The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) and other working-class organisations intend to have a media briefing ahead of the planned National Shutdown on Monday, 20 March.
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SAFTU supports EFF’s call for National Shutdown on March 20th
SAFTU General Secretary Zwelizima Vavi said the briefing would be held at 12:00 at the trade union federation’s head office at 34 Eloff Street, JC Bez House, Johannesburg, on Friday, 17 June.
SAFTU, the country’s second-largest trade union federation with about 646 078 members behind COSATU’s more than two million members, are the most notable supporter of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ National Shutdown.
Unlike COSATU, which is part of the tripartite alliance with the ANC and SACP, SAFTU says it is an independent trade union federation. After announcing the intention to join the EFF protest, Vavi attempted to distance the organisation from the EFF politically.
“SAFTU is not willing to just join a political party programme, we can’t do that we are an independent federation.
“We can only join a broad front of left formations working together to achieve a common goal of an effective national shutdown,” he said.
DEMANDS
SAFTU previously indicated that its members would participate in socio-economic protests on Monday.
As previously reported, NEDLAC’s Standing Committee considered the trade union federation’s application and confirmed the protest would be protected under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
According to the notice, SAFTU’s protest action on 20 March will take place across all nine provinces of South Africa and its major cities, starting at 00:05 until 7:00 on 21 March.
SAFTU’s 12 demands include job creation, ending load shedding, implementing a universal basic income grant, lowering the cost of living, ensuring a minimum living wage for all workers, ending crime and violence, transitioning to renewable energy without job losses, re-nationalising certain entities, reversing budget cuts, expanding the public sector wage bill, protecting collective bargaining, and insourcing various workers.
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