Johannesburg – The only way workers could bring
their exploitation to an end was if they stood together, the EFF said on
Sunday.
"There is no ending of wage labour and exploitation
of the workers without worker unity," EFF spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi,
said in a statement.
"Any movement that brings about the disunity of the workers is
anti-revolutionary and only advances the capitalist grip on our people,"
he said.
As the country commemorated International Workers' Day, Ndlozi said the labour
movement in South Africa had suffered divisions, losses and regression.
He accused trade union leaders of chasing self-enrichment
and their own careers rather than fighting and defending workers' interests.
Directionless
factionalism
"The agenda of socialism, a class-less society, has
been abandoned for petty directionless factionalism, self-enrichment and
careerism.
"In our universities, it is no longer trade unions that fight fearlessly,
tirelessly and selflessly for workers' interests, but workers and student
activists," Ndlozi said.
He said South African workers were paid low wages with contracts characterised
by long working hours without benefits or a permanent contracts, especially
black workers.
"In South Africa workers are also racially discriminated against on the
basis that they are black.
"Black workers in South Africa earn less than their white counterparts for
the same job, in the same company or factory, simply because they are
black," Ndlozi said.
The EFF called for a total ban on labour brokers and for a minimum wage of R4
500 to be drafted into legislation across all industries, Ndlozi said.
