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Staged protest draws less than 100 from 8 unions Weak march only demonstrates lack of support Karl Gernetzky, Business Day, Johannesburg, 27 February 2015 Dissident unions within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on Friday staged a protest outside the labour federation's headquarters, presenting a memorandum of demands that came with threats to escalate a campaign to restore the expelled National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA). 100 Protesters Some 100 protesters from eight unions supporting NUMSA gathered to demand the immediate reinstatement of the union and the convening of a special national congress to resolve union differences. The action was meant to pre-empt the year's first meeting of the labour federation's leadership on Monday. National leaders of the affiliates supporting the metalworkers' union are expected to make an announcement at the weekend over whether they will participate in Monday's central executive committee meeting. "We are seeking to reclaim COSATU as a militant federation. We are here to send a message that this is just the beginning of things to come," NUMSA Gauteng secretary Sizwe Dlamini told protesters on Friday. "We could very soon be returning to physically ensuring that COSATU is brought back as a militant labour federation," he said. Low turnout South African State and Allied Workers Union (SASAWU) Gauteng secretary Peter Voss ascribed the low turnout at the protest to the fact that most members were at work. But the union leaders warned that they would intensify their campaign should COSATU leaders fail to heed their demands within a week. Leaders from all eight unions supporting NUMSA were present at the protest, with some saying they had a right to be at COSATU House in central Johannesburg as it was paid for through funding from members. No parallel structures Also at the protest were some regional leaders of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in the province. This is despite the fact that on Thursday the union had issued a statement distancing itself from the protest maintaining it had "no parallel structures". From: http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/2015/02/27/cosatu-affiliates-threa ten-to-intensify-campaign-to-restore-numsa -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
