Members of trade unions affiliated to the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) gathered at the Rustenburg taxi rank ahead of their march on Friday.

The workers were expected to march to the department of labour to hand over a memorandum pertaining to the socioeconomic issues affecting workers.

Cosatu was leading a one-day national protected strike in all nine provinces, demanding the total banning of the labour brokers, the scrapping of the controversial e-tolling system and the implementation of the legislated national minimum wage.

The federation would also use the march to defend and protect collective bargaining agreements, fight for compliance with occupational health and safety standards in all workplaces, fight for the implementation of the national health insurance and the scrapping of the taxation amendment law.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) said it fully supported Cosatu in taking forward the struggle for decent work.

“The SACP is calling on all workers to join Cosatu’s national strike today‎, 7 October 2016, International Decent Work Day. This is a protected strike in pursuit of all decent work objectives, including a living wage,” said SACP spokesperson Alex Mashilo.

He said the SACP further supported Cosatu’s call for the acceleration of processes to ensure the implementation of a national minimum wage.