SOUTH AFRICA: General strike against job losses

Wednesday, July 6, 2005 - 10:00

Norm Dixon

@into = Two million South African workers went on strike and hundreds of thousands marched in protest at continuing job losses and poverty in a national strike called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on June 27.

"We are here to protest the thousands of jobs lost and the slow decline in the core of our economy; we are here to demand a development strategy to ensure that growth in the economy benefits all our people, creating jobs and overcoming poverty on a massive scale", Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU general secretary told workers rallying in Johannesburg.

COSATU spokesperson Paul Notyhawa said almost the entire mining industry was shut down for the day, while more than 86% of workers in the textile and clothing manufacturing sector had stayed away from work. The car and metal industries were also severely affected, as were large retails shops. COSATU estimated that 100,000 people joined the Johannesburg march and 60,000 protested in Cape Town. A total of 500,000 protested in 20 marches countrywide.

COSATU demands included the devaluation of South Africa's currency, more local investment by South Africa's mining companies, that the government buy more South African goods, that retailers stock 75% local goods, that the African National Congress government "do more to assist businesses to avoid job losses" and equal industrial rights for subcontracted, casual and temporary workers.

According to Vavi, "Two out of five workers cannot find paid jobs — twice as many as 10 years ago. ... For every worker who loses his or her job, five to 10 people suffer impoverishment and hunger."

One in four South Africans in the formal sector and two-thirds of the workers engaged in informal, domestic and agricultural work still earn less than US $150 a month, he added. Official figures put unemployment at 30.5% or 4.8 million people, but COSATU and independent researchers estimate it as above 40%. COSATU's membership has declined by 200,000 due to sackings, to 1.7 million.

From Green Left Weekly, July 6, 2005.

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