Labour federation Cosatu has given its ally the ANC an ultimatum to implement a wage increase agreement for public servants or lose votes in next year’s municipal elections.
Relations between the governing party and Cosatu, both part of the ANC-led tripartite alliance, have been strained after the government reneged on a three-year wage agreement signed with labour, citing a lack of funds.
Cosatu was instrumental in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s election to lead the ANC and has been a vocal supporter of his plans to rid the party of corruption and to revive the ailing economy.
The government’s decision to cut wages has caused the Cosatu-affiliated National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) to picket and demonstrate against the government.
The trade union federation, which has a membership of more than 1.8-million, has been campaigning for the ANC during national elections since the dawn of democracy in 1994.
Implementing the last leg of the wage deal for 1.3-million public servants will cost R37.8bn, and the government says it has no money for it. The union federation has since taken the government to court.
In her closing address at the Cosatu national bargaining conference on Friday, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said their orders are clear. “We need to send a clear message to our ally the ANC. Next year is local elections. No pamphlets or tired slogans will convince workers to turn out in numbers to vote for their organisation,” she said.
Losi said workers are tired of broken promises, corruption, retrenchments and the government’s attacks on collective bargaining.
“If the ANC wants the votes of workers then it must respect workers and listen to them. It must engage unions in good faith and stop taking them for granted. [The] government must honour the 2020 wage agreement and engage unions on the next three-year wage agreement,” said Losi.
“We need to rebuild all our collective bargaining councils and ensure that all workers are covered by them. We must ensure that both public and private sector employers are made to honour agreements, including the 2020 public service wage agreement,” she said.
The conference resolved to strengthen and expand centralised bargaining, eradicate non-compliance with collective agreements, and promote gender equality.
Cosatu also called on the government to extend the Covid-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) until the end of December. The decision of the national coronavirus command council not to extend Ters beyond mid-September has drawn a sharp rebuke from business and labour.
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