COSATU post-national strike statement
8 October 2020
The Congress of South African Trade Unions salutes and congratulates the thousands of workers, who joined COSATU’s National Strike all across the country. Thousands of workers participated in COSATU National Strike activities all across the country.
We are happy with with the overall turnout and we congratulate the workers for behaving well during the strike. The federation has once again reaffirmed its commitment to one of its core founding principles of uniting the working class. We continue to be preoccupied with the immediate concerns of workers and also remain a social force for transformation.
We thank all labour organisations and civil society organisations who offered solidarity and support to our strike. The unity of the workers and the working class, in general, is paramount because the battles ahead are going to be hard and bitter.
Only when the labour movement is strong can it reverse the setbacks that workers are currently experiencing. We remain at the forefront of workers’ struggles. We remain of the firm view, that factory-based struggles cannot be divorced from societal struggles.
COSATU and its affiliated unions will redouble the efforts to pushback against an intransigent state over the next coming months. This is only the beginning of a long struggle that we cannot afford to lose.
Our unemployment statistics are shocking and we need to push back against the opportunism that we are seeing from both government and private sector. The COVID-19 virus cannot be used to decimate jobs and people’s livelihoods. We cannot allow the reckless introduction of mechanisation and automation.
We have to fight back against technological ‘solutions’ that are imposed with no regard for the domestic economy and that ultimately brings misery to the majority.
We have no other choice but to force President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration to adopt a radical shift in the government’s fiscal and monetary policy in line with ANC policy to promote job creation.
We also want to see the administration implementing the ANC commitment to “ensure efficient functioning of all anti-corruption structures and systems including whistle-blowing, blacklisting of corrupt companies, implementation of laws to ensure exposure of, and action against, private sector corruption, and quicker processes to deal with any corrupt civil servants and public officials”.
The president needs to ensure that law enforcement agencies lead the fight to rid the country of the cancer of corruption, price-fixing and tender abuse,
We are comforted by the President’s reassurance that we are not going to drop our guard in the battle against crime and corruption but we need to see more action.
Issued by Sizwe Pamla, Cosatu National Spokesperson, 8 October 2020
