MONDAY, 9.30AM
AT least 50 000 people are expected to converge on Johannesburg city centre today for a Congress of SA Trade Unions march pushing for changes to the new Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, including increased paid maternity leave and a 40-hour working week. A heavy presence is being maintained by police, SANDF soldiers and traffic police.
MONDAY, 2.30PM
TENS of thousands of members of Cosatu-afiliated trade unions stayed away from work today, and thousands of their colleagues joined in marches around the country on Monday in support of demands for changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill.
Thousands of marchers gathered around Parliament in Cape Town, causing traffic blockages. Parliament operated on a skeleton staff after members of the Cosatu-afiliated National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union stopped work mid-morning to join the march.
In Johannesburg, about 15 000 workers congregated at the central Library Gardens, where they were addressed by SA Communist Party regional secretary Trevor Fowler before marching to Business South Africa’s headquarters in the city centre where Cosatu secretary general Sam Shilowa will present a memorandum of the federation’s demands.
In Pretoria, about 5 000 Cosatu supporters marched on the Union Buildings, where they delivered a memorandum to a labour department to be forwarded to Labour Minister Tito Mboweni.
Estimates of absenteeism due to the stayaway ranged from 20% to 80%, with a countrywide average between 50% and 60%. Thus far, no serious violent incidents have been reported.