Eastern Cape - Cosatu's national leadership should stay on, its Eastern Cape provincial executive committee (PEC) said on Tuesday.
“The PEC expressed the wish that the current leadership be retained in its entirety for the sake of unity,” the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) PEC said in a statement after a provincial conference.
The endorsement comes before Cosatu's elective conference in Midrand next week.
“The PEC noted serious challenges to Cosatu's unity and cohesion in the run-up to the congress,” it said.
It hoped that the conference would resolve to move forward in a united and principled way.
On the African National Congress succession battle, the PEC said it would defend the leadership elected at the party's previous elective conference, in Polokwane.
On last month's shooting at Lonmin's mine in Marikana, North West, in which 34 miners died, the PEC said this was a massacre rather than a tragedy.
Police conduct at the shooting was “heavy-handed”, it said.
“Police should not be used recklessly and violently to intervene in industrial disputes involving workers and bosses.”
The PEC blamed the mining industry for miners' poor working conditions and said it was employing “divide and rule” tactics to weaken organised labour.
Union leadership had to maintain its connection with members if it was to take on the challenges faced by unions and members. - Sapa