Taking COSATU Today Forward, 10 June 2026 #CosatuNationalActionAgainstCostofLiving
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #COSATU set to launch the Cost of Living Campaign this month, on the 19th June… #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving #ILC2026 #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #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
10 June 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand respect for labour rights Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Media Alert: COSATU will present its submission on the Budget's Appropriation Bill to Parliament 10 June 2026
- COSATU Gauteng praises Executive Mayor Dada Morero for defending collective bargaining and workers’ rights
- NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
- South Africa
- COSATU's remains deeply unimpressed with the latest GDP growth figures
- The Minerals Council South Africa will engage the government on its Industrial Development Strategy 2026
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Solidarity with the 24-hour strike in railways in France
- World Day Against Child Labour: Time for action, not empty statements
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
Media Alert: COSATU will present its submission on the Budget's Appropriation Bill to Parliament 10 June 2026
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 09 June 2026
Media Alert: COSATU will present its submission on the Appropriation Bill (2026/27 Budget allocations to departments and state-owned enterprises) to Parliament’s Select Committee: Appropriations from 0900 Wednesday 10 June (virtual platform).
Issued by COSATU
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COSATU Gauteng praises Executive Mayor Dada Morero for defending collective bargaining and workers’ rights
Louisah Moepeng Modikwe, COSATU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 09 June 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) Gauteng commends the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, for firmly defending the municipal wage agreement before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).
As COSATU Gauteng, we welcome Mayor Morero’s principled position in defending the more than R10 billion municipal wage increase, recognizing that collective bargaining remains a cornerstone of labour relations and social justice in South Africa. Wage agreements negotiated in good faith between employers and organised labour cannot be selectively undermined when workers have already honored their responsibilities in maintaining service delivery under difficult economic conditions.
Municipal workers are the backbone of local government. They ensure communities receive essential services including water, sanitation, electricity maintenance, waste removal, emergency services, and infrastructure support. Defending fair wage agreements is not merely about salaries; it is about preserving dignity, improving morale, retaining skilled personnel, and ensuring municipalities function effectively for the benefit of residents.
COSATU Gauteng further notes Mayor Morero’s position that the wage increase is necessary for a functioning city. We agree that stable labour relations and respecting negotiated agreements are essential to building an efficient and developmental state capable of responding to the needs of working-class communities.
Attempts to criminalise or unfairly attack collective bargaining processes risk weakening labour stability and undermining confidence in legally negotiated agreements. Parties to bargaining structures must respect outcomes reached through lawful negotiation processes.
We call on all spheres of government to protect collective bargaining, strengthen worker participation, and focus attention on improving governance, rooting out corruption, and ensuring public resources are directed towards quality service delivery while respecting workers’ rights.
COSATU Gauteng stands firmly with municipal workers and the principle that agreements reached through collective bargaining must be honored and defended.
Issued by COSATU Gauteng Province
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NEHAWU to convene its 13th National Congress
Lwazi Nkolonzi, NEHAWU National Spokesperson, June 08, 2026
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] will hold its 13th National Congress at the Birchwood Hotel & Conference Centre in Boksburg from the 26th to 29th of June 2026.
The congress is convened under the theme “Advance Workplace Organisation to Defend Collective Bargaining, Heighten Class Consciousness and Advance Internationalism".
The congress will serve as a critical platform to deliberate and develop concrete responses to key international, national political and socio-economic matters as well as organisational matters affecting our members and the working class in general.
The congress will receive addresses from the African National Congress [ANC], South African Communist Party [SACP], Congress of South African Trade Unions [COSATU], World Federation of Trade Unions [WFTU] and Trade Union International Public Service & Allied [TUI – PS&A].
The congress will be attended by more than 750 delegates drawn from all structures of the union and other fraternal organizations from South Africa and Internationally.
Members of the media are hereby invited to apply for accreditation to cover the 13th National Congress.
The following information should be included in the application: Full name, Media House, and contact details.
The deadline for accreditation applications is Friday 19th June 2026.
The application for accreditation should be sent to the following email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat
For further information, please contact: Lwazi Nkolonzi (National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwa...@nehawu.org.za
Visit NEHAWU website: www.nehawu.org.za
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU's remains deeply unimpressed with the latest GDP growth figures
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 09 June 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) remains deeply unimpressed with the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth report recording a 0.5% expansion for the first quarter of 2026.
Whilst appreciating that the economy has posted its sixth consecutive gain, it is still far from enough to reach the 3% plus needed to generate a continuous and meaningful fall in our stubbornly high unemployment rate of 43.7%, itself having depressingly risen by 1.7% over the last quarter.
We had hoped that 2026 would have seen the economy turning the corner after having been stuck at 1% growth for more than a decade.
COSATU acknowledges recent positive trends in the economy and state under the African National Congress led government from overcoming loadshedding to improvements at Transnet, reopening Metro Rail lines, South African Airways returning to the skies, the South African Revenue Service’s remarkable turnaround, exiting grey listing, ratings upgrades, and even positive decreases in violent crimes; and that these must still see their full impact felt.
Given the devastating war unleashed in the Persian Gulf, the source of 20% of the world’s oil supplies, it is critical that government put in place an economic and social relief package to help shield the working class and the economy from the steep hikes in the international oil and thus domestic fuel prices, inflation and the inevitable global economic slowdown. It has taken South Africa three years to overcome the previous spillover from the war in Ukraine. We cannot afford yet another period of economic stagnation.
Key elements to such an economic and social relief package need to include measures to reduce the price of fuel and electricity prices, our two main domestic inflationary sources as well as support for fragile economic sectors, including those at risk to global trade turmoil and high electricity tariffs, and fixing the long dysfunctional Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employment Relief Scheme.
Relief should also be put in place for social and SRD grant recipients as well as the unemployed, in particular massively expanding the Presidential Employment Programmes. These should be accompanied by a stimulus package for SMMEs plus industrial and export sectors to help spur economic growth and job creation.
These bold interventions are essential if we are to break out of the tepid economic growth we have stumbled along for more than a decade and reach the 3% growth needed to tackle unemployment, poverty and inequality; and to give hope to an embattled working class and stressed society.
Issued by COSATU
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The Minerals Council South Africa will engage the government on its Industrial Development Strategy 2026 Johannesburg, 9 June 2026.
The Minerals Council South Africa notes with regret certain statements in the Industrial Development Strategy 2026 released on Monday (8 June) by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
The Strategy includes proposals on a tax and quotas on chrome ore exports as well as linking conditions regarding beneficiation to the issuance of mining rights.
The Minerals Council, whose members represent 90% of South Africa’s annual mineral production by value, will study the Strategy before engaging the government on its contents.
“It is an unfortunate policy intention from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, which, while not yet a law, adds to the incessant policy uncertainty that is constraining investment and growth of the mining industry and the economy,” says Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council.
The proposal regarding the issuance of mining rights with “conditions that must facilitate beneficiation” could potentially damage future investments in exploration and mining. The Minerals Council is engaged in talks with the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources about the contents of the Mineral Resources Development Bill to ensure mining laws make South Africa a globally competitive exploration and mining jurisdiction, attracting investment, growth and creating job opportunities.
“Mining and beneficiation are separate and distinct economic sectors in the mineral value chain. Beneficiation cannot, and must not, be imposed on mining because beneficiation forms part of manufacturing and overall industrialisation. As such, specific measures must be introduced to incentivise and attract investments to stimulate industrialisation and the diversification of our economy,” says Mr Mthenjane.
The Minerals Council reiterates that the supply of chrome ore for South Africa’s ferrochrome industry is not the reason for the reduced level of smelting of the key ingredient for stainless steel production. Electricity tariff increases of more than 900% since 2008 have made South Africa’s ferroalloys industry globally uncompetitive and shut unprofitable smelters.
The de industrialisation trajectory is also attributable in part to unaffordable electricity.
The reduction in electricity prices for Glencore Ferroalloys and Samancor to restart their smelters is a much-needed intervention and underscores the Minerals Council’s position that competitive electricity tariffs and not restrictions on chrome ore (or other mineral) exports will support the ferroalloys industry and future beneficiation and industrialisation.
For further queries: Allan Seccombe Head Communications
Tel: 064 650 4636
Email: asec...@mineralscouncil.org.za
Web: www.mineralscouncil.org.za
International-Solidarity
Solidarity with the 24-hour strike in railways in France
by WFTU HQ, 09 Jun 2026
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant voice of 105 million workers all over the world, expresses its full solidarity with the 24-hour strike in the railways in France.
This strike is the militant response to the deterioration of working conditions, the rising prices, and the liberalization and commercialization of the railways, promoting the just demands of the workers who are fighting for wage increases, dignified working conditions, and public, affordable, and safe transport in France.
The strike of the railway workers is part of the broader, international class struggle against exploitation and against the attack on workers’ rights, in an area where the bourgeois governments spend tons of money on the war economy. The WFTU assures the workers in France and all over the globe that they can always rely on the support and solidarity of the class-oriented trade union movement.
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World Day Against Child Labour: Time for action, not empty statements
9 June 2026
On the World Day Against Child Labour, 12 June, the ITUC demands that governments and employers fulfil their promises to help the 138 million children trapped in work – including 54 million in hazardous work – robbed of their childhood, education and future.
In 2025, the world missed the SDG 8.7 deadline. This failure is not inevitable. It is the result of broken promises, underfunded public services and corporate impunity in global supply chains. The time for declarations is over – it is time for action.
In February 2026, governments, employers and workers adopted the Marrakech Global Framework for Action Against Child Labour at the 6th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour. Building on the Durban Call to Action, this Framework demands stronger implementation of ILO Conventions 138 and 182, binding accountability mechanisms, robust social dialogue and scaled-up investment in education and social protection.
The ITUC calls on all governments to translate this Framework into binding national roadmaps immediately.
Workers across sectors - in agriculture and food systems, in classrooms and schools, in construction and forestry, and in homes as domestic workers are united in one demand: child labour cannot be solved by voluntary schemes alone.
In agriculture, where more than 70% of child labour occurs, legally enforceable corporate accountability in supply chains is non-negotiable. Quality public education — free, inclusive, and well resourced — remains the single most powerful tool to break the cycle of child labour and keep children out of hazardous work.
Living wages, collective bargaining and full labour rights must be secured in construction, forestry and related sectors to remove the economic desperation that drives families to send children to work.
The ITUC demands governments and employers act on four fronts:
Guarantee living wages and universal social protection — no family should be forced to send a child to work to survive.
Enforce ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and 182 with strengthened labour inspection, union workplace access and meaningful penalties.
Mandate supply chain due diligence to hold corporations accountable across all sectors.
Invest in free, quality public education for all children — especially girls, migrant children, and those in conflict-affected areas.
The Doha Political Declaration on Social Development, adopted in November 2025, must now be implemented in full — with child labour elimination at its core. The Marrakech Framework must not gather dust. Every child deserves a school, not a worksite.
ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle concluded: “Every worker deserves a living wage, not exploitation. The global trade union movement will not rest until that promise is kept.”
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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