Johannesburg - A new labour federation is embarking on mass recruitment and job campaigns in order to attract members among the 76 percent of South African workers who are not organised in unions.
In order to attract members, the steering committee of the federation, which will be launched by next year, will focus on issues they believe their competition has dealt with poorly.
They include demanding a living wage from employers and changing ownership patterns of the economy.
The new federation initiative is backed by the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa), the country’s largest union with 380 000 members.
Among 52 other unions to express interest has been Amcu ( Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union), the militant mineworkers union.
Numsa and Amcu are the country’s fastest-growing unions, at a time when most of their counterparts are losing members through retrenchment and splinters.
The steering committee of the new federation said the campaigns would involve mass organisation in the workplace and communities and would focus on 16 key demands.
“Unemployment has now reached breaking point at 8.9 million of the adult population. The figures speak for themselves, we are witnessing nothing less than a jobs bloodbath,” axed Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said in Joburg yesterday.
Vavi is heading the steering committee.
The campaigns would also call for a government that was not ridden with conflicting interests, the said.
They would also demand a revamped education system that would introduce mass teacher-training programmes in critical areas across the country.
“The new federation will demand free and funded education through community service in state programmes,” Vavi said.
He said youth involvement in the federation was crucial in discussions on job-creation programmes. “Our young people, in particular, are faced with a reality that does not allow for hope.”
The committee said it would also push for retirement funds to be consolidated and the creation of a central retirement fund investment vehicle in the private sector.
Vavi said that so far 53 unions had committed themselves to the new federation. “The campaigns for jobs will help unite all these into a single movement that will take our demands to the captains of commerce and industry and the alliance government.
“The working class may not be at its strongest at this point... but we're convinced a decisive shift can be made.”
THE STAR