Hundreds of Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) members in KwaZulu-Natal have gathered today in Dales Park, Pietermaritzburg ahead of their march to the city centre.
The members have heeded the call to take part in Cosatu’s national strike. Cosatu is holding a “national day of action” with marches across the country.
It coincides with the Global Day of Decent Work which is observed worldwide.
As part of their demands, Cosatu is demanding that government and the private sector deal with the ailing economy and provide job opportunities in order to address the sharp rise of unemployment in the country.
It also wants the government to urgently address corruption and stop the attack on collective bargaining agreements.
In KwaZulu-Natal, two marches will be held today, in Pietermaritzburg and Dundee, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
On Tuesday, IOL reported that Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said that today’s strike was legally protected and was focused on pushing both the government and the private sector to take seriously the issues that were affecting workers and South Africans in general.
“We shall be demanding urgent action from policymakers in government and decision-makers in the private sector to stop the attacks that are directed at workers. Both the public and the private sector have been blatantly undermining collective bargaining,” he said.
THE MERCURY