Johannesburg - If trade union federation Cosatu continues in its weakened and paralysed state, it risks becoming increasingly irrelevant to a younger generation of workers who do not have a historic attachment to it, says federation general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Only victories scored for workers today – not in the past – would appeal to this new generation, Vavi told the start of a three-day national congress of the Democratic Nurses Organisation of SA (Denosa), an affiliate of Cosatu.
“Cosatu will be relevant not on the basis of a glorious history, but whether we can come to the party today,” he said.
If not, workers would start to “walk away” from the federation one by one, and then in droves.
Time was running out to stem this tide, he said, and if the “slaughtering of each other” in the embattled federation continued, there was little hope for Cosatu.
Tripartite alliance leaders called on Denosa to chart a way forward for the trade union federation, which is facing some kind of split if plans to expel the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) are successful next week.
Numsa has been called to give reasons why it should not be suspended or expelled at a special central executive committee meeting of Cosatu scheduled for next Friday.
Denosa forms part of a number of unions, including Numsa, that are taking Cosatu to court to compel it to hold a special national congress. The congress will see the election of new Cosatu leaders.
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told Denosa delegates to wake up, do their work and not look for scapegoats when searching for explanations for the divisions currently faced by Cosatu.
“Just pull (up) your socks, represent your members and do your work,” Mantashe said.
He wanted to dispel the “myth” that the ANC was a neoliberal organisation or that it wanted Cosatu to be reduced to its labour desk.
SA Commuist Party boss Blade Nzimande warned the meeting that any union that wanted to leave the tripartite alliance or Cosatu, would split or divide itself.
This would be a “wrong and infantile” route, he said.