South African workers joined the largest federation on the streets on fourteen cities on Workers Day to March and demand decent work and economic growth to benefit all the masses. May Day in South Africa was first declared a paid public holiday after the democratic dispensation in 1994. Workers since the inception of the International Workers Day which is commonly known as ‘May Day’ have been defying the apartheid regime by demanding the day to be recognised.
The day came after on May, 1 in 1886, more than 300, 000 workers across the United States walked off their jobs to demanding an eight-hour workday.From that day henceforth proletarian organizations have continued to stop working on May Day to demand decent working conditions and a living wage.The celebrations in South Africa were held under the Theme ‘Building Unity and Cohesion of COSATU to advance the National Democratic Revolution.
‘COSATU organized fourteen May Day marches in nine provinces’, said COSATU General Secretary, Bheki Ntshalintshali.
‘Workers marched in all these cities to demand a national minimum wage, banning of labour brokers, full implementation of
the National Health Insurance, scrapping of etolls of freeways, prosecution of all involved in state capture and corruption
and also supporting the bus sector strike and public servants still in negotiations’, said Ntshalintshali.
All marches and rallies were addressed by COSATU National Office Bearers and Central Committee Members.