Cosatu laments workers’ exploitation in N West

Cosatu and Nehawu say workers are still being exploited in the North West and more should be done to promote workers’ rights in both the private and public sectors.

They raised the issues during a workers’ rally in Mahikeng on Tuesday.

There was also a march to highlight issues of health workers in the province.

Cosatu deputy general-secretary Solly Phetoe says: “In the North West public service workers, in particular in the Department of Health, workers have been on strike for almost two months now. It’s because they are being treated very badly.”

“We’ve got casual workers- workers are paid according to what’s expected and there’s a lot of corruption that has been raised by workers in that particular department. But also, there are private workers here. Security workers, domestic workers, retail workers are being exploited in this province,” he adds.

Minimum Wage App

The National Minimum Wage Act, 2017 is set to be implemented in May 2018. However, according to the Department of Labour, the process could be delayed by one or two months.

SABC Digital News and OpenUp (formerly Code for South Africa) has partnered to develop a Minimum Wage App that will give answers to the question: “Can South Africans survive on R3 500?”

Where does the information come from?

OpenUp has used the following data sources:

• Stats SA “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report
• Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) “Food Price Barometer“
• Stats SA “Income and Expenditure of Households Survey”

How is it calculated?

The money available for food is calculated by subtracting the money used for other expenses from household income. It could be said that it comes after these expenses, though they are actually in conjunction with each other.