Taking COSATU Today Forward, 5December 2025 #Cosatu40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary #HappyBirthdayDENOSA #HappyBirthdayCosatu
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY #HappyBirthdayDENOSA #HappyBirthdayNUM #HappyBirthdayCOSATU! #Cosatu40 #VioletSeboniBrigade #Cosatu40thAnniversary #Cosatu scheduled to hold its 40th Anniversary at Dobsonville, Soweto on December 6 #Cosatu@40 #Cosatu40thAnniversary #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
5 December 2025
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- Applications for media accreditation to cover COSATU 40th Anniversary rally officially opened
- South Africa
- COSATU wishes the ANC NGC well and urges it to focus on matters that affect the working class
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Yves Rocher must be held accountable over workers’ rights violations in Türkiye
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
Applications for media accreditation to cover COSATU 40th Anniversary rally officially opened
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson,10 November 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) invites all members of the media to apply for accreditation to attend and cover the Federation’s historic 40th Anniversary rally. This momentous event is scheduled to take place on 6 December at Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto.
COSATU was launched on 1 December 1985, at the height of the struggle against apartheid. Its formation brought together 33 competing unions and federations that were opposed to apartheid but committed to a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa.
Alliance partners, local and international guests have been invited to celebrate 40 years of this vibrant movement advancing, defending and protecting the interests and rights of workers and the working class in South Africa and beyond.
Applications for accreditation may be submitted to mam...@cosatu.org.za or non...@cosatu.org.za with the following details:
Name:
Surname:
ID number:
Media House/Address:
Contact number/email:
Alternatively, an application form can be completed via this link:
COSATU 40th Anniversary Media Accreditation Application Form – Fill out form
Issued by COSATU
Zanele Sabela (National Spokesperson)
Mobile: 079 287 5788 / 077 600 6639
Email: zan...@cosatu.org.za
COSATU wishes the ANC NGC well and urges it to focus on matters that affect the working class
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 05 December 2025
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) wishes its tried and tested ally, the African National Congress (ANC), well over its National General Council (NGC) set to take place from 8 to 11 December. We urge NGC delegates to focus on matters that affect the working class.
The ANC led liberation movement and the Tripartite Alliance with COSATU, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the South African National Civics’ Organisation (SANCO) have won historic victories over decades of struggle that led to the defeat of the apartheid regime, the democratic breakthrough of 1994, the adoption of our internationally respected Constitution and our progressive labour laws that protect the rights of millions of workers today.
Government under successive ANC led administrations since 1994 has seen 60% of the Budget targeted towards uplifting the poor and working-class communities. It is no small achievement that 27 million of our most destitute compatriots receive a social grant, that millions of students have been able to access tertiary education with NSFAS funding, that free basic education with meals have been rolled out across the country, the National Minimum Wage that has boosted the salaries of more than 6 million vulnerable workers, and the passing of the National Health Insurance Act laying the foundation for universal healthcare.
Whilst we correctly applaud the many progressive achievements workers and society have secured under the ANC, we cannot be complacent with regards to the serious failures and blunders of some in government, or the dire socio-economic crises facing the working class, in particular an economy that has struggled to grow beyond 1% per annum since 2008, the painfully high unemployment rate of 42.4%, and entrenched levels of poverty, inequality, crime and corruption.
Equally, we must be frank about the devastating impact that neo-liberal and reckless austerity budget cuts have inflicted upon the public and municipal services that the working class and the economy depend upon.
The Federation urges our ally to focus the attention of the NGC on addressing matters that affect the poor and the unemployed, to intensify the ANC’s renewal campaign and redoubling its efforts to cleanse itself of disreputable elements and remain an organisation biased towards the poor and the working class.
The NGC needs to speak to urgent measures, including the upcoming 2026/27 Budget, that must capacitate the state at all levels to fulfill its constitutional, developmental and transformation agenda.
Particular focus must be given to the extremely worrying state of local government and municipal services.
The NGC must revive progressive commitments made at the ANC NEC Lekgotla in January that spoke to a bold new infrastructure, industrial and SMMEs financing programme. Similarly, a mass public employment programme is a fundamental necessity to provide a pathway to decent employment for the 12 million unemployed.
Not only is an ANC firmly on the path of renewal a necessity to ensuring a decisive victory for the Alliance at the pending local government elections, so is a radically reconfigured Alliance. It is important the Alliance Political Council urgently be convened post the NGC to ensure that the Alliance resolves matters of concern about its cohesion and functioning, and that the modalities for the Alliance’s contesting the local elections are resolved in a manner that leaves the movement united.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
Yves Rocher must be held accountable over workers’ rights violations in Türkiye
3 December, 2025
On 20 November 2025, a Paris criminal court heard arguments in a landmark case alleging that cosmetics group Yves Rocher failed to protect workers’ rights at its former Turkish subsidiary, Kosan Kozmetic. The complaint was brought by IndustriALL Global and industriAll Europe affiliate Petrol İş, supported by the NGOs Sherpa and ActionAid France, and concerns the dismissal of 132 employees in 2018, following a union organising drive at the Flormar cosmetics factory in Gebze. Eighty-one of the dismissed workers are plaintiffs in the French proceedings.
Kosan Kozmetik, a subsidiary of the Yves Rocher group from 2012 to 2024, manufactured Flormar-brand beauty products for global markets. Workers there faced very low wages, exposure to harmful chemicals, imposed overtime, management intimidation and systemic gender discrimination. In early 2018, Petrol-İş launched a membership campaign within the factory.
Union representatives, dismissed workers and lawyers presented testimony in court, arguing that Yves Rocher failed to meet its obligations under the French Duty of Vigilance Law law to ensure respect for fundamental labour rights throughout its supply chain. Former employees, Petrol-İş, Sherpa and ActionAid France are asking the court to recognise that the Yves Rocher Group failed in its duty of vigilance and to award compensation for the harm suffered.
A ruling is expected on 12 March 2026. The case is widely considered a test of whether parent companies can be held accountable for violations in their global operations. It is the first time foreign employees of a French-affiliated company have sought damages from the parent company under this law.
What’s at stake:
The case challenges whether Yves Rocher fulfilled its due-diligence duty, especially with respect to workers’ freedom to organise and bargain collectively.
If the court rules in favour of Petrol İş it could reinforce the reach of vigilance-type legislation in holding parent companies accountable for abuses at subsidiaries abroad.
For workers and trade unions this victory would mark an important step towards strengthening labour rights in transnational supply chains, and signal that corporate reputation or brand name does not shield companies from scrutiny.
IndustriAll Europe and IndustriALL global union call on Yves Rocher, and on all multinational companies to adopt robust, enforceable due-diligence policies that protect fundamental labour rights throughout their global supply chains. We call on Yves Rocher Group to uphold the same fundamental rights for its employees everywhere.
Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe’s general secretary says:
“This case shows why Europe must uphold strong and enforceable due-diligence rules. Workers should never be dismissed or intimidated for exercising their fundamental rights, whether in France or Türkiye. European companies must respect the same standards across all operations. We stand in solidarity with Petrol İş and all workers fighting for their rights, including the right to organise.”
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL Global Union assistant general secretary, adds:
“The case of Flormar (Yves Rocher) is a clear case of violations of fundamental rights, and puts forward the need for holding capital accountable. It is an important test case if the French Due Diligence Law is instrumental in protecting workers, and we do expect that the judiciary process in France brings justice to the members of Petrol-Is, who want to exercise their guaranteed freedoms”.
______________________________
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