Beyers Naude Square, formerly Library gardens in Johannesburg, was
yesterday the gathering point of the expected thousands of strikers
taking part in the Congress of South African Trade Unions' (Cosatu)
one-day mass action protest against job losses.
Protest marches, which included pickets, demonstrations and strikes, were held in all the major cities on Monday as part of the mass action.
Joining in the strike were unions such as the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), which was to hand in a memorandum to the Steel Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa).
Also handing in a memorandum to Seifsa, the employers' body in a sector that employs some 310 000 workers, was Solidarity.
The memorandum contains a demand for employers to sign a moratorium on retrenchments in the industry.
The handing-over coincides with the countrywide protest action against job losses that took place yesterday.
Solidarity says that the sector hardest hit by retrenchments was mining, followed by engineering, telecommunications, the chemical industry and the agricultural industry.
It argued that research indicates that between 7 and 11 people are affected by every one person who is retrenched.
The ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula was to join in the strike following its own campaign 'Jobs For Youth', which targeted the private sector.
In the context of the debate of unemployment among youth, the league resolved to join the strike and called on all unemployed youth to join in the action.
The mass march in Johannesburg was due to start at 10:00 at Beyers Naude Square and Solidarity predicted that the march in Johannesburg was to be largest of the protest actions during Monday's strike.
Many Johannesburg streets were closed, including Sauer and Jeppe, from 11:00 to 16:00.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar is reported as having said that the 60 000-strong crowd will leave the square to walk down Market street, left into Rissik street, right into Wolmarans street.
From there the march was to proceed into King George street to hand over a memorandum at the old railway building.
The crowd was then expected to march down Wolmarans Street to Biccard street, cross the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and march down Simmonds Street and turn right into Pritchard Street.
At the old Johannesburg Stock Exchange building in Diagonal street another memorandum was due to be handed over.
A third memorandum would be handed over at the Chamber of Mines.
After marching up Sauer street, the march was due to end at the square again.
Reuters has reported that a spokesperson for mining firm AngloGold Ashanti said most of its workforce had failed to turn up, although it was not clear how this would affect production.
"There's a pretty comprehensive stay-away from National Union of Mineworkers members," spokesman Alan Fine said. These made up most of the workforce but it was too soon to estimate the impact on production, he said.
Cosatu had said it expected a strong turnout from the heavily-unionised mines sector. Thousands of gold-miners have lost their jobs in recent years as the strong rand currency has hit mine profitability.
But at the worlds fourth-largest gold producer, Goldfields, head of South African operations Mike Prinsloo said just 15 000 of 40 000 workers were on strike.
At one of its three main mines, almost all miners had reported for work while another 25% were striking. At the third, 90% had failed to turn up, he said.
“We were expecting a hundred per cent stay-away,” he told Reuters.
But National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) regional chairperson in the Free State Tanki Malefane had told Mining Weekly Online that the union would be joining in the strike after little progress has been made in negotiations with Harmony.
Some 45% of the company's Free State workforce, or 11 780 people, are affected by the companys bid to build a sustainable business operation for marginal mines in the Free State.
Harmony is midway through a section 189 retrenchment notice.
A consultation process was initiated on May 19 after an impasse was reached with NUM, which applied for a labour court interdict to stop retrenchments earlier this year after Harmony issued a section 189 notice that affected 4 914 workers in a restructuring process that started last April.
The process has already cost some 8 000 jobs.
Cosatu claimed that worker turnout was patchy in the key gold-mining sector.
Carmakers said they were also feeling the pinch, with only 'partial production' running at Volkswagen South Africa, which produces vehicles at its Eastern Cape Uitenhage plant for domestic use and global export. General Motors South Africa said it was only able to carry out limited production and training.
"More than 50% of our workforce were in attendance today," said spokesperson Denise van Huyssteen, adding that attendance would have been better if transport had been normal.
Cosatu has warned that the one-day strike would be followed by further strikes if government and industry did not act.
“We cannot say the economy is booming when we have unemployment at around 40%,” Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said. “We want a completely different mindset from business - saving jobs instead of cutting them for short term commercial gain.”
He told Reuters it was too early to say how successful the strike was, but that some crowds were gathering on street corners fairly early.
“Most workers are going to turn up at work and leave en masse,” he said.
Cosatu said that the biggest issue confronting workers today is the catastrophic loss of jobs and intolerably high levels of unemployment.
In a statement it said, “South Africa is losing jobs from the productive heart of the economy”.
“Sections of mining and manufacturing have destroyed tens of thousands of jobs and we face the prospect of losing thousands more in the near future.”
Reuters reports that Cosatu has suggested interventions such as retailers stocking at least 75% of local goods, cutting back on imports and government should strongly pursue local procurement policies.
Cosatu also proposes that the government review its trade strategy to ensure that it stops 'destroying' jobs.
It also calls for an end to the privatisation of basic services and amendments to the Labour Relations Act to compel employers to negotiate with subcontracted workers on any measures that could cause them to lose their jobs.
Cosatu predicted that thousands of workers would heed its call to strike, with protesters expected to march to Parliament as part of the Cape Town campaign.
Durban police, however, indicated that they did not expect any major disruptions.
In Johannessburg, despite Metrorail's assurances that train services were running close to normal, only half the normal services were running on Soweto's Naledi line, with no alternative arrangements having being made.
Protest marches, which included pickets, demonstrations and strikes, were held in all the major cities on Monday as part of the mass action.
Joining in the strike were unions such as the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa), which was to hand in a memorandum to the Steel Engineering Industry Federation of South Africa (Seifsa).
Also handing in a memorandum to Seifsa, the employers' body in a sector that employs some 310 000 workers, was Solidarity.
The memorandum contains a demand for employers to sign a moratorium on retrenchments in the industry.
The handing-over coincides with the countrywide protest action against job losses that took place yesterday.
Solidarity says that the sector hardest hit by retrenchments was mining, followed by engineering, telecommunications, the chemical industry and the agricultural industry.
It argued that research indicates that between 7 and 11 people are affected by every one person who is retrenched.
The ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula was to join in the strike following its own campaign 'Jobs For Youth', which targeted the private sector.
In the context of the debate of unemployment among youth, the league resolved to join the strike and called on all unemployed youth to join in the action.
The mass march in Johannesburg was due to start at 10:00 at Beyers Naude Square and Solidarity predicted that the march in Johannesburg was to be largest of the protest actions during Monday's strike.
Many Johannesburg streets were closed, including Sauer and Jeppe, from 11:00 to 16:00.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar is reported as having said that the 60 000-strong crowd will leave the square to walk down Market street, left into Rissik street, right into Wolmarans street.
From there the march was to proceed into King George street to hand over a memorandum at the old railway building.
The crowd was then expected to march down Wolmarans Street to Biccard street, cross the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and march down Simmonds Street and turn right into Pritchard Street.
At the old Johannesburg Stock Exchange building in Diagonal street another memorandum was due to be handed over.
A third memorandum would be handed over at the Chamber of Mines.
After marching up Sauer street, the march was due to end at the square again.
Reuters has reported that a spokesperson for mining firm AngloGold Ashanti said most of its workforce had failed to turn up, although it was not clear how this would affect production.
"There's a pretty comprehensive stay-away from National Union of Mineworkers members," spokesman Alan Fine said. These made up most of the workforce but it was too soon to estimate the impact on production, he said.
Cosatu had said it expected a strong turnout from the heavily-unionised mines sector. Thousands of gold-miners have lost their jobs in recent years as the strong rand currency has hit mine profitability.
But at the worlds fourth-largest gold producer, Goldfields, head of South African operations Mike Prinsloo said just 15 000 of 40 000 workers were on strike.
At one of its three main mines, almost all miners had reported for work while another 25% were striking. At the third, 90% had failed to turn up, he said.
“We were expecting a hundred per cent stay-away,” he told Reuters.
But National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) regional chairperson in the Free State Tanki Malefane had told Mining Weekly Online that the union would be joining in the strike after little progress has been made in negotiations with Harmony.
Some 45% of the company's Free State workforce, or 11 780 people, are affected by the companys bid to build a sustainable business operation for marginal mines in the Free State.
Harmony is midway through a section 189 retrenchment notice.
A consultation process was initiated on May 19 after an impasse was reached with NUM, which applied for a labour court interdict to stop retrenchments earlier this year after Harmony issued a section 189 notice that affected 4 914 workers in a restructuring process that started last April.
The process has already cost some 8 000 jobs.
Cosatu claimed that worker turnout was patchy in the key gold-mining sector.
Carmakers said they were also feeling the pinch, with only 'partial production' running at Volkswagen South Africa, which produces vehicles at its Eastern Cape Uitenhage plant for domestic use and global export. General Motors South Africa said it was only able to carry out limited production and training.
"More than 50% of our workforce were in attendance today," said spokesperson Denise van Huyssteen, adding that attendance would have been better if transport had been normal.
Cosatu has warned that the one-day strike would be followed by further strikes if government and industry did not act.
“We cannot say the economy is booming when we have unemployment at around 40%,” Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said. “We want a completely different mindset from business - saving jobs instead of cutting them for short term commercial gain.”
He told Reuters it was too early to say how successful the strike was, but that some crowds were gathering on street corners fairly early.
“Most workers are going to turn up at work and leave en masse,” he said.
Cosatu said that the biggest issue confronting workers today is the catastrophic loss of jobs and intolerably high levels of unemployment.
In a statement it said, “South Africa is losing jobs from the productive heart of the economy”.
“Sections of mining and manufacturing have destroyed tens of thousands of jobs and we face the prospect of losing thousands more in the near future.”
Reuters reports that Cosatu has suggested interventions such as retailers stocking at least 75% of local goods, cutting back on imports and government should strongly pursue local procurement policies.
Cosatu also proposes that the government review its trade strategy to ensure that it stops 'destroying' jobs.
It also calls for an end to the privatisation of basic services and amendments to the Labour Relations Act to compel employers to negotiate with subcontracted workers on any measures that could cause them to lose their jobs.
Cosatu predicted that thousands of workers would heed its call to strike, with protesters expected to march to Parliament as part of the Cape Town campaign.
Durban police, however, indicated that they did not expect any major disruptions.
In Johannessburg, despite Metrorail's assurances that train services were running close to normal, only half the normal services were running on Soweto's Naledi line, with no alternative arrangements having being made.
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