The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the Western Cape is planning to go on strike over what it terms the City of Cape Town’s failure to address the water crisis.
The labor union will be filing an application for legal protest action with the National Economic Development and Labor Council (Nedlac). In a statement on Thursday, COSATU made claims about the city having failed to decrease water consumption.
They stated that the current water shortages are going to lead to poor communities dying of thirst whereas the rich will still be able to buy water at the shops. Poor people will suffer for lack of an alternative water supply. Moreover, COSATU called the naming of streets with high water consumption a publicity stunt by the city to cover a crisis.
The member who happens to be an ANC-alliance said COSATU has reliably learnt that dam levels are at 20% and not at 33% as the city claimed earlier this week.
COSATU also demanded that water use for pools, car washing and gardening be banned, asking that pool water be returned to dams, desalination plants be set up and that the groundwater aquifer should be accessed. The union said it will go on protest if the city fails to respond to their demands by Monday.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was launched in December 1985. They currently have more than two million workers, of whom at least 1.8 million are paid up.
By international standards COSATU has been among the fastest growing trade union movements in the world.
The federation is based upon the principles of non-racialism, worker control, paid up membership, unity in the industry, international worker solidarity and the history of the COSATU logo.
