Vavi calls for a unified front among unions to deal with SA crises

By Amy Musgrave

The SA Federation of Trade Unions has warned that as long as South Africa continues to remain the most unequal society in the world, socioeconomic conditions for workers and the most vulnerable will continue to deteriorate.

In Saftu’s year-end statement, general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that 12.2 million people were unemployed, while the top 10% of the richest South Africans who owned 90% of the wealth, were celebrating their gains.

“We know that this period is the most painful season for workers, particularly the unemployed and youth trapped in a structural long-term unemployment crisis,” he said in a statement.

“There is no hope emerging on the horizon of this tragedy. The biggest challenge the country faces is that of structural unemployment, whose face remains the black majority, women, youth and people living in the former Bantustans and now mushrooming informal settlements around all cities.”

Vavi said the