Form co-operatives, workers told

2009-07-04 19:27

Johannesburg - Workers, who are affected by the current economic crisis and losing their jobs as a result, are urged to form co-operatives, said the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) on Saturday.

Addressing an event to mark the International Co-operatives Day celebrations in Pietermaritzburg, the department's director general Tshediso Matona called on affected workers to establish their own co-operatives that can reopen factories with potential for revival and create sustainable jobs.

He said dti was currently working with the Department of Labour to formulate a legal framework for co-operatives.

Matona said organised labour could play a meaningful role in supporting this development and process by aiding workers to undertake such initiatives, particularly those that were facing retrenchments.

He added that government had also put in place a Co-operative Bank Act which encourages co-operatives to develop co-operative banks and he emphasised that this was not the only incentive that would assist the initiative.

"We have put in place the Co-operatives Bank Development Agency to assist in regulating and supporting the development of co-operatives banks with deposits less than R10m and more than R2m or with more than 200 members," Matona said.

The International Co-operatives Day is celebrated every year globally to create awareness about co-operatives to communities and to strengthen partnership between co-operatives, government and other relevant players.

- SAPA