Unions say retrenchments should be paused during Covid-19 crisis to stem rising joblessness.
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) has called for a moratorium on all retrenchments during the Covid-19 lockdown. The call is an effort to preserve jobs.
In the second quarter of 2020, Statistics South Africa recorded 2.2 million job losses, leaving just 14.4 million employed people in both the formal and informal sectors
Fedusa, the second largest national trade union centre in South Africa, has a membership of 556,000 workers and in a statement said that all possible avenues must be considered instead of continuously using workers as scapegoats.
Fedusa said that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) should also continue to provide support to workers in 2021.
“Although the SARB was very instrumental in the process, it needs to continue on this trajectory, as the loan guarantee schemes and tax relief measures have yet to deliver the results that were promised, considering that only a meagre R15 billion of the R200 billion capacity relief to SMMEs were provided.”
In light of massive job losses, president Cyril Ramaphosa said government will create a “presidential employment stimulus” intended to address rising unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this stimulus is to generate or support 800,000 jobs in South Africa within the current financial year.
The president said an “unprecedented” expansion of public and social employment would be rolled out, alongside measures to protect existing jobs in vulnerable sectors.
