Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 15 July 2026 #MandelaDay2026
Norman Mampane
|
COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #Cosatu holds a National #JustEnergyTransition workshop on localisation, decent work, gender equity… #MandelaDay2026 #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving Campaign continues… #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #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
15 July 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize at every workplace and demand respect for labour rights Now!
Defend Jobs Now!
Join COSATU NOW!
Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU General Secretary Input at the Just Energy Transition Workshop in partnership with the Institute for Economic Justice underway at Boksburg, Gauteng
- Employment and Labour Ministry to host Breakfast Sessions with key Stakeholders in Port St Johns
- South Africa-#ClassSolidarity!
- NEHAWU Post 13th National Congress Statement
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Filipino BPO & Care Workers Drive Congressional Push for Nationwide Wage Increase
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
COSATU General Secretary Input at the Just Energy Transition Workshop in partnership with the Institute for Economic Justice underway at Boksburg, Gauteng
Solly Phetoe, COSATU General Secretary, 15 July 2026
Programme Director
Leadership of the Institute for Economic Justice
National Office Bearers and leaders of our affiliates
Comrades representing the workers of South Africa
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning, comrades.
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of South African Trade Unions to this Joint COSATU/IEJ National Advocacy Strategy Workshop on Just Transition, Decent Work and Localisation.
We gather here today not because the challenges before us are small, but because Organised Labour has never been afraid of confronting difficult moments in history. Every generation of workers has been called upon to respond to the defining questions of its time.
Ours is no different.
Today we face an economy that is struggling to create decent work, communities burdened by deepening poverty and inequality, and a climate crisis that is no longer a distant threat but a lived reality for workers and the poor. Yet, within these challenges lie opportunities to fundamentally reshape our economy in favour of workers, communities and future generations.
It is also becoming clear that the global rush for Africa’s critical minerals, and raw materials has the potential of integrating Africa in the global economy as an exporter of raw materials and an importer of value-added goods, meaning that Africa is exporting jobs, maintaining premature deindustrialization, low growth, high levels of unemployment, poverty and social inequality.
That is why this workshop matters.
This is not simply another policy discussion or stakeholder engagement. It is an opportunity for the Federation to sharpen its collective voice, strengthen its advocacy and build a worker led agenda that ensures the Just Transition becomes a pathway towards industrialisation, localisation, decent work and social justice.
As COSATU, we have consistently argued that workers must not merely participate in the transition, they must help design it, influence it and ultimately benefit from it. The transition cannot be something that happens to workers, it must be shaped with workers, by workers and for workers.
Over the next two days, we are called upon to move beyond identifying problems and begin refining practical solutions.
Our task is to strengthen COSATU's advocacy so that our policy positions continue to influence national planning, industrial policy and investment decisions.
We must ensure that every climate policy, every industrial strategy and every investment programme contributes towards creating decent work, rebuilding productive industries, strengthening local manufacturing and reducing inequality.
You are gathered here Comrades, guide the federation as it approaches its National Congress, to develop alternatives to neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialisation, unemployment and social inequality. Making that the Federation develops clear evidence-based positions on just energy transition, decent work, localization and finally develop an advocacy strategy.
Allow me also to express COSATU's sincere appreciation to the Institute for Economic Justice. This partnership has demonstrated the value of combining rigorous research with worker experience and practical organising. It has strengthened our ability to engage government, social partners and international processes from a position that is informed, credible and firmly rooted in the interests of the working class.
Comrades, we should approach this workshop with confidence. The future of South Africa's economy is still being written.
Organised labour has both the responsibility and the capacity to ensure that workers are not spectators in that future, but active architects of it.
I wish you successful engagements and deliberations in this workshop and look forward to the outcomes that will craft our strategic engagements in the National Congress in September.
Thank you very much.
Amandla!
__________________________
Employment
and Labour Ministry to host Breakfast Sessions with key Stakeholders in Port St Johns
14 July 2026
Employment and Labour Ministry will host Breakfast Sessions with key stakeholders in Port St Johns, Eastern Cape Province.
The sessions, to be graced by Deputy Minister Judith Nemadzinga-Tshabalala and Acting Director-General Jacky Molisane, will bring together Ex-Mine Workers Council, employers, SMMEs, and business industry representatives under the O.R. Tambo Municipality.
The engagement seeks to strengthen labour law compliance, promote employer registration with the UIF and Compensation Fund, and raise awareness of employment services and social security benefits available to workers and ex-mine workers.
Topics to be covered include UIF compliance, the Compensation Fund and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, inspection and enforcement services under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, Public Employment Services and work seeker
registration on the ESSA system, and the Labour Activation Programme.
Members of the media are invited to the sessions scheduled to take place as follows:
📅
Date:
16 -17 July 2026
📍
Venue: Mgazana River Lodge and Spa, Port St Johns
🕘
Time:
09:00 – 13:00
🔗
RSVP: Cebisa...@labour.gov.za
The session is preceded by an integrated service delivery programme which is offering a basket of services targeting the communities of Port St Johns Municipality.
Event details are as follows:
DATE VENUE Area TIME
15 July 2026 Tombo Multi-Purpose Centre Port St Johns 08h00 -16h00
16 July 2026 Tombo Multi-Purpose Centre Port St Johns 08h00 -16h00
16 July 2026 Luxolweni Community Hall Port St Johns 08h00 -16h00
17 July 2026 Luxolweni Community Hall Port St Johns 08h00 -16h00
Clients are advised to bring the following documents related to the service required:
ID Documents/Valid Passport,
Completed UI-19 form & Salary Schedule,
Proof of residence,
Bank stamped UI-2.8 form,
Unemployed youth should bring along a detailed CV to be registered on the ESSA Database.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Teboho Thejane
Departmental Spokesperson
082 697 0694/ teboho....@labour.gov.za
-ENDS-
Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour
__________________________
26th Commission for Employment Equity Report (CEE) Annual Report 2025/26
https://www.labour.gov.za/.../2026/26th%20CEE%20Report.pdf
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
NEHAWU Post 13th National Congress Statement
Zola Saphetha, NEHAWU General Secretary, July 15, 2026
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union [NEHAWU] convened a highly successful and united 13th National Congress from 26 to 29 June 2026 at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Gauteng Province, under the theme: "Advance Workplace Organisation to Defend Collective Bargaining, Heighten Class Consciousness and Advance Internationalism."
Over 609 delegates representing 289 665 members attended the 13th national congress to receive reports on the implementation of resolutions since the last congress that was held in 2021 and also to analyse and assess the international and domestic balance of class forces, renew the leadership mandate and adopt a programme of action guiding the union as it advances the struggle of workers and the broader working-class.
The congress received valuable addresses from the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), progressive organisations from South Africa and across the world, as well as the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the Trade Union International of Public Service and Allied (TUI PS&A).
Our 13th National Congress represented an important moment in the history of our organisation and it was not merely a constitutional gathering to elect leadership and adopt resolutions, but reaffirmed the ideological direction of our union including renewing commitment to building a militant, democratic, worker-controlled and class-oriented trade union that remains firmly rooted in the struggles of workers and the working-class.
We proudly declare that our congress held robust, frank and constructive discussions on the challenges confronting our members, workers, the labour movement and our country.
Delegates emerged from congress united, confident and determined to implement the resolutions adopted under the clarion call to advance workplace organisation, defend collective bargaining, heighten class consciousness and advance internationalism. The congress reaffirmed that the interests of the working class remain the entry point into every pillar of our work and that union shall continue to discharge its organisational responsibilities guided by this fundamental principle.
The congress took place during a period of profound global uncertainty, where the international capitalist system continues to experience a protracted structural crisis characterised by economic stagnation, widening inequalities, ecological destruction and intensifying competition between imperialist powers for markets, resources and geopolitical influence.
The congress observed with serious concern the continued escalation of imperialist wars and military aggression in different parts of the world, which continue to inflict untold suffering on millions of working people.
The congress condemned the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and reaffirmed the union's unwavering solidarity with the struggle for a free, independent and sovereign Palestine. We reiterated our full support for South Africa's genocide case before the International Court of Justice and called on our government to remain steadfast in defence of international law and justice despite increasing pressure from imperialist forces.
The congress further reaffirmed its unconditional solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Swaziland and all oppressed nations resisting colonial domination, imperialism and capitalist exploitation. We resolved to intensify our participation in the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign and strengthen practical international solidarity through the campaigns of the WFTU and TUI Public Service and Allied.
On the national political situation, the congress undertook a comprehensive assessment of the current conjuncture and concluded that South Africa has entered a complex phase in the National Democratic Revolution [NDR].
The congress reaffirmed that the NDR remains the strategic path through which the working class must continue advancing towards socialism. However, the congress expressed concern that the revolutionary content of the NDR has increasingly been undermined by neoliberal macroeconomic policies that have weakened the capacity of the state, developmental agenda, and entrenched monopoly capital and frustrated the aspirations of the Freedom Charter.
The congress reaffirmed the resolution of the 12th National Congress and COSATU’s 13th and 14th National Congress on supporting the SACP in electoral contestations. We welcome the fact that the SACP’s 15th National Congress resolved to contest elections, with or without a reconfigured Alliance, as part of building working class hegemony in all key sites of power and in the context of the absence of a clear and resolute working class voice in the formal and institutional political terrain.
It further reaffirmed that the interests of the working class remains the primary objective through which the union advances the class-struggle. Especially at a time when capitalism continues to deepen inequality, unemployment, poverty and exploitation, and imperialism intensifying its aggression in the world, the union reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to international working-class solidarity under the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all.
The congress resolved that the union shall actively engage and support the Party's programmes and campaigns while contributing towards the building of the Left Popular Front as a strategic platform for uniting workers, communities and progressive formations around a common socialist programme.
Furthermore, the congress assessed the emergence of the Government of National Unity and agreed that the GNU reflects the changing balance of political forces in our country and the continued erosion of public confidence arising from decades of neoliberal economic policies that have failed to resolve the triple crises of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
Nearly three decades after the adoption of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy framework, South Africa continues to experience mass unemployment, deepening poverty, widening inequality, deteriorating public services and growing social instability. Congress concluded that these conditions are not accidental but are the inevitable consequence of an economic trajectory that prioritises profits over people.
The congress therefore reaffirmed our longstanding opposition to austerity measures, privatisation, outsourcing and all neoliberal reforms that seek to privatise public services and weaken the capacity of the state. We remain convinced that quality public services, decent work and development can only be achieved through a capable developmental state driven by the interests of the working class and the poor.
The congress also reflected extensively on the deteriorating condition of public services. Congress expressed serious concern over the impact of budget cuts, chronic vacancies, collapsing infrastructure, shortages of essential equipment and medicines, and poor management across many public institutions. The congress reaffirmed that the defence of quality public services is inseparable from the struggle to improve the working conditions of public servants.
In this regard, congress resolved to intensify the Public Service Delivery Campaign and place renewed emphasis on defending and strengthening the National Health Insurance as the most progressive mechanism for ensuring universal access to quality healthcare. We shall continue campaigning for the filling of vacant posts, improved healthcare infrastructure, adequate provision of medicines and medical equipment, and the establishment of a publicly administered National Health Insurance Fund.
The congress further resolved that the union shall continue exposing and opposing attempts by monopoly capital and conservative political forces to undermine the implementation of National Health Insurance and preserve the unequal healthcare system inherited from apartheid.
The congress equally reaffirmed the union's commitment to transforming the post-school education and training sector and advancing the struggle for free, quality and public education. Working together with progressive organisations, we shall contribute towards building a Popular Education Front capable of driving meaningful transformation of the education system.
The congress also deliberated on the Just Energy Transition and resolved that South Africa's transition towards cleaner energy must never become another vehicle for privatisation, job losses and corporate profiteering. The congress reaffirmed that workers and communities must not bear the costs of the transition. Instead, the transition must be publicly owned, democratically planned and socially controlled in the interests of national development.
The congress further resolved to intensify campaigns against the cost-of-living crisis, rising unemployment, food insecurity and growing inequality. The union shall continue working with COSATU, the SACP and progressive community organisations to campaign for pro-poor budgets, strengthened public services, expanded social protection, land reform, decent housing and sustainable livelihoods for working-class communities.
The congress reaffirmed that workplace organisation remains the foundation upon which the strength of our union is built. The congress directed that every structure of the union must prioritise recruitment, member servicing, political education and workplace organisation as to advance workplace organisation and defend collective bargaining.
Furthermore, the congress also reaffirmed the strategic importance of strengthening the union's paralegal structures, improving dispute management, modernising case management systems and enhancing organisational capacity to provide quality service to members across the country.
The 13th National Congress reiterated that collective bargaining remains the lifeblood of the union. As such, we shall continue defending collective bargaining, resisting unilateral employer’s actions and mobilising workers against all attempts to undermine collective bargaining, and the rights of workers.
The union emerges from its 13th National Congress more united, politically focused and organisationally stronger. We emerge from the congress inspired by the confidence shown by our members and determined to implement the resolutions adopted. We are more determined and resolute to defend collective bargaining, advance workplace organisation, heighten class consciousness and strengthen proletarian internationalism.
Lastly, the NOBs as part of responding to the clarion directive of congress of Close Ranks and Defend the Base, visited our branch [Armscor Dockyard] in Simons’ Town. Our members informed the union that the Chief of Navy is still intent on terminating the Navy’s contract with Armscor. Armscor has been rendering services for the navy in the dockyard for many years. There are around 400 employees of Armscor in that dockyard and the pronouncements by the Chief of the Navy are reckless and put the jobs of our members and workers at risk.
As NEHAWU, we will not stand idle whilst the Chief of the Navy undermines our members and the rights of workers. We want to send a strong warning to him that he must desist from his nefarious agenda. As NEHAWU, we are combat ready to defend the rights of our members, workers and defend collective bargaining.
END
Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat.
International-Solidarity
Filipino BPO & Care Workers Drive Congressional Push for Nationwide Wage Increase
15 July 2026
Affiliates from UNI Global Union – Philippine Liaison Council (UNI-PLC) representing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and care workers appeared before lawmakers during the House Committee on Labor and Employment’s public hearing and consultation last June
30, 2026 to demand the immediate passage of a ₱200 ($3.25 USD) daily across-the-board
minimum wage increase nationwide for all private-sector workers. The hearing comes as Congress deliberates 17 pending bills aimed at legislating relief for a workforce pushed to the brink by the soaring cost of living.
For 35 years, wage levels in the Philippines have been governed by regional wage boards. UNI-PLC and the majority of the labor movement in the country argue that this fragmented approach has systematically depressed earnings while failing to shield workers
from inflation.
Findings from IBON Foundation reveal that the country’s real wages, adjusted for inflation, actually plummeted by 26% between 1989 and 2023. While the national GDP per capita has grown, productivity gains have overwhelmingly favored corporate capital, leaving
labor’s share of national income in a continuous decline.
“Not a single regional minimum wage in the country meets the official regional poverty threshold,” UNI-PLC President Roland De La Cruz stated in a technical position paper submitted to the House of Representatives. “Even in Metro Manila, the highest-paid workers
fall short by ₱19.22 (around $0.31 USD) daily, while regional gaps widen
up to ₱254 (around $4.13 USD) for agricultural workers in Central Luzon.
The current system doesn’t prevent poverty; it guarantees it.”
Right now, minimum wages cover less than 60% of what a family of five needs to survive, plummeting to a dismal 32% in far-flung regions. The proposed
₱200 ($3.25 USD) adjustment would immediately shrink this gap by 16% to 28%
depending on the region, pulling millions of families out of absolute poverty.
The economic squeeze is hitting two of the country’s most vital economic drivers particularly hard: the nearly two-million-strong BPO workforce and frontline care workers.
“BPO workers help generate billions in revenue for multinational firms and national growth, yet our real earnings are being swallowed whole by inflation,” said Ely Andrew Buyco of the UNITED BPO Workers of the Philippines. “Productivity gains have overwhelmingly
favored capital while workers bear the brunt of rising living costs. Passing this legislated wage hike, and ensuring it triggers vital wage distortion corrections across pay scales, is critical to restoring fairness for the two million workers anchoring this
industry.”
This sentiment was echoed on the healthcare front by Renato Cadano of the Unified Filipino Service Workers (UFSW), who warned that the country’s local healthcare infrastructure is actively being hollowed out by poverty wages. “Our low wages are the primary
reason why Filipino health workers are continually leaving the country, leaving our own healthcare gaps to widen while we effectively train and produce professionals for other nations,” Cadano remarked. “This legislated wage hike is an essential first step
to augment the small salaries of our health workers and give them a meaningful reason to stay and serve our own communities.”
To ensure the legislated relief is both immediate and meaningful, UNI-PLC is pressing Congress to pass the
₱200 ($3.45 USD) nationwide increase under two non-negotiable terms. First,
the wage hike must follow a single-tranche implementation and be applied all at once. Staggering the adjustment dilutes essential economic relief for families and incentivizes employer delays. Second, the policy must ensure universal coverage with no loopholes.
The adjustment must apply equally across all private sectors, including healthcare, retail, manufacturing, agriculture, and the BPO industry.
“The entire region stands in absolute solidarity with Filipino BPO and care workers who are driving this vital campaign for economic survival,” said Rajendra Acharya, UNI Asia & Pacific Regional Secretary. “UNI Asia & Pacific, alongside our hundreds of affiliates
across the region, will be watching the Philippine government closely to see if they choose to protect corporate profits or defend the constitutional rights of their own people.”
“Filipino workers are not asking for corporate charity; they are demanding a just share of the wealth their labor creates,” De La Cruz concluded. “Congress must stop treating living wages as a policy debate and start treating them as a constitutional right—enact
the wage hike now.”
______________________________
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