POLOKWANE – This was announced at the recent launch of the Young Workers Forum (YWF) by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Cosatu Provincial Secretary, Gerald Twala, said the forum would serve as a platform which would allow young workers an opportunity to voice their own issues and prepare them for future leadership positions in the federation.
“We want to educate them on how far we’ve come and remind them why it is important to respect those in leadership positions,” said Twala.
He further said Cosatu was restructuring and Limpopo was the first province where the forum would be inducted.
Twala explained the federation was mandated by the 11th national congress that took place in 2012 to establish a wing that comprised of young people to assist in achieving its millennium goal of recruiting up to 4 million members.
“We believe that this structure will also assist in developing new ideas and to challenge policies that are anti-youth such as the ‘last in first out’ labour relations act and other policies that discriminate against young people in the workplace,” he said.
Cosatu Provincial Chairperson, Essob Mokgonyane, said the youth should be happy with their jobs and their working environments because their predecessors were not as fortunate.
“The importance of youth formations in our country cannot be undermined or ignored.
“These formations have created a platform for young people to have their say in relation to their immediate socio-economic needs,” Mokgonyane explained.