The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has called on workers to vote wisely in the upcoming elections. The union says it hopes the election will bring about change in the lives of working-class people.
Numsa has over 350,000 members from different sectors of the economy. The union held a special NEC meeting regarding the upcoming elections. South Africa heads to the polls in eight days.
Mr Numsa said the country's working class faces a continually deepening crisis, with socio-economic challenges and an economy that is pushing many workers and their families further into poverty.
The union, which has a political party called WASP, the Labor and Socialist Party, said it would not run in this year's election but decided it needed to guide workers on how to approach the upcoming election.
“Mr Numsa makes it very clear that over the past 30 years, South Africa's working class and our country's poor have become more than just victims and statistics of the triple crisis of poverty, unemployment and inequality. , going to bed without food on their plate not just some days, but most days, poverty and unemployment are their daily struggle and life experience, and it is impossible for Mr. Numsa to remain silent. , it was impossible for trade unions not to take a political stance regarding elections. Our decisions on this were not decided for the workers and the working class, but as a political guide for them. It has to work,” says Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.
With just days left until the election, the union is examining the manifestos of competing parties, accusing some of them of trying to subvert working-class interests if voted into power. He said he is doing so.
“A party that is unashamed of openly promoting xenophobia and vows to wipe out the very existence of trade unions and the very concept of a national minimum wage. A party that is extremely patriarchal and has no understanding of the strategic importance of gender equality in Palestine. “This is a political party that openly supports Zionist genocide, and whose policies, aims and objectives continue to deny African children access to free, quality, compulsory education,” Jim added. .
The union says voting is a personal decision, but that workers should think hard about their future.
“As a manufacturing and industrial union, we seek the creation of a democratic state in which all the scenic highlands, all the mineral resources behind these minerals, are in public ownership. We need a nation that can diversify them to support manufacturing and industrialization to benefit them, build new sectors, and create quality jobs that pay living wages. It calls for states to intervene in the economy, directing and redirecting development, and playing a catalytic role in the economy through means such as procurement and designation to build state-owned enterprises and promote localization. We need to ensure that Eskom remains a public utility, that energy remains a public good, that we continue to provide the economy with competitive electricity prices, that power the economy, and that we maintain affordable costs. We need a nation that can provide power to communities in the United States,” Jim said. I will explain.
Unions welcome the long-term suspension of load restrictions. The government looks forward to rolling out national health insurance and is encouraging employers to respect workers' right to vote on election day.
Numsa aims to hold bilateral talks with working-class political parties beyond the May 29 poll on a program to transform the economy and lives of workers.
Labor wants people to go vote. Although he is concerned that coalition governments are unsustainable, he is confident in the voting process and insists they remain an important vehicle for change.