CWAO IN THE NEWS
Press Releases
Press Release
18 August 2024
Workers at Mister Sweet begin strike today; SWF condemns bosses for locking workers out and threatening workers with reduction in wage offer
Mister Sweet workers to strike from Monday; SWF condemns bosses for locking workers out and threatening workers with reduction in wage offer
Category: NEWS
Press Release
14 August 2024
Simunye Workers' Forum goes to the Labour Appeal Court tomorrow to insist on its right to be registered as a Trade Union
The Simunye Workers Forum (SWF) and Casual Workers' Advice Office (CWAO) are headed for the Labour Appeal Court in Johannesburg tomorrow (15 August 2024) to again fight for the right of the SWF to register as a trade union.
Category: NEWS
Press Release
13 August 2024
DisChem terminates employee who had cancer because she can no longer lift heavy items
The Casual Workers' Advice Office condemns the pharmacy giant, DisChem, for dismissing a female worker after she was fitted with a stoma bag following cancer surgery and could no longer lift heavy items.
Category: NEWS
Press Release
07 May 2024
Simunye Workers' Forum direct action at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)
The SWF has set up a stall outside the Benoni branch of the CCMA. The SWF intends to spend a week outside every CCMA office in Gauteng to support workers who are not being adequately assisted by the CCMA and sometimes even abused by the CCMA.
Category: CCMA
Press Release
29 April 2024
New report on strike trends in 2023 shows more wildcat strikes than protected strikes; workers striking mainly for permanent jobs and over wage issues
The CWAO released its latest Strike Barometer this morning. The Strike Barometer covers strikes between 1 January and 31 December 2023.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
29 February 2024
The national minimum wage entrenches Apartheid's cheap Black labour
The 1 March increase in the national minimum wage from R25.42 to R27.45 has been hailed in many quarters, most particularly by Cosatu. This alone should make us suspicious, given the federation's consistently anti-worker politics.
Category: WORKERS RIGHTS
Press Release
23 November 2023
Simunye Workers Forum defeats snack giant Simba in the Labour Court!
The SWF won a victory against snack manufacturing giant Simba in the Johannesburg Labour Court on 21 November, with Simba forced to withdraw its bid for a permanent interdict against deemed permanent workers together with permanent workers who went on strike over Simba cancelling the free transport it used to provide.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
07 November 2023
CCMA orders farm owner to pay R81 000 in backpay to workers
A Johannesburg businessman accused of short-paying his staff has been ordered by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to pay just over R81 000 to his 21 employees.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
06 November 2023
CCMA case against Zanthe Fresh
Casual workers affiliated with the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) and Simunye Workers' Forum (SWF) have won a case in the CCMA against Zanthe Fresh, a farm on the West Rand that refused to pay workers the legal minimum wage since June 2023.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
15 August 2023
Joint Simunye Workers Forum/Casual Workers' Advice Office Press Statement
The Simunye Workers Forum (SWF) and Casual Workers' Advice Office (CWAO) are heartened that Labour Court judge Andre van Niekerk has dismissed with costs the Registrar of Labour Relations' application for leave to appeal his ruling that the Registrar must register the SWF as a trade union.
Category: SWF / CWAO
Press Release
16 July 2023
Registrar of Labour Relations' new court appeal again leaves tens of thousands of casual workers out in the cold
The SWF and CWAO note that the Registrar of Labour Relations has decided to waste tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of rands of public money in appealing the Labour Court decision that ordered him to register the SWF as a trade union by 12 July 2023.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
28 June 2023
SAFTU condemns shooting of Simunye Workers Forum members
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is angered by the criminal and senseless shooting of workers belonging to Simunye Workers Forum (SWF) and two by-standers, in Germiston on Saturday, 24 June 2023.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
27 June 2023
SWF activists and a CWAO board member shot with live ammunition in Germiston yesterday
Yesterday, 24 June 2023, at about 1:30pm, 50 members of the SWF and CWAO held a peaceful march after their general meeting in Germiston to Golden Bakery at 79 Plantation Road, Germiston. The activists children who had been playing at the meeting, were also present at the march, which was very peaceful.
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
13 June 2023
Simunye Workers Forum takes Registrar of Labour Relations to Labour Court on 14 June 2023
On Wed 14 June, the Labour Court in Johannesburg will hear an appeal by the Simunye Workers Forum against the Registrar of Labour Relations refusal to register the SWF as a trade union
Category: DISPUTES
Press Release
19 May 2023
Simunye Workers Forum organiser threatened by representatives of Liwayway Food South Africa (Pty) Ltd
The SWF's Jacob Potlaki arrived to attend a meeting with the HR Manager at Liwayway Food South Africa (Pty) Ltd premises on 18 May 2023 regarding a CCMA Matter, but were threatened by men at the gate.
Category: CCMA
Press Release
02 October 2018
COSATU congress ignores attacks on workers' rights
COSATU held its thirteenth Congress from 17 to 20 September. As usual the federations militant declarations of its commitment to radical change received widespread attention and added to the impression of a strong, although divided, union movement in South Africa. While many are aware of problems and divisions in COSATU, it is not often acknowledged that the picture of a strong, militant union movement supported by progressive, rigid labour laws is fundamentally false