Workers’ struggle continues
He also called on government to do all in its power to retrieve the bodies of three Lily Mine workers who were buried alive when a container they were in plunged into a sinkhole in February 2016.
In commemorating international Workers’ Day in Mbombela, the first deputy president of Cosatu, Mike Shingange, said the union is calling for danger insurance for workers who die in the line of duty, remarking on the need for safe working environments, especially in the mines.
We refuse to allow business as usual when some of our comrades are still buried and their families have not found closure about their loved ones. We demand that every effort must be done to make sure the bodies are exhumed and remains returned to their loved ones so that indeed the workers can go on with their lives and as well as their families,” said Shingange. “That is what we are commemorating today here in Mpumalanga.”
Shingange says workers must unite and build the organisation on the ground to bring power of collective bargaining. “We are standing here recommitting to reaffirm the power of collective bargaining, which is under threat in this country,” he said.
“The challenge we have, as Cosatu, is to continue to serve and defend vulnerable workers in the farming and retail industry.” Shingange says it is important for the ANC to win the elections so that it can ignite laws and acts that will manage capitals not to exploit workers. “There is too much corruption in the private sector that goes unpunished. We demand a punishment that will be harsher and act as a deterrent for private sector corruption,” he said. He added that ministers should not lie about the public servant wage bill, saying it is so high while evidence shows it at 35 percent; an internationally accepted standard.
“We are a federation that is persuading a war of class struggle. Our struggle is not only the economic struggle, it is a class struggle, and at the end of the day we must reach a point where workers are not exploited. That is why we will continue to fight and challenge the oppressive laws on private sector even in government,” he says. He also called on government to bring up the moratorium issue in the Mpumalanga Legislature.
He adds that workers need an affordable transport system and demanded the banning of tollgates fees on N4 Toll road. A memorandum of the workers’ demands was handed to the premier of the province, Ms Refilwe Mtshweni.
