Sahara Stadium, Durban
COSATU President Comrade Sdumo Dlamini,
General Secretary Comrade Zwelinzima Vavi,
Members of the COSATU Central Executive,
SACP General Secretary Comrade Blade Nzimande,
Leadership and Representatives of the Tripartite Alliance,
Abasebenzi bonke,
I bring revolutionary greetings from the National Executive Committee of the ANC on this very important day of celebrating Worker's Day.
Across South Africa and across the world, workers are celebrating this day as a reminder that Workers Rights are indeed Human Rights.
We are also marking 25 successful years of the Congress of South African Trade Unions which calls for a double celebration.
Very few people remember that the struggle for an eight hour week and May Day in particular arose from a tragic and bloody massacre in Chicago, on 4 May 1886 during a protest rally, convened as part of the struggle for an eight our week.
They demanded eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for play.
The founding convention of the National Labor Union in the United States in 1866 had passed a resolution dealing with the shorter workday demand, which stated that:
"The first and great necessity of the present, to free labor of this country from capitalist slavery, is the passing of a law by which 8 hours shall be the normal working day in all states in the American union. We are resolved to put forth all our strength until this glorious result is attained".
The same convention also voted for independent political action in connection with the securing of the legal enactment of the 8-hour day.
During the protest rally in Haymarket Square, Chicago, one of the protesters threw a bomb on the police killing several police officers. The police returned fire killing more than 50 protesters.
The leaders of the march were tried and sentenced to public hanging. Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer were hanged on 11 November 1887, and Louis Lingg committed suicide.
The massacre was commemorated each year for decades. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam resolved that all progressive forces and trade unions in the world should commemorate International Worker's Day on the first of May each year.
This would be in demand for the eight hour week, all demands of workers and universal peace.
The first May Day demonstrations in South Africa were held in 1895 and subsequently in 1904 and 1906.
The struggle of the workers of this country has its own vibrant and brave history. We must remember that for African workers in particular, the emergence of SACTU in March 1955 represented a new thrust in the history of workers'' struggles in South Africa.
SACTU defined and set the pace for a symbiotic relationship between the labour movement in this country and the African National Congress.
It became clear that the two could not work in isolation from each other.
Inkosi Albert Luthuli, said at the SACTU Conference in 1959.
"SACTU is the spear, ANC the shield..."
He added that:
"No worker is a good member of Congress unless he is also a Trade Unionist. No Trade Unionist is a good Trade Unionist unless he is also a member of Congress... I am glad that SACTU has not listened to the ill advice that they should not be interested in politics. There is a Zulu saying that if you are pricked by a thorn you also have to use a thorn to get it out. Workers are oppressed by political action; they must take political action in reply".
Also underlining the revolutionary solidarity, our icon Walter Sisulu, said in an article in Workers Unity, in 1955:
"The victory can only be won and imperialism uprooted by forging strong ties of Alliance between the liberation movements and the trade union movements, by correcting any misconceptions that the trade unions had nothing to do with politics".
Comrades,
We recall these words and these historical facts as we celebrate 25 years of the launch of COSATU in December 1985, in Curries Fountain.
In line with its predecessor, SACTU, the federation threw its weight behind not only the campaign for a living wage and an eight-hour working day, but also dedicated itself to the struggle for the national liberation of our country.
Today Cosatu boasts a membership of more than two million workers, all affiliated to active unions led by this giant of our workers' rights.
COSATU and the working class in general played a major role in taking the country where it is today, enjoying our hard-won freedom and democracy.
Most of you would recall that Cosatu was barely five months old when it organised one of the biggest stay-aways to demand recognition of May Day as a paid public holiday in 1986.
Cosatu's birth and the affirmation of May Day signalled the confidence of the working class and the coming of age of the post 1973 labour movement.
Comrades,
The ANC, labour movement and the South African Communist Party must continue to stand together to advance the transformation agenda in our country.
As we celebrate this milestone, we are reminded of the advances made by workers in our country, through the struggles of COSATU and the liberation movement.
These advances become possible because the workers continue to assert their confidence in the ANC.
They recognise the ANC as the only trusted leader of the broadest range of social forces that share the vision of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
We have since the advent of democracy enacted legislation that protects workers, and which creates a machinery to negotiate wages and working conditions.
We have passed laws which have enabled the setting of minimum wages for domestic workers, farm workers, hospitality, taxi workers and security sectors and established maximum hours of work for all.
There is still a lot that we must do together to advance the interests of workers.
In the ANC election manifesto we note that there has been a growth of casualised, low wage and outsourced jobs, contributing to the rise of the working poor.
The workers' share of national income has not grown to acceptable levels. The rural areas remain divided between well-developed commercial farming areas, peri-urban and impoverished communal areas. The benefits of economic growth have not been broadly and equitably shared.
We are working to fulfill the undertaking to ensure decent work for all workers as well as to protect the employment relationship, introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and out- sourcing, address the problem of labour broking and prohibit certain abusive practices.
We are also working to ensure that provisions are introduced to facilitate the unionisation of workers and conclusion of sectoral collective agreements to cover vulnerable workers.
The ANC government is also implementing policies that create an environment for more labour-intensive production methods and procurement policies that support local jobs and building public-private partnerships.
We are continuing with the work to vigorously implement broad-based economic empowerment and affirmative action policies and adjust them to ensure that they benefit more broad sections of our people, especially the workers, youth, women and people with disabilities.
Our renewed focus on higher education and training is designed to ensure that we actively promote skills development and equity at the workplace.
The ANC is able to do this because of the symbiotic and solid relationship with the labour movement.
Some people define this relationship in all sorts of ways. Others claim one alliance partner owes the other or vice versa.
Those who say so do not understand the ANC and the history and mission of the Tripartite Alliance. They probably never will.
Workers vote for the ANC because they know that it is in their interests to do so. It is their revolutionary and historical duty.
The ANC is the shield, COSATU the spear of the workers. There is no other political organisation in this country that has a historical duty to defend the interests of the workers than the ANC.
There is no other labour movement that has the historical duty and mission to defend the ANC than COSATU.
The workers are not doing the ANC a favour, neither is the ANC doing the workers any favour. It's a historical and revolutionary duty of all partners. Nobody owes anybody anything.
Today we join Cosatu in saluting all its forebears in particular the founding President Elijah Barayi, J B Marks, Chris Dlamini, Mbuyisile Ngwenda, John Gomomo, Oscar Mpetha, Violet Seboni and many more.
We salute these visionary men an women who built and worked to strengthen this worker's movement against all odds.
Comrades,
The ANC, as the leader of the Alliance, will continue to work with the Alliance partners to strengthen the Alliance, united in action for the joint programme of social transformation.
We will use our collective strength to continue searching for better ways to respond to the new challenges facing our country.
Together with workers and all South Africans, we believe we are on path to improving the quality of education, health care, sanitation, and to accelerate the delivery of houses to millions of our people and achieve a better life for all.
In particular, we are committed to finding more and better quality jobs for our people because we believe that decent work is the foundation of the fight against poverty and inequality in our society.
We will continue to further strengthen the manufacturing, mining and other vulnerable sectors, and tide them through the period of the global economic crisis.
This will enable us to save and grow jobs in the clothing and textile sector, strengthen the automobile and components sector, and expand the food industry and other sectors.
We have also committed ourselves to creating large numbers of 'green jobs', namely, employment in industries and facilities that are designed to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Finally, through a massive public investment programme for growth and employment creation, government has already embarked on expanding infrastructure.
Comrades, let us remember that this Worker's Day takes place just 39 days before the FIFA Soccer World Cup. This tournament came to our shores because of the struggles of the poor and the workers of this country.
We would not be having this prestigious World Cup tournament if our people did not fight for so many decades to free this country from the shackles of oppression.
The World Cup is a celebration of our freedom, a celebration of the sacrifices and struggles of our people. We therefore today acknowledge the contribution of workers to our victory in hosting the World Cup.
Together we will make the tournament a resounding success, because we worked so hard for it over many decades.
Therefore on this day of solidarity with workers of the world, we join all progressive forces in the world, in the continued fight for a living wage, decent work and a better South Africa.
Amandla!
