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In early August 2015 the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) submitted a Section 77 notice - in terms of Section 77 (1) (b), in terms of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 - to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC). The notice raised various socio-economic concerns and led to negotiations at NEDLAC in an attempt to find a way forward between the Social Partners. Unfortunately negotiations failed and NEDLAC has issued a Certificate confirming the deadlock.

Amongst others, COSATU’s demands include the following: (1) A safe, reliable, affordable, integrated and accessible public transport system; (2) the scrapping of the e-toll system; (3) that during the current tax review, National Treasury should not be considering proposals to increase Value-Added Tax but should rather include additional items for VAT zero-rating to provide greater relief for working class families; (4) the crisis of job losses and unemployment must be addressed with urgency; (5) the release of the White Paper on the National Health Insurance (NHI) must be concluded urgently and problems in the public health care system must be fixed; and (6) there be a national minimum wage to address poverty and inequality in South Africa.

The SA Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU), one of the COSATU affiliates, is participating in the strike action today. We have conducted a snap survey about the effect of the strike on the clothing, textile, footwear and leather manufacturing sectors.

As at 10:30 this morning, our survey showed the following results: in total, 32 993 workers in 182 clothing, textile, footwear and leather (CTFL) workplaces across the country were surveyed. Of this total, 16,584 CTFL workers [or just over 50% of workers surveyed] were participating in the strike in support of COSATU’s socio-economic demands.

This participation rate is expected to increase, as more information becomes available.

In the Western Cape, workers clocked-in at their workplaces and have only starting leaving their factories between 10:00 and 11:00. Information on participation in the strike in this province will be released later today. It is not yet included in our survey.

The Eastern Cape was excluded from the survey, since COSATU affiliates in the Eastern Cape have permission to picket rather than strike today.

The survey was conducted telephonically by SACTWU staff around the country. It measured attendance at workplaces and information was supplied by factory production and/or human resource managers.

A final update on our participation rate will be released later today.

Issued by SACTWU