Taking COSATU Today Forward Special Bulletin, 7 June 2024
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY |
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
Friday, 7 June 2024
‘Building a strong and united COSATU in mobilizing for the ANC electoral victory”
“Build Working Class Unity for Economic Liberation towards Socialism”
Organize or Starve!
Contents
o Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- NUM set to convene its National Policy Conference from the 11th - 13th June 2024 at Birchwood Conference Centre
o South Africa
- COSATU statement on the ANC’s Government of National Unity announcement
o International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Thai confederation demands inclusion of ILO conventions in FTA negotiations
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics
NUM set to convene its National Policy Conference from the 11th - 13th June 2024 at Birchwood Conference Centre
Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM National Spokesperson, 05 June 2024
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will from the 11th - 13th June 2024 convene its National Policy Conference, set to take place at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg.
The National Policy Conference is organised under the theme “41 Years of Unbroken Revolutionary Struggle for Workers”.
A range of organisational policy related issues within the four sectors that the NUM is organising (Mining, Energy, Construction and Metal Sectors) are scheduled to be thoroughly discussed and future plans outlined.
Amongst speakers invited and scheduled to give messages of support to delegates are leaders from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and other fraternal local and international organisations.
COSATU has already confirmed deployment of its General Secretary Solly Phetoe while SACP and ANC are still yet to confirm.
Members of the media are therefore invited to attend and cover the event and the full programme will be distributed to journalists at the venue.
For more detailed information, please contact:
Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM National Spokesperson, 083 809 3257
Luphert Chilwane, NUM Media Officer, 083 809 3255/ 073 354 6569
South Africa
COSATU statement on the ANC’s Government of National Unity announcement
Zanele Sabela, COSATU National Spokesperson, 07 June 2024
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes our ally, the African National Congress (ANC)’s announcement of its intention to establish a Government of National Unity (GNU).
COSATU has been undertaking internal consultations on the Federation’s proposals on how the 7th administration led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC should be constituted.
We look forward to engaging the ANC and the South African Communist Party, on their positions to ensure we emerge with a united way forward as the Alliance.
We agree with our alliance partners, the ANC and the SACP, that South Africa, and the working class in particular, are facing some of the most difficult challenges since the democratic breakthrough in 1994. These difficulties, including the electoral results that left no single party with the 51% threshold needed to form a government on its own, require decisive leadership, political maturity, and sobriety.
The Federation has long championed the need for social partners, including Organised Labour and Business, to work with the democratic state, to address the many socio-economic challenges affecting working class communities and the nation.
We will engage with the ANC and the SACP over the coming days to ensure the Alliance has a clear path forward, including on the various permutations and modalities that would need to feature in the GNU.
It is critical as we navigate these turbulent times collectively as a nation, that the GNU is anchored on progressive principles and be biased towards uplifting the working class. It must avoid the rush for positions that has bedevilled coalitions in local government at the expense of service delivery.
Key to ensuring the GNU is stable and coherent, must be anchored upon adherence to the Constitution of the Republic and the rule of law, must respect the hard won labour rights of workers and provide relief to the poor and unemployed, accelerate the war against crime and corruption and the renewal of the nation, invest in quality public services society depends upon and intensify the transformation mandate of the nation.
Engagements within the Alliance and amongst the elected parties, need to ensure that not only are these progressive principles defended but that mechanisms are put in place to ensure the stability of the GNU and that it responds decisively to the frustrations of society.
Issued by COSATU
International-Solidarity
Thai confederation demands inclusion of ILO conventions in FTA negotiations
7 June, 2024
On 29 May the leaders of the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT) met with European Union (EU) representatives in Bangkok to demand the inclusion of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) fundamental conventions in EU-Thailand Free Trade Agreements (FTA).
Prasit Prasopsuk, IndustriALL affiliate CILT president, said Conventions 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize) and 98 (on Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining) are particularly important to Thai workers as they are facing endless anti-union discrimination, the two conventions should be one of the main prerequisites for FTA negotiations.
“We emphasized that trade negotiations must take sustainable development and protection of labour rights into consideration. The Thai government must engage stakeholders such as ILO and CILT in FTA negotiations and monitor its outcome,”
said Prasit Prasopsuk.
EU representative, Petros Sourmelis, head of the economic and trade section confirmed that the draft sustainability chapter in the EU-Thailand FTA has included ILO fundamental conventions on freedom of association, forced labour, child labour and discrimination. The EU is now waiting for a response from the Thai government.
He said that when the EU-Thailand FTA is ratified and in force, the EU shall conduct a two-year policy review on the compliance of sustainability chapter and ILO standards. Trade unions have the right to provide information relating to violations of workers’ rights to the EU.
Since 2023, CILT and 25 labour organizations in Thailand have formed the ILO 8798 Convention driving network to demand immediate ratification of these Conventions.
Going forward, the network is planning to submit an open letter to the EU and the Thai government, in October, in conjunction with the next trade negotiation in Bangkok.
“Trade must bring benefits to people and workers. It is IndustriALL’s position that all free trade agreements must include enforceable international labour standards. We stand in solidarity with CILT to demand protection of freedom of association and right to collective bargaining in Thailand,”
said Ramon Certeza, IndustriALL regional secretary for South East Asia.
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Norman Mampane (Shopsteward Editor)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Street, Braamfontein, 2017
P.O.Box 1019, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct line: 010 219-1348