The Congress of South African Trade Unions is horrified at the revelation that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2009, even worse than the drop of 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

This means we are now officially deep in a recession, the first time this has happened in 17 years. And the fall is even bigger that the -0.7% to -5.2%  that the so-called ‘experts' predicted.

This proves that South Africa has indeed not escaped from the global downturn and the implications are frightening for jobs, living standards and economic growth.

This is a massive national crisis which requires an immediate response from government, labour and business to defend our jobs and livelihoods. The most urgent measure must include:

• The rapid implementation of all the measures contained in the Framework Agreement adopted by the Presidential Joint Economic Working Group in December 2008, which rightly prioritised the avoidance of retrenchments;
• An immediate cut in the repo rate of at least 200 base points to stimulate investment and demand;
• Emergency measures to protect the most vulnerable industries;
• A shift by the new government to more expansionary economic policies, including a radically expanded public works programme to provide work for the growing number of unemployed.

Statement issued by Patrick Craven, national spokesperson of COSATU, May 26 2009

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