Cosatu launches call centre to resolve workers problems

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has launched a newly revamped call centre to assist workers throughout the country and from other sectors to resolve their challenges.The call centre was jointly launched in partnership with Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) at the union’s headquarters in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.The union said the substantial investment from RMA will help it expand its reach, using state-of-art technology to better serve the interests of both entities and the plight of the workers.This is the first of its kind partnership, and the union hope it is a long productive one, which will inspire other entities in the same sphere as RMA, to join hands with Cosatu to do more to improve the lives of workers.Cosatu spokesperson Zanele Sabela told Newsnote that the joint call centre will assist members of trade unions affiliated to the union, as well as unorganised workers in line with the federation’s policy of fighting for and defending the rights of all workers.“The overarching goal of the joint call centre is to be a one-stop shop that helps workers with a variety of issues.These includes non-compliant employers who don’t pay third-party dues such as pension fund and UIF contributions, to iron out hurdles workers encounter while claiming benefits from UIF and the Compensation Fund, and to mediate where workers feel the service they receive from their union is unsatisfactory,” said Sabela.Sabela highlighted that the union has been manning the call centre alone since April 2023.“Because it’s been operational since three or so years ago, and so all the hiccups have now been ironed out.We know exactly what to do, and now that’s why this is a great partnership that we hope will inspire other companies in the financial sector to join hands Cosatu to ensure that we improve the lives of the workers,” explained Sabela. Cosatu is confident that factory floor issues affecting workers in general will be resolved speedily and non-compliant employers will be held accountable.“The days of having workers sent from pillar to post when attempting to claim their rightful benefits will be a thing of the past once the call centre is fully operational. Among its tasks will be to direct workers to the correct entities to have specific queries resolved. The long-term plan is to have dedicated individuals at the UIF and CCMA attend to calls directly from the joint call centre to ensure speedy resolution of workers’ queries,” remarked Sabela.