BL Premium reports that SA’s labour federations admit they have failed workers by not uniting to confront the socioeconomic challenges that have relegated many members into unemployment queues and abject poverty. Speaking at Nedlac’s annual labour school in Pretoria this week, deputy president Paul Mashatile noted that the meeting was taking place as the world faced multiple crises “characterised by inequality, high levels of unemployment, climate change, wars, migration, urbanisation, and the growing youth dividend”. The event, attended by leaders of labour federations Cosatu, Fedusa, Nactu and Saftu, was effectively a planning session for the year ahead. Mashatile urged organised labour to provide innovative solutions on how best to strengthen the economy, build social cohesion and improve governance systems, placing the needs of workers at the forefront. However, Nactu president Pat Mphela, said workers had “lost hope in organised labour” while the federation believed “we have failed the workers and communities”, a situation that needed to be urgently addressed. Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said Nedlac partners needed to develop a comprehensive plan to address the socioeconomic challenges that “our members and communities face. We need to come with concrete actions and not simply to lament”. Fedusa general secretary Riefdah Ajam pointed out that government policy on state-owned enterprises was increasingly leaning towards privatisation, “framed as a solution to inefficiency and financial mismanagement”. He added: “History has shown that privatisation leads to job losses, reduced public access to essential services, and deteriorating working conditions.”
Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)