Tomorrow's national strike a 'low blow' to economy

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The two largest South African trade union federations, Cosatu (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and Saftu (South African Federation of Trade Unions), are gearing up for a national strike tomorrow, Wednesday 24 August, to highlight the country's socio-economic conditions.

They are calling on all non-essential workers to stay away from work. Protest action is planned in most provinces, with Pretoria and Cape Town expected to be most affected by demonstrations.

In George and other towns within the Southern Cape, residents are holding their breath to see whether the area will be affected, and if, how much.

George Herald is awaiting feedback on the matter.

Dr Willie Cilliers, chairperson of the George Business Chamber, said a nationwide strike will be extremely disruptive and very bad for the economy. “We already have a declining economy and really cannot afford such a strike.”

The strike is legally protected, but only for non-essential workers. Eskom employees have been warned that they are considered essential workers.

Economist Roelof Botha told Netwerk24 that the planned strike is economic insanity and if it leads to a 10% decline in productivity, the country could suffer an economic loss of R1,7-billion. He said this is enough to pay a Covid-allowance to 400 000 jobless people for an entire year.

Cosatu maintains the reason for the strike is to place pressure on the government and the private sector to rectify socio-economic challenges. It is a call for government to intervene in the cost-of-living crisis through a thorough examination of the Public Investment Cooperation (PIC) and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

Cosatu's deputy parliamentary coordinator Matthew Parks said on eNCA yesterday, 22 August, that there are significant gaps in the pay-out of funding that was meant to benefit workers during the pandemic.

He said over the two-year course of Covid-19, an amount of R64-billion was released from the UIF to benefit 5,5 million workers in the private sector, but that there were many problems with pay-outs, including fraud and corruption where employers deducted funds from workers, allegedly to pay the UIF, but didn't do so.

He said many workers received no benefits, such as domestic workers who work for more than one employer, as well as artists and musicians who are self-employed and work one night a week.

Cosatu is looking for "pro worker type of interventions" and will have robust discussions at its congress in September.

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