media @SatawuMedia @SAMWUnion @Saepu6 pic.twitter.com/DeQSpKmW5W
— @COSATU Today (@_cosatu) October 6, 2021
[COMING UP] Cosatu is set to embark on a national strike on Thursday. The union’s General Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali will be on #MorningLiveSABC at 07:40. #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/pvpTkxpGFK
— MorningLiveSABC (@MorningLiveSABC) October 6, 2021
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