The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has called on all workers in the country to join its national strike on Wednesday.
The labour federation says the strike is against job losses. It says workers are being unfairly retrenched.
In Johannesburg, the march will start at the Mary Fitzgerald Square.
Traffic in the Johannesburg CBD is expected to be affected. Several streets will be blocked for the duration of the march.
Johannesburg Metro Police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar says, “A protest march by Cosatu will start at Mary Fitzgerald Square and proceed up Lilian Ngoyi, it will turn right into Simmonds street up to the Legislature. From the Legislature, they will proceed to the Chamber of Mines on Anderson Street. They will then return to the Mary Fitzgerald Square. The protest will start at 10 am and finish at 2 pm. Officers will be on duty to divert traffic during those times.”
Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla says the march in the Western Cape will take place on the day of the budget speech, which is on February 19.
“We are issuing a call to not just Cosatu members, to workers and the unemployed in general. To realise that if we do not mobilise against these on-going retrenchments, we are all going to end up on an unemployment line, because when employers retrench they do not ask whether you are a Cosatu member or not. The issue of retrenchment is a big deal. It is no longer a question of whether you are a qualified professional with experience, it is no longer an issue of whether you work for government. When it comes to retrenchment, no one is immune from retrenchment.”
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