THURSDAY, 5.30PM
THE Congress of SA Trade Unions on Thursday released its diary of strikes to push it demands for changes to the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill.
Cosatu secretary general Sam Shilowa told a press conference that the union federation will call a national strike between the hours of 10am and 11am on Monday August 4, as well as day-long regional strikes: on Monday August 18 in the Eastern Cape, on August 19 in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, on August 20 in the Northern Cape, Free State and Western Cape, and on August 21 in Gauteng, Northern Province and North-West. Shilowa added that one-day strikes will also be called on days to be announced, when Cosatu and Business SA make their submissions on the Bill to the National Assembly’s labour committee.
“We hope that these actions will send a clear message to business that we are serious about our demands,” Shilowa said. He added Cosatu will ask the Truth and Reconciliation Commisssion to hold a special hearing into alleged collaboration between business and the police in the apartheid era, leading to the deaths of some workers.
THURSDAY, 11.00AM
THE Congress of SA Trade Unions, as part of its mass action campaign to highlight its objections to the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, is expected to call two one-day strikes in August. An announcement is expected today, after yesterday’s conclusion of a two-day executive committee meeting.
Earlier this month, the union federation said it wished to suspend negotiations on the Bill in the National Economics Development and Labour Council and refer the Bill directly to Parliament. At the time it said it would intensify mass action in support of its opposition to the Bill.