Taking COSATU Today Forward, 4 May 2026 #CosatuMayDay2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #COSATU salutes all organisers, shopstewards and worker leaders for delivering successful 12 #InternationalWorkersDay rallies on May 1 #Hegemony #ClassSolidarity #ClassWar #Cosatu40 #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
4 May 2026
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- COSATU heartened by support during May Day
- SADTU Free State Statement on expectations from the Education Budget Vote
- South Africa
- COSATU President Zingiswa Losi address at the Workers’ Day, Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane
- South African Communist Party International Workers’ Day statement, 1 May 2026
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- ILO acts on climate risks to worker safety
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
COSATU heartened by support during May Day
Zanele Sabela, COSATU Spokesperson, 3 May 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply humbled and heartened by the strong affirmation of support it received from workers on International Workers’ Day.
Attendance of COSATU May Day rallies across 13 stadiums in all nine provinces was healthy despite the onset of winter and heavy rains in many parts of the country.
Workers across all unions, sectors and provinces attended the rallies despite the long weekend, when many workers usually travel home to the rural areas.
The Federation expresses its sincere gratitude to the workers for their loyal support.
We also thank our Alliance partners for their solidarity and support. Special thanks to our Affiliates for mobilising workers to mark this important day in the workers’ calendar.
Lastly, we acknowledge the staff members of COSATU, without their hard work May Day would not been a success.
The Federation is now set to focus on the deepening cost of living crisis facing workers.
Issued by COSATU
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SADTU Free State Statement on expectations from the Education Budget Vote
Mokholoane Moloi, SADTU Free State Provincial Secretary, 03 May 2026
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in the Free State Province has received an invitation to attend the Education Budget Vote on Tuesday, 05 May 2026 at Dr Regionald Cindo Secondary School in Kroonstad.
The Union views the budget vote as a critical platform for the MEC to outline Department of Education’ priorities within the allocated budget, taking into consideration the dire situation of many of previously disadvantaged schools, the collapsing Education Support Personnel and state of the Grade R Practitioners.
The Union acknowledges with appreciation the speedy release of Institution Based Promotional Vacancy List 1 of 2026.
As SADTU, we call on the MEC to, among others, focus on the following critical issues in her budget vote:
Support for Grade R
SADTU expects the MEC to outline how the allocated budget for equalization is going to be utilised to improve the conditions of the Grade R practitioners. While the long-term expectation is the of migration/absorption of these practitioners into the mainstream, there is an urgent need to improve their stipends which have remained stagnant for a very long time despite the rising cost of living.
Filling of Public Servants Posts
The Union expects the MEC to pronounce of many vacant Public Servants posts that were never advertised nor filled over a long period of time affecting quality delivery of services in schools and offices. The implementation of Early Retirement without
Penalty (ERP) has worsened the situation with many employees retiring because of heavy workloads, and this has potential to crush the system.
School Safety
Given that schools are frequently vandalised with many being unsafe for learners and teachers, SADTU expects practical and budgeted measures to secure schools such as the hiring of security personnel in hot spot areas/schools and installation of fencing.
Infrastructure Improvement
The Union calls for increased funding to repair dilapidated infrastructure (classrooms, offices and toilets) particularly considering that Department of Labour is now placing greater focus on school infrastructure.
Issued By SADTU Provincial Secretariat
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU President Zingiswa Losi address at the Workers’ Day, Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane
Zingiswa Losi, COSATU President, 01 May 2026
Programme Director,
Deputy President Paul Mashatile, leadership of the Federation, the ANC, SACP, SANCO and the MDM, distinguished guests, comrades and friends,
Most importantly workers from Limpopo and across South Africa,
We are honoured to be here today at Peter Mokaba Stadium, in Polokwane, Limpopo, a province that played an historic role in the labour movement and the liberation struggle and that continues to inspire the nation.
We were pained by the recent devastating floods in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
We must continue to work together to rebuild our communities from Giyani to Bushbuckridge.
140 years ago today, workers in Chicago stood up and rejected some of the most horrendous forms of exploitation, including child labour, and in demand of an 8-hour day.
Their struggles led to workers being killed. Their example has served as an inspiration to workers ever since from the cold streets of Chicago to the hot farms of ZZ2 in Tzaneen.
We celebrate 32 years of liberation from the apartheid regime and the building of our internationally respected constitutional democracy and in defence of our transformation journey.
These victories are the product of countless giants of the labour movement led by the then SACTU and today COSATU, from John Nkadimeng to Ray Alexander, and ordinary citizens from mineworkers in Thabazimbi to municipal workers eThekwini.
We are proud of how far we have come as a nation from the dark days of apartheid when domestic and farm workers were treated little better than slave labour to today when workers’ rights are enshrined in our progressive labour laws, from the right to strike to collective bargaining, from paid maternity and parental leave to the National Minimum Wage raising the salaries of six million retail, construction and other vulnerable workers.
Access to education, transport, healthcare and jobs must include persons with disabilities.
Whilst we are proud of these many advances, we dare not be complacent when the challenges facing the working class are immense.
We cannot celebrate 32 years of Freedom but keep quiet when four out of ten South Africans cannot find work.
What hope is there for the matriculant in Phalaborwa or the disabled bus driver in Makhado when jobs are scarce?
When we are battling this single greatest threat facing the nation, we must condemn those employers in both the public and private sectors who see nothing wrong with retrenching workers in this economy.
Our unemployment crisis must be treated as a national emergency and command the same collective response we mobilised against COVID-19, including a mass economic stimulus and job creation plan of action.
All spheres of government and employers must be mobilised and held accountable for their contributions to crushing unemployment.
All of us, be it the teacher in Malamulele, the mining company in Rustenburg or the hospital in Mangaung, must buy locally produced goods.
This is the most effective way to support local jobs and businesses and grow this economy.
It is in response to this and the cost-of-living crisis that is plunging millions of working-class families into debt and misery that COSATU is waging a mass campaign to provide relief and hope for workers.
We must ensure that the price of fuel and electricity are slashed and that we invest in public transport, that we challenge GEMS and other medical aids who exploit workers and charge abusive prices, that government implement the next phase of the Two Pot Pension Reforms and provide greater relief to struggling workers and reduce the tax burden upon working and middle class families, and defend the NHI.
We will never overcome our entrenched levels of poverty and inequality unless we can see unemployment falling by at least 1% each quarter.
We cannot celebrate 32 years of democracy when we are a nation scarred by horrific levels of crime and corruption.
We cannot be proud when a young learner in Polokwane is harassed whilst walking to school, when the cashier eGqeberha is sexually abused by her employer, when members of the LQBQTI+ community are victimised in Khayelitsha.
Parliament overhauled over criminal legislation to deal with this scourge, but we are failing collectively to defeat this cancer.
This must end now.
We appreciate progress being made to remove the cancer of corruption across the state, in particular SARS.
But more must be done.
The police require working vehicles, the NPA requires skilled prosecutors, the courts require magistrates.
This is a war that we dare not lose.
Politicians, employers and tenderpreneurs who steal, must go to prison.
The rebuilding of the Department of Home Affairs, the Border Management Authority and law enforcement and the cracking down on illegal migration must be ramped up.
Our state organs must have the resources needed to enforce our immigration laws and ensure that all persons here comply with the law.
We must never tolerate lawlessness.
We need more labour inspectors to go to all workplaces, from the farms of Mussina to the clothing factories of Newcastle.
Employers who break the law must be held accountable.
If we are to deliver this Better Life for All, then government must abandon the tried and failed policies of neo-liberalism and austerity.
Only a well-resourced state can provide the frontline public and municipal services that the working class and the economy depend upon to survive and thrive.
Letaba Hospital needs doctors and nurses, schools in Mankweng need teachers and classrooms, police stations on the Cape Flats need modern computers and forensic databases.
There are no short cuts to fixing the state and delivering public services.
Urgent action is needed to fix local government.
We cannot sit idle whilst Ditsobotla and Matjhabeng Municipalities fail to provide basic services and pay their employees.
COSATU is a product of workers’ struggles and the beneficiary of international solidarity during the darkest days of apartheid, from Angola to Mozambique and beyond.
We are firm in our solidarity today with the people of Cuba and Venezuela, Western Sahara, Palestine, Zimbabwe and eSwatini.
We are resolute in our condemnation of all wars of aggression from Sudan to Lebanon and Iran.
Whilst we have far to go, we have won many victories since the founding of COSATU in 1985.
We have secured these gains because of this historic and revolutionary Alliance with the ANC, SACP, SANCO and the broader mass democratic movement.
COSATU remains the shield of workers at the workplace, the SACP the vanguard of the working class, and the ANC leader of the liberation movement, with each having a unique role.
This is an Alliance forged through stay aways, strikes, prison, exile and funerals. It is an Alliance built by such giants as OR Tambo, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Elijah Barayi and Helen Joseph.
As we head to the most contested local elections since the dawn of democracy, this Alliance must be united.
We are allies and not opponents.
We must work hand in glove as we engage and mobilise voters and ensure that on election day, this Alliance emerges victorious from Thohoyandou to Tshwane.
This Federation of Mark Shope and Nana Abrahams will unapologetically defend its unity. The Alliance must be radically reconfigured, lead the state and remain biased towards the working class and rural poor.
We must never allow our differences to divide workers.
We make this appeal to our Alliance Partners.
This leadership of the Alliance, you dare not fail Collins Chabane, Joyce Mashamba, Ruth First and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
The challenges facing the working class from the unemployed mother in Mitchell’s Plain to the petrol attendant in Kimberley and the taxi driver in Jane Furse, require COSATU and its Affiliates, be on the ground, at the workplace, united and vibrant, defending workers, securing wage increases and servicing members.
COSATU was founded upon the principles of socialism and the call for one industry, one union, one federation, one country.
We extend our hand in comradeship to all federations and unions.
We must work as one in defence of workers irrespective of our differences.
We have come from that day in 1985 when this militant giant COSATU was launched in Durban.
We have won massive victories in defence of the working class. We have far still to go. To win these battles, we must be united and on the ground. We dare not fail.
We are confident that this Federation and the Alliance will continue to lead these struggles.
Thank you.
Amandla,
Matimba,
Matla,
Maanda!
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South African Communist Party International Workers’ Day statement, 1 May 2026
Solly Mapaila, SACP General Secretary, 1 May 2026
On this International Workers’ Day, the South African Communist Party (SACP) salutes the working class in struggle, the producers of all wealth, the creators of all value, and the overwhelming majority of humanity, whose labour sustains society, yet who remain expropriated of the fruits of their work.
The SACP honours the historic uprising of workers in Chicago, the US, in 1886, when the demand for an eight-hour working day became a symbol of defiance against capitalist exploitation of workers. That struggle, and the bloodshed in its defence, remains a living reminder that rights are never gifted by those who profit from oppression and exploitation; the capitalist class and their repressive state machinery.
Rights and improvements are won through organisation, unity and militant collective action. In the same way, ending capitalist exploitation and consequent forms of oppression requires organisation, unity and militant collective action by the working class.
On the international situation
· At the global level, the exploitative capitalist system expresses itself in intensifying inequality, imperialist rivalry, militarisation, sanctions, blockades and wars of aggression that cause destruction in targeted nations, all in the interests of economic domination and geopolitical control. The increasing diversion of social resources into military spending by the imperialist regimes, such as the US, reflects a system that prioritises destruction over human development. This system prioritises war. It is anti-peace.
· The SACP stands in firm and uncompromising solidarity with the people of Cuba in their enduring struggle against the illegal economic, financial, trade, investment and political blockade imposed by the imperialist US regime. This blockade is a coercive instrument of imperialist pressure by the US, aimed at undermining Cuba’s sovereign right to determine its own path of development and social organisation. We reaffirm that the Cuban people, through their own historical struggle and collective organisation, have the inalienable right to shape their society free from external interference, sanctions and attempts at economic strangulation.
· The SACP also strongly condemns the escalating aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, where repeated interferences, illegal sanctions and destabilisation efforts by the US seek to undermine national sovereignty and reverse the gains of popular struggle. The resources of Venezuela, including its oil wealth, belong exclusively to the people of Venezuela, not to foreign corporations or imperialist powers such as the US. We reject all forms of external coercion, regime change operations and economic warfare.
· The SACP further calls for the immediate and unconditional lifting of all sanctions and coercive measures against Cuba and Venezuela, which constitute collective punishment against the workers and poor. We demand full respect for the sovereignty, independence and democratic self-determination of Cuba and Venezuela, and we reject any attempt to subordinate their futures to external domination.
· The SACP also calls for the release of all political leaders and detainees subjected to unlawful detention in the context of imperialist interference and destabilisation campaigns, including President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, whose situation reflects the broader assault on Venezuela’s democratic sovereignty. The struggles of Cuba, Venezuela and all nations oppressed under imperialism are inseparable from the global struggle of the working class against exploitation and domination. Their defence is part of the broader fight for a world based on equality, sovereignty and the primacy of human need over private profit.
On the South African economic situation
· Unemployment remains massive and structural. Unemployment affects 8.5 million workers by the official definition, which excludes discouraged work seekers. When discouraged workers are included, the figure rises to more than 12 million people who are affected by unemployment. This is not a temporary imbalance. It is a persistent feature of an economy that does not generate sufficient employment because production is subordinated to profit and global inequalities rather than social need.
· Women workers are disproportionately affected. They are concentrated in low-paid, insecure and informal work, while carrying the burden of unpaid social reproduction in the home. Gender domination is thus not separate from class exploitation, but embedded within it, intensifying the extraction of labour from women workers in multiple forms.
· The racialised character of unemployment and poverty remains evident. Black African workers bear the overwhelming burden of unemployment and deprivation, followed by Coloured workers. This reflects the historical foundations of accumulation in South Africa, where racial domination structured access to land, skills, employment and income, and where these inequalities continue to be reproduced within the present economic system.
· Inequality is extreme. A small minority appropriates the majority of income and wealth, while the majority survives on the margins. The bottom half of society receives a negligible share of total income, while wealth at the top continues to expand through ownership, rent extraction and financial accumulation. The richest 10 per cent of the population control around 65 per cent or more of total income. The top 1 per cent alone takes a massive share, close to 20 per cent. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 per cent of the population receives less than 10 per cent of total income. This is a society structurally divided between those who own and those who labour.
On neoliberalism and corruption
· Through privatisation, outsourcing and restructuring programmes, public assets, services and spheres of operation are transferred into private hands. Whether privatisation is pursued openly or through incremental liberalisation in favour of competition by private wealth accumulation interests in network industries and operations such as in rail, electricity generation and transmission, water, the high radio frequency spectrum, SAA, and others, the outcome remains the same.
· Public wealth is appropriated for private accumulation, while workers face retrenchment and communities face higher costs and reduced access.
· This is not class-neutral reform. It is a reorganisation of class power in favour of capital. Workers must also confront corruption, which drains public resources and weakens institutions meant to serve the people. Corruption is not separate from the logic of accumulation. It is part of it. Corruption is one of the ways in which wealth is diverted from public purpose into private enrichment. However, the solution to corruption is not privatisation. In fact, more often than not, privatisation involves corrupt practices and is a result of state capture by private interests. The solution is strengthened democratic control, accountability and public ownership under the leadership of the working class.
· Faced with these capitalist conditions, capitalist-orientated, neoliberal reforms will just maintain the same paradigm or make matters worse for the affected workers. Improvements in wages, services and working conditions are necessary and must be fought for. But within a system driven by profit, such gains remain vulnerable to reversal. Every concession won is subject to rollback through crisis, restructuring or policies such as austerity.
On the National Democratic Revolution
· The National Democratic Revolution (NDR) is the political programme that the SACP remains committed to. The NDR is a direct route to socialism for the SACP, and our conception of struggle for socialism has not changed in that it remains rooted in the NDR. The SACP views the allegiance and loyalty to the programme of the NDR and the important principles contained therein as a key in determining whether or not the forces we have historically worked with remain relevant to our objectives as the SACP.
· The SACP recognises that the NDR is contested and that the working class must claim for itself a dominant position in the organisation and implementation of the NDR. However, the substance of the NDR, while contested, is not a programme with no shape or character. All who are its motive forces, as a radical and transformative agenda, must defend the character of the NDR.
· The NDR in recent times has been characterised, by the left forces, as an agenda that is facing an imminent threat of strategic defeat. Additionally, the NDR has been characterised as stagnant, moribund and in a condition of regression. Looked at collectively, this theorisation of the state of the NDR does not reflect positive prospects for our revolution.
· The emboldened opposition to the NDR forces stands as a menace at the gates, threatening to annihilate the future of our revolution. The opposition forces to our revolution have some representatives from among the ranks of the progressives. The infiltration of the revolutionary forces by tendencies and personnel unaligned to the revolutionary agenda is an urgent concern for those of us committed to the uninterrupted pursuit of revolutionary goals.
· The working class stands to lose the most at what appears to be a looming reversal and possible demise of the revolutionary programme as we know it.
· The SACP, however, will not allow itself and the working class to be driven into political submission and political obscurity without pursuing a path for the rejuvenation of the struggle, the revitalisation of the revolutionary forces and the carrying out of an effective rescue mission for our revolution.
· The SACP is embarking on a deliberate programme to reconnect with the working class from below through its campaigns, including the People’s Red Caravan and the Know and Act in Your Neighbourhood Campaign, among others. We join this Worker’s Day inspired by these initiatives of our Party and with the intention to work with the organised workers to take these objectives forward.
· The defence of the revolution is the protection of the revolutionary instruments. The defence of the revolution is the ideological revitalisation of the organisations of the people, trade unions and other organisations of the working class.
· The realignment of forces is the reality we must confront. We must act consciously to defend the revolutionary programme in its midst. The SACP remains committed to working with Cosatu and the broader working-class movement to traverse the challenging political terrain and protect the gains of the working class while maintaining the forward movement of our revolution.
On the Alliance
· The SACP remains committed to the Alliance as the most capable and historically proven political and organisational mechanism to unite our people and organise them in pursuit of revolutionary goals.
· The Alliance and its mode of operation must be aligned to the revolutionary demands of the day. This means its analytical framework must be on par with the objective conditions of the motive forces of the revolution it seeks to accomplish. This also means its organisational approach must be consistent with the revolutionary requirements as objectively manifested at a given time.
· The SACP, for more than a decade, has consistently called for the reconfiguration of the Alliance. Such reconfiguration remains necessary and relevant at this time as it was when it was first conceived. The reconfiguration must take into account the changes in the political ecosystem and organisational formation in the present time. The reconfiguration means the reframing of the decision-making, the coordination of policy processes and implementation, the restructuring of the accountability processes between the organisations and between government structures and the implementation of other Alliance-related decisions. These are some among several examples.
· The SACP remains committed to dual membership. Any threat against dual membership places the Alliance in great peril. Even as the Alliance faces the changes related to the SACP approach to elections and state power, the Alliance must remain steadfast on the promise of its founding. The SACP sees no contradiction between the SACP contesting elections directly and the continuation of the Alliance. These are not mutually exclusive.
· The Alliance can only make significant progress when we seriously implement the principle of reconfiguration.
On Cosatu
· The SACP offers its full support to Cosatu as the most powerful and biggest trade union federation in the country, organised around objectives of socialism, international working-class solidarity and class-orientated trade unionism. These principles are what enjoins us with Cosatu. On this May Day, we reaffirm our commitment to working with Cosatu to unite the South African working class and pursue a radical transformation agenda with like-minded forces.
· Cosatu remains the main trade union federation whose fate is intimately tied to the fate of our whole movement. In that spirit, it is in the interests of all progressives that Cosatu remains a prominent federation in our country. If we succeed in this mission, Cosatu is best positioned to play the most significant role to radicalise the working class and our politics and sustain the mass base of our revolution.
· The organisational autonomy and political independence of Cosatu must be preserved at all times. Cosatu has played a key role in the shaping of our history. In doing so, it has acted with full organisational autonomy. Any political choices that have been apportioned to Cosatu were not an imposition from outside but were consciously actions of a working-class organisation that understands its position relative to history and the rest of society. This principle, even at this stage of realignment of forces, must remain in place, and the Communist Party remains committed to that principle. The class vanguard position of the SACP with regard to working-class organisations is not contradictory to the principle of organisational autonomy of the individual trade unions and autonomy of trade union federations, including Cosatu.
· The SACP remains committed to a relationship of mutual respect with Cosatu. Any and all political engagements between us are based on sound political analysis and commitment to a shared revolutionary vision for the benefit of the working class founded on organisational respect.
The working class must organise not only as a social force, but also as a conscious force for systemic change. This requires unity.
· Unity across workplaces, sectors and industries.
· Unity between permanent, contract and informal workers.
· Unity between employed and unemployed.
· Unity across gender, race, nationality and geography.
Unity requires organisation.
· Strong workplace organisation rooted in shop-floor power.
· Democratic and accountable unions.
· Coordination between workplace and community struggles.
· Mass organisation of the unemployed and precariously employed.
Unity requires class and political clarity.
· That the problem is not individual employers alone, but a system based on exploitation.
· That poverty is not natural but produced.
· That unemployment is not accidental, but structural.
· That inequality is not a flaw, but a requirement of wealth accumulation under capitalist private ownership.
The struggle to end exploitation and not only pursue improvements must intensify.
· Struggle for immediate gains in wages, conditions and services.
· Struggle against retrenchments, privatisation and casualisation.
· Struggle for public ownership and democratic control of the economy.
· Struggle for a society where production is organised to meet human needs.
Workers of South Africa, the task before us is clear.
· We must defend every gain we have won.
· We must resist every attack on working-class conditions.
· We must deepen organisation in every sphere of life.
· We must intensify the struggle for transformation.
Let us unite to build a popular Left front and a powerful, socialist movement of the workers and the poor. Let us unite behind the Conference of the Left scheduled for the end of this month.
The days of voting but being excluded thereafter when policy direction and key decisions are made must come to an end, including within the Alliance. Real democracy must mean ongoing participation in shaping power, not periodic, temporary inclusion followed by exclusion from meaningful decision-making and exclusion from participation in implementation.
Above all, we must move towards a society where the wealth created by workers is collectively owned and democratically controlled, where production serves social development, and where human need is placed above private profit.
This is the horizon of our struggle. It is not a distant dream. It is the logical outcome of the contradictions we confront every day.
On this International Workers’ Day, we call on the working class to rise with clarity, discipline, and unity.
Unite!
Organise!
Struggle!
The future belongs to those who produce the wealth of society!
International-Solidarity
ILO acts on climate risks to worker safety
30 April, 2026
The ILO meeting of experts on occupational safety and health in extreme weather events and changing weather patterns, held in Geneva from 20 to 24 April 2026, concluded with the adoption of conclusions that strengthen the protection of workers against climate-related risks that are becoming increasingly frequent and severe.
IndustriALL took part in this meeting as part of the Global Union Federations (GUFs), serving as advisors to the workers’ group and contributing actively to the debates and to the negotiation of the final text. The worker delegation was led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Additionally, the discussions highlighted occupational safety and health climate risks and their relevance for worker protection.
IndustriALL at the table
During the meeting, the workers’ group defended a broad approach: not only responding to specific extreme weather events, but also recognizing that changing weather patterns create cumulative risks for occupational safety and health. That approach is reflected in the conclusions that were adopted, and it directly addresses ongoing climate risks in health and safety at work.
Strengthening the text: key gains for workers
The amendments put forward by the workers helped strengthen the initial draft in several key areas. The final text gives greater weight to freedom of association, social dialogue and collective bargaining, confirms that OSH protection must apply to all workers, including vulnerable workers and regardless of their employment status and improves the language on exposure thresholds, labour inspection, income protection when work must be stopped, health surveillance and safe return to work after extreme weather events. It also includes issues such as gender perspective, social protection and the need for resilient public infrastructure. With these improvements, occupational safety and health climate risks are more thoroughly addressed for every worker.
At workplace level, the conclusions are clearer on the importance of risk assessments, access to safe drinking
water and adequate facilities, the provision of personal protective equipment at no cost and specific measures for workers facing higher risks.
They also make progress on two issues that are particularly important for IndustriALL. The first is the need to define clear responsibilities when more than one company operates at the same workplace. This means that the adopted text also covers contract and
subcontract workers, as well as value chains, which is highly relevant in industrial sectors where subcontracting is widespread. Furthermore, addressing occupational safety and health climate risks is crucial in these complex environments.
Climate risks inside plants, mines and industrial facilities
The second important point for us was that the text should better reflect the reality of industrial sectors. In energy, mining and manufacturing industries, climate-related risks do not affect only those working outdoors. They also affect workers inside plants and industrial facilities, through accumulated heat, smoke, poor air quality, operational disruptions, emergency work and the increased risk of major industrial accidents when an extreme event affects critical infrastructure or hazardous processes. The fact that the conclusions advance prevention, preparedness, response and recovery in these contexts is an important outcome. Clearly, occupational safety and health must take into account climate risks in these sectors.
Diana Junquera, director of industrial policy, said: “For IndustriALL, it was essential that this debate reflected the reality of our sectors and of the workers we represent. Climate does not only affect outdoor work: it also changes conditions inside plants, mines and industrial facilities. The adoption of conclusions that strengthen prevention, rights, social dialogue and protection for all workers is a very important step.”
Next steps
The conclusions adopted provide a useful basis for further progress towards stronger national policies and concrete measures in workplaces. IndustriALL will continue working to ensure that these principles are turned into real protection for workers across all our sectors, especially addressing occupational safety and health climate risks as part of our ongoing advocacy.
______________________________
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