trade unions

As the new e-tolls dispensation brokered by Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, came into effect this month, members of the African National Congress (ANC) led alliance remain divided over the issue, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) reiterating its call for the system to be defied.

“There is still not unanimity in the alliance about the desirability of e-tolls, but the summit commends the review of e-tolls by government and acknowledges that this shows that our movement listens to and cares about the people.”

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has rejected the latest revised e-toll tariffs.
 
COSATU says it will be going back to the streets to campaign against the system, which it believes is a form of privatisation of public goods.
 
COSATU acting general secretary, Bheki Ntsalintsali, says the revised tariffs are meant to deceive road users. "The question of e-tolls being made cheaper for now, we feel it would be made expensive later, this is a sugar-coated pill."
 

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) says Gauteng e-tolls system must be scrapped.
 
COSATU general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, states that the federation will ask for a meeting with the Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, over the controversial e-tolls.
 
Vavi argues that e-tolls are not working and are an expensive way of collecting and paying for debts.
 

The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) says that South African workers no longer trust trade unions.

In its latest survey, SAIRR’s Boitumelo Setlhatswe is of the view that the trade unions lose control of the workshop floor.

The report indicates that registered union membership have declined by 26 percent between 1994 and 2014, adding that it also shows that the number of registered trade unions decreased by 14 percent between 1994 and 2014.

Swaziland Police have harassed another progressive, Sifiso Mabuza, deputy secretary of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers.

About 30 armed police raided his home claiming they were looking for explosives, where they found none. Mabuza told local media the police questioned him about his union activities and threatened him.

Swaziland has a history of attacking workers' rights. It has banned the workers' federation, the Trades Union Congress of Swaziland, broken up its meeting and harassed and arrested its leaders.

Protesters burnt their unpaid e-toll bills on top of an empty coffin while singing the national anthem outside the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (SANRAL) offices in Pretoria on Saturday, 18 October 2014.
 
The Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU), in reference to the electronic tolling system, says that, "Today we bury a stillborn that was born in December last year, and before December this year, we will cremate him."
 

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has warned that the controversial Gauteng e-tolling system will perpetuate exclusion in society.
 
Speaking to the advisory panel on the socio-economic impact of e-tolls, COSATU’s Dumisani Dakile described e-tolling as one of the most immoral projects undertaken since the arms deal.
 
“This matter touches on the core of governance. This matter touches on the core of leadership,” explained to the advisory panel on the socio-economic impact of e-tolls in Johannesburg.
 

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) encourages motorists in Gauteng to continue to use the highways without paying the e-toll bills.

COSATU’s Gauteng provincial secretary, Dumisani Dakile, calls upon people to defy the system and those who have received bills to burn them, adding that there will be a big burning ceremony in front of the South African National Roads Agency Limited’s (SANRAL’s) office in due course for the public to bring their bills to collectively burn as part of their defiance campaign.

The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) claims that the North West police fired rubber bullets and live ammunition on protesting students in Mmabatho.

DENOSA states that while protesting against the closure of the Mmabatho Nursing College, a student leader was assaulted and arrested.

The organisation is appalled by what it calls the reckless actions of police, following the closure of the college nearly two months ago.

Itireleng Clinic in Soweto has allegedly led to the death of one baby born in the parking lot, another at the clinic’s gate and a third due to a malfunctioning oxygen machine.

These recent incidents among others have impelled the nursing union, Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa to call for the permanent closure of the clinic dubbed a ‘death trap.
 
The death of Friday, 30 May 2014, of a baby was the last straw for the fed-up union, which says that the clinic is not suitable to offer health services.