By Norm Dixon
More than 2 million South African workers participated in a general strike on June 2 in support of demands for better conditions of employment. The strike was called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and supported by the smaller National Council of Trade Unions.
Workers are demanding that the ANC government's draft Basic Conditions of Employment Act include provisions for a 40-hour week within five years, six months' paid maternity leave, the elimination of clauses permitting "downward variations" in conditions after agreement between employers and unions, and discretionary powers for the minister of employment to grant exemptions and vary conditions for particular industries.
COSATU is also opposed to Sunday work being regarded as a "normal" work day and wants 16 years to be set as the threshold for the definition of child labour.
The draft provides for a 45-hour working week, four months' unpaid maternity leave and a minimum working age of 15.
Marches and rallies were held in all major towns and cities. COSATU estimated that 250,000 workers took part.
Thousands of workers blocked the streets in front of parliament in Cape Town. COSATU national vice president Connie September told the Cape Town rally that a campaign of rolling mass action would begin if its demands for greater worker rights to be entrenched in the planned legislation were not met by June 24. South African Communist Party Western Cape general secretary Philip Dexter told the rally that the SACP unequivocally supported the workers.
In Johannesburg, 20,000 rallied outside the offices of Business South Africa, the peak employer body. COSATU secretary-general Sam Shilowa called on big business to agree to a 40-hour week or face further mass action. Five thousand rallied outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
Workers also took the opportunity to protest against other policies of the ANC government. A South African Municipal Workers Union spokesperson said: "Most SAMWU members are on strike, and we are very concerned about the issues of privatisation in local authorities which will jeopardise the future employment prospects of our members."
On June 1, COSATU spokesperson Neil Coleman said the strike was also a protest against the government's conservative economic policy, known as the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy.
"To the extent that the Basic Conditions of Employment Act is based on the prescriptions of GEAR — to undermine protection of the vulnerable, rather than extending them basic rights — then I suppose our strike is also against GEAR", Coleman said.
GEAR represents a fundamental shift in economic policy from that outlined in the ANC's election policy, the Reconstruction and Development Program, he added.