S. African workers strike for better working conditions

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) on Friday organized a nationwide strike to demand for decent working conditions.

The strike marked the International Day for Decent Work.

The federation took the move to restate its position that the worker's primary adversary is monopoly capital.

COSATU is unwavering in its mission to unite the workers and stop the egregious assault on their rights by emboldened employers, it said.

As part of the strike, workers marched in major cities to demand for better working conditions.

In Johannesburg, hundreds of COSATU members marched to the Office of the Mayor and handed over a petition calling for safe and reliable transport in the city.

The first deputy president of Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa, Letsatsi Modise, read the petition before handing it over to the Mayoral Office.

Modise said the city should not privatize state institutions which will affect the workers negatively.

He called on the city to make commitment that it will prioritize investing in the public transport.

Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of South African Democratic Teachers' Union, urged the government to address workers' concerns.

"We demand a safe, reliable, affordable and subsidized transport system. We do not want workers to be charged for arriving at work late because of the poor public transport," said Maluleke.

COSATU General Secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali, addressing a gathering outside the South African Chamber of Mines, accused some mines of failing to take safe measures, which leads to deaths of miners, and called on the chamber to take responsibility for safer working conditions. Enditem