Cosatu stages nationwide marches over jobs, wages and cost of living

Cosatu will stage marches and pickets across South Africa on Wednesday, October 7 to press demands on job losses, wages and the rising cost of living.

Nationwide action timed to global day for decent work

The federation said the nationwide protest is timed to coincide with the World Day for Decent Work, an annual observance focused on fair wages, secure employment and better working conditions.

Major actions and targeted sites

Cosatu is planning major actions in Johannesburg and Tshwane, where the federation will target Massmart over the dismissal of nearly 600 Makro workers and will deliver memorandums to the company.

Other planned actions include:

• Marches by Cosatu and affiliate SACCAWU to Sun City in the North West and GrandWest Casino in Cape Town over planned retrenchments by Sun International.
• A lunchtime demonstration at Jumbo Stores in Polokwane, Limpopo, focused on the rising cost of living, electricity prices, minimum-wage compliance and alleged unfair labour practices.
• A provincial march in Bloemfontein, Free State, with memorandums to be handed to government departments and companies.
• Affiliate union actions in KwaZulu-Natal, Richards Bay and Mpumalanga.

Union-specific actions

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will hold a picket at Richards Bay Minerals, where workers will hand over a memorandum outlining workplace grievances. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) will march in Durban, while SACCAWU will stage workplace pickets in several KwaZulu-Natal towns. In Mpumalanga, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) will hold municipal pickets addressing socio-economic and labour challenges in local government.

National demands and legal protection

Among its national demands, Cosatu is calling for stronger enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and the appointment of 10,000 additional labour inspectors. The federation is also raising concerns about retrenchments, casualisation, collective bargaining, social protection and the rising cost of living.

The protected action is scheduled to take place from about 9am to 4.30pm and is protected under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act.

What organisers say the protests aim to achieve

Cosatu framed the marches and pickets as a nationwide effort to highlight what it calls job losses, rising living costs and attacks on workers’ rights, and to press employers and government for concrete responses to those problems.