Cosatu marches against retrenchments
HUNDREDS of Cosatu members took to the streets of Cape Town yesterday, marching against job losses ahead of today’s Budget Speech.
Last Wednesday, thousands of workers from different spheres of the public and private sector took to the streets in eight provinces to call on the government to account for job losses. Western Cape unions decided not to march.
Cosatu Western Cape Provincial Secretary Malvern de Bruyn, said they decided to march yesterday to coincide with the Budget Speech of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. “By so doing, this will have maximum impact due to the media attention on the Budget Speech.”
Cosatu’s deputy president, Mike Shingange, said they have engaged with government departments, business and social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) on the economic crises, state capture and corruption that have led to job losses and unemployment in South Africa.
He said they approached Nedlac through a section 77(1) (b) notice as part of their commitment to look for an amicable solution, “but we reached a deadlock on this matter forcing us into a route of confrontation with business and government as well as other employers”, Shingange said.
Addressing members, Shingange said they believe that the labour movement must develop ways of contesting retrenchments at an economy-wide level, saying it is impossible to fight the retrenchment crisis effectively at a workplace level.
Among their demands is a shift towards a labour-absorbing growth path and interventions that place the creation of decent jobs at the centre of economic policy instead of relegating them to “trickle down” effect.
Shingange said they demand that the Budget create conducive conditions for the growth of the small and medium enterprises sector, which targets local markets and absorbs local labour.
“The president and the minister of finance need to reflect on the devastating effect that the VAT increase has had on poor households and low-income earners,” Shingange said.
There needs to be a reverse of the VAT hike, a wealth tax should be announced and also an increase in corporate tax back to the 1998 levels of 35%. |