Cosatu Takes To The Streets Over Job Losses, PPE Corruption And Public Sector Wages

THEBE MABANGA

SOUTH African workers are set to show their muscle, virtually by staying away from work on Wednesday.

In a remarkable display of worker unity, the strike was called by the Congress of South African Unions (Cosatu) and supported by the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU).

The stay away has been called to protests a range of issues including retrenchments, gender-based violence (GBV), but most notably government’s plans to cut the public sector wage bill and reneging on implementing this year’s increase from the multi-year wage agreement.

It is interesting that workers organised in the private sector are being called upon to support public service workers and raises the question of whether the same will happen when private sector workers face retrenchments as they did even before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Sector Wage Bill presents a conundrum for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has to