Cosatu ‘not making any unreasonable demands’

THOUSANDS of Cosatu members in the rest of the country took part in a mass strike action yesterday to vent their frustrations over job losses, unemployment and Eskom’s woes.

“Our strike countrywide is not making any unreasonable demands: it can’t be unreasonable to fight for your job, it can’t be unreasonable to say, as a country, let’s come up with ideas to create more jobs.

“None of our demands are unreasonable. We cannot allow ourselves to sit back and be retrenched,” said Cosatu’s deputy president, Mike Shingange.

Cosatu was against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent announcement to split Eskom into three separate entities to deal with generation, transmission and distribution.

The trade union also wanted government to act against the high unemployment rate, which stands at 27.1%.

Cosatu affiliates, including the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union and Police and Prisons Civil Rights’ Union, had thrown their weight behind the strike in all provinces, except in the Western Cape.

Cosatu Western Cape Provincial Secretary Malvern de Bruyn said that they were expecting 10000 people at their next march, which is expected to take place next Tuesday.

“Our plan is to continue our call for government to reduce VAT. We have 14 trade unions affiliated with Cosatu and they will also be participating in the march,” De Bruyn said.

He added that they would also be handing over a memorandum to national government when Finance Minister Tito Mboweni was expected to deliver the budget speech.

Cosatu’s march came just a few days after Statistics SA released data that showed the unemployment rate had dropped slightly to 27.1% for the fourth quarter of 2018.

According to Statistics SA, this meant that 6.1 million people were now without work, down from 6.2 million in the third quarter.

The number of employed people increased in six of the 10 industries, with the largest increases recorded in finance and other business services.

Statistics SA recorded employment declines in community, transport and construction industries.

Labour analyst Michael Bagraim said that the next strike would come at a bad time for the economy.

“Clearly, the march won’t achieve anything and I do understand their plea, but by marching and taking a day off work disrupts the economy and cripples it even further, and South Africans feel helpless,” Bagraim said.

He added that, come Tuesday, when Cosatu embarked on their strike outside Parliament, government would have no choice but to listen to them.

“Cosatu is a big player and they (government) must listen to them because they could have massive influence on voters, especially as we go into elections,” he said.