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The general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), Irvin Jim, was candid in claiming that he did not view the MK Party as a socialist-oriented party.

Former Numsa leader accuses Irvin Jim of perjury and abuse of power

Ruth Mamolaba Ntlokotse says Jim filed a false affidavit in court and suppressed internal dissent, raising questions about governance and accountability

Graphic: John McCann

AI must serve labour, not subjugate it, G20 labour group says

Labour federations said the digital economy could lead to further marginalisation of workers and called for platform accountability and job protection

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Trade unions, return to your socialist values and origins

In the days of apartheid, unions fought for more than just wages, they wanted a new society. Now it seems they have abandoned their roots

Solly Mapaila at the African National Congress (ANC) 112th anniversary at Mbombela Stadium on January 13,  2024. (Photo by Dirk Kotze/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

SACP set to confirm independent 2026 election bid at tripartite alliance meeting

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for its alliance partners, the SACP and labour federation Cosatu, to unite to return the ANC to power

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
(Photo by Jeffrey Abrahams/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Long wishlist for Godongwana ahead of Wednesday budget speech

Political parties and trade unions are asking the finance minister to address the growing national debt crisis and to extend the R350 grant

An ill wind: An engineer works on a wind turbine at the Sere Wind farm, close to Vredendal, about six years ago. A number of local wind-tower and solar manufacturing plants have been shut down in recent years because of delays in procurement. (Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images)

South Africa must design an energy transition that creates jobs and growth

Appropriate policy, supported by a social compact by labour, business, communities and the government, can maximise the opportunities of the just transition

Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu and next to her in the middle is Deputy Ambassador of Cuba in South Africa during the introduction Cuban engineers who will be working on the country’s water system on April 22, 2021 in Pretoria. (Photo by Deaan Vivier/Beeld/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Solidarity says court action against Cuban engineers’ project will continue

Trade union will continue its application against the water department’s decision to employ 25 Cuban engineers, valued at more than R18-million a year

Mail & Gaurdian

Editorial: Collective bargaining headache

The state faces a dilemma: it made a three-year wage agreement with public servants in 2018, before the pandemic, but reneging on it now will undermine labour’s trust

The private sector can contribute to migration policy development to improve business operations, boost productivity and support the economy. (Oupa Nkosi)

Workers’ Day marks huge job losses around the world, exacerbated by the pandemic

The activism of people such as Tlou Theophilus Cholo laid the foundation for improve work conditions in South Africa

With lockdown regulations in place, default industrial action methods need to be sidelined and new ways of protest considered.

Cosatu needs to get creative

With lockdown regulations in place, default industrial action methods need to be sidelined and new ways of protest considered

Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi has warned that large-scale job losses are inevitable. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

CCMA closes doors to Covid-19

The statutory body mandated to deal with workplace disputes released an urgent directive postponing all matters set down to be heard between March 18 and April 14

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa at the seven-year commemoration of the Marikana massacre last week. The union has characterised the wage increase tabled by Sibanye (the current owners of the mine), as a ‘slap in the face’. (Paul Botes/M&G)

Unions up the ante in talks

The platinum sector wage negotiations are seeing a mixed bag of demands and counter-offers

Sad reminder: Workers attended a May Day rally at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont township, north of Durban, on Wednesday. However, the event was not as well attended as was hoped by the union federation, Cosatu. (Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP)

It’s mayday for unions as May Day turnout disappoints

At best the rally was a sad reminder of just how badly the battle for control of the governing party have decimated the ANC’s alliance partner.

All articles in this week’s M&G are free to read

Unembargoed: February 22 to 28

Eskom prepares for worker ‘sabotage’: expected lay-offs delayed until after elections, police and army on standby

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. (Sumaya Hisham/Reuters)

Mboweni to deliver budget in the face of massive debt and blackouts

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is under pressure to bail out the state power utility Eskom — along with its $30-billion mountain of debt

Mtshali was one of the founding members of the South African Congress of Trade Unions. (World Federation of Trade Unions)

Freedom fighter and trade unionist Eric Mtshali dies

This remarkable veteran helped to build the trade union movement even while in exile

Cosatu’s membership and influence are declining, meaning it will not be able to keep up with rapid changes in politics or the workplace if it does not make big changes. (Madelene Cronjé/M&G)

Cosatu must introspect and fix itself, fast

The labour federation is a victim of the impasse in the grand post-apartheid South African project

Eskom has put forward two three-year wage options to the unions, the first being a 7% wage increases for three years, with a housing allowance, or 7.5% in 2018 and 7% in 2019 and 2020, with no housing allowance.

Thuma mina: Unions unmoved by president’s challenge

‘All the problems of unemployment and inequality are all getting worse since President Ramaphosa took over’

The gold-mining industry caved and reached a settlement in a 12-year case brought by claimants over hazardous work conditions that cause silicosis and silico-tuberculosis.

Samwu’s term of office extension faces opposition from members

Members of the trade union intend to challenge the amendment of the union’s constitution to extend the term of office for leaders

Military officers patrol as Venezuelan women walk towards Santa Elena to sleep, after checking their passports or identity cards at the Pacaraima border control, Roraima state, Brazil. (Reuters/Nacho Doce)

Bus services expected to resume tomorrow

The sticking point that delayed a settlement was the insistence by the unions that the agreed 9% pay rise be backdated to April 1