{The Secretary-General of the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), Mr Zwelinzima Vavi, has described his country as the most unequal society on earth.}
Mr Vavi said the white monopoly capital was the key beneficiary of South Africa’s 20 years of freedom and democracy.
He was addressing 2,000 trade unionists at the Fourth UNI World Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday.
The congress that commenced on Sunday, ends on Wednesday.
The UNI Global Union represents more than 20 million workers in 900 trade unions globally.
Mr Vavi said the majority of South African working class were still facing problems of poor pay, job insecurity, discrimination, racism and health and safety dangers.
About 26 million of the 53 million South Africans live below the poverty line, and 14 million go to bed every night on empty stomachs, Mr Vavi said.
The inequality between the rich and poor, Mr Vavi said, was growing as most employers were getting wealthier by day.
Hotel workers
He said the employers took home millions of rands while the workers were poorly paid.
“So, the main beneficiaries of our 20 years of democracy have been white monopoly capital, the billionaires who own our industries and the chief executives who demand parity with their counterparts in the US and Europe, while expecting workers’ wages to be benchmarked against levels in sweatshop economies,” said Mr Vavi.
Mr Vavi said the old apartheid humiliation of black workers continued in new forms.
“Some big multinational continue to dismiss workers at the drop of a hat, have hidden cameras to spy on staff, strip search women workers, impose polygraph tests and even tolerate security guards shooting workers – nearly all in sectors represented by UNI Global – cleaning, security and hotel workers.
“Employers use every trick in the book to sideline and undermine all the laws that we fought for to protect workers. We have fewer and fewer workers employed on a permanent basis enjoying benefits such as provident funds and medical aids,” said Mr Vavi.
On Tuesday, the UNI Global Union released a report which shows that the world will need 1.8 billion new jobs by 2050.
The former President of Finland, Ms Tarja Halonen, will address the unionists on Wednesday.
Africa Review
Leave a Reply