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Cape Town - Cape Town workers will hold lunchtime pickets ahead of a national strike next year, Cosatu said on Monday.
Cosatu Western Cape chairperson Dan Malapi said picketing had been chosen for the province, because many unions were making up lost time and payment from other strikes.
Pickets would take place in Salt River, Bellville, Epping, Montague Gardens and outside the provincial legislature in Cape Town on Tuesday.
He could not estimate how many people would attend. The date for the national strike early next year was not announced.
Provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said KwaZulu-Natal would strike on Tuesday and Eastern Cape members would picket the same day.
On Wednesday, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, and Free State would take part in strikes. On Thursday, a strike was planned in Gauteng.
"Cosatu Western Cape is calling for strike action early in 2014, so that workers are able to prepare themselves for the battle," the union said in a statement released on Monday.
"The unions are mindful of the challenges that exist in the Federation, but believe that actions against the real enemy of the working class will unite the workers. So strike action against bad policies and corruption is completely supported by Cosatu in the Western Cape."
Cosatu said the unions believe that the only way to win these issues is through "militant disciplined mass action".
"This time of the year is however not the most suitable time for strike actions, due to the fact that many unions just come from long strikes and many other unions make up lost time and payment at the end of the year," the statement said.
It lists the issues Cosatu supports. This includes the ending of the privatisation of roads and stopping of the toll roads, the complete banning of labour brokers and a demand for a national minimum wage.
According to the statement Cosatu is against what it calls the "shocking conditions that exist on many farms". It calls for more workers’ rights and an end to the deregulation of the labour market as proposed in the economic sector of the National Development Plan (NDP).
Cosatu also claims there is "a lack of transformation in the Western Cape provincial government and corruption in the City of Cape Town".
"Cosatu in the Western Cape will be picketing in various industrial areas during lunch time instead and will be embarking on a full blown strike next year," the statement said.
