Ramaphosa assures workers their rights to collective bargaining and striking are protected

CAPE TOWN - President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured workers that their rights to collective bargaining and striking are guaranteed - and will be protected.

Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address during Wednesday's main Congress of South African Trade Unions' May Day celebrations at Cape Town's Athlone Stadium.

 "Your collective bargaining rights are entrenched and are guaranteed so they will continue."

He told supporters that workers' rights were not always respected before the African National Congress took control 30 years ago.

READ: May Day celebration: Ramaphosa says SA is moving towards Universal Basic Income cushion

"The right to strike was never always there in our laws because workers could easily be dismissed when they were on strike."

Meanwhile, South African Communist Party secretary general Solly Mapaila wants the government to improve the minimum living wage for workers and protect their rights against exploitation.

Mapaila was also part of the May Day festivities. He further called on Ramaphosa to protect democracy, saying it was under threat from neoliberalists and capitalists.

He told workers to celebrate the day and the gains obtained through the democratic government.

"We also want to call on the workers to unite and intensify the struggles to wipe out the legacy of racism and gender oppression as well as of capitalist exploitation in our economy, to continue to expand and develop democracy - which must find its expression in the workplace."