Don’t take workers for granted

DESPITE apartheid head of state PW Botha’s vicious and repressive reign, the racist government had never been resisted by as large and united a constituency as in the 1984-1990 period.

Much of the resistance came in the form of millions of factory and mine workers who waged determined struggles against the system.

South Africa's largest national trade union gathering took place in December 1985 when the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was founded.

Since inception, Cosatu resolved it would not focus simply on wages and working conditions. Through the stay-aways and the bitter school boycotts, trade union activism stretched the limits of the state of emergency bans on political activity.

The working class fought in all the key sites of the struggle – the workplace, the community, and the ideological terrain, among others. Hence, the democracy we enjoy today is due in no small measure to the opposition of the working class in the fight against apartheid.

Workers Day, May 1, is a public holiday in South Africa and celebrates the role played by trade unions and other parties to achieve equal employment standards for everyone.

The working class – still so deeply marginalised in South Africa – deserves respect and a greater share of the country’s social wealth – for, after all, they broke the back of apartheid but did not benefit from their own sacrifices.

This Workers’ Day, celebrations must not be limited to only achievements or successes that unions and workers have achieved over the years, but must also be used to reflect on the gaps and shortfalls in their attempts to uplift the lives of workers.

The journey of liberating workers is not near the end as unions and workers still face huge challenges of eradicating wage inequality in employment, inequality for work of equal value, the issue of safety for all workers, and ensuring there is gender parity in the workplace.

In the run-up to the May 29 elections, political parties are once again desperately selling hope, seeking to gain momentum from the disastrous failures and empty promises of the governing ANC.

However, political hopefuls must guard against making empty promises to the working class. Increasingly, ahead of elections political leaders and parties will be making pie-in-the-sky, unrealistic and unattainable promises in order to get votes. This is unethical, immoral, and irresponsible.

The best way to stop the proliferation of false promises in elections is for voters simply not to vote for political parties and leaders who failed to deliver on previous promises and statements.

The majority of voters are ordinary workers. They must not be taken for granted. Remember, it is the workers who make South Africa work.