The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has prepared a series of protest actions to support baggage handlers who have been on strike over a wage dispute for the past two months, Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said on Thursday.
”We must not let Equity Aviation [the employer] win this battle,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.
”Clearly Equity Aviation has touched the raw nerve of the federation [Cosatu] and they must live up to that.”
About 1 000 members of the South African Trade and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have been on strike since December 18 2003, protesting working hours and salary increases.
Some of the action Cosatu has lined up includes lunch-hour pickets and mass demonstrations from the first week of March.
All Cosatu members should refuse to touch all goods, including post, sent to Equity Aviation on March 6, if the company still refused to budge, Vavi said.
Cosatu has a set up a trust fund for workers impoverished by the strike. Cosatu has given R30 000 to the fund. — Sapa