Vavi in urgent call for workers’ party
THE debate about forming a workers’ party to unite the left political formations and progressive civil society cannot be postponed‚ SA Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said at the weekend.
Addressing the congress of the Transport Action Retail and General Workers Union (THOR) in Durban‚ Vavi said: “The ANC‚ not Zuma or Ramaphosa‚ has worsened the material conditions of the working class to pauper status.
“This is the second most important struggle‚ which cannot be separated from the struggle to rebuild trade unions and civil society formations.
“In my personal view the debate about forming a workers’ party cannot be postponed‚ lest we remain in this worsening situation for many more decades to come‚” Vavi said.
He said Saftu needed to unite with all progressive unions inside and outside the federation‚ including civil society, to call for the withdrawal of the VAT increase.
“A series of general strikes to force a reversal of this assault on the living standards of the poor must be coordinated as a working-class response.”
Vavi said a general strike should also be called to reverse the “Nedlac sell-out agreement that imposes a R20-an-hour national minimum wage but [only] R18 for farm workers‚ R15 for domestics and R11 for the Extended Public Works Programme”.
“The Labour Law amendments also attack our hard-won right to strike.”
He also urged a series of demonstrations to demand a “people’s budget” that would prioritise decent jobs‚ reindustrialisation and nationalisation of mineral resources to release resources needed to provide free education and healthcare‚ wealth and solidarity tax.
He also called for “reversal of the past two decades of slashing corporate taxes‚ measures to stop the illicit cash outflows and trade transfers [and] measures to end government wastages including cutting the size of the executive by two thirds”.
“We must unite against the onslaught on the poor.” –