WORKER UNITY MAY 1 FOR WORKERS POWER (front)
MAY DAY IS... WORKERS' CHARTER DAY (back)


Initially, the proposed Workers' Charter was treated as an alternative to the Freedom Charter, which the unions felt was inadequate in its commitment to centring workers' rights and dismantling capitalism. COSATU drew up a Draft Workers’ Charter in 1990 after initiating the “Workers’ Charter Campaign” a year earlier.

Although the Workers' Charter did not go on to replace the Freedom Charter to become the Federation’s primary guiding document, the Workers’ Charter would still significantly shape the post-apartheid labour landscape. Much, but by no means all, of the content of the Workers’ Charter can be seen in the post-apartheid Constitution, Bill of Rights and broader labour laws that were settled in these negotiations.