JOHANNESBURG - The ANC and the Government of National Unity have failed workers. This is according to SAFTU-affiliated unions.
Union members marched through Johannesburg, delivering a memorandum to the Gauteng Legislature.
They point to job losses, poor working conditions, and deepening austerity. Workers said they are still suffering.
Their message: they want action now.
SAFTU deputy president Mosima Maredi said this is a time of implementation.
"The government must consider job creation because year in year out, during SONA, the president will promise so many jobs, but that never happens. He said he will hire 10 thousand inspectors, but up to today, they have not been hired. We are saying the government. must stop talking and implement. This is a time for implementation.”
Austerity measures and retrenchments are also fuelling anger on the ground.
GIWUSA's Mametle Sebei said, "These factories that are closed, we are saying communities must organise to take them over and demand that the government that has been bailing out millions bail them out by recapitalising those factories, and we ensure that we defend jobs that are being threatened. We ensure we bring back workers who were retrenched in their hundreds to eliminate unemployment in the country.”