Taking COSATU Today Forward, 23 June 2022
Norman Mampane
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#2022YearofWorkersParliament #COSATU National Gender Inaugural Conference adopts a Declaration #GenderStruggle#YouthMonth #InternalDemocracy #WorkerControl #EndChildLabour #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
Friday, 23 June 2022
‘Deepen
the Back to Basics Campaign, Consolidate the Struggle for the NDR and Advance the Struggle for Socialism’
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU supports the Jobs for Youth Provincial march
- COSATU Free State condemns non-payment of salaries at various municipalities
- SATAWU welcomes the signed agreement in the trucking industry
- SACP Message to COSATU National Gender Conference: 20-22 June 2022
- South Africa
- COSATU Statement on the final Judicial Commission on State Capture and Corruption Report
- COSATU Gauteng wishes the ANC a successful 14th Provincial Conference
- Post SACP and COSATU bi-lateral Joint Statement
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Unions report in ITUC survey that 50 governments on track to #RatifyC190
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
COSATU supports the Jobs for Youth Provincial march
Mkhawuleli Maleki, COSATU Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary, 22 June 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Eastern Cape expresses its unequivocal support for the Jobs for Youth Provincial march led by the Young Communist League in the Eastern Cape and COSATU Young Workers Forum in partnership with other components of the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA).
This march highlights the plight of youth who currently face high levels of unemployment. The convening of an Eastern Cape Jobs for Youth Provincial march is a resolution of a bilateral meeting between the provincial Young Communist League of South Africa and COSATU Young Workers Forum where the state of youth unemployment in the country and in our province was discussed following the release of the First Quarter: Quarterly Labour Force Survey of 2022.
The provincial march demands an urgent and immediate implementation of a social compact of the public and private sectors to create decent jobs particularly for young people of our province, that have a 62,6% unemployment rate with only about 34% of all economically active youth being in employed in the Eastern Cape.
This march is supported by the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) and is expected to draw all working-class youth across the Eastern Cape from all political organisations, civil society, youth owned SMME’s (Small, Micro & Medium Enterprises), faith-based youth organizations, etc. The march is a call for practical action from our provincial government and business fraternity.
The memorandum of demands of the working-class youth will be delivered to the Premier of the Eastern Cape and the Eastern Cape Business fraternity at the Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape in Bhisho on the 24th of June 2022.
The details of the march are as follows:
Date: 24 June 2022
Time: 08h00
Assembly point: Victoria Ground (eQonce)
Handing over of memorandum: Premier’s Office, Bhisho
Issued by COSATU Eastern Cape
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COSATU Free State condemns non-payment of salaries at various municipalities
Monyatso oa Mahlatsi, COSTU Free State Provincial Secretary, 23 June 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Free State condemns the consistent failure of some municipalities to pay salaries of workers across the province. The non-payment of salaries has been persistent despite the introduction of multiple interventions to help resolve this unacceptable situation. Municipalities are clearly disregarding any attempts to give workers what is due to them.
Despite the deployment of intervention teams at various municipalities with challenges, the problems remain. Additionally, we have been informed that in many instances equitable share funds allocated to municipalities by national government, are depleted within a few days.
As stipulated in the latest Auditor-General’s report, the state of municipalities in the Free State is dire. The non-payment of workers is an illustration of the adverse outcomes that have emanated from the inability of these municipalities to manage funds and their affairs. As a result, workers are being robbed of their rights to survive and put bread on the table for their families.
Whilst workers have been exposed to non-payment of their third parties with no consequences, it is now spreading to non-compliance with the contractual obligation.
The current developments coupled with the recent AG report is enormously concerning. The quality of fiscal management practices is rapidly declining, and municipalities are refusing to carry out their duties. Furthermore, there is no accountability for the deterioration of these municipalities.
The current economic system has pushed workers to live from paycheck to paycheck and due to the current co cost of living, salaries and wages of workers are depleted weeks before the next paycheck. Workers have not put themselves in this position.
These conditions have been forced on them with the current inflation prices which have led to an increase in high food and fuel prices. Therefore, a delay in the payment of salaries spells out disaster for workers in their individual capacities as breadwinners in their families and households.
We therefore condemn with the strongest possible terms the growing trend of non-payment of salaries by municipalities. What is of greatest concern is that there has not been consequence management for such failures despite it having become a common occurrence. Municipalities have successfully brought the province into disrepute and are continuously contravention the contractual obligations for the employer.
We have also noted the process whereby workers are now paid in kind in a form of vouchers from some ‘lucky’ chain stores. We will investigate whether proper procurement processes have been followed in this regard. As much as this may be viewed as a good gesture by some, workers did not sign up for such payments. Salaries should be paid as per contractual obligation and on the due date.
As the Federation we would like to put the following issues under sharp focus.
* The role of the intervention teams that are deployed to various municipalities under administration: This has failed to bring any change. The objectives and aim of these intervention teams have not yielded any results. We have noted that many municipalities where interventions have been made under the auspices of putting municipalities under administration seem to have worsened the situation.
* Accountability should the prioritized at all levels. Failure to do so has contributed to a negative reputation of the Municipality first, the Ruling Party secondly and even broadened to include the Alliance.
* Wasteful and fruitless expenditure by municipalities whereby critical operational cost factors like salaries of workers are not prioritized.
* We are concerned about the role of COGTA in their oversight and monitoring role as per the constitution. The provincial department operates as a compromised body, unable to bring about corrective measures in realizing clean governance.
As the Federation we will not allow this situation to continue unabated. Workers cannot be forced to always be sacrificial lambs for poor planning by managers and in the process subject innocent lives to hunger and desperation. We will stop at nothing to ensure that workers receive what is due to them at the right time at all costs!
The struggle continues!
Issued by COSATU Free State
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SATAWU welcomes the signed agreement in the trucking industry
Jack Mazibuko, SATAWU General Secretary, 22 June 2022
The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) welcomes the agreement between Government, Business and Labour to ease the tensions in the trucking industry.
The truck drivers have been repeatedly striking with no solutions. Recently the truck drivers protested and closed the N3 highway in KwaZulu-Natal.
SATAWU notes that the truck drivers who were on strike were not happy about the foreign nationals being given first preference while South African Drivers are left unemployed and overlooked by the freight companies.
SATAWU is of the view that with the high rate of unemployment in this country, South African citizens must and should be given priority in all the sectors, as that will help reduce the high rate of unemployment that we are currently facing.
As much as we welcome the plan, we call for a swift implementation of the following:
• Appointment of task team for trucking industry • Enforcement of the Visa requirements • Need for consideration of all foreign driving licenses • Registration and compliance with South African labour laws • Registration of operators in term of Section 45 of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) • Review of the Traffic Register Number • Amendment of the National Road Traffic Regulation • Integrated joint multi-disciplinary law enforcement operations to end violence and blockages on national roads • Implement Driver Training Programme and • Consideration of the introduction of Operating Licenses for the industry
SATAWU believes that the freight sector plays a huge role in the country’s economy and therefore having truck drivers protesting has a negative impact on it. Furthermore, we stress the need for freight companies to prioritize eligible South Africans workers. Earlier on in the year, the Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL) released a draft policy on National Labour Migration Policy and Employment Services Amendment Bill.
A statement was released from the union in response to this, wherein which we supported the notion that a quota system should be implemented in the industry. We further reiterate this stance, as an absence of such a regulatory mechanism will result in the continuation of the chaotic state of affairs in the sector in particular, and in the economy as a whole.
Issued by SATAWU
General Secretary Cde Jack Mazibuko: 082 660 4793 Deputy General Secretary Cde Anele Kiet: 071 021 1903 Head of Communications Amanda Tshemese : 062 945 7217
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SACP Message to COSATU National Gender Conference: 20-22 June 2022
Nomarashiya Caluza, SACP Central Committee Member, 21 June 2022
REVOLUTIONARY GREETINGS TO THE COSATU, ANC AND DELEGATES
- As we appreciate the invitation to this inaugural conference of the structure of COSATU:
- I listened to many presentations yesterday, starting with the President’s opening address and all others. As was declared: philosophers have interpreted the world- The point however is to change it (Karl Marx). Even now having been part of this conferences, people mostly know and understand the problem confronting women, but the main problem is how these problems are dealt with.
- The characterisation and analysis of the problem facing women, the LGBTQI+ in the society and workplace defines the epoch in which we must wage and advance the gender struggles in all fronts, the society and workplace.
- The basis of our struggle and the success of our gender struggle is the understanding that you are a class whose exploitation and suffering is the bedrock of the capitalist class, for you belong to the working class which produces commodities and delivers services that nourish profitmaking for the ruling class to keep its system flourishing.
The SACP as the vanguard Party of the working class fully understands this epoch within which this conference is held:
- an epoch where gender-based violence is on the rise
- crime statistics are alarmingly shooting up
- rate of unemployment extremely high
- violence, and looting tendencies
- poverty and hunger also deepening exacerbated by COVID19
- Recent floods affecting many provinces, WC and KZN in particular and the need to rebuild our communities, local economies, and infrastructure
- Load shedding and its effects on the working class (appliances damaged tother with food that gets rotten all-time people get loadshedded)
- sexual harassment in the society and the workplace,
- fuel hikes, food insecurity, rising price of food
all these unfortunately have become gendered
whilst the people of all genders are affected but women are harshly feeling the pinch
- The SACP understands that if women do not possess political influence, they are destined to experience economic inequality, appalling working conditions and sometimes merger salaries
- Women must continue to fight for their rights, women’s rights are largely human rights defined and protected by the Constitution.
- Women must fight for these rights as women and as workers- we know that you will be met by opposition even within your ranks, continue to fight and be the pace setters for future generations. We know that in a battle you sometimes win and sometimes lose but a loss cannot define your future – soldier on.
Also, comrades, Gender struggle is a contested terrain:
There is always a question - why focus more on women struggle when talking of gender struggle- is gender not inclusive of men and women?
RESPONSE:
– It is that whilst we need to balance our approach when dealing with gender issues, the fact of the matter is that our society as a product of apartheid still has the remnants of apartheid features – the triple oppression of race, class, and gender which women were subjected to defines the posture and approach we adopt when dealing with gender issues
The SACP always reminds us that “Women got relegated to particular roles and tasks in the society and these roles and tasks”.
These tasks and roles were mostly inferior and defined the place of the woman in society, workplace, economy etc (patriarchy as the driving force for these evils) is still deeply entrenched in our society
As a result, the SACP in its Central Committee in Aug 2021 declared that
“The struggle against patriarchal oppression and gender inequality is far from over and that in full appreciation of the class and national content of the gender struggle and the gender content of the class and national struggles., The Party seeks to ensure that women are never relegated or pigeonholed to particular roles and tasks in society”
Women in South Africa have encountered gender-based discrimination for decades, especially when they are vying for senior management positions in the workplace. (Crime statistics by SAPS, Gender Equality Commission reports confirm this)
Women still find it difficult to get fair recognition of their capabilities and capacities through promotions: women still have to explain themselves sometimes have to offer sex for jobs and promotions.
Unions are sometimes not immune from these tendencies.
according to others, women would be interviewed to assess their capacity to lead. and are sometimes elected because there is no man interested in the position or just to meet the quotas
To temper with this status quoi it demands that women must be at the fore front of the struggle using their collective voice
- This inaugural national gender conference of COSATU presents a platform and opportunity to showcase and confirm the worth of women who are equally capable as their male counterparts. Hence the view that a revolution that excludes women shall be an incomplete revolution until the voice of women is heard.
- Gender division in and of our society including the gender division of the economy influence the socio-economic standing of women in the society and workplaces.
- This has been worsened by what the SACP characterised as the parasitic bureaucratic petty bourgeoisie force as a new stratum influencing the political space, politicians and political organisations wanting to control and engage in an accumulation process that derails the transformation agenda which if not interrupted would push back the socio-economic position of women in the society and workplace. this accumulation force puts profit above the needs of the people.
- Women activists must fight against corruption, morale decay and call and enforce ethical leadership in both public and public sector. For the accumulation force thrives mainly on corruption without which it is unable to exist.
- Women have the power in themselves to end these evils and for this reason
- The Party congratulates COSATU for establishing and institutionalising the gender structure for the Party long identified the need to build a layer of women cadres across the movement and society and in trade union movement in particular to challenge and defeat any attempt to further put the working class is a position of beggars. In this Gender Structure of COSATU, the Party see an ally with which to fight side by side running campaigns to ender women oppression either in the society, workplace and economy.
- The South African Communist Party believes that the task at hand is to challenge neo-liberal economic policies. which define the conditions of employment and other economic policies and transformation agenda in the country. We must talk and fight against the austerity measures and the likes.
- Furthermore, the task should be the socio-economic emancipation of the working class and women, including the rural women, who still find it difficult to own a piece of land, who do not know where to sell their land produce amadumbe, bhatata etc.
- Women’s voice must be heard in all sites of struggle including in your unions, political organisations, positions of power in unions. Yes, leadership is elected in the same conference, but powers are not the same.
- Influence policy and programmatic work and direction of the department of women, children and people living with disability and Gender Commission.
- Work with sex workers
- Strengthen the role of women workers in all levels of new emerging forms of work in the Digital Industrial Revolution.
- Comrades must continue with political education including the Chris Hani Brigade Programme, Josie Mpama political classes, Jack Simons Party Schools etc.
In conclusion we remind delegates that members of the trade union movement, COSATU, identify with the South African Communist Party as the vanguard of the working class.
Our collective struggle is for socialism.
- Part of what you must commit on is the understanding that it is only the working class that is interested in socialism. Workers as part of the working class have and must have their hope in the Communist Party.
- The SACP adopted to be a Marxist-Leninist Party guided in its theory and action by this ideology.
- It is for this reason that the Party gets concerned and must frown on any individual that seeks to change the character of our Party – a change that has a potential of redefining the ideological beliefs of our Party.
- This said as we continue to hear people becoming impatient with the Party as they feel that the Party is not resolving the way they want on certain issues.
- The other danger is that of trade union leaders and members wanting to change the trade union movement to be a political organisation. COSATU must learn from its past experiences.
- This call is not new, but COSATU managed to defeat the attempts to move away COSATU from the Alliance and attempts to form a labour party.
- However, we continue to make observations that from time to time we hear workers and trade union leaders challenging the capacity of the Party in its vanguard role. These mostly come to the fore for many reasons: populism, wanting to say what will excite the people even when one knows that what said is ideologically incorrect and equals class suicide.
- The SACP is still committed in the struggle for socialism. However, the SACP is sometimes hamstrung by its financial limitations to implement all programmes meant to advance the struggle for socialism. Is it not the responsibility of the working class to take care of the needs of the struggle for socialism including funding it.
- Members of COSATU must help the Party in its resource mobilisation initiatives which include crowd funding and endowment fund. Comrades must be honest regarding their debit order contributions. Let each of you do introspection on the contribution each make in sustaining and supporting the programmes of the Party.
WE WISH YOU A SUCCESFUL CONFERENCE
AMANDLA
South Africa
COSATU Statement on the final Judicial Commission on State Capture and Corruption Report
Sizwe Pamla, Cosatu National Spokesperson, 23 June 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted and welcomes the delivery of the final report by the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and Corruption led by Judge Raymond Zondo. The Federation salutes all those who worked hard for the Commission and also those who cooperated with it to ensure that it was a success.
The real success of this Commission lies in the prosecution of those who are implicated in its report. We hope that government and the relevant law enforcement agencies will take sweeping measures to clean up the rot that has been exposed by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and Corruption.
The nation’s law enforcement organs like the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), South African Police Service (SAPS), Special Investigating Unit (SIU), Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), Department of Justice (DOJ), and other state agencies like the South African Revenue Services (SARS) need to explain to South Africans how they intend to process the findings and allegations contained in the Zondo Commission’s State Capture Report. We expect them to investigate, charge and prosecute all the accused, and also attach the assets of the guilty parties.
The Federation expects all the implicated government departments to also outline how they are going to improve their management and governance systems to ensure that this industrial scale looting does not happen again. The Department of Public Enterprises in particular has a huge responsibility to respond to the looting that happened at Eskom, Transnet and other SOEs.
The National Treasury has an ethical responsibility to see to it that the public money is used for its designated purposes and spent within guidelines of existing legislation across the state. We expect them to introduce a transparent procurement system and tighten their regulatory framework to close the identified loopholes.
Political parties whose members are implicated in the report need to also act decisively by removing compromised persons who are still holding party office or are public representatives.
We remain perturbed by the lack of appetite and political will to investigate and prosecute private sector corruption. The private sector is the one that corrupted the public sector, and it is mainly responsible for the economic mess that the country finds itself in.
The Federation working with other social partners intends to rollout a campaign to champion the whistleblowing campaign across all sectors of the economy, and we demand more action against the killing of those who oppose and expose corruption and maladministration.
Issued
by COSATU
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COSATU Gauteng wishes the ANC a successful 14th Provincial Conference
Louisa Modikwe, COSATU Gauteng Provincial Secretary, 23 June 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions in Gauteng wishes the African National Congress in Gauteng a fruitful and successful conferences scheduled for 23-26 June 2022 at the Lakes Hotel in Benoni.
The conference is taking place at the time when the working class is confronted by difficult socio-economic challenges which includes poor service delivery, unemployment, poverty, widened inequalities, corruption, lawlessness, increase in food prices, increases in electricity as well as increase in fuel prices amongst others.
Over the past ten years, the ANC led government has been implementing neo-liberal austerity measures targeting the reduction of budget on health, education, safety and security, salaries of public servants just to mention a few, while on the other hand, corporate tax has been reduced to the benefit of business.
The working class has lost confidence in the ANC as demonstrated in the past three elections with the last being the worst. Municipalities who are governed by coalition governments have proven to be unstable and not sustainable. Factions have defined the path of the ANC and leadership is determined on factional lines but not on quality as well as capacity. Despite this, COSATU in Gauteng believes that the ANC through this conference should advance the unity of the ANC pre and post conference in the interest of working class.
We further call upon all attending the conference to focus more on policy discussions and appoint leadership that will be capable to deliver on the agreed policy direction. COSATU will advance the following at the conference:
· Advance policies favourable to the working class
· Establishment of the state bank and pharmaceutical company
· Insourcing of outsourced services and scrapping of the tenderisation of the state
· Dropping of market related economy
· Building and strengthening the alliance
We wish the ANC a fruitful conference.
Issued by COSATU Gauteng
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Post SACP and COSATU bi-lateral Joint Statement
Benson Ngqentsu-SACP WC Provincial Secretary and Malvern De Bruyn – Cosatu WC Provincial Secretary, 23 June 2022
The South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) as principal Allies in the South African struggle under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Alliance convened first bilateral engagements post their respective congresses.
The meeting held on 21 June 2022 in Community House, Salt River, was attended by 15 members from each component to have a broad strategic reflection on the prevailing challenges confronting the working class in the Western Cape and to forge a common platform of struggle against the extant of the onslaught.
Forward to a united and robust SACP and COSATU National Congresses
We noted the successful Congresses of both formations during the first quarter of 2022 that emerged with militant leadership to carry the hopes and aspirations of the working class.
In this vein, the meeting noted that both formations will convene their respective National Congresses later this year and therefore the leadership collective to emerge must be militant to give impetus to united strength and fighting capacity of the downtrodden masses of this country.
The workers and the poor are suffering under the weight and stranglehold of neoliberal capitalism. The two congresses have the responsibility to bring about radical change as a matter of urgency in the interest of the working class.
The daily suffering of the Working Class in the Western Cape
Our meeting took place under challenging conditions in the Western Cape where, tragically, 35 farm-workers in Klapmuts were severely injured when their un-roadworthy truck overturned on 20 June 2022.
Sadly, this is the second accident in less than two years. In 04 January 2021 another accident claimed 3 lives of farmworkers.
These accidents are a direct result of negligence of farm bosses which is their typical behaviour of subjecting workers to inhumane conditions including illegal evictions and modern day forced removals which is inimical to the prescripts of the Constitution.
This conduct is not isolated to the farming sector but is prevalent in other sectors as well including the construction sectors in particular.
Against this background, the SACP and COSATU will embark on a programme to highlight the prevalence of use of un-roadworthy trucks for farm and construction workers uses. Employers in this province must provide workers with safe transport to and from work.
Provide land and houses to mitigate floods
The lived experience of the working class under the racist government of the Western Cape whose policies are devoid of transformative content. During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic scores of land hungry people occupied vacant land some of which is waterlogged and therefore prone to floods.
The recent cold front resulted in massive floods which displaced hundreds of households and this reality will continue for the foreseeable future because the DA government has no solutions to the existing crisis.
The meeting decried the internecine crime besetting working class communities in particular gang-related killings in Hanover Park and extortionist related mass killings in Khayelitsha, Delft and Mfuleni amongst others.
The rates of deaths due to these killings are comparable to countries that are engulfed by wars. In a normal situation the state apparatus would have long used its might to uproot this criminality.
The long-suffering people of the Western Cape deserve better.
Therefore, the SACP and COSATU whilst appreciate the visibility of the Police authorities in Khayelitsha, in particular, which ultimately culminated to the handover of about twelve new police vans to Khayelitsha. However, we call for the deployment of intelligence driven and oriented crime prevention and investigation as one solution to track down the criminal network whose tentacles is traceable to some amongst community leaders and police officers.
Ideological Fault-lines and damage of neoliberalism
The Alliance is confronting deep rooted fault-lines ideologically, socially and economically which is punishing the working class, the consequence of which is disillusionment, apathy and cynicism towards the liberation movement.
The neoliberal capitalist project is emboldened daily and its prescriptions have further sunk the working class into a persistent crisis.
Presently the levels of unemployment have reached crisis proportions; the rate of people living below the break-line is escalating; inequality is deepening; and insecurity is worsening. All these factors constitute the damaging effect of neoliberalism which undermines the advance of the National Democratic Revolution.
The meeting reflected frankly on these objective and subjective realities and asserted that the antidote to the neoliberal offensive is rebuilding organising and campaigns as a common political platform for fundamental change.
This struggle must be anchored on the agitation of the Popular Left Front composed on different progressive social forces.
State of the ANC in the Western Cape
The two formations remain concerned about the state of the ANC in the province and its capacity to convene successful regional and provincial conferences. The posture and behaviour of factions have the potential to retard any possible prospects of renewal in the province.
Further, the ANC in its current form has no capacity to play an oversight role in government and municipalities where we are in coalition arrangements.
In addition, the meeting was concerned that in some parts of the province, if there is no oversight, the ANC will be displaced in the upcoming elections.
Major campaign to ground the Left Axis
The meeting identified key campaigns that constitute the fundamental mobilizational programme which must dialectically link the shopfloor and the community. These campaigns are outlined as follows:
· Mass Action against the fuel price increase and proposal to cut fuel levy.
· Opposition to water tariff increase and noting the DA government hypocrisy in protesting fuel prices yet continue to impose unwarranted exorbitant tariffs.
· Opposition to rising Electricity increases.
· Campaign against rampant crime in our communities through a section 77 around the question of crime in the province.
· Campaign for Safety of farm-workers and anti-eviction campaign
· Mass action against Gender based violence and femicide
· Embark on Solidarity campaigns as an expression of our internationalism.
· Building of residential Locals.
· Recruitment of farmworkers to join Cosatu Unions.
Ends
Issued by: SACP/COSATU Western Cape Secretariat
International-Solidarity
Unions report in ITUC survey that 50 governments on track to #RatifyC190
21-06-2022
By the end of 2023, 50 governments will have ratified C190, according to trade unions surveyed from 79 countries across the world and recent assessments.
With Central African Republic, El Salvador and Peru being the latest to have ratified C190, we are now at 18 ratifications. This tallies with another key finding of the ITUC survey: 68% of governments support C190 while only 42% of employers in countries support the convention.
ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 enshrine the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment. However:
· 73% of unions surveyed think violence and harassment in the world of work has increased in the last five years;
· 80% of trade unions think gender-based violence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trade unions across the world are working to secure the ratification and implementation of C190:
· 91% of trade unions surveyed are engaged in social dialogue to align C190 with national laws and policies.
· 67% of trade unions have negotiated workplace policies or collective bargaining agreements to align with C190 and R206.
· Over half the countries in the ITUC C190 survey need to change their labour laws to implement C190.
· 37% of the countries need to change occupational health and safety (OHS) laws.
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: “It is critical to ensure that workers, in all their diversity, can enjoy the right to a world of work free from violence and harassment. We urge all governments to move through the ratification process as soon as possible.
“We welcome the recent decision at the International Labour Conference to add OHS as a fundamental labour right, which will further pave the way for the effective implementation of C190, which includes OHS provisions such as the obligation of employers to carry out workplace risk assessments.”
Join our call for the universal ratification of C190 on 21 June, the third anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206.
The full ITUC survey findings will be published this September in a C190 global report along with a call to governments to #RatifyC190 in the lead up to the @16DaysCampaign, 25 November – 10 December, and the ITUC Congress, 17 – 22 November 2022.
You can find graphics for social media here. #RatifyC190.
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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