Thousands strike over job losses in South Africa

By Hassan Isilow </p> <p>JOHANNESBURG (AA) – South Africa’s largest labor union Wednesday held protests across the country, with thousands of its members demanding a halt to planned job cuts in various sectors of the economy.</p> <p>The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said many companies are threatening to lay off workers while the government seems to be doing nothing to save jobs in a country with 27 percent unemployment.</p> <p>Africa’s most industrialized economy has 38 million people of working age and 6.2 million people currently unemployed. Only 16.4 million people are employed, while 15.4 million people are not economically active, according to official statistics.</p> <p>“We are angry that 480,000 jobs were lost in the past four years in both the private and public sector. 78,000 jobs were lost in the mining industry and 59,000 jobs lost in the public sector, among others,” Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla told Anadolu Agency in Johannesburg.</p> <p>He said in 2012, the government gave the private sector a tax break without any conditionality and today the same companies are shedding workers.</p> <p>“We want government to tell the private sector that we don’t expect you to retrench workers and we want you to reinvest back 15 percent of your annual profits and create more jobs,” Pamla said.</p> <p>He claimed some of the companies benefiting from the tax break are taking profits out of the country, costing South Africa about 147 billion rand ($10.5 million) annually.</p> <p>“We’re fighting an economic system that does not create employment opportunities and increases inequality,” he said.</p> <p>Cosatu, a coalition partner of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), said they want government to introduce progressive policies that will tackle South Africa’s crisis of unemployment, inequality, and poverty.</p> <p>They want the government to fight corruption, abolish labor brokers, and end layoffs, he said.</p> <p>“We want the government to establish a national bank that will lend money to start up businesses and existing small- to medium-size enterprises at low interest rates,” Pamla said.</p> <p>The labor union said commercial banks charge high interests that hurt small businesses and startups that would create jobs.