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The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) – the largest trade union in the education sector in South Africa, fully supports COSATU’s national strike on 13 February 2019.

SADTU, as an affiliate of COSATU, SADTU is opposed to privatisation which can be best described as digital capitalism, retrenchments, casualization and labour broking. We are going to come out in numbers to show our contempt against these.

In a country where the unemployment rate is according to Stats SA 27, 5 % in the last quarter of 2018, we cannot afford further job losses. We reiterate COSATU’S call for jobs for all.

In the mining sector, thousands of workers have so far lost their jobs through retrenchments while mines continue to close.

The announcement by President Ramaphosa of the unbundling of Eskom spells disaster for workers. We fear this will lead to further job losses at Eskom and coal mines.

In the education sector, our members continue to teach overcrowded classrooms or mass meetings due to post provisioning norms that create fewer teaching posts. Huge class size or over-crowded classrooms have a huge impact on learner achievement and this remains a great problem for education. For effective teaching to take place, Government should employ more teachers.

Our schools have become unsafe places for both the teachers and learners. Schools are targeted by criminals who steal.  We will use the march to call for increased safety measures in our schools and to urge communities as well as government to protect them.

We would like to assure our members and all workers in general that the strike is protected. Therefore, workers are legally protected to go on strike on the 13th since NEDLAC issued COSATU with a strike certificate in terms of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act.

An injury to one is an injury to all!

Issued by SADTU