COSATU: WORKERS CAN ONLY BENEFIT FROM A FUEL PRICE CAP
Trade union federation Cosatu has cautiously welcomed the reduction of fuel prices coming on Wednesday but said that it was not enough to relieve workers of the high cost of travel and food.
Nthakoana Ngatane
Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Trade union federation Cosatu has cautiously welcomed the reduction of fuel prices coming on Wednesday but said that it was not enough to relieve workers of the high cost of travel and food.
The Department of Energy said that all grades of petrol would drop by 19 cents per litre, all grades of diesel by 54 cents a litre, while illuminating paraffin would go down by 68 cents per litre with liquid petroleum gas by 32 cents per kg.
Cosatu, however, said that in the absence of a regulatory framework that would ensure that transport operators and manufacturers adjust their prices downwards, workers would not feel the effects of the drop.
National spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that lower-income earners and poor households could not be left to the ups and downs of the market and they could only benefit from a fuel price cap.
"Transport operators and retailers adjust their numbers - there is no regulatory framework in place to ensure that when numbers go down they follow suit. As workers, we spend 20% of our income travelling to and from work, this is why we are saying a steady drop is what we will support."
Nthakoana Ngatane
Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Trade union federation Cosatu has cautiously welcomed the reduction of fuel prices coming on Wednesday but said that it was not enough to relieve workers of the high cost of travel and food.
The Department of Energy said that all grades of petrol would drop by 19 cents per litre, all grades of diesel by 54 cents a litre, while illuminating paraffin would go down by 68 cents per litre with liquid petroleum gas by 32 cents per kg.
Cosatu, however, said that in the absence of a regulatory framework that would ensure that transport operators and manufacturers adjust their prices downwards, workers would not feel the effects of the drop.
National spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said that lower-income earners and poor households could not be left to the ups and downs of the market and they could only benefit from a fuel price cap.
"Transport operators and retailers adjust their numbers - there is no regulatory framework in place to ensure that when numbers go down they follow suit. As workers, we spend 20% of our income travelling to and from work, this is why we are saying a steady drop is what we will support."
No comments:
Post a Comment