Aug-Sept 2014 K.indd

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AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

COSATU holds Retirement Fund workshop for Worker Leaders Norman Mampane, COSATU Communications Of fi cer ‘The 1980’s and 1990’s saw a dramatic transfer of employees from these de fi ned bene fi t funds to de fi ned contribution schemes. This was viewed positively by trade unions, which saw advantages for their members in the better resignation bene fi ts offered by newly established national provident funds’ - National Treasury, Republic of South Africa Retirement Fund Reform, A Discussion Paper, December 2004

T he Congress of South African Trade Unions yesterday held a Retirement Funds workshop to introduce Shopstewards to understanding the basic knowledge of the Retirement Act and related re tirement reforms under review. Recently the Federation has arrested an outcry in which workers were co erced to resign by some ‘consultants or brokers’. And the concerns by workers are a global trend due to various fac tors such as consumers’ disparate incomes, life expectancies and other variables. The COSATU Special Central Ex ecutive Committee has called upon all workers to refrain from resigning as that may put their families’ income in jeopardy. Opening the workshop,

Cde Jan Mahlangu, COSATU Retire ment Coordinator alluded to ‘the im portance of having Provincial Teams geared to address all workers con cerns and unpacking challenges with in retirement funds’. The Minister of Finance has an nounced the savings and retirement reform processes in the 2012 Budget, with the aim of ensuring that the sav ings and retirement system serves the needs of the South Africans better, and more fairly than in the past. ‘The broader aim of the Minister’s announcement was to encourage all South Africans to save in order to re duce their vulnerability, both before and after retirement’, read the gov ernment statements. The announce ment was followed by the release of a series of technical discussions papers dealing with various aspects of the

Worker Issues

Jan Mahlangu