SA trade unions want seat at intra-continental trade deals table

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s trade union federations said they want a seat at the table where decisions about intra-continental trade deals are being made.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) and South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) made the calls on the sidelines of the latest L20 meeting in the Western Cape.

L20 is the labour leg of the G20.

The union federations used the gathering in George to deliberate on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its implications for workers across the continent.

As global supply chains shift and geopolitical and environmental pressures intensify, African economies continue to reimagine how goods move across the continent.

This means governments need to adapt frameworks to make it easier to do business across African borders, including making cross-border payments less costly and more efficient.

While South Africa’s labour unions are proponents of the African Continental Free Trade Area, they said the pact mustn’t become a blueprint for deregulated and unchecked markets at the expense of workers.

FEDUSA’s general secretary Riefdah Ajam said: "It should be the vehicle that drives workers into liberation. At the end of the day, workers are the ones that are the engine rooms of the economy."

The union federations have hit out at countries proposing different trade agreements with different African governments rather than dealing with Africa as a bloc.