Numsa restates R3 500 rejection

THE NATIONAL Union of Metalworks (Numsa) yesterday reiterated its rejection for the proposed national minimum wage and also said that it did not support the endorsement of deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa as the next president of the ANC.

In a fiery media briefing in Johannesburg, ahead of its 10th national congress, general secretary Irvin Jim said Numsa was concerned about the country’s grotesque level of inequality. Numsa was expelled from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) after clashes about policy and ideological trajectory of the tripartite alliance.

Jim said next weeks congress would be an historic opportunity for Numsa members to launch a counter-offensive and to fight for a living minimum wage. He said workers would oppose any limitation on the right of workers to strike, take forward the campaign for a new workers’ federation and proclaim the birth of the new revolutionary workers’ party.

“The Cosatu leadership has colluded with the ANC neo-liberal government around the national minimum wage. Numsa regards Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposal for R3 500 a month as a legitimisation of slavery wages, which would leave millions in poverty, but safeguard the interests of the exploiting capitalist class,” Jim said.

“The pathetic proposed R3 500 minimum wage will do virtually nothing to improve this lack of income for millions of South Africans, especially in those households where nobody has a job.

“An inevitable consequence of these levels of unemployment is that employed workers will have more unemployed family members to support from their meagre wages.”

Jim also said that Numsa would not be campaigning for President Jacob Zuma to resign. He said the union had already made this call three years ago because of the Zuma administration’s pursuit of neo-liberal policies such as the National Development Plan, e-tolls, labour brokers, and the youth wage subsidy.

Numsa will be holding its 10th National Congress from December 12 to 15 in Cape Town. – ANA