Thousands of workers affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will today embark on a nationwide strike over the state of the economy, poor governance, and the falling living standards of workers, exactly 9 months after a similar industrial action.
The “National Day of Action” is being supported by a number of large workers unions such as the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), and others.
Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi yesterday said they were embarking on this socio-economic nationwide strike in protest of the rising levels of unemployment, wage cuts, poverty and inequality affecting the workers and the working class in general.
Losi said it was a demonstration by workers that government needed to do more to end the current levels of load shedding, cable theft, crime and corruption, wasteful expenditure and austerity cuts crippling the state, suffocating the economy, and further plunging workers into high levels of indebtedness and misery.
“We want the government and employers to have an appreciation that workers must earn a living wage, that the high levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty in our country cannot continue as things are. Therefore, if we want to grow our economy we have to create jobs and we have to pay workers a living wage,” Losi said.
“So we are calling on the government and business to say ‘stick to the commitments you have made’ during the investments and jobs summits. The government must also raise the Social Relief of Distress grant to the food poverty line in October during the Medium-Term budget Policy Statement.”
Among other demands made by Cosatu are the extension of the Presidential Employment Stimulus to accommodate 1 million active participants in October,and 2 million in February 2024.
Cosatu also wants the government to ensure the implementation of the 2 pot pension reforms on 1 March 2024 and fill out all funded public service and sector vacancies by December.
The trade union federation emphasised that this was a protected strike, and a Section 77 strike certificate has been issued by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), guaranteeing all workers protection if they join the strike.
Section 77 means that no employer may institute disciplinary action against any worker who chooses to join the action, but the rule of no-work-no-pay applies for workers who are taking the day off to strike.
However, the government has moved to clamp down on employees who may still want to get paid while on strike as the departments yesterday were urged to implement contingency measures to deal with the Cosatu strike.
In a circular to all heads of departments, the Department of Public Service and Administration Director-General Yoliswa Makhasi said while the planned nationwide strike was protected, essential service workers such as nurses, police, and others, were not allowed to participate in the protest.
“Since these are section 77 protest actions from the mentioned federation, workers in all sectors of the economy, including the public servants are allowed to participate in the strikes,” Makhasi said.
“Essential Service workers are, however, not allowed to participate in the strikes/protest actions during their working hours. If they do participate, their participation will constitute misconduct.
“The principle of “No Work, No Pay” must be applied by departments. The principle should apply for the absence of a full day as well as part of a working day.”
Meanwhile, the Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) said its members cannot afford to go without pay even though it shared the demands of Cosatu over the dire state of the economy and the government’s failure to address numerous issues.
MISA CEO Martlé Keyter said although they shared the sentiments of Cosatu, the union did not encourage its members to join the strike.
"Workers have been bearing the brunt of the devastating impact of load shedding on our economy, skyrocketing food inflation and other rapid increases in cost-of-living expenses,” Keyter said.
"In the retail motor industry, our members feel the devastation of the consumer in their pockets. Vehicle sales are declining. Clients without vehicle service plans will rather wait before they service a vehicle or replace tyres. This has a direct impact on the job security of our members.”
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