Members of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) embarked on strike action on Wednesday (24 February) in response to a number of economic problems in the country.
The strikes, which have been timed to coincide with finance minister Tito Mboweni’s budget speech, involves protest marches in major cities around the country, including at the home of the National Assembly in Cape Town.
Saftu is the second largest of the country’s main trade union confederations, with 21 affiliated trade unions organising 800,000 workers.
Responding to the country’s poor unemployment data on Tuesday, the trade federation said that workers should heed the call for a stay-away or take part in the marches.
“A strong statement has to be made that the current situation is simply not sustainable. We are risking a civil war: a bomb of social anger continues to tick.
“To some extent this is reflected in the 6% increase in crime announced by the Minister of Safety and Security; even before this increase, the murder rate was 58 a day on average.”
“Saftu continues to insist that in order to defuse the timebomb, the entire architecture of our economy must be overhauled.”
The trade federation has published dozens of grievances which primarily centre on a few key points:
The construction of a new economy – including a minimum wage of R12,500 a month for all workers, and a moratorium on all job losses;
The improvement of living conditions and the redistribution of land;
The cutting of greenhouse gas emissions;
Raising the social wage and providing public healthcare finance;
Free, decolonised and high-quality public education;
An end to corruption and crime;
A non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, socialist society.
This is the first major national strike action undertaken by unions since the country relaxed level 3 Covid-19 lockdown rules.
However, analysts have warned that action will likely become more frequent in 2021 in response to government wage negotiations and upcoming elections.
In a January research note, BNP Paribas said that the government’s public sector wage deal is likely to remain a major point of contention in 2021, and could lead to further strike action.
“We see a good chance of widespread strike action as early as February, possibly tempered by Covid-19 restrictions and existing high levels of unemployment,” it said.
The deal could also impact the tripartite alliance between the ANC, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party.
BNP Paribas said that trade federation Cosatu has lost a large number of members in recent years, however, it said that the wage deal is likely to dominate the agenda.
By Staff Writer
https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/470634/strikes-start-in-joburg-and-cape-town-ahead-of-mbowenis-budget-speech/
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