Cosatu calls on members to sideline DA

On the eve of the elections, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) said workers who vote for the Democratic Alliance (DA) will be voting against their interests, because the party has vowed to annihilate workers’ rights.

Cosatu claimed the opposition party had unashamedly “promised its funders it will stop at nothing to destroy workers’ hard-won rights”.

Cosatu said it was concerned that the Democratic Alliance had promised in its manifesto to scrap the national minimum wage. It was recently implemented following a breakthrough at the National Economic Development and Labour Council.

The minimum wage, which was set at R20 per hour or R350 per week, was championed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was Cosatu’s choice during the 2017 ANC presidential race.

According to Cosatu national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla, the DA sought to eradicate the minimum wage by allowing workers to agree to waive it when they were offered a job.

“The DA proposes that the minimum wage be reduced to the level of social grants,” Pamla said.

He said the DA’s manifesto showed the party planned to scrap all progressive labour laws, including those that protect workers from unfair dismissal or victimisation, and which guaranteed decent working conditions.

It also pledged to privatise the state-owned enterprises and retrench thousands of SOE workers.

“Their response to the looting of SOEs is to punish the workers and increase the already ballooning unemployment rate,” Pamla said.

Cosatu said only the ANC had proved to be a champion of workers’ rights.

DA national spokesperson Refiloe Nt’sekhe hit back, saying: “This is desperation from an ANC alliance that has nothing else to offer. They know they are shedding support tomorrow [Wednesday] and are resorting to desperate tactics.

“Where we govern we create more jobs than any ANC government. We grow the economy and grow investment. Year after year the DA governments creates more jobs and the DA will put a job in every home.

“Cosatu should vote for a party that creates jobs rather than a party that destroy jobs. Cosatu should vote DA.”

Adding its voice to Cosatu’s call to support the ANC, the National Union of Mineworkers Youth Structure (NUMYS) appealed to the young people in the union to vote for the ANC.

National secretary Bonginkosi Mrasi urged the youth in sectors such as mining, energy and construction, where the NUM was represented, to come out in large numbers to vote for the ANC.

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