Minimum wage on the agenda
THE ANC and its allies Cosatu and the SACP yesterday descended on the volatile Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape and used May Day celebrations to ratchet up efforts to regain control of the crucial metro.
President Cyril Ramaphosa – who addressed a Workers’ Day rally for the first time since taking over as head of the ANC – Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande all led their alliance components in Port Elizabeth, where the trade union federation held its main rally at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Kwazakhele.
The ANC was dislodged from the municipality in the 2016 local elections and the DA has since been in charge. Despite failed attempts at removing executive mayor Athol Trollip through motions of no confidence by the EFF – backed by the ANC and other parties – the ANC has not stopped trying to wrest back control of the metro.
Yesterday, Dlamini tore into the DA, saying the May Day event was the beginning of a process aimed at ousting the party from power in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“We came here to say to the DA and Trollip, here in Nelson Mandela Bay your days are numbered. This is the beginning of a programme. If you expect that we shall not be coming back here, when you are treating Samwu (SA Municipal Workers’ Union) members and the rest of the workers the way you are.
“We are going to come into this municipality. If you don’t want to move out, as workers we are going to move you out by force. Your days are numbered here. It is the ANC that is in charge here in the Eastern Cape, there can’t be a playing ground here in Nelson Mandela Bay,” Dlamini said.
Most of yesterday’s political talk centred on the national minimum wage, and Ramaphosa used his address to again warn those who rejected it.
The National Minimum Wage Bill was backed by Cosatu and the Fedusa and Nactu union federations at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), setting a minimum wage at R3 500 per month or R20 an hour. It was set to come into effect yesterday but was postponed.
The EFF, and trade union federation Saftu and its biggest affiliate Numsa, have been the biggest critics of the National Minimum Wage Bill, and have rejected it.
Last week, Saftu held a massive national strike, calling for a R12 500 living wage instead, as demanded by the Marikana workers who were gunned down by police in 2012.
Ramaphosa said introducing a living wage in the short term would be disastrous for the country’s economy as half of the people would have lost their jobs.
“Yes, we want workers to get that type of wage, but at the same time, many workers in our country would have lost their jobs and many companies would have closed. Even those who employ domestic workers would have said they cannot afford to pay them. We had to balance between losing millions of jobs and establishing a firm base and a foundation for us to continue waging the struggle for achieving a living wage. That is what we chose,” Ramaphosa said.
Nzimande slammed those who rejected the minimum wage, calling them “infantile and ultra-left”.
With Cosatu’s main rival Saftu holding its rally in the same metro, Dlamini took a swipe at the federation for accusing it of lying.
“Cosatu remains a formidable force representing the voiceless, the workers. No one will take that away. So I don’t mind about liars. I am not going to spend my breath trying to correct liars. All I want to say is that let us keep going on. Let us stay focused. No one is going to distort history here by saying that Elijah Barayi’s federation, Cosatu, is dying. Cosatu is not dying,” Dlamini said.
Outspoken Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim lashed out at the Cosatu leadership. “Let us make it clear that we have no agenda to fight with workers in Cosatu. Those workers are just unfortunate. They now have a bunch of inferior leadership in positions,” he said.
“One of the things that Cosatu has lost, unfortunately, is the industrial proletariat, all the workers who stand to benefit from the national minimum wage we are demanding, Fedusa cannot speak for them; Cosatu cannot speak for them,” Jim said.