Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 3 May 2024 #ElijahBarayiBrigades
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #COSATU acknowledges workers and their families for coming in great numbers at May Day rallies in nine provinces #Back2Basics #ElijahBarayiBrigades #VoteANC #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
3 May 2024
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Employment and Labour on Worker’s Day
- South Africa
- Trade, Industry and Competition on employment generation initiatives with a view to promoting economic transformation
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- TUI PS&A: 1st May “International Workers’ Day 2024 Message
- WFTU Declaration on Mayday 2024
- May Day 2024: Education unions call on governments to Go Public! Fund Education
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Employment and Labour on Worker’s Day
01 May 2024
Celebrating the power of labour: South Africa’s International Workers’ Day
Every year on the 1st of May, South Africa stands still to honour the indomitable spirit of its working-class men and women. This day, known as International Workers’ Day or May Day, is a public holiday that pays tribute to the historical struggles of workers and their trade unions for solidarity and fair employment standards.
This year, the theme for Workers’ Day and month is “30 Years of Freedom”.
This year, marks the 133rd anniversary of May Day, a testament to the enduring legacy of the labour movement. Emerging from the prolonged battle for workers’ rights and social justice in the late 19th century, Workers’ Day has been celebrated as an international holiday in numerous countries since 1891. South Africa, a nation with its own extensive and complex history of labour disputes and social conflicts, is no exception.
In South Africa, the journey began with the formation of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in December 1985. Cosatu’s demand for May Day to be recognized as a public holiday and renamed Workers’ Day was heeded by approximately 1.5 million workers. They were joined by thousands of school pupils, students, taxi drivers, hawkers, shopkeepers, domestic workers, and self-employed, and unemployed people. Despite many of these rallies being banned in advance by the Apartheid Government, they were held across the country, with the majority in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area, now known as Gauteng.
Since the inaugural democratic elections in 1994, Workers’ Day has been officially acknowledged and commemorated in South Africa. This holiday serves dual purposes: it is a celebration of workers’ rights and a poignant reminder of the pivotal role that trade unions, the Communist Party, and other labour organizations played in the struggle against Apartheid.
Workers’ Day in South Africa carries its unique cultural significance. The public holiday has come to symbolise not only the sacrifices made in the arduous journey towards fair employment standards but also the fierce battle against Apartheid, where trade and labour unions played a crucial role.
Given that South Africa’s working classes were the most oppressed under Apartheid, the fight for improved working conditions and the battle to dismantle systemic segregation became inextricably linked. Prior to the 1994 elections, labour and trade groups frequently used Workers’ Day as a rallying symbol against the segregation and oppression of the Apartheid regime, organising demonstrations and fostering widespread resistance. This day serves as a testament to their resilience and determination.
On this day, the Government calls upon you to pay tribute to all the workers of South Africa, especially the frontline workers who continue to provide essential services even on this holiday. This includes doctors, nurses, other medical staff, members of the Police Services and the SA National Defence Force, as well as workers who provide other essential services, such as our farmers and farm workers, supermarket and chemist staff, staff of security companies, and all other workers who provide essential services during this time.
We honour and salute you, our unsung heroes – the workers of South Africa! Your contributions are the backbone of our nation, and today, we celebrate you.
The
Department of Employment and Labour on behalf of the government wishes you all a happy worker’s day.
Issued by Department
of Employment and Labour
Trade, Industry and Competition on employment generation initiatives with a view to promoting economic transformation
30 Apr 2024
the dtic recognises the 1.28 million workers covered by its programmes ahead of Workers’ Day 2024
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) has adopted several employment generation initiatives with a view to promoting economic transformation and inclusive growth in the South African economy.
The work of the dtic and its agencies covers more than 1.28 million workers in the economy, representing approximately 1 in 8 private sector formal jobs in the economy.
These South African workers have been covered by a number of programmes of the dtic and its agencies, including 743 000 workers covered by actions across the seven Masterplans administered by the dtic.
Additional workers are covered by other programmes of the dtic and its agencies, including:
the work of the competition authorities in market inquiries and merger proceedings;
industrial funding and incentives from the dtic, Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the National Empowerment Fund (NEF);
investment facilitation by InvestSA for the Presidential Investment Conferences and Special Economic Zones;
work to support South Africans manufacturing through trade measures such as tariffs and rebates; and
Market access facilitation for South African exporters.
A further 50 000 jobs have been created through the Social Employment Fund, which is part of Presidential Employment Stimulus, administered by the IDC.
Minister Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition emphasised the importance of these initiatives, stating:
“Workers are at the centre of the programmatic work undertaken by the dtic and its agencies. The comprehensive work programme includes interventions to support 1.28 million workers across various sectors of the economy, from manufacturing, like the automotives industry, food and beverages, chemicals and steel, to productive services, like business process operators and film. This work extends across all nine provinces of South Africa, and further to the eight metropolitan and 44 district municipalities.”
Recently the dtic hosted two conferences, namely the Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference held on 20 March 2024 and the Worker Share Ownership Conference held on 23 April 2024.
The Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference, in particular, highlighted the number of workers employed by black industrialists supported by the dtic and its agencies, with 161 300 workers employed in these companies. Notable too is the number of workers now covered by worker share ownership programmes, with 551 000 workers beneficiaries covered in these structures, many of which have come about as a result of agreements with the dtic and its agencies.
Minister Patel further emphasised:
“The industrial policy actions of the dtic and its agencies are fundamental to driving economic growth by fostering an environment where industries can thrive and jobs are created. In recent years, we have shifted our key performance indicators to a set of outcomes-based indicators, which don’t just measure the efforts of Government, but rather the fruits of our coordinated labour. This holistic approach ensures that our industrial policy approach becomes a cornerstone of a comprehensive, growth-oriented, job-rich, and inclusive economic strategy.”
Enquiries:
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Mobile: 079 5083 457
WhatsApp: 074 2998 512
Issued by Department of Trade, Industry and Competition
International-Solidarity
TUI PS&A: 1st May “International Workers’ Day 2024 Message
01 May 2024
1st MAY “INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY 2024 MESSAG
More than a century since the uprising of workers in Chicago in 1886 in pursuit of better working conditions, improved wages and a better life, workers in the 21st Century are still engaged in the very struggle of their predecessors.
The occasion of the International Workers’ Day serves as the ultimate expression of the centrality of class struggle and international working-class struggle in advancing the class agenda of workers and the working class broadly. The world proletariat uses this day to demonstrate the interconnectedness of its struggles on the international stage.
The 2024 International Workers Day celebrations coincides with on-going wars and conflicts in DRC, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, while on one hand, the Western imperialists continues with their illegal economic blockade against Cuba, on the other hand the occupations in Palestine and Western Sahara still persist.
The working class internationalism dictate that the organized contingent of the working class everywhere through its organisations should constantly highlight the plight of all oppressed peoples everywhere in the world. At the same time, workers in the public and related sectors are faced by a number of challenges that requires the intensification of a class struggle against the ruling elites. The rising cost of living crisis, attacks on collective bargaining, stagnant wages and the general deteriorating working conditions driven by austerity has a negative impact on public service workers and the public at large.
On this international day of workers’ celebrations, we have noted very serious the concerted neoliberal effort aimed at attacking workers through undermining their rights and the reversal of their historic hard-won gains fought through struggles and sacrifices. The bosses concede nothing to the working class without concerted struggles waged by the oppressed and they are always ready to reverse such concessions as soon as the conditions allow. Thus, the working class and its organisations must always be in a state of mobilization and organised for class action to advance our own class interests.
Ultimately, the oppressed can only overcome their oppression by confronting the source of that oppression. The conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat is a struggle between capitalist and socialist values. It is the struggle to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat over the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, this is a concrete message we are categorically conveying to bosses and capitalist on this international day of workers which affirms TUI PS&A commitment to the outcry: “Workers of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains” more than ever before as it build strong, united and fighting trade union international for public service and allied workers under the umbrella of a class-oriented World Federation of Trade Unions, the WFTU.
International Workers Day is an occasion to remind ourselves of the immense challenges imposed on us by our class enemies and our class responsibility to never fail or falter in confronting those challenges. At the same time, we steadfast against any exploitation of a man by man and also warn the bosses in the public service and allied that TUI PS&A shall never ever fold its arms watching them attacking workers’ rights and eroding bargaining rights. As workers, we today celebrate the milestones of our struggles such as the International Workers Day through the intensification of our efforts in the very struggles for emancipation of public servants and workers of the world in general.
Viva International Workers Day!
Forward to International Working-Class Solidarity!!
Issued by TUI PS&A
Zola Saphetha
General Secretary
___________________
WFTU Declaration on Mayday 2024
26 Apr 2024
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant, class-oriented voice, representing over 105 million workers who live, work, and struggle in 134 countries of the 5 continents, honors the 138th anniversary of the struggle of workers in Chicago in 1886. A struggle that constituted a lasting milestone of the working class and a bright beacon for the struggles of today and tomorrow, a beacon of the uninterrupted class struggle for stable work with rights, social security, free public, and universal health and education, dignified life.
This year’s May Day anniversary will go down in history as a bloody anniversary. Because while millions of workers around the world organize themselves, demand against the anti-people’s policies of the capital, its governments and the EU, our colleagues in Palestine will be burying the dozens of bodies murdered every day in the genocide that is carried out by Israel. Workers in every corner of the globe will not remain silent in the crime being committed. They will turn every May Day activity into a demonstration of solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people, and of condemnation of the murderous state of Israel and its imperialist allies who in one way or another support the massacre.
Similarly, the workers do not remain silent on every other crime committed against the peoples, for the profits of the imperialists and the monopolies. At a time when the planet is dripping blood in various places from military interventions, the international class-oriented trade union movement, organized and decisively, is fighting for peace. We say no to imperialist plans and military conflicts. The struggle for peace has a specific content. It means first and foremost a struggle for the dismantling of NATO and all military coalitions, a struggle to defend the right of every people to choose the path of their economic and social development without interventions, sanctions, blockades, and economic wars. Against the double-standards policy where international law ends up being in practice the law of the powerful ones.
The messages and demands of the Chicago pioneers of 1886 remain relevant today. The crisis of capitalism is generalized and deepens. Social inequalities are widening dramatically. Democratic freedoms and trade union rights, are under attack all over the world.
The high cost of living and inflation are brutally undermining workers’ and pensioners living standards. Τhe right to organize and collective bargaining and the sacred right to strike are under attack.
Individual contracts, privatizations, outsourcing, teleworking and “service leasing” are just some of the forms taken by this harsh neoliberal attack.
Major social achievements such as social security and public health care are being privatized while the authoritarian and arbitrary increase of the retirement age methodically continues.
It is obvious that the burden of the capitalist crisis, is being attempted once again to be put on the shoulders of the working people and the weak popular strata in general.
The workers all over the world do not passively accept the capitalist anti-grassroots, and anti-worker attacks. They refuse to pay the bill of the capitalist crisis. With militant struggles and mobilizations in all corners of the globe, they demand the satisfaction of their contemporary needs. The WFTU and its affiliates are, and will continue firmly being in the vanguard of this struggles!
In this year’s May Day celebrations and demonstrations, the Palestinian flag will wave proudly next to the WFTU’s and its affiliates’ flags. In a spirit of solidarity and internationalism, we firmly stand beside the people of the heroic Cuba, and the peoples who struggle against the murderous sanctions, interventions, imperialist aggression, blockades and economic wars.
On the occasion of May Day 2024, the WFTU calls the class and militant trade unions around the world to organize this year’s campaign and activities under the slogan:
AGAINST THEIR PROFITS, WE RISE UP FOR OUR LIVES!
More Massive and Militant
· For the workers’ contemporary needs, against the exploitation!
· For democratic and trade union freedoms!
· In solidarity with Palestine, against imperialist wars and interventions!
For the class-oriented Trade Union movement, for the workers who resist, who do not compromise with oppression, discrimination and exploitation, there is only one path of dignity: the path of the struggles!
The struggles that have taken place signal hope, show the enormous power of the organized working class, illuminate the path of perspective against capitalist exploitation.
______________________________
May Day 2024: Education unions call on governments to Go Public! Fund Education
leading the profession achieving sustainable development goal 4 union growth, 2 May 2024
To mark May Day, Education International, the global voice of the teaching profession, is calling on governments everywhere to fully fund public education systems, and guarantee labour rights and good working conditions for teachers and education support personnel. Well-resourced, inclusive, and equitable quality public education systems are a prerequisite for advancing human rights, equity and equality, peace, democracy, social and climate justice.
“A more just, inclusive, democratic, and sustainable future is impossible without a clear and meaningful commitment to education.”
David Edwards | General Secretary, Education International
The global teacher shortage is threatening the right to education around the world. Widespread policies driving uncompetitive pay, unsustainable workloads, and growing precarity make it impossible to recruit and retain the teachers the world needs.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the failure of chronically underfunding essential public services, including education. In the wake of the pandemic, educators everywhere must now help their students heal and make up for lost time with even fewer resources than before. Despite professing their support for public education, too many governments have in fact cut education budgets. Education financing has fallen in 65% of low- and middle-income countries and in 33% of upper-middle and high-income countries since the start of the pandemic.
The teaching profession has reached breaking point. Experienced educators are leaving the profession they love, fewer candidates aspire to replace them, and the global teacher shortage is reaching alarming proportions. This shortage denies students their right to learn, it denies them the bright futures they deserve.
Global mobilization for public education
To address the global teacher shortage, governments must make education a real priority and give their public education systems the resources needed to have a well-supported, well-trained workforce that has the time, tools, and trust to carry out their profession.
Education unions everywhere are rallying around the Go Public! Fund Education campaign launched by Education International. Educators are joining forces to build the inclusive quality public education all students deserve.
“We want to go public about the fact that this crisis needs to be addressed without delay because this is an existential, pivotal moment for the future of our planet. We are mobilising at the local, national, regional, and global level so that all governments commit to increase funding for public education. We want to make sure we have the working conditions we need to teach, and our students have the environment they need to learn. A more just, inclusive, democratic, and sustainable future is impossible without a clear and meaningful commitment to education,” stated David Edwards, Education International General Secretary.
The United Nations calls on governments to fund education and support the teaching profession
Convened by the United Nations Secretary-General in response to the alarming global teacher shortage, the High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession developed 59 recommendations to ensure teachers are valued and respected. The recommendations are progressive and ambitious, recognising that investing in well-qualified and well-supported teachers is an investment in the quality and sustainability of education systems.
In brief, the Panel said teachers and education support personnel must be supported, valued, and paid their worth. Workloads and working conditions must support educators’ mental and physical wellbeing. Salaries must be competitive with those in comparable professions, and they must be decided at the negotiating table together with teachers and their unions. Gender pay equity must be ensured and women’s leadership must be encouraged.
The recommendations also call for educational working environments that are inclusive, safe, and non-discriminatory for teachers in all their diversity, including those with disabilities. Teachers must be protected against all forms of violence and harassment and that includes gender-based violence.
It is incumbent upon Governments to implement these recommendations to ensure every child is taught by a qualified teacher every day, every lesson.
As we celebrate May Day, we reaffirm our determination and commitment to social justice, peace, and democracy. Educators stand together, one union, one voice, to Go Public and Fund Education. We also stand in solidarity with the global union movement, our union brothers and sisters, in our common fight for workers’ rights and a just and sustainable future for all.
____________________
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