Labour file :
WORKERS ON A GENERAL STRIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Hundreds of thousands of workers across South Africa are set to down tools on Wednesday , February 24 th as a part of the general strike called by the leftwing South African Federation of Trade Unions ( SAFTU ). With 21 affiliated unions , SAFTU represents a total of 800,000 workers in the country . Most participants in this labour action will not report to work on the day . Demonstrations will be held in major cities .
The largest of these demonstrations is expected to be in the country ’ s capital city , Cape Town . Workers here will march to the parliament where finance minister Tito Mboweni will be delivering his budget speech on that day .
The day was chosen to highlight the fact that the severe economic crisis faced by the working class is a direct result of economic policies of the government . The trade union has pointed out that only by forcing a radical reversal in policy can the workers salvage their future .
As a part of this shift , SAFTU has raised the demand for nationalization of all strategic monopoly industries , banks and mining houses to be placed under democratic worker ’ s and community control and management , and the reorganization of “ all economic life based on a democraticallyplanned economy ”.
“ Capitalism fails the working class and the poor by design ” “ Capitalism fails the working class and the poor , not by default , but by design . It flourishes when there is a reserve army of unemployed labour , when there is discord and disunity among the working class and the poor , and the state takes
16 the capital ’ s side to increase exploitation and undermine civil liberties .” Read SAFTU ’ s statement on the strike .
Taking undue advantage of the pandemic , the employers in private and state-owned industries have resorted to mass retrenchments , many of which were planned months before the newCOVID-19 strain was even discovered .
About 2.2 million jobs were lost during the pandemic and the total number of people categorized as “ economically inactive ” has exceeded 5 million . Existing jobs are becoming increasingly precarious because of outsourcing and zero-hours contracts .
“ As workers struggle against these attacks , their chief defensive weapon , the trade unions , are under attack from bosses , using laws passed recently by the ANC government which make it almost impossible for workers to exercise their constitutional right to strike and to picket ,” SAFTU ’ s statement added , demanding a repeal of the “ pro-capitalist amendments to strike balloting and picketing rules .”
A moratorium on all job losses , a “ Basic Income Grant of Rs 1,500 ” and a living minimum wage of at least Rs 12,500 ( USD $ 854 ), are among the immediate demands to arrest the further deepening of the livelihood crisis and to provide a minimal cushion for the masses who have already lost their livelihoods .
SAFTU has demanded that the wages , bonuses and other benefits of the bosses must be cut and a wealth tax of 50 % must be re-imposed , as a part of measures to raise the finances needed for the economic revival . The narrative that we are all in this together ,’ which the elite tried to popularize during the pandemic , is bogus , insisted SAFTU ’ s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi , at a press briefing last week .
Rather than bringing the cross-section of South Africans together , he said , the “ pandemic divided us further in what is already the world ’ s most unequal country . Rich capitalists have gotten richer while the working class is now much poorer . It is time to fight back . We must take the battle for our jobs , livelihoods and democratic rights to the streets .” TOWARDS A ‘ GREEN NEW DEAL ’ CONTROLLED AND LED BY WORKERS
While demanding for the urgent development of ‘ Green New Deal ’ to rapidly reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and methane gas , SAFTU has emphasized the need for a “ just transition with mass job creation ... protecting the interests of workers in the energy , mining , smelting , automotive and related industries , in CO2 / methane-intensive agriculture , in tourism , and in working-class communities that had become dependent upon the high-carbon economy .”
The renewable energy sector , it added , “ should not be privatized but placed under the ownership , control and management of the working class and communities , while preserving and creating jobs ”. The government , on the other hand , has been using the climate crisis as an opportunity to shed jobs in state-owned industries and privatize the energy producers like Eskom .
Class Struggle