Taking COSATU Today Forward, 6 August 2026 #CosatuCongress2026
Norman Mampane
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COSATU TODAY COSATU Call Center Contacts: 010 002 2590 #Cosatu launched 15th National Congress Countdown… #CosatuCongress2026 #WorkerControl #NationaActionAgainstCostOfLiving Campaign continues… #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
6 August 2026
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Contents
- Workers Parliament: Back to Basics!
- More must be done to cushion workers and the economy from the further massive increase in diesel prices
- South Africa
- COSATU welcomes government's tabling the Employment Services Amendment Bill before Parliament
- COSATU concerned non-payment of subsidies could spell disaster for KZN economy
- International-Workers’ Solidarity!
- Sintracarbón signs labour transition pact with Colombian government
Workers’ Parliament-Back2Basics #ClassWar
More must be done to cushion workers and the economy from the further massive increase in diesel prices
Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 05 August 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply concerned about the impact of the further massive increase in diesel prices of over R1.38 and R1.23 per litre of diesel. This is on top of earlier devastating hikes in diesel prices. This is a painful blow that millions of struggling workers and commuters, and an already stagnant economy stuck at an anemic 1% growth simply cannot afford.
We welcome the 52 cents relief in petrol prices which will provide some comfort for embattled motorists.
Government’s earlier temporary fuel levy suspension provided invaluable relief for workers and the economy as well as helping to stave off inflationary pressures.
We fear that workers, society and the economy will not manage continuous diesel price hikes. Oil and fuel supplies prices will take time to return to pre-war levels even when the war in the Persian Gulf ends.
Diesel is critical for the public and private transport that workers depend upon. Workers who are already drowning in debt, supporting many unemployed relatives and spending an average of 40% of their meagre wages on transport; will not be able to continue to survive such painful petrol, diesel, gas and paraffin price hikes.
The most important source of relief for workers, society and the economy is to reintroduce the fuel levy relief whilst oil and fuel prices remain abnormally high. This is the most impactful and cost-effective solution to this global crisis. Additional relief should be sought by making public transport more affordable for commuters.
The Reserve Bank must spare society further pain by not increasing the repo rate as this source of inflation is external and not domestic driven and workers’ meagre wages must be protected from further bleeding.
COSATU will continue to engage government on urgent measures to cushion workers, the poor and the economy from this global crisis.
Issued by COSATU
South Africa #ClassSolidarity
COSATU welcomes government's tabling the Employment Services Amendment Bill before Parliament
Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator, 05 August 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the African National Congress led government’s tabling of the Employment Services Amendment Bill before Parliament.
The Federation engaged extensively on the Bill at Nedlac and looks forward to the Bill’s processing and adoption by Parliament and their implementation by the Department of Employment and Labour.
The Bill provides a long overdue response to the flood of undocumented migrant labour into the economy over the past decade. The Bill enables the Minister for Employment and Labour to set limits on the number of documented migrant workers that can be employed in a workplace, region and economic sector. These limits are critical for an economy battling to cope with extremely high and rising unemployment levels of 43.7% overall and 62% for youth.
We have seen countless unscrupulous employers in certain sectors; in particular agriculture, fuel stations, restaurants, construction amongst others; maliciously exploiting the desperation of undocumented migrant labour as their vulnerability opens them to wildly abusive exploitation. We need the Department of Employment and Labour’s recruitment drive for an additional 10 000 labour inspectors to be prioritised and honoured as this would provide a decisive boost to efforts to crack down such criminal violations of local and migrant workers’ inalienable labour rights.
It is crucial that the Critical Skills List be continuously assessed by government with business and labour at Nedlac to ensure that it is correctly positioned to attracting scarce skills to South Africa, to upskilling local workers and to ensuring unemployed South Africans with such needed skills are prioritised for training.
Whilst migration is correctly ingrained with the history of humanity and South Africa is no exception, the current levels into South Africa are unsustainable, more so given our dangerously high rates of unemployment. The Bill seeks to find the correct balance and to ensure the state is better capacitated to set limits and protect the needs of workers.
These are badly needed and their implementation must be expedited.
A balanced approach to migration, in particular for our neighbouring states, is needed, more so if we are to avoid the periodic outbreaks of unacceptable xenophobic, Afrophobic and vigilante violence.
Issued by COSATU
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COSATU concerned non-payment of subsidies could spell disaster for KZN economy
Zanele Sabela, COSATU Spokesperson, 5 August 2026
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is deeply concerned that South Africa’s second largest provincial economy will grind to a halt if 20 commuter bus companies stop operating next week.
Major commuter bus companies operating in Kwa-Zulu Natal including South Coast Bus Service, Metrow Bus Service and Combined Transport Services, say they will be forced to halt operations from next week if the KZN Department of Transport does not pay subsidies as per signed contracts. In a letter to the South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (SARPBAC), the bus companies state that they will not be able to ferry thousands of passengers across the province to work, school, university, hospital or any other destination if their subsidies remain unpaid.
The KZN DoT is in breach of contract as it has not paid subsidies since April this year, the passenger bus companies maintain. Subsidies are meant to be paid monthly. The companies say have had to dig deep into their reserves to ensure services to commuters across KZN were not disrupted in the past few months. Given the fuel price increases since the war in the Middle East started, plus the latest diesel price hike, the bus companies say their reserves are now depleted. Worse still financial institutions are unwilling to grant further extensions on their credit lines.
On contacting the National Department of Transport, the passenger bus bargaining council General Secretary, Gary Wilson, was informed that the allocation for subsidies was paid over to the KZN DoT. The question then arises, why have funds not been transferred to the bus companies?
Were bus companies to stop operating next week, commuters would have no transport to get to work or school, the provincial economy would be adversely impacted, and the livelihoods of more than 1 000 workers would be threatened, along with that of their families. Workers’ salaries were also paid from reserves in recent months. If the subsidies are not paid within this week, the consequences will be dire.
COSATU calls on the National Department of Transport as well as the KZN Provincial Government to intervene to ensure subsidies are paid within this week to avoid disruptions that could ultimately cost the economy multiples more, given volatile nature of the province.
The Federation calls on all stakeholders to do all in their power to avoid this impending disaster because it will affect the working class and the poor the worst.
Issued by COSATU
Internationalism-Solidarity
Sintracarbón signs labour transition pact with Colombian government
5 August, 2026
Mining workers, together with the Colombian government and various institutions, have signed the Grand Pact for Labour and Productive Transition for the
regions of La Guajira, Cesar and Magdalena. This is a key step towards consolidating a just energy transition that protects jobs and creates new employment opportunities.
More than 3,000 workers were made redundant in 2021 following the closure of the coal operations of Prodeco, a Glencore subsidiary, in the Cesar mining corridor. For years, the National Union of Coal Industry Workers (Sintracarbón, an IndustriALL Colombian
affiliate) and the families affected by the redundancies campaigned for support. Their efforts led to collaboration with Gustavo Petro’s government to launch a Labour Retraining Programme for the Cesar Mining Corridor. The programme aims to tackle the unemployment
crisis.
New opportunities for mining workers
As a result of this initiative, 104 former workers took part in the programme, where they acquired the necessary skills to enter the electricity and renewable energy sectors, opening the door to new opportunities for formal employment.
On 25 July 2026, in Valledupar, they received their professional registration certificates from the National Council of Electrical Technicians (CONTE), which certify their skills as electrical technicians specialising in photovoltaic energy and facilitate their
entry into the labour market in this new sector.
The presentation of the certificates took place during a ceremony that also marked a further step forward in the country’s energy transition policy.
The president of Sintracarbón, Jaime López García, stated:
“Sintracarbón is moving in the right direction. Vocational retraining must be provided today to those who urgently need it, because multinationals and previous governments have left them without jobs in the coal mining sector. The administrations in La Guajira
and Cesar, still stuck in the old political mindset, are failing to develop economic plans that generate the same number of job opportunities in other productive sectors.
The achievements we have witnessed today with these groups of men and women during this event allow us to affirm that we are on the right track. Sintracarbón will continue to promote this policy to as many people as possible, always with the people, the region
and better social conditions for our regions in mind.”
A pact for a just energy transition
At the same event, the ministry of mines and energy, the ministry of labour, the ministry of the environment, the national learning service (SENA), CONTE and the trade union organizations signed the Grand Pact for Labour and Productive Restructuring.
This is a government commitment developed in collaboration with workers, trade unions and communities to consolidate a just energy transition that protects jobs, drives economic diversification and strengthens governance in mining regions.
The Grand Pact forms part of the Colombian government’s just energy transition strategy to ensure that no worker is left unprotected during mine closures and decarbonisation processes. To this end, the comprehensive model for labour and productive transition
comprises three instruments:
Decree 0742 on Mine Closures (issued on 15 July 2026), a public policy on labour protection in the face of decarbonization processes the energy transition and the technical guidelines for the development of labour skills for green growth.
Through these measures, the Colombian government aims to ensure that the closure of the mines does not merely mark the end of an economic activity, but rather the beginning of a transformation based on labour justice, social dialogue and the creation of new
opportunities for mining communities.
IndustriALL Latin America regional secretary, Marino Vani, said:
“We congratulate the leadership of Sintracarbón. These advances represent much more than a regulatory victory: they are the result of years of collective struggle, organization and commitment by workers in the mining sector in Colombia.
The losses, the social and environmental impacts, and the burdens arising from mining activity cannot continue to fall, as has so often been the case, on the shoulders of the workers and the affected communities.
Today we celebrate this step forward, but we also know that every right we have won must be defended. That is why we must remain united, organized and strengthened within our trade union to ensure compliance with this decree and prevent future governments from
rolling back these achievements. Similarly, it is essential that we remain vigilant, mobilized and committed to demanding that companies respect and implement these advances.
The struggle of those who defend justice continues. Let us continue to forge that path together.”
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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