Confederation of South African Trade Unions
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| Full name | Congress of South African Trade Unions |
|---|---|
| Founded | 30 November 1985 |
| Members | 1.8 million |
| Affiliation | ITUC, WFTU, ICFTU-AFRO |
| Key people | Sidumo Dlamini, president |
| Office location | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Country | South Africa |
| Website | www.cosatu.org.za |
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country’s three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions, altogether organizing 1.8 million workers.
On 30 Nov 1985, 33 unions met at the University of Natal for talks on forming a federation of trade unions. This followed four years of unity talks between competing unions and federations that were opposed to apartheid and were "committed to a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa." COSATU was officially established on 1 December 1985. Among the founding unions was the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU). Elijah Barayi was the organisation’s first president and Jay Naidoo the first general secretary.
Several resolutions were passed at this first meeting that defined the aim of the federation and how the federation operates, namely:
The COSATU congress decided in 2012 to affiliate with the class-struggle oriented World Federation of Trade Unions, while maintaining its membership within the International Trade Union Confederation.
During the 2016 congress that was held in Durban, Michael Mzwandile Makwayiba, president of COSATU affiliate NEHAWU Michael Mzwandile Makwayiba was elected President of the World Federation of Trade Unions.
On 5–6 May 1987 a strike as part of COSATU's Living Wage Campaign was held coinciding with 1987 General Election. More than 2.5 million workers took part in the stay-away. On 7 May 1987, in the early hours of the morning two bombs exploded near the support columns in the basement of the federation headquarters, COSATU House. The resulting damage caused the building to be declared unsafe.
At the second national congress held from 14–18 July 1987, the Freedom Charter was adopted by the federation after the resolution was proposed by the National Union of Mineworkers
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