(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's biggest labor-union federation rejected a National Treasury plan to pull the economy out of its longest downward cycle since the Second World War and announced plans for a nationwide strike on Oct. 7 to protest against job losses.
The Treasury plan, which was published on Aug. 27, envisions the state relinquishing its near monopoly of electricity, port and rail services, relaxing rules to make it easier to do business and privatizing assets to stabilize its finances. The Congress of South African Trade Unions said the measures were an attempt to push through a “right-wing agenda” that had been rejected by the ruling African National Congress and would undermine workers' rights.
“This draft recovery strategy makes the government appear incoherent, confused and unreliable,” the federation, who's affiliate unions represent about 1.8 million workers, said in a statement handed to reporters in Johannesburg. “We reject this particular paper and demand that National Treasury withdraws this document immediately.”
Read a related article about the Treasury's growth plan
Cosatu is a member of South Africa's ruling coalition and played a key role in helping President Cyril Ramaphosa win power 18 months ago. Its response to the Treasury's proposals and planned labor action illustrates the difficulty Ramaphosa and his Finance Minister Tito Mboweni face in reconciling competing interests as they seek to rein in runaway state debt, attract $100 billion in new investment and tackle a 29% unemployment rate.
Cosatu said the government needed to refine its tax and procurement policies to encourage local production, and should consider alternatives to firing workers and privatization as it seeks to fix financially strapped state companies.
Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi said she had written to the ANC to complain about the lack of consultation on the Treasury plan and the ruling party's failure to convene regular meetings with its union allies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nkululeko Ncana in Johannesburg at nncana@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Mike Cohen, Renee Bonorchis
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