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BL Premium reports that Wednesday’s combined strike effort by the country’s unions sent a “very strong statement” to the government and business to deal with rampant corruption in their ranks and to stem huge retrenchments in the country.
Four union federations, namely Cosatu, Fedusa, Nactu and Saftu, embarked on a one-day strike to protest against the non-implementation in April of a public sector pay increase deal, poverty, crime, inequality, corruption and unemployment. Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga commented: “We have never seen unions united like this before; they generally don’t work together. They are sending a very strong message to the ANC-led government that it has to do something about the socio-economic conditions facing the majority in this country.” Cas Coovadia of Business Unity SA (Busa) said it was too early to quantify the strike’s impact on the economy and that the country “will see what the impact has been in a few days’ time.” Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine said while there would be some negative impact on the economy, it won’t be huge. The workers marched to provincial legislatures and government departments, including the Treasury and the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), giving the government 14 days to respond to their list of demands. DEL Minister Thulas Nxesi, who received the memorandum on behalf of the government in Tshwane, said the state would come up with a “collective response within the number of days that has been suggested”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page