Cosatu marches target regulators over wage enforcement

Cosatu’s nationwide marches and pickets on Wednesday, October 7 will place a direct set of demands before government departments, regulators and employers, with the federation using the protected protest to press for stronger enforcement of the National Minimum Wage and the appointment of 10,000 additional labour inspectors.

The action runs from about 9am to 4.30pm and is protected under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act. That protection gives the federation a legal framework within which it can formally present grievances to the institutions and companies it is targeting. Cosatu frames the day as a response to job losses, rising living costs and what it describes as attacks on workers’ rights. It has also timed the protest to coincide with the World Day for Decent Work, an annual global observance promoting fair wages, secure employment and better working conditions.

The largest actions are planned for Johannesburg and Tshwane. There, Cosatu will target Massmart over the dismissal of nearly 600 Makro workers. Memorandums will be delivered to the company, formally placing the dispute on record and requiring a response from the employer.

Meanwhile, retrenchment plans in the hospitality and casino sector form a second front. Cosatu and its affiliate SACCAWU will march to Sun City in the North West and to GrandWest Casino in Cape Town over planned retrenchments by Sun International, again using the memorandum process to hold the company to account before its workforce and the public.

Provincial actions extend the accountability push to government itself. In the Free State, Cosatu will hold a provincial march in Bloemfontein, where memorandums on worker concerns will be handed to various government departments and companies. In Limpopo, the federation will stage a lunchtime demonstration at Jumbo Stores in Polokwane, focusing on the rising cost of living, electricity prices, minimum-wage compliance and alleged unfair labour practices. That emphasis on minimum-wage compliance points to the federation’s central national demand: existing labour standards must be enforced, not merely legislated.

Affiliate unions are coordinating their own actions across several provinces, adding sector-specific pressure to the national programme. In KwaZulu-Natal, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will hold a picket at Richards Bay Minerals, where workers will hand over a memorandum outlining various workplace grievances. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) will march in Durban, while SACCAWU will stage workplace pickets in several towns across the province. In Mpumalanga, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) will hold municipal pickets focusing on socio-economic and labour challenges in local government, directing attention to the delivery and labour obligations of municipalities.

Beyond the minimum wage and inspector appointments, Cosatu’s national demands cover retrenchments, casualisation, collective bargaining, social protection and the rising cost of living. Taken together, the demands are aimed at the enforcement machinery of labour law as much as at individual employers. The federation is arguing that protections on the statute books are not being applied rigorously enough on shop floors and in municipal workplaces.

The Section 77 protection matters for how the day unfolds. It places the marches within a recognised process under the Labour Relations Act, meaning the memorandums handed to Massmart, Sun International, government departments and other recipients form part of a formal grievance route rather than ad hoc protest. Whether the demands translate into enforcement action, negotiations over retrenchments, or commitments on inspector numbers will depend on how the targeted institutions and employers respond in the days and weeks after Wednesday’s action concludes at 4.30pm.