By Nicolette Oberholzer
Various provinces has recently been affected by the mass protest action lodged by The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). Recent job losses, electricity, fuel, food, inflation and interest rate escalations is the reason why COSATU is embarking on mass protest action around the country.
COSATU lodged an application in terms of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 which relates to protest action to promote or defend socio-economic interests of workers. In terms of this section every employee who is not engaged in an essential service or a maintenance service has the right to take part in protest action if:
- the protest action has been called by a registered trade union or federation of trade unions;
- the registered trade union or federation of trade unions has served a notice on NEDLAC (National Economic Development & Labour Council) stating-
i) the reasons for the protest action; and
ii) the nature of the protest action
- the matter giving rise to the intended protest action has been considered by NEDLAC or any other appropriate forum in which the parties concerned are able to participate in order to resolve the matter, and
- at least 14 days before the commencement of the protest action, the registered trade union or federation of trade unions has served a notice on NEDLAC of its intention to proceed with the protest action.
It must be noted that this section does not limit the participation of the protest action to members of the referring union party only, which in effect means that all employees are entitled to participate in the protect action. The principle of no work no pay, will apply to all employees who do not render services due to the fact that they participated in the protest action.
Protest action is scheduled for Wednesday the 23rd of July 2008 for the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo and North West Provinces. A national protest action is reported to be earmarked for Wednesday 6 August 2008.
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