Thousands of workers strike against job losses

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG- - Thousands of South African workers demonstrated against job losses and poverty in a countrywide one-day strike called by trade unions on Monday.

"We are here to protest the thousands of jobs lost and the slow decline in the core of our economy; we are here to demand a development strategy to ensure that growth in the economy benefits all our people, creating jobs and overcoming poverty on a massive scale," said Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in a speech in Johannesburg.

According to Vavi, "Two out of five workers cannot find paid jobs - twice as many as ten years ago. Most of the unemployed are young people who have never had a job since leaving school."