The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it remains committed to pursue its rolling mass action in support of the jobs and poverty campaign, which runs until February next year and includes periodic national stayaways as well as sectoral action.
Addressing the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said as a goodwill gesture, to allow employers more space to reconsider their position, the union has decided to postpone the provincial strikes that were initially scheduled to begin on August 29 in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape. They now begin on October 3.
Gauteng and the North West will experience strike action on October 10, followed by the Northern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga on October 17 and KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo on October 25.
Vavi said the union federation will organise full-day instead of half-day stayaways.
“We hope that the retail companies and employers will use this gesture of postponement to pursue an agreement on the outstanding issues,” he said.
In the run-up to October 3 and beyond, Cosatu said it will mobilise its members to continue, through pickets and demonstrations, to target employers who “casualise”, subcontract and use labour brokers, as well as those who “practice racism”.
“Furthermore, we shall continue to struggle for better wages across all industries and will support actions taken by workers in pursuit of this objective.”
Vavi said the union has noted the success and overwhelming response to the jobs and poverty campaign, most recently during the general strike on June 27.
“The strike has yielded some positive results, even though not all our demands have been met,” he added.
Cosatu said the establishment of alliance task teams to discuss urgent interventions for clothing, mining and other sectors is a positive sign.
“The clothing and textile task team has made important progress, but the others have made virtually none. We call on all the task teams to meet urgently and develop strong proposals for their sectors.”
Some of the threatened retrenchments in mining and in the clothing industry have been reversed or at least substantially reduced, according to Cosatu.
The government has reiterated its commitment to developing an industrial strategy and sectoral strategies in that context.
The union federation also stated that there is agreement across society that the South African rand be placed at a “competitive” level.
“More engagement is needed to define competitive level and the instruments that must be used to achieve it. In this debate, Cosatu will be guided by the resolutions of our eighth national congress.” — I-Net Bridge