(4 minutes read)
· The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it may give a call for a general r strike in the first week of October, possibly on 7th October
· The focus of the strike is on corruption and perceived inaction by the government
Threat of a general strike looms large over in South Africa. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it may give a call for a general r strike in the first week of October, possibly on 7th October. The focus of the strike is on corruption and perceived inaction by the government.
Cosatu’s general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali implored president Cyril Ramaphosa to speed up prosecutions of corrupt individuals. He said the president should stop negotiating with criminals and muster courage to punish the guilty for the corruptions that had indulged in Cosat, the largest trade federation in the country, has an
estimated membership of 1.8 million workers.
The apex body of the union has also pledged support to National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) which is also planning industrial action. This has to be seen in the context of the recent ruling of the Labor Court that the strike action at the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) was unlawful and in
contravention to the relevant provisions of the Labor Relations Act. Nehawu, the largest public sector union in the country has a membership base exceeding 240,000. It is scheduled to hold a ‘day of mass action’ on 3 September. It proposes to hand over memorandums to senior government officials detailing the difficulties that they are facing.
With the country reeling under the pressure of Covid-19, demand for wage increases is also likely to crop up from the unions. The wage agreements for public sector undertakings are normally fixed for three years and the current agreement is in place until March 2021.The government has refused to review the last leg of the agreement on the plea that it did not have the resources to fend for an increase.
