Trade union United Association of South Africa (UASA) who represent workers in financial services said on Thursday that the rise in Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) to 3.5 per cent in July, up from 3 per cent in June, reveals concerning factors regarding the cost-of-living outlook.
The union noted that earlier in the year, the CPI been at the 3 per cent lower limit of the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) target band.
The union said in a statement that the main contributors to the higher inflation rate include food and non-alcoholic beverages, which increased to 5.7 per cent year-on-year in July, along with housing and utilities.
Additionally, basic goods and services contributing to the CPI, such as electricity and water tariffs, surged well above the SARB’s target band, as did fuel prices.
UASA’s spokesperson Abigail Moyo said the rising inflation rate has a significant impact on consumer purchasing power.
‘While economic observers anticipate some relief later this year, it is unfortunate that South Africans continue to feel the financial strain as the prices of everyday food items, essential goods, and services continue to rise.
‘UASA is particularly concerned about the hikes in municipal, electricity, and water tariffs.
‘The recent increases imposed on these services have had a substantial impact on consumers who rely on them daily.’
She said the union believed that the government and relevant stakeholders needed to consider the cost-of-living crisis when imposing tariff hikes.
Moyo said: ‘Hurting consumers financially will not resolve the revenue losses nor rectify the financial challenges faced by State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
‘Consumers should not be used as a solution to address the government’s shortcomings.
‘Despite this troubling inflation situation, we hope that the SARB will show leniency towards consumers and consider cutting interest rates in the future,’ Moyo said.
Services at the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and at the Department of Education offices in Cofimvaba were disrupted this week, as a security guards strike entered its seventh day.
The guards work for Reliable Guards and Mantl Five.
These security companies have contracts with the departments to look after offices and other sites in Cofimvaba and Tsomo town.
The strike started last Friday after more than 20 guards were fired last month, allegedly for joining unions.
The fired guards were expecting to be paid on 12th and 15th August.
When they did not receive their money, the guards closed the public works department’s site in Tsomo.
On Monday last week, they protested outside the education offices in Cofimvaba, demanding their pay and asking the department to intervene.
Last Tuesday, they closed the public works offices, also in Cofimvaba, preventing employees from going in.
The guards want these departments to force the employers to take them back.
Some said they had been with these companies for close to seven years.
Guard Olwethu Zekani said the dispute started a few months ago after they complained about being underpaid, not getting annual leave or family responsibility leave, and not having a provident fund.
She said that she had worked for Reliable since 2022 and was paid R6,182 (£262) a month.
Zekani said: ‘We are not getting paid overtime, night shift, weekends or for the public holidays.
‘When we raised these issues we were ignored. That is why some of us joined the unions.
‘But what we didn’t expect was to be fired.’
She said she is still waiting for her last payment.
The workers are represented by the African Meat Industry and Allied Trade Union (AMITU) and the Progressive Allied and Travel Union of South Africa (PATU).
Shop steward Mthetho Boyse, who works for Mantl Five, said last month workers from sites in Tsomo and Cofimvaba were dismissed after the employers found out that they had joined unions.
Boyse said the minimum wage for security guards is R31 an hour.
Boyse said: ‘Sometimes I would work seven nights a week including weekends only to be paid 6,000 rands (£254).
‘When we asked for a meeting to raise these issues we were ignored.’
PATU deputy general secretary Jackson Thiso said after several attempts to meet the employers, workers had taken their grievances to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
He said the employers had identified the workers who joined the unions through the CCMA application.
Thiso added: ‘Instead of solving the issues they decided to force the workers to leave the union or be fired. After they refused they were then fired.
‘We are talking about people who have been working for these companies for more than seven years and are only getting month to month contracts and that is not fair.
‘Hence we want these departments to intervene,’ he said.
At the education department last Monday, only management was allowed to enter after an hour of negotiations between department officials and the guards’ representatives.
Both COSATU and FEDUSA trade union federations have reject claims by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who suggested that trade unions are responsible for high unemployment through their wage demands.
COSATU KZN provincial secretary Edwin Mkhize said: ‘These comments are simply false – to suggest that workers are “too expensive”.
‘Studies consistently show that the labour share of national income has been declining for decades, while profit margins of big business have risen sharply.
‘Workers are not the problem; the problem is structural inequality, wasteful expenditure at the top, and misplaced priorities.’
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) also criticised Mkhwanazi’s remarks.
FEDUSA stated: ‘South Africa’s unemployment crisis is not caused by workers demanding fair wages.
‘It is the direct outcome of poor governance, collapsing infrastructure, load shedding, corruption, and years of austerity that have undermined the economy and stripped critical public services of resources.’
- More than 2,000 permanent and contracted employees at the Lucky Star fish processing plant and its associated Amawandle Pelagic Fishing plant in the Western Cape have initiated an indefinite strike, protesting against what they describe as unilateral and unjust actions by their employer, Oceana Group.
The strike, which began last Tuesday morning, came in response to Oceana’s alleged withdrawal of a seasonal allowance previously granted to workers, replacing it with a 13th cheque that has been deemed inferior.
Dominique Martins, spokesperson for the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) expressed that the workers’ grievances stemmed from a series of detrimental moves by management that undermined union representation and workers’ rights.
Martins said the union was also demanding the reinstatement of the full-time shop steward position, the reopening of the union office on-site, and the immediate restoration of the previously held seasonal allowance.
Martins stated: ‘Management has, without consultation or agreement, removed the full-time shop steward position and dismantled the designated union office at the workplace.
‘This move represents a direct attack on organised labour and the ability of workers to be effectively represented in matters affecting their employment and welfare.
‘The union has exhausted all avenues for resolution, including formal engagement and conciliation processes.
‘As a result, our members have no choice but to exercise their constitutional right to strike.’
Given the protracted negotiations with management, Martins said FAWU members felt they had no option but to resort to their constitutional right to strike.
Oceana last Wednesday confirmed in a statement to Business Report that FAWU was granted a certificate to strike over the issue of a full-time shop steward position.
Oceana stated: ‘All relevant parties were consulted throughout the review process of the full-time shop steward.
‘The designated FAWU office at the company is still operational and the activities of FAWU are recognised.’
Oceana claimed that: ‘We are committed to food security and are doing our utmost to ensure there are no disruptions at the plant.’
Oceana has been grappling with declining share value, which has plunged by 24 per cent in the year to date and by 27 per cent over the past 12 months.
