The National reports that The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will soon hold its 15th National Congress where thousands of workers from hospitals on the Cape Flats to the sugar plantations in KwaZulu-Natal will reflect on the many challenges facing the working class, the economy and the nation.
Among the issues to be debated, and the resolutions and campaigns to be adopted, is Cosatu’s demand for a living wage.
Whilst workers are facing severe strain and painful setbacks, Cosatu and its affiliates are proud of the many victories we have won against all odds on behalf of workers and their families.
The Congress takes place while the working class is besieged by rising costs of living, from the 900% electricity tariff hikes over the past two decades as Eskom battled state capture and corruption, to the 25% and 50% hikes in petrol and diesel prices due to the devastating war in the Persian Gulf.
Most working and even middle-class families are borrowing money to buy food, pay their bills and service debt. Those fortunate to have jobs have to make their meagre salaries stretch far to support unemployed relatives who simply cannot find work in an economy with a 43.8% unemployment rate.
A central focal point for Cosatu and its affiliates has been to defend workers’ wages from inflation and to seek decent increases to improve their lives. Our (and usually very well paid) armchair critics routinely condemn the labour movement for this noble cause.
Yet these critics fail to appreciate that if we are to move the economy from the stagnant 1% growth it has been stuck at for more than a decade, then employers need to pay workers a living wage so they can buy the very goods that businesses must sell to survive.
Tourists will not come to our shores to buy our food, clothes, cars and furniture!
If we are to boost economic growth, then employers must pay workers a living wage to enable them to pay for transport to get to work and to buy the food, clothing, medicines and shelter necessary to be healthy and productive!
If we are to end our shameful apartheid legacy as the world’s most unequal society, then employers need to pay workers a living wage and embrace their legal obligations under the Employment Equity Act of equal pay for equal work.
Cosatu is proud of the relentless efforts and impressive victories our affiliates have secured raising the salaries of workers from clothing factories in Botshabelo to the mines in Orkney.
It is this very strength of workers in collective bargaining that has delivered these gains and why unions will never tire of defending these hard-won rights.
In 2019 after decades of struggle, Cosatu secured the implementation of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) with the active support of the then Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress (ANC) led administration.
Over the past 6 years Cosatu has been able to progressively raise the NMW, increasing the wages for 800 000 domestic workers, 900 000 farm workers and over 4 million hospitality, retail, construction, transport amongst other workers by 100%, 66% and 50% respectively.
Key provisions of the Companies Amendment Act have come into effect requiring listed and state-owned companies to seek shareholder approval and publicly disclose their remuneration policies, their average wages and specifically what they pay their highest and lowest paid employees. This has seen major financial and retail companies raise their lowest paid workers’ salaries.
Much of Cosatu and the ANC Alliance led government’s work since 1994 has been to redirect state spending towards uplifting historically disadvantaged communities.
Today 60% of the budget is directed towards the social wage and empowering working-class communities.
However, we cannot be blind to the damage years of state capture, corruption, neo-liberal economic policies and poorly conceived austerity budget cuts have done to these gains and public and municipal services.
Cosatu will continue to campaign for frontline public and municipal services that society depends upon to be allocated the necessary resources to fulfil their constitutional and developmental mandates.
Whilst healthcare, social security, education, public transport, housing, land reform amongst others require scarce funding, not only do they boost working class families’ ability to survive but they lay the foundations for inclusive economic growth and a more just and sustainable society.
This is why Cosatu will ramp up its support for rolling out the National Health Insurance as the most effective path towards universal healthcare. We cannot continue to normalise half of our healthcare resources, catering for 16% of society while 84% depend upon an overwhelmed public health system.
In 2019 Cosatu initiated the Eskom Debt Relief Package relieving Eskom of R253 billion worth of debt enabling it to shift resources towards maintenance and investments in generation as the fastest path to end the loadshedding that threatened millions of jobs. Our task now is to support Eskom to make electricity affordable for working-class families and the economy.
In 2024, the two-pot-pension-reforms driven by Cosatu came into effect releasing over R80 billion into 4 million highly indebted workers’ pockets, stimulating economic growth while boosting long-term savings and doubling the number of workers who will be able to retire comfortably.
It is critical that the next phase of pension reforms begin providing further relief to workers in need and when losing their jobs, while boosting savings.
The South African Revenue Service, a success story of the ANC-led government, has boosted tax compliance from 61% to 68% in the past few years. More support must be given to enable it to improve tax compliance to 75%.
This will provide government the resources needed to end crippling austerity budget cuts and to slash the suffocating tax burden upon the working-class.
Cosatu is proud of the many victories it has won improving the wages and lives of the working class. Much more remains to be done to achieve the goals of decent work and a living wage.
Solly Phetoe is the general secretary of Cosatu.