Zuma, labour meet in Pretoria

(Image: GCIS)

"Unions have a role to play because they talk to government. What is important is that there should be an open policy from government to listen to the advice that workers make," he said, addressing media following a courtesy call by Cosatu and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) on Saturday.

Zuma added that an open channel of communication between workers and government was important.

During the visit, general secretary of WFTU George Mavrikos gave Zuma a lengthy report on the impact of the current economic situation on workers.

"Of course the workers will never stop talking about the conditions of workers. The secretary general gave a report of how much the current economic crisis is impacting on workers in a number of countries where they have affiliates.

"Therefore the crisis which is faced by the workers, and of course the crisis affecting everybody, affects us as a country," explained Zuma.

Workers worried

Mavrikos said discussions between the parties were fruitful. "It was an honour for us [to hold] discussions with President Zuma ... as you know, we as workers are worried at the moment because of the financial crisis," he said.

Zuma added that he welcomed the visit by the unions because of the history shared between the ANC and the WFTU. "As you know that our alliance comes from very far. Cosatu was part of WFTU so therefore leaders of the ANC were also leaders of Cosatu."

Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said the historical relationship between the unions could never be erased. The history of the WFTU is tied to South Africa because of the struggle against apartheid.

The WFTU is currently hosting its sixth Presidential Council in Johannesburg. It began on Wednesday and will end tomorrow. It also opened a regional office in Johannesburg.

"I'm happy that they established a regional office in Johannesburg. It's our view that workers must be organised, the establishment of the regional office says a lot about the task ahead to organise the African workers. If the world has workers who are not organised, you must know that there's a problem," said Zuma.