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The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the NW condemns the attitude and conduct of municipalities that are treating workers so badly, to the extent that workers are not paid their salaries on time.

As the federation in the NW we view this conduct as one of the worst forma of exploitation which was never there during the apartheid regime. Workers are exploited under the name of democracy by councillors or politicians who are voted into power by the same workers who are today exploited and treated like animals.

We call on those municipalities who did not pay workers their salaries to pay workers the money that they worked for. It is not a favour; workers worked for that money and they must be paid their salaries by the end of today.

We are also calling on those municipalities in the NW who did not pay workers their salaries to take responsibility for bank charges, debit orders that are not processed and the challenges that workers will face after receiving their salaries so late. This is due to corruption that is continue in municipalities such as Ngaka Modire Moleme, Ditsobotla and Tswaing and Ventersdorp which is the worse municipality, treating workers like animals.

We call on the Department of Labour (DoL) to prosecute all municipalities that are not complying in terms of Occupational Health and Safety. It has been reported that all the municipalities in the NW are not complying. Workers have no protective cloths and we have lost many lives due to non-compliance of those employers who happen to be ANC councillors.

We are worried about some of the municipalities such as Ventersdorp where many workers are affected on the non-compliance. We have one poor worker who is currently affected due to non-compliance. He is a father of more than two kids, he is now blind due to those poor conditions of work and he is now alone struggling to do anything.

We are told that there are many workers who lost their lives due to the same work at the sewerage plant and many workers were injured during working hours and not reported to the DOL as per the legislation of our country.

We call on all workers in the province including the municipal workers to refuse to work in an unsafe place.
We call on the DoL to close all sections of those municipalities that are not complying and save our members’ lives.

We call on all workers to fight against anyone who exploits workers and that they must defend each other. An injury to one is an injury to all!

All those workers who have been injured during working hours or been disabled due to injury on duty, and the families of those who have died, should come and register their complaints with COSATU NW or with the DoL.

We are currently requesting and urgent engagement with the ANC leadership and the MEC of Local Government and we will take a mass action to defend our members and expose corruption and expose those who are protected by politicians with no proper qualifications.

Issued by COSATU NW