THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is to make Thursday a public sector general strike against the ANC government to press demands for a variety of issues affecting the welfare of workers.
The Federation confirmed that the strike would be held in all nine provinces with various activities taking place per province with the delivery of petitions to government establishments, private businesses including mining houses, Municipal Offices, Premiers’ offices, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and Parliament, among others.
Spokesman Matthew Parks said the socio-economic protests were to press home issues that had been raised before including the high unemployment rate, load shedding, attacks on national infrastructure including that of Eskom and Transnet, unpaid salaries by some municipalities and employers undermining collective agreements for workers work conditions.
Parks said: ‘All of these issue have a huge impact on workers both in the government and the private sector. All of our affiliate unions will engage in the strike in all sectors of the economy.
‘We are engaging with other unions as well to participate in the socio-economic protests. It is a legally protected strike and we have approval from Nedlac,’ Parks said.
He said other issues included the fast rising interests rates, which has made interest payments by workers unaffordable.
In the May meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee of the SARB increased the repurchase rate by 50 basis points, bringing it to 8.25 per cent.
In April, COSATU President Zingiswa Losi made a clarion call to labour to unite across federations in order strengthen the hand of unions.
Earlier this month, COSATU welcomed the draft legislation on the Two-Pot Retirement System, but intends to lobby the government to increase the proposed withdrawal threshold of R25 000.
The system will allow South Africans to access one-third of their retirement savings throughout their working life, with the remaining two-thirds only accessible on retirement.
The new retirement system is expected to encourage preservation while also assisting South Africans who are battling to make ends meet.
Members of retirement funds will be able to withdraw a maximum of 10 per cent or a maximum of R25,000 from their retirement fund. This amount will be taxed according to your income and tax marginal rate.
COSATU says this amount is insufficient and that it should be increased to at least R50,000 to enable cash-strapped workers to deal with their financial challenges.
Meanwhile, dozens of Nyanga and Gugulethu community health workers demonstrated outside Lentegeur Day Hospital in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, on Wednesday.
Placards read: ‘We want our jobs back’ and ‘Stop exploiting community health workers.’
Vuyiseka Solani-Bibini, a shop steward at Anova Health Institute, said they had worked for St John’s Ambulance until its contract with the Western Cape health department ended.
Some of them were then hired by Anova, which also hired South African Christian Leadership Assembly (SACLA) Health Project community workers.
Caroline de Wet, a manager at the hospital, received the memorandum. She said: ‘Every three years contracts with non-profit organisations are reassessed. St John’s Ambulance have not met the criteria to continue to get funding.’
Solana-Bibini said 21 of the St John’s workers had not been hired because Anova said their names were not on the Lentegeur Day Hospital’s list.
Solani-Bibini said the workers did not understand this, since they had been on the payroll for years.
They want the health department to find employment for those who cannot get jobs with Anova.
Funeka Hala, who is now unemployed, said, ‘I have switched my fridge off because it is empty.’
She said the department had always transferred them from one organisation to the next when contracts changed, but didn’t do so this time.
Former SACLA workers signed contracts with Anova on 5th May and former St John’s workers signed on 18th May, said Solani-Bibini. But, she said, they were only paid from the date they signed, although they had worked from the start of May.
They want their full month stipend. Workers at Khayelitsha hospital, who signed contracts on 17th May with Anova, had been paid in full, she said.
The health department directed our queries to Anova.
Yonela Mbana, senior legal counsel for Anova, said, ‘Anova was funded by the department to employ a set number of community-based health workers in various nodes in Cape Town.
‘Anova applied fair and transparent recruitment processes as part of the selection criteria. Anova hired the approved quota of staff.
‘Negotiations and the issuing of contracts took a while and not all employment contracts were concluded by 1 May 2023. Anova is a caring and compassionate organisation and decided to use discretionary funds to top-up the stipends from 1 May 2023 – the contract start date. All affected staff have received this communication and will receive these funds in early July.’
- Workers at Frimax Foods factory in Verulam, Durban, are taking the company to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) next week.
This comes as 100 of the 247 Frimax workers who were dismissed for participating in an unprotected strike earlier this month returned to work.
The workers downed tools on 5th June and were dismissed by the chip producing company soon after. They made several allegations against their employer related to discrimination, mistreatment and withholding some of their salaries.
According to workers, they went on strike after the company refused to negotiate about internal grievances with their new union, the African Meat Industry and Allied Trade Union (AMITU).
While no formal dismissal notices have been issued to the remaining 147 workers, the company has posted a note at the factory’s entrance, stating that all workers involved in the strike are fired. The workers who returned last week say they had to plead to get their jobs back.
A worker alleged she had been assaulted by a security guard employed by a company that Frimax uses. But Frimax’s human resources manager, Deshni Govender, said the company had investigated the allegation and found no evidence for it.
Another worker, who identified herself as Sibusisiwe, complained that they were not paid overtime. ‘The employer will tell you that he only pays nine hours. Most of us here work 12 hours a day. Each and every year we strike but the previous union promised things will change but nothing has changed,’ she said.
She said this will also be part of the CCMA case.
The case is to be heard on 7th July.
Govender confirmed the CCMA matter and said the company will await the outcome. She also told GroundUp that the company had allowed the 100 workers back last week as they claimed they were intimidated by those leading the strike.
She said they had given the dismissed worker a number of opportunities to return, but they refused to engage with the company. She said a disciplinary hearing was held though none of the workers attended.
‘The relevant disciplinary procedures have been followed and the employees were found guilty for engaging in an illegal strike,’ Govender said.
According to Govender, Frimax has a closed shop agreement with the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU). She said it was explained to staff that AMITU cannot represent them on internal matters.
- The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), is planning to picket at the Anglo American offices in Johannesburg on 14 July to protest proposals to avoid stricter health and safety laws at some of the mining multinational’s South African operations.
In 2022, Anglo American started a migration process in which it sought to exclude some of its operations from falling under the stringent Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA). Water Val Smelter, Anglo Converter Plant, Precious Refinery, Rustenburg Base Metal Refinery and Mortimer Smelter would then be moved from the MHSA to be regulated by the Occupational Health Safety Act (OHSA) which applies to mostly manufacturing industries except mining.
Anglo American justified this decision by stating that it had sold the mining rights but remained with the process operations and surface rights. However, the NUM argues that the selling of mining rights does not remove refineries and smelters from being mining operations as defined in the MHSA.
The NUM says that the MHSA is a better law for the mining industry than the OHSA, and by moving workers to fall under the latter they will lose their hard-fought rights.
The union has taken Anglo American to the High Court to interdict the process.
The NUM says if the multinational implements its proposal many workers rights will be affected. These include workers’ duties for health and safety, and the right of workers to refuse unsafe work and withdraw from dangerous work. Inspectors’ powers to deal with dangerous conditions and to recommend a fine will also be curtailed.