‘Struggle for a living wage continues’

Arriving to a hero’s welcome at Port Elizabeth’s Isaac Wolfson Stadium yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed the new national minimum wage as a historic victory for workers.

He was addressing a sea of red-clad Cosatu members and supporters who had packed the 10 000-seat Kwazakhele stadium to celebrate National Workers’ Day.

“This is a victory no matter what other people may say,” Ramaphosa said.

“We knew R20 an hour was not a living wage, but we needed to form a foundation.

“If we said workers had to earn R15 000, many people would lose their jobs and companies would [have to] close.

“We concluded that the struggle for a living wage must continue but we must start somewhere.

“This is a struggle that you as workers must wage.”

Ramaphosa credited Cosatu for the start of minimum wage negotiations, saying the labour federation had identified the need as enshrined in the Freedom Charter.

He also called for equal pay for men and women workers, and said while the government wanted to protect workers’ right to strike, they should do so responsibly.

“We must look very carefully at how we engage in our industrial action.

“Recently, we’ve found some workers have prevented others from doing important work, such as helping women give birth.

“Let us have that humanity that, even when we are on strike, certain services are important.

“We need to say, even as we strike, let us protect the vulnerable.”

He praised workers for their contribution to the country.
“[This] is your day. It belongs to you whether [others] like it or not.”

SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande urged workers to stand up against things that threaten the country, including issues like state capture.

“You fought to liberate South Africa, you cannot stand by while this happens – unless workers take responsibility for their country we’ll be in trouble.”

Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said he wanted a total ban on labour brokers.

“We demand that this year the existence of labour brokers must be declared a criminal activity punishable by the law at the same level as an exercise of slavery.

“Labour brokers must be banned now – if not, we will be forced to [take to] the streets,” he said.

Turning his attention to Nelson Mandela Bay, Dlamini said Bay mayor Athol Trollip and the DA’s days in office were numbered as the Eastern Cape was an ANC-run province.

“This is the beginning of our programme [to remove the DA] and we’re going to come into this municipality and force you out,” he said.

South African National Civic Organisation president Richard Mdakane encouraged Cosatu members to band together where workers’ rights were concerned.

“We need to work together because workers’ struggles are not separate from community struggles,” Mdakane said.

Earlier in the day, Cosatu, led by Eastern Cape provincial secretary Xolani Malamela, handed over a memorandum to the Bay municipality, urging the administration to stop purging black municipal employees, allegedly over political affiliations.

He said the municipality should stop harassing municipal workers, particularly in the Waste Management Department, adding that it needed to prioritise the northern areas.

The memorandum was received by Labour Department official Zonile Ndoni and municipal official Andile Makapela.

Workers at the rally said they had made sacrifices to support the fight for workers’ rights.

Linda Madolo, a domestic worker from Zwide, said she had to get up early to take a taxi to the rally.

“My employer is deducting my pay for [the day], but it is worth it,” she said.

“I think the president can help with some, but not all, of our problems [as domestic workers].”

Lungisa Ndubela said she had come to the rally to celebrate May Day, but also to fight for better wages.

Another worker, a cleaner at Nelson Mandela University, who asked not to be named, said she wanted to know more about her rights. “We still work under discrimination,” she said. – Additional reporting by TimesLIVE