International Day of Decent Work is a rallying point for the trade union movement - Cosatu

ON TUESDAY, workers will mark the International Day for Decent Work. In South Africa, workers led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its affiliates, will hold activities in all provinces, from marches in Cape Town to pickets in Mpumalanga, to raise the plight of millions and place a spotlight on the call for decent work.

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EQUALLY it is critical that the economic conditions be put in place to ensure employers can and do move towards paying workers a living wage, essentially double the current minimum wage, says Cosatu. | SUPPLIED

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The International Day of Decent Work is a rallying point for the trade union movement to push employers and governments to do more to improve the working and living conditions of the working class.

South African workers across economic sectors and workplaces have seen substantial improvements in their working and living conditions since the dark days of apartheid, and more especially since the democratic breakthrough of 1994 when workers’ rights were enshrined in the Constitution and our progressive labour laws.

These achievements were won under the most difficult of conditions and at great risk and cost to millions. They were the result of workers embracing the call to unite and unionise and where employers and governments refuse to respond to their demands for better conditions, to withhold their labour.

They are the fruits of the liberation struggle led by Cosatu and our Alliance Partners and put into law since 1994 by government led by the African National Congress.

The call for Decent Work is not merely a symbolic slogan but a comprehensive package of interventions through legislation, collective bargaining, organising and campaigns to uplift the working and living conditions of millions.

In 2019 after decades of struggles, the National Minimum Wage Act came into effect, raising the wages of more than 6 million farm, domestic, construction, security, transport, hospitality, cleaning and retail workers. Less than a decade ago, a farmworker in De Doorns’ hourly wage could buy half a loaf of bread, today it can nearly buy two loaves.