JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, March 7 (UPI) -- Protests in 32 towns and cities across South Africa Wednesday brought thousands of people into the streets in support of the working poor.
Organized by the Council of South African Trade Unions, the demonstrations seek to overturn proposed tolls on roads between Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as the practice of "labor brokering," both of which the council says hurt the poor.
The council said it expected 100,000 people to join the marches nationwide, and the BBC reported the streets of Johannesburg were filled with protesters wearing red, emblematic of the unionists, in demonstrations reminiscent of South Africa's apartheid protests of the 1980s and 1990s.
"The tolls will put a burden on the poor," council Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi said of the roads that were upgraded for the 2010 soccer World Cup.
Also at issue is the practice of using brokers to find jobs, generally low-paying and lacking employment benefits such as maternity leave, for workers. Nearly 1 million people are employed through brokers in South Africa, the BBC estimated.
