Taking COSATU Today Forward, 25 June 2025 #NUMCongress2025
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #NUM’s 18th elective National Congress is in session at Boksburg #NUMCongress2025 #CosatuCallCentre number is 010 022 2590 #DecentWork #DecentLives #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward
‘Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense’-Maoo
Our side of the story
25 June 2025
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Interruption of Services at the Department of Employment and Labour’s Klerksdorp Office
- South Africa
- SADTU’s reaction to the signing of the school safety protocol between the DBE and SAPS
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- How Next abandons its workers
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Interruption of Services at the Department of Employment and Labour’s Klerksdorp Office
24 June 2025
The Department of Employment and Labour wishes to inform the public about the temporary interruption of services at its Klerksdorp office, located in the North West province. This interruption is due to the ongoing issues with the PC Pelser Building, which has been prohibited from use since January 2024 due to non-compliance with Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislation and compromised structural integrity.
The Klerksdorp office has been operating from the City of Matlosana Local Municipality premises since the prohibition of the PC Pelser Building. However, this temporary accommodation has not met the required standards, prompting the Department to prioritise the health and well-being of its officials and clients.
The Department acknowledges that the current situation has negatively impacted service delivery. The Department is unable to provide its full range of services due to the inaccessibility of the building.
To mitigate the impact, the Department has implemented several measures. The Department will utilise mobile offices (buses) and conduct outreach campaigns to continue service delivery. A satellite office has been secured in Wolmaransstad, which will operate five days a week starting from 17 June 2025, (07h30-16h00).
The Department's Potchefstroom office will receive additional personnel to handle the increased demand resulting from the temporary suspension of services at the Klerksdorp office. These outreach campaigns will be rolled out throughout the district, with schedules shared in advance to notify clients of upcoming visits.
The Department appeals to clients for patience as it actively investigates long-term sustainable solutions to ensure uninterrupted service delivery. Clients who can visit other nearby Labour Centres, such as those in Potchefstroom and Lichtenburg, are encouraged to do so.
The Department, in collaboration with other stakeholders, is committed to resolving the issues with the PC Pelser Building to restore normal operations as soon as possible.
For media inquiries, kindly contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
SADTU’s reaction to the signing of the school safety protocol between the DBE and SAPS
24 June 2025
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) notes the signing of the Collaborative Implementation Protocol between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) on school safety as one of the initiatives aimed at strengthening safety and security in our schools.
While we acknowledge this renewed commitment, we wish to emphasise that such a partnership is not new. The first protocol between the DBE and SAPS was signed in 2011 and has been implemented in the Basic Education sector since 2015. It successfully established collaborative frameworks across all nine provinces and ensured that every school was linked to a local police station. In addition, Provincial Education Departments set up Safe School Committees to drive crime prevention programmes.
This latest initiative aligns with SADTU’s I Am a School Fan campaign, which seeks to ensure safety and security in schools. The campaign recognises that creating safe learning environments is not the sole responsibility of government, but a collective duty that requires the active participation of all stakeholders — including government departments, educators, learners, parents, communities, faith-based organisations, businesses, and civil society.
We note the prioritisation of hotspot provinces — KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and Gauteng — but urge that equal attention be given to all provinces. Violent incidents also occur in areas where they may go unreported due to the limited presence or accessibility of police services.
We hope the signing of this Protocol will not only reaffirm previous efforts but lead to more effective and consistent implementation. Numerous plans and policies already exist to address school safety, yet violence continues to plague our learning institutions.
Our goal remains clear, we want schools to become safe havens for teaching and learning — environments where learners, educators, and education support personnel can thrive without fear.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Secretariat
International-Solidarity
How Next abandons its workers
24 June, 2025
Next is proving not to live up to its fundamental promises when it comes to workers’ rights. From refusing to sign a landmark agreement to improve wages in Cambodia, to abandoning Sri Lankan workers by text and continuing business in Myanmar despite documented risks of grave human rights abuses under the military junta, Next consistently puts profit over people. Even its UK retail staff are denied a living wage, dismissed as “not breadwinners” by the company’s CEO.
Last year, manufacturers, brands and trade unions in Cambodia agreed on the first supply-chain supported collective bargaining agreements (ACT for Cambodia). They have jointly developed a supply chain industrial relations framework to improve wages, strengthen industrial relations and foster a stable and competitive industry. While UK brands, such as Asos, Tesco, New Look and Primark have all signed the legally binding support agreement, ACT member Next has refused despite the call from Cambodian workers and their unions to do so.
By not signing, Next has decided to deny these workers, mostly women in the more than 50 factories that supply Next, decent wages and better benefits. Next also refuses to commit to a living wage for its 40,000 retail staff in the UK, with Next CEO Lord Simon Wolfson saying at the company’s AGM on 15 May that the “demographic” of his workforce - mostly women and young people – meant that their jobs are only "supplementary income" as they are not breadwinners.
Next’s most recent corporate responsibility report states that “protecting the safety, human rights and wellbeing of workers in our supply chain is fundamental.” However, the company’s actions in Myanmar, Cambodia and Sri Lanka show that it is severely failing the many thousands of workers in its production supply chain.
In May this year, Next shut a factory in a free trade zone in Sri Lanka, a wholly owned subsidiary, underscoring the company’s complete lack of respect for workers. More than 1,400 workers were informed that they were made redundant via text message and locked out of their workplace. Workers, some of whom were loyal workers for over three decades, were cast aside without formal negotiations with their trade union, FTZ.
IndustriALL filed an OECD complaint against Next in November 2024, due to its decision to continue sourcing from Myanmar despite
an ILO Commission of Inquiry finding forced labour and freedom of association violations in the country, and documented violations in Next supplier factories. The case is currently being considered by the UK NCP.
On 5 June, the International Labour Conference of the ILO voted to invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution. Article 33 is
the highest sanction in the ILO, and has only been invoked three times in the organisation’s history.
The Article 33 resolution calls on representatives of employers, governments and workers to work together to “to disable all means that have abetted or empowered the perpetuation of the above-mentioned egregious violations” through ending financial flows, business relations, imposing sanctions and other means. There is global consensus on the seriousness of the situation in Myanmar, and the need for coordinated action to isolate the regime financially and politically.
Says IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie:
“Next’s actions to cast aside international labour standard and due diligence obligations in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia makes its CSR reporting a pure whitewashing exercise. Participating in the ACT negotiations for eight years only to refuse to shoulder the responsibility that comes with it is unacceptable.”
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348