The Times
*Cosatu is taking us for fools, say unions * *Anna Majavu, The Times, Johannesburg, 3 October 2011*Several trade unions are fuming after trade union federation Cosatu's decision to call off its national strike against the employment of labour brokers, set for Wednesday.
Sources said the federation would, at a press conference in Johannesburg this morning, announce the "indefinite postponement" of the strike.
Cosatu affiliates have been left in confusion, four sources said yesterday. One said Cosatu head office sent letters to its affiliates last week, postponing the strike indefinitely but instructing them to continue "mobilising workers" against labour brokers.
But a National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union negotiator said Cosatu head office had "left the union in limbo" for five weeks by refusing to say whether the strike was on or off.
"They always get workers on a high and then, when we are ready to strike, they bargain with the government. They are taking us for fools," said the source.
The National Union of Metalworkers is reported to have sent Cosatu a formal letter expressing its "dissatisfaction" with the delay.
But the Communication Workers' Union seemed unaware that the strike had been postponed.
Union spokesman Matankana Mothapo at the weekend urged members to participate in the strike.
"Those in power seem to be wishy-washy and ambivalent when labour brokers have to be banned, but when the Scorpions had to be banned we saw decisive leadership," said Mothapo.
Mothapo was referring to a promise made by former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana, in December 2008. During an election walkabout, Mdladlana told residents of Langa, in Cape Town, that if they voted for the ANC the party would ban labour brokers.
"A vote for the ANC means exactly that. Labour brokers are not doing our workers a service," Mdladlana said then. But he later denied that he had said this.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka confirmed that the strike had been postponed but said the union would pour its energies into its own "total shutdown of mining and construction houses over health and safety problems" tomorrow.
Cosatu spokesman Phindile Kunene refused to confirm that the strike had been postponed, saying that the media should wait for this morning's press conference to find out what was happening.
*From: http://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2011/10/03/cosatu-is-taking-us-for-fools-say-unions*
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