Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 17 September 2025 #CosatuCC2025
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #Cosatu scheduled to conclude the ordinary 8th Central Committee session tomorrow #CosatuCC2025 #WorkerControl #SACTU70 #ClassStruggle “Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism” #Back2Basics #JoinCOSATUNow #ClassConsciousness |
Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin
‘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
17 September 2025
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand respect for labour rights Now!
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Media Advisory: SAMWU to brief media on Tshwane's 'insulting' councillor salary increase
- COSATU 8th Central Committee Livestream
- South Africa
- COSATU urges the SARB to cut the repo rate to provide breathing space to workers
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- African trade unions push for HRDD in green minerals surge
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Media Advisory: SAMWU to brief media on Tshwane's 'insulting' councillor salary increase
Donald Monakisi, SAMWU Tshwane Regional Secretary, 17 September 2025
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) Tshwane Region will hold a media briefing to address the City of Tshwane’s decision to grant a 5% salary increase to councillors. This move is seen by the union as an insult to municipal workers who are still waiting for salary increases of 3.5% and 5.4% that are owed to them.
The briefing will outline SAMWU's next steps and discuss the broader implications for workers and residents in the City. Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the event which will be held as follows:
Date: Friday, 19 September 2025
Time: 10:00 AM
Venue: SAMWU House, 84 Frederick Street, Marshalltown, Johannesburg
Members of the media are encouraged to confirm their attendance with Donald Monakisi on 066 591 4548.
Issued by SAMWU Tshwane Region
Donald Monakisi, Regional Secretary: 066 591 4548
Simon Leburu, Deputy Regional Secretary: 083 672 3944
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COSATU 8th Central Committee Livestream
Day 5 (Thursday - 18 Sep)
https://youtube.com/live/gS32xH7gZBk?feature=share
COSATU urges the SARB to cut the repo rate to provide breathing space to workers
Matthew Parks , COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 17 September 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) urges the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to cut the repo rate to provide breathing space to millions of workers battling to cope with the rising costs of living.
The SARB needs to seize the opportunity of an inflation rate that has fallen for the past two months and at 3.3% is well within the approved inflation target range of 3% to 6% and exploit Thursday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting to slash the repo rate by at least 50 basis points.
Workers are literally under siege from electricity and fuel price hikes far above inflation. Their wages have not kept pace with these increases. Workers are supporting relatives who cannot find jobs in an economy stumbling along on average 1% annual growth and with 42.9% unemployment. The National Credit Regulator’s debt reports shine a deeply worrying spotlight on workers’ dangerously high levels of indebtedness.
A bold and progressive repo rate cut will ease workers’ debt burdens, help them to take care of their families and pay their debts, and inject badly needed stimulus into an economy suffocating from high lending rates.
The Federation hopes the SARB will not disappoint workers when it meets tomorrow. It needs to act on the side of workers and provide badly needed comfort for a nation that has seen its share of negative headwinds.
COSATU will continue to engage with the SARB on this burning matter for the working class.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
African trade unions push for HRDD in green minerals surge
17 September, 2025
As Africa’s critical minerals power the global energy transition, trade unions are pressing for human rights due diligence (HRDD) to ensure that workers benefit from the continent’s rich mineral resources. At a conference in Accra, Ghana, on 2-3 September 2025, hosted by IndustriALL Global Union Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regional office, 90 delegates from 15 countries including trade union leaders, partners and other stakeholders gathered to align global HRDD standards with African realities.
The theme of the conference: “Promoting human rights and responsible business conduct in the world of work: from Global Frameworks
to African realities” resonated well with other meetings that week which included the regional executive, women, youth and textile and garment network meetings and underscored the need for robust frameworks to safeguard labour amid the African Continental
Free Trade Area’s transformative push.
The conference aimed to deepen understanding of HRDD and responsible business conduct, strengthen trade union capacity to monitor workers and human rights risks and advocate for national and sectoral HRDD frameworks. With Africa’s mineral wealth central to
the energy transition, delegates stressed that HRDD is vital to prevent exploitation while advancing sustainable development, aligning with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the African Mining Vision.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) cobalt supply chain, which account for over 70 per cent of mined cobalt globally according to the World Bank, took centre stage. Theodore Kamwimbi of the University of Western Cape’s Centre for Transformative Regulation
of Work called for stringent monitoring and remedies, particularly for youth and women in artisanal mining and to end child labour.
Davidzo Muchawaya, IRMA’s Africa Lead, detailed the audit of Chinese firm, Tenke Fungurume Mining in the DRC, noting concerns over transparency and health and safety. IRMA’s safeguards, including off-site interviews and the first-ever audit of a Chinese DRC
site was hailed as step towards compliance and accountability.
Global models like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and Germany’s Supply Chain Act were discussed. Judith Kirton-Darling of industriAll Europe called the EU framework a “blueprint for balancing corporate duties with worker remedies,”
while Alexander Nolte of Germany’s IGBCE highlighted the German law’s transparency mechanisms as a guide for African states navigating global trade.
Union strategies drew inspiration. For example, Grahame Kelly general secretary of Australia’s Mining and Energy Union shared tactics like leveraging pension funds, prompting the conference to explore Australia-Africa HRDD trade union collaboration.
IndustriALL mining director, Glen Mpufane, warned that without HRDD, “Africa risks becoming a conduit for exploitative labour practices.” He emphasized HRDD role in organizing workers in critical minerals like cobalt and lithium, where labour abuses in Sub-Saharan
Africa have drawn scrutiny. The conference highlighted HRDD’s urgency in textiles and garments industries which are facing fast fashion’s race to the bottom and emphasized that advocating for gender-sensitive protection for women workers is key.
Practical tools were an important focus. Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said the HRDD Competence Centre, set for a 2026 launch, in which UNI Global and IndustriALL are in partnership, will support HRDD in mining and textiles. Miriam Neale,
interim director, outlined training to bolster union capacity, though delegates raised concerns about sustainability and reaching shop-floor workers. Calls emerged to shift voluntary global frameworks to binding ones. A regional mapping tool, which enables
unions to track violations, including gender-specific risks and a panel discussion on how national action plans on business and human rights were being implemented in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda discussed strategies.
IndustriALL general secretary, Atle Høie, said:
“Africa must forge HRDD pathways rooted in local realities and global best practices,” urging unions to hold corporations accountable.
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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