The Congress of South African Trade Unions will embark on a nationwide protest and other activities all across the country on Friday 6 October 2023.
This is a section 77 protected national action that forms part of our international day of Decent Workday. The protest action and actions in contemplation of the strike will involve:
- Protests in the form of marches and pickets on the 6th of October 2023.
- 2-hour pickets at different workplaces on the 6th of October 2023.
The Federation is encouraging all workers to participate in the planned activities and exercise their right to demand that employers and policymakers respect labour laws and take seriously the calls for decent work.
The socio-economic strike will commence at 00h00 and end at 23h59 on 6 October 2023, except that shift workers will be away for the duration of one whole shift if the shift has the majority of hours on the day in question.
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “The message that we’re sending to our members is for them to stay at home because that on its own will send a much clearer message to the decision makers.” Cosatu is demanding the reversal of budget cuts that it said led to an unacceptable wage freeze in the public service, the disintegration of the CCMA, and retrenchments in state-owned companies.
Following the socio-economic strike on 6 of October 2023, the federation will assess the programme of action and decide on the way forward.
What is Section 77? | Nedlac
- The intention of Section 77 of the LRA is to get parties to talk in the hope that disputes of a socio-economic nature can be resolved through social partner engagement.
- To this end parties are discouraged from using Section 77 and Nedlac as a rubber stamp to get permission to strike.
- Once the engagements have deadlocked, the Standing Committee makes a ruling that further engagements will serve no benefit to the parties.
- The Standing Committee will, based on this decision, issue a Sec 77 (1)(c) notice to the applicants.
- Should the applicants decide to engage in protest action, they must give a 14-day notice in the form of a Section 77 (1)(d) notice which advises Nedlac of the date of the protest.
- This protest is then considered protected, and no employer may institute disciplinary action against any worker who chooses to join the action.
The rule of no-work-no-pay applies for workers who are taking the day off to join the protest action.
