Malema backers told they can form union

THE Economic Freedom Fighters say the Labour Department has officially given the party approval to start their own union – the National Trade Union Congress.

Barely eight months after it was formed, the EFF managed to garner 6.35% of the votes in the national elections in May.

An EFF spokesman said yesterday party members could not belong to Cosatuaffiliated unions.

According to an EFF insider, the party submitted registration forms to the Labour Department on May 27 and received its registration number yesterday.

The source said the EFF would travel to all nine provinces to recruit.

"We already have a huge number of registered members but we could not approach employers for recognition without registration," he said.

Observers say the union could prove stiff competition to Cosatu, which is battling internal divisions. - Sipho Masombuka

The biggest split has been with Numsa.

The EFF union plans to target marginalised workers such as petrol attendants, domestic workers, farmworkers, security guards, and retail-sector employees.

Eddie Mathiba, the union's interim general secretary, said: "The time for the economic emancipation of the proletariat is now. Gone are the days of capitalist vehicles driven by employers and Cosatu affiliates."

Many EFF members have said Cosatu's alliance with the ANC has made it toothless, and that the trade union federation no longer strives for workers' rights but rather keeping the fat cats in power.

The EFF source said Cosatu "has become an ANC electioneering tool, which only remembers the workers when it has to campaign for the ruling party".

He said many workers had no one truly striving to protect them from exploitation and unfair dismissals and that existing unions had betrayed members.