Aug-Sept 2014 K.indd

www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014 The official magazine of the Congress of South African Trade Unions The Shopsteward 1

2014 Commemorative March

2

AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

In this issue

3 Vol 23 No.4 August/September 2014

www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

Editorial note

Gender Agenda 40 Something inside gave way 42 Champion of fatherhood 44 The sexual politics of gender

4-7 Editorial

Worker Issues

Education

11 What are affiliates currently doing? 12 Cosatu holds Retirement fund workshop 14 Nedlac, 20 years on 15 Labour relations indaba 16 Nedlac’s labour market chamber

52 2nd part of historical education

Our Heritage 56 African languages 66 The nationl anthem

The Economy

20 What are interest rates? 21 Did the arms deal result in offsets benefits? 23 The electricity sector & Eskom 24 Immigration regulations 26 The case for a national minimum wage 32 Remarks on implementing the NDP

International

70 Fidel Castro condemns Israel 72 Fortaleza declaration

Community

Affiliates Commentary

36 Paternity leave can be good 38 A commemortive march

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Zwelinzima Vavi LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Nthabiseng Makhajane EDITORIAL BOARD : Zwelinzima Vavi, Bheki Ntshalintshali, Patrick Craven, Zakhele Cele, Nthabiseng Makhajane SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION : Nthabiseng Makhajane PRINTERS : Shereno Printers ADVERTISING SALES: Nthabiseng Makhajane Tel: +27 (0)11 339 4911 Fax: +27 (0)11 531 5080 Email: nthabiseng@cosatu.org.za 110 Jorissen & Simmonds Street , Braamfontein, 2001 PO Box 1019, Johannesburg 2000 Tel: +27 (0)11 339 4911 Fax: +27 (0)11 339 5080/6940 www.cosatu.org.za © Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

4

Editorial note

AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

5% of earners earn 30 times more than the bottom 5%. The share of workers in national income declined from 55% in 2000 to 49% in 2008. There are speci fi c important issues on which we have yet to succeed – the abolition of labour brokering, scrapping e-tolls, and the conservative, neoliberal elements of the National Development Plan. We still suffer from our scandal ous two-tier service provision, under which a still mainly white, rich minority can pay for top-class private services, while the mainly black, poor majority have to struggle with inef fi cient, under resourced facilities. In addition we are still struggling to escape from the quagmire of crime, corruption and maladministration, in both the public and private sectors, and the failure to bring and of those guilty to justice. The 11th National congress was clear that the key to escaping from this economic and social catastrophe lies in Pillar 4 – “Create our own Lula moment: driving the second phase of our transition”. This means that we have to complete the implementation of policies to transform radically our economic structure. The CC must assess what progress we have made in taking forward this Congress decision and that of our Collective Bargaining, Organising and Campaigns Conference in 2013, that “the core of the second radical phase of the transition of our NDR must be a fundamental economic shift, to trans form the structure of our economy, and address the triple crisis of poverty, un employment and inequality’ and to “re af fi rm the Congress decision to embark on a programme of action to drive the radical economic shift in line with the demands of the Freedom Charter”. Some of these policies are already in place in paper – in the ANC Man gaung Conference resolution on the 2nd Phase of our Transition, the gov ernment’s Industrial Policy Action Plan, the National Infrastructure Plan and at least part of the New Growth Path. The problem however is that while some government departments and ministers – such as Trade and Industry and Economic Development - are mov ing ahead, their efforts are constantly

unions: or ganise or starve! 4. Cre ate our own Lula mo ment: driv ing the second phase of our transi tion! The CC will have to discuss how far we have gone to implement this. Socio-economic transformation We have made some progress. Amendments to labour laws have been passed which, if properly enforced, will give workers more protection against exploitative employers and speed up transformation in the workplace. We have convinced government to agree in principle to a national minimum wage and look forward to engaging with them in November on how it will work. We must however honestly admit that overall, two years later, too little has changed. We have not done enough to improve the workers’ lives as man dated by the Congress delegates. Un employment, poverty and inequality re main massive challenges, and are even getting worse. Unemployment is still on the rise; in the second quarter of 2014 it was 35.6% by the more realistic expanded de fi nition which leaves out those who have stopped looking for work. In man ufacturing industry we are still seeing a job-loss bloodbath. Such levels of unemployment in evitably lead to more people living in poverty, not only among those without jobs, but among the thousands of em ployed workers who have to share their meagre earnings with as many as ten dependent unemployed family mem bers. Half of all employed workers earn R3000 a month or less, meaning that the majority of South African workers can`t afford the basic necessities of life. That is why the forthcoming Indaba in November, convened by Deputy Presi dent, Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, on the implementation of the national min imum wage is so important. The crisis of inequality is summed up in the sta tistic that 50% of the population lives on 8% of national income and the top

Zwelinzima Vavi Editor in Chief

T his edition of the Shopsteward magazine hits the streets as we approach an important meeting of COSATU’s second highest democratic structure, the Central Com mittee (CC), which will meet from 10-12 November 2014. Its role, laid down in the Constitution, is to “adopt general and speci fi c policy measures which further the aims and objects of the Fed eration by means of resolution between meetings of National Congresses”. The CC cannot change the policies agreed at the 11th National Congress in 2012, but must assess progress on implementing those policies and agree on measures to ensure that they remain on track. The National Congress sum marised its conclusions thus in the Fi nal Declaration: • We are not prepared to tolerate mas sive levels of unemployment! • We want labour brokers banned now! • We will not accept widespread pov erty! • We cannot live with grotesque levels of inequality which have made us the most unequal society on the planet! • Workers are no longer prepared to tolerate poverty wages: • Workers are demanding that the People Shall Share in the Country`s Wealth, as promised in the Freedom Charter. More speci fi cally, on socio-economic issues, it committed us “to embark on a united and radical programme of action to realise workers legitimate demands, and to engage our communities and the broader democratic movement, to support us in these efforts”. The pro gramme of action was to be based on the following four pillars: 1.Abolish the apartheid wage struc ture: forward to a living wage! 2.A radical socio-economic transfor mation: the people shall share in the country`s wealth! 3.Build strong worker-controlled

Editor’s Note

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www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

2015 Plan, in line with current condi tions, and the discussions and Reso lutions of this Congress. • Set new recruitment targets for each sector, targeting young workers, women workers, vulnerable workers (very low paid, contract, part-time, seasonal etc), non African workers and migrant workers (including for eign nationals). Although some work has been done to achieve these goals, we have tragi cally been diverted by internal disputes and divisions which have seriously dis rupted our organisational work. All shop stewards and activists are duty bound to read the secretariat re port which will be circulated in draft form on 16 September 2014 to all af fi liates. The draft will go through inter nal discussions before a fi nal report is circulated on 10 October 2014 to all structures with a month to discuss the challenges we face. Everything possible is being done to resolve these problems, with the assis tance of an ANC task team and a group of COSATU veterans, but this will be a key challenge before the CC. Unless we are able to heal the wounds and emerge more united and strong, we shall be struggling to implement Con gress’s resolutions. The CC must act decisively to put a stop to practices which lead to dis unity and divisions between and within or between unions. We must reject the alien cultures of factionalism, rumour mongering and character assassination which sadly have in fi ltrated our move ment and paralysed us. We must reaf fi rm are long-standing position that COSATU must be an in dependent, worker-controlled and radi cal federation, still part of the tripartite alliance, but mandated solely by the resolutions of National Congresses and by the needs and demands of the workers. We must remain a militant force, fi ghting for better wages and working conditions, and fearlessly exposing the white monopoly capitalism, greedy employers, corrupt politicians and in competent of fi cials, while never losing sight of our goal of a united non-ra cial, non-sexist and democratic South Africa and a peaceful, socialist world.

productive investment; 7.Comprehensive land reform, and measure to ensure food security; and 8.The more effective deployment of all state levers to advance industrialisa tion and the creation of decent work on a large scale. The CC will have to review progress on this Section 77. Organisational renewal The other key area where the Na tional Congress took a very strong line was organisational renewal, on which it warned that “We cannot afford to fi ght silly battles against one another when the house is on fi re”. It called for “all of us to go back to basics, focus effec tively on workplace issues, organisa tion and recruitment, deliver service to our members, and implement our 2015 Plan! “It is only through building powerful, uni fi ed organisation that workers will have an effective engine to drive the changes we want to see at the work place, in the economy, and at a political level”. Congress instructed us to com bat: • Social distance between leaders and members, by entrenching deeper forms of accountability and worker control; • Bureaucratisation of our structures, at af fi liate or federation level, by en suring that we remain a campaigning mobilising organisation; • Divisive and undemocratic conduct in our unions, which attempts to un dermine worker unity, or create splin ter unions worker-controlled unions, focused on issues of concern to our members, at the workplace, socio-economic and political levels; • Organise the unorganised, particular ly farm workers and other vulnerable and super-exploited workers, and bring all workers under the umbrella of this mighty federation. • Develop a detailed 3-year strategy to systematically take forward the 2015 Plan, monitor implementation of this strategy, and present a report on progress to our 2015 Congress. We also mandate the CEC to update the They mandated us to: • Build strong

being sabotaged by other ministers and departments, and particularly the business sector, all of whom are wed ded to exactly the opposite policies – conservative, free-market, neoliberal economic policies, which are also at the heart of the National Development Plan. Rather than co-operate with govern ment’s expansionist plans, some of them want to shift the blame for low economic growth, from themselves on to the workers, who, they complain, keep making ‘unaffordable’ wage de mands; they are attacking collective bargaining, the labour laws and insti tutions like Nedlac and the CCMA, all of which were set up to provide better ways for the peaceful resolution of dis putes between works and employers, and even workers’ constitutional right to strike. They cling to the false belief that monopoly capitalists and the mar ket economy can play a constructive role in resolving the crisis, when the re ality is that they are the main problem. Their failure to invest the R1.2 trillion in social surplus which they are hoard ing illustrates why we need to have a strong developmental state to inter vene, just as President Lula did in Bra zil with his measures to raise minimum wages and social grants, incentivise small businesses, which created more demand for goods and services and lead to faster growth, more jobs and lower in fl ation. Congress instructed the Central Executive Committee to submit a Section 77 notice based on the fol lowing speci fi c socio-economic is sues: 1.Urgent steps to reverse the cur rent investment strike and export of South African capital. These mea sures need to include capital controls and measures aimed at prescribed investment, and penalising specula tion. 2.The urgent introduction of compre hensive social security. 3.The role of Treasury, monetary policy and the Reserve Bank; 4.State intervention in strategic sectors including through nationalisation; 5.Measures to ensure bene fi ciation, such as taxes of mineral exports; 6.Channelling of retirement funds into

Editor’s Note

6

AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

Letters to the Editor

WELL DONE COSATU

Well done and may god bless you and everybody involved in putting an end to the murder of the innocent civilians, woman and children of Palestine. I wish I could help from my side but what can a single person do in such a war? Keep fi ghting for human rights, and continue your good work.

WELL DONE! I fi rmly believe that God will be pleased with you and reward you for your support of the Helpless Palestinian people.

Dear Editor

Cosatu and the ANC have the utmost respect from me and millions of people for the anti apartheid statement made and support for the Palestinian people.

Ismail Buckus

hours for a pittance. Our nurses, teachers and police are not being fairly paid for the valuable services they provide. The majority of these workers, together with workers in the clothing factories, the foundries, and countless plants around the country work long hours and face dangerous conditions for poverty wages. Over half of South Africa’s workers work for less than R3000 a month! They are demanding an end to starvation wages that in the main affects the black working class. They are demanding that the unions should spare no efforts to fi ght against these poverty wages and near slavery working conditions in most of the sectors of the economy. They are telling us that they have had enough of the unful fi lled promise to implement the Freedom Charter. We have places like china mall, market and all of those. My question is whom do they employed? Are those people registered? How are the labour department and COSATU involved? When coming to retail stores (e.g Edcon, Shoprite, etc), one of the strategies they use is employing people who work on hourly shifts but are classi fi ed as part time

permanent staff for 5-20 years. Workers in these retail stores stay in the same condition without any bene fi ts or incentives, they work for those number of years and then their contracts are terminated just like that. Retail stores use a system of rotating the staff shifts so that they do not exceed stipulated hours on LRA, yet we have Cosatu union members who work there. Concerning the issue of strikes, there are many contributing factors that lead to them but the main one is the intimidation and exploitation of workers. The poor South African people have been waiting for a change but nothing is happening. When you take a stand for your rights as a worker, its either you will be dismissed or threatened to discourage you from saying a word to anyone. Rules apply to certain workers but not to all, acts such as e.g PFMA, etc. The LRA Act seems to apply to the grass roots level only, why is it like that? We talk about acquiring skills and quali fi cations, and we go to school to study but to no avail. Success depends on who you are or whom you know. The other thing that is causing problems is the mismatch of skills placements (i.e right skills being

MY CONCERNS There are a few questions I would like to ask, some you may correct me or give clarity if I’m wrong. COSATU`s 11th National Congress - the Workers` Parliament - has declared: We are not prepared to tolerate massive levels of unemployment! We want labour brokers banned now! We will not accept widespread poverty! We cannot live with grotesque levels of inequality that have made us the most unequal society on the planet! Workers whether in far fl ung rural areas, or urban slums, say that they are no longer prepared to tolerate poverty wages. Mineworkers, who produce our wealth in the belly of the earth, are earning a tiny fraction of the surplus they produce. Farm workers who produce our food work under near slave conditions. Retail and commercial workers, many casualised women without basic bene fi ts barely make enough to pay for their transport. Security workers who protect us, and transport workers who take us to work, work unbelievably long

Editor’s Note

7

www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

put in wrong positions) e.g engineers being deployed in fi nance. At times I ask myself what will become of the future. You go to school just to sit at home and get frustrated, when you o get a job they mistreat you and tell you to leave if you are not happy, as there are many people out there who are looking for a job. In terms of research or reports done either by the labour department or anyone who is dealing with labour issues, how far are we as SA on transformation? In private companies, has anyone checked whether people are being paid accordingly to TRAIN DELAYS I am a daily commuter, commuting using the metro rail from Germiston to Hartebeespruit in Pretoria where I work. Over loaded trains and train delays have become a norm and most coammuters have seemingly accepted it as a standard of service we receive from the metro rail. Often trains just become stationary (in the middle of nowhere) for unreasonable periods at a time and some trains don’t even arrive at all resulting in safety risks due to the overcrowding in the carts. Today however, the train en route to Pretoria has been stuck here at kaalfontein station for more than 45minutes (from 06:55-07:40) and counting as I write this complaint. This means every commuter in this train will arrive to work more than 45 minutes late. The fact that we are workers and some are students predominantly indigent environments does not seem to matter at all to metro rail and Prasa. Many of us commuters are bread winners and depend on the services of metro rail to get to our places of employment. A train delay means we as workers arrive at work late resulting in disciplinary hearings at the least

standard, in right contracts, are there any spot checks done? I know of a company that has been in existence for a long time but has no union management and gets to do as it pleases. What is even more painful and shameful is that this company is situated right in Johannesburg near the Cosatu of fi ce. As a worker, if you dare talk you will surely be fi red or forced to resign because they will hunt you down. I’m still a youth and in HR, what is the point of studying and what is supposed to be practiced, when what is happening is the opposite of what unions must be fi ghting and dismissals at the worst. Furthermore, these delays and random stops are without explanation to the commuters whom are often caught in between aborting their trip and try fi nd the closest taxi’s or wait in hope that the stationary or delayed train may resume the trip sooner rather than later. It could only take a concerted level of disdain, carelessness, unprofessionalism and sheer incompetence, for management managing the services of a commuter rail to permanently fail to ensure the prompt arrival of their locomotives. It would further take a condescending and unethical (presumably quali fi ed) management to be kept in their heated of fi ces and employment in the midst of all this malfeasance, whilst the poorer working people have to consistently explain or defend late arrivals of which is not of their doing. Moreover, the fact that this commuter service is provided for by a government entity, is known to us commuters and if and when these untimely delays and random stops do occur (as they always do)-us commuters always murmur to each other that the disservice, is a failure on our elected government to take us as commuters as

for? Are we really free? Did our parents really die for us to still remain slaves in our own country? Right now, if you can check companies out there do as they please, hiring foreigners knowing its cheap labour while our own people are suffering. These are just some concerns I have been thinking about. Hope you will fi nd this in order. I hope that I will get some clarity from you and that I will not be victimized for sending this email.

Tumelo Mathews

beings. Why is it that the Gautrain does not have such consistent delays, random stops and overcrowding? Is it because the middle class commuters of the gautrain are regarded as beings whilst we poorer commuters commuting in the metrto rail are non-beings. The metro rail is providing a service of which we as commuters are paying for regardless of the pittance you may feel we pay for it. We demand that we are afforded a service that will ensure that we arrive to work on time. We demand that trains abide strictly to their route schedules. We demand that there are safety of fi cers employed in each cart to ensure there is no overcrowding and also communicate when there is pit stops and random delays. At the very least, may you respond to this complaint as I am writing it at the request of the many commuters I happen to be sharing a cart with.

Trust the above is in order and awaiting your speedy response.

Modise Koetle

Editor’s Note

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AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

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1oz Nelson R Mandela Equal Education 1995

1oz Rhino ‘Hluhluwe’ 1995

1/10 oz Lion 1994

1/10 oz Better Life For All 2004

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‡ *ROG FRLQV SRUWLRQV LQ VDIH FXVWRG\ ZLWK ,19(67*2/' DW QR DGGLWLRQDO

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9 Official launch of the 1 Oz 24ct gold Special ‘Mint Mark’ Series gold Special ‘Mint Mark’ Series Mint Mark’ Seri

www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

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10

Switch off your geyser between 5pm and 9pm. Here’s why:

AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

The reason we ask you to switch off your geyser between 5pm and 9pm, is that the country uses more electricity during this time and supply is under severe pressure. Switching off your geyser helps free up power for other things and relieves the pressure on the grid. Here’s an interesting fact, the huge demand for energy during the evening between 5pm and 9pm is the equivalent of one power station. There is an estimated 5,4 million electric geysers in homes across South Africa. 3YV GSQFMRIH GSRXVMFYXMSR QEOIW E WMKRM½GERX HMJJIVIRGI Switch off your geyser every day between 5pm and 9pm, and help us beat the peak to keep South Africa powered up.

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www.cosatu.org.za • AUG/SEPT 2014

Organizing. Bargaining. Strategy: What Af fi liates are currently doing?

S outh Africa since 1994 has made great improvements in the lives of the working class, however, the country is still facing the triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality. ‘Precarious work is still experienced in various sectors of the economy. And therefore this means new skills are needed to organize better in Trade Unions to mobilize all vulnerable work ers and informal traders’, said Jane Bar ret, National Coordinator of the Vulner able Workers Task Team. COSATU has established such committees to lead new campaigns. Presenting during the national gen der committee [NGC], Cde Barret said ‘ We must challenge our assumptions in understanding the plight of vulner able workers, provoke new ways of empowering Organizers and Shopstew ards, and promote solidarity within and across Af fi liates and partnering organi zations’. ‘Provincial and Af fi liate based recruit ment programmes must be accelerated and sustained’, said Cde Barret COSATU has identi fi ed the following sectors of vulnerable workers which are farms, shops, restaurants and hotels, contract cleaning and security,

call centres, domestic workers, street traders, construction, petrol stations, home based workers, taxi industry, and municipal contract workers. Unemployment rate stands at 25, 5% as per Quarter two of 2014 sta tistics released in July 2014. And it is as a result of the ‘job-less growth’ the country experienced since 1996. Prior to the attainment of democracy, one of the instruments used by the apartheid government was the repressive labour laws and cheap labour. The introduc tion of the new sets of labour laws was, fi rst of all, a constitutional requirement and secondly a duty to redress these undesirable elements of the old dispen sation. interventions have had mixed levels of success but there are still many challenges ahead. Recently the International Labour Or ganization [ILO] hosted Ministers and senior government of fi cials from the world’s 48 least developed countries in Cotonou, Benin. Obviously, Sub-Saharan countries feature predominantly due to dire cir cumstances of poverty, under-develop ment, inequalities and unemployment. South Africa though many regard as a ‘developed’ country, the extent in which majority of workers are vulnerable is of ten under-stated. COSATU has resolved These legislative

in various constitutional meetings to consolidate work to organize, galvanize and mobilize all these workers into a formidable voice. The ILO meeting amongst others re solved that ‘Least developed countries [LDCs] should focus on jobs and decent work for inclusive growth and economic transformation’. Addressing the means by which to effect these needed chang es, the UN High Representative for UN-OHRLLS, Gyan Chandra Acharya, told the assembled delegates that “de velopment partners should be encour aged to do more by channeling aid to support productive capacity building in the LDCs, leveraging aid to encourage investment fl ows and facilitating trade and promoting technology transfer in a coherent manner.” COSATU 2015 Plan eloquently lo cates ‘quality jobs’ as a leading vision to organize all informal economy role players. How far are we in achieving all deliv erables Constitutional platforms have resolved on? Will astute organizing and servicing models we put in place across all provinces determine this from time to time!

Worker Issues

Organize or Starve!

12

AUG/SEPT 2014 • www.cosatu.org.za

COSATU holds Retirement Fund workshop for Worker Leaders Norman Mampane, COSATU Communications Of fi cer ‘The 1980’s and 1990’s saw a dramatic transfer of employees from these de fi ned bene fi t funds to de fi ned contribution schemes. This was viewed positively by trade unions, which saw advantages for their members in the better resignation bene fi ts offered by newly established national provident funds’ - National Treasury, Republic of South Africa Retirement Fund Reform, A Discussion Paper, December 2004

T he Congress of South African Trade Unions yesterday held a Retirement Funds workshop to introduce Shopstewards to understanding the basic knowledge of the Retirement Act and related re tirement reforms under review. Recently the Federation has arrested an outcry in which workers were co erced to resign by some ‘consultants or brokers’. And the concerns by workers are a global trend due to various fac tors such as consumers’ disparate incomes, life expectancies and other variables. The COSATU Special Central Ex ecutive Committee has called upon all workers to refrain from resigning as that may put their families’ income in jeopardy. Opening the workshop,

Cde Jan Mahlangu, COSATU Retire ment Coordinator alluded to ‘the im portance of having Provincial Teams geared to address all workers con cerns and unpacking challenges with in retirement funds’. The Minister of Finance has an nounced the savings and retirement reform processes in the 2012 Budget, with the aim of ensuring that the sav ings and retirement system serves the needs of the South Africans better, and more fairly than in the past. ‘The broader aim of the Minister’s announcement was to encourage all South Africans to save in order to re duce their vulnerability, both before and after retirement’, read the gov ernment statements. The announce ment was followed by the release of a series of technical discussions papers dealing with various aspects of the

Worker Issues

Jan Mahlangu

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Cadres who attended the workshop

retirement system, to facilitate public consultation before fi nalizing the policy framework. Each paper analyzed a particular fea ture of the retirement system, identi fi ed shortcomings, suggested goals, and proposed various options for improving outcomes. Interested stakeholders and members of the public were invited to provide written commentary. Four of the fi ve technical discussion pa pers were released during 2012 and the fi fth in 2013. And all papers dealt with; • Enabling a better income in

retirement • Preservation, portability and gover nance for retirement funds • Improving tax incentives for retirement savings • Incentivizing non-retirement savings, and also • Charges in South African retirements funds Some of these proposals were imple mented during 2013 after consultation with industry stakeholders such as Unions, Employers and product and service providers. These proposals, included amendments to the Pension Funds Act, to strengthen the gover

nance of retirement funds by allowing the Registrar to impose fi t and proper requirements on fund trustees, to re quire trustee training, and by clarifying the fi duciary duty owed by trustees of a fund to its members and the fund itself. The non-payment of contributions to pension funds by employers has been criminalized, delinquent employers have been made personally liable for their non-payment of contributions and whistle blowers are better protected. The Registrar of Pension Funds has been empowered to impose new stan dards for the governance of retirement funds.

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A view from NEDLAC chambers

NEDLAC, 20 Years On: A Brief Re fl ection By Patrick Phelane

T he 23rd November 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the signing into law the National Economic Development and Labour Council Act (NEDLAC). NED LAC is one of the key post-1994 institu tions meant to strengthen participatory democracy. In terms of section 3(1) of the NEDLAC Act, organised labour, or ganised business, organised commu nity and the government must be rep resented in NEDLAC. Before the establishment of NED LAC, socioeconomic issues were en gaged through the National Economic Forum (NEF). The NEF was formed after a massive anti-Value Added Tax (VAT), strike led by COSATU and the National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU). That resulted in the restructuring of the Na tional Manpower Commission to form NEF as a platform for consultation with labour when far reaching socio-eco nomic policies are introduced. Since the inception of NEDLAC, the labour constituency has and is still comprised of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the Federation of

Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) 1 and NACTU. Organised business is repre sented by Business Unity South Africa, BUSA. 2 While the composition of NEDLAC is modelled along the lines of the Inter national Labour Organisation, ILO, it is unique in the sense that it accommo dates the community constituency as opposed to ILO’s tripartism. However, the community constituency is not rep resented on all the chambers of NED LAC. There are four chambers 3 ; viz., Public Finance and Monetary Policy Chamber (PFMC), Trade and Industry Chamber (TIC), Labour Market Cham ber (LMC) and Development Chamber (DC). The community constituency is represented on the PFMC and the DC. The NEDLAC chambers are the engines of the institution; it is in the chambers where policy negotiations take place. 4 To ensure that thorough work is done in policy negotiations, the chambers establish task teams from time to time to engage technical issues before them. Once the task teams have fi na lised their work, the chambers sign off

the reports.

The LMC is empowered by the NED LAC Act (section 5(1)(c) to consider all proposed labour legislation and labour market policies before they are intro duced in Parliament. Sections 5(1)(b), 5(1)(d) and 5(1)(e) provide for social dialogue in order to reach consensus on socio-economic policy issues. How ever, not all government departments show commitment in ensuring that so cioeconomic policies are negotiated at NEDLAC. Classical examples are the Employment Tax Incentive Act and the amendment of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Development Act which we not engaged at NEDLAC despite their potential impact in the economy. The highest management structure of NEDLAC is the Executive Committee which receives and adopts the reports from the chambers. It also convenes the Summit of stakeholders once every year to consider the annual report of NEDLAC.

Worker Issues

1 FEDUSA’s predecessor, which was part of the formation of NEDLAC, is Federation of South African Labour, FEDSAL. 2 In 2011, the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce, NAFCOC and the Black Business Executive Circle withdrew from BUSA and later formed the Black Business Council (BBC) 3 The organised labour chamber conveners are Isaac Ramputa (SASBO), Tony Ehrenreich (COSATU WC) and Mduduzi Mbongwe (SACCAWU) for PFMC, TIC and LMC respectively. The DC convener position is vacant and will be fi lled shortly 4 The COSATU Policy Coordinators have started proving updates in this publication on the work of chambers

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The Labour Relations Indaba By Patrick Phelane

I t is becoming popular fashion that after every workers’ strike, whether successful or not , South Africa is awoken to a rant and rave in the pro-capitalist bourgeoisie media about too much power been given to trade unions; about labour legislation that is too in fl exible thus preventing employers from hiring and fi ring workers willy- nilly; about the demand for too high a wage rate that cannot be justi fi ed by productivity levels, and about the perceived labour market institutions rigidities which prevent upward and downward variations and adjustments in wage and employment conditions. This mechanistic appraisal about what the role of labour market institutions and legislation should be in instilling industrial peace and stability has become a common gospel of economic commentary– if not dogma - of right wing oriented labour market commentators. This anti union - anti strike perception bend on union bashing, and on an unapologetic contempt for industrial action has crept into the thought processes of many Government policymakers, particularly those from the national Department of Labour. This perception was revealed to social partners at NEDLAC during the unfolding of the Labour Market Policy Review processes i.e. Labour Law Amendments. It was in 2012 October - just after the NUMSA strike, which was followed by the SAMWU strike; then the AMCU strike which culminated in the Marikana tragedy - when the issue of violence during strike action drew the attention of many and became prominent. At the time social partners at NEDLAC were deliberating on the Labour Law amendments, viz. LRA,

to industrial action, lock outs and the use of scab labour. It was then decided that each social prepare its own problem statement for the Indaba. Inter alia, Labour believes the problem of labour relations in South Africa is not the conduct of labour during industrial action, rather South Africa’s industrial relations system is stuck with malfunctioning labour market institutions, starting with NEDLAC itself. Dispute resolution institutions (CCMA, Mediators and Arbitrators) do not engage parties locked in dispute before the situation erupts into a violent confrontation. The Labour Court fails to mediate the process until crisis point. Authorities do not want to interfere in the Collective Bargaining arrangements or at least improve their structural make up and their functioning. The Collective Bargaining system itself is highly fragmented, strati fi ed and volitional. It is therefore inappropriate to propose a conference whose aim is to address psychological behaviour instead of addressing the entire structural make up of the institutions and their functionality. Nonetheless, a tentative date for the Indaba was set for August 2014. Prior to the convention, social partners were required to submit their problem statements which hopefully shall be blended into a tripartite problem statement. Since the Labour constituency met at Nedlac and held a caucus on 27th June 2014. It was decided in that caucus that a 2 a side task team should deliberate on the problem statement of labour. Comrades from COSATU, NACTU AND FEDUSA i.e. the three federations representing the labour constituency at NEDLAC are busy preparing Labour’s problem statement.

BCEA, EEA and ES. It was at that time when the Department of Labour saw it opportune to propose to social partners at NEDLAC, the convening of a Labour Relations Indaba (Conference). No information was furnished on what the indaba was to be all about. But social partners, particularly the labour constituency suspected that this proposition’s aim was to deal with and explore views on two issues in the main. (i) violent industrial action and (ii) strike interdict or compulsory interest arbitration. Government’s proposition was not well received by the labour constituency citing reasons that no social partner has the authority of unilaterally deciding to convene a tripartite conference without consulting other social partners, without social partners making their input as well as agreeing on the agenda of the conference. The Labour constituency was suspicious and till today remains sceptical of such a sudden move and proposition by Government. It sounded from the presenters of the propositions that the Labour Relations Indaba’s objective was to explore means and ways of addressing - if not to mitigate - violence during industrial action. Despite labour’s objection, a NEDLAC task team process was initiated comprising a 1 –a- side committee process which will look into the agenda, participants and the logistical requirements of the envisaged indaba. The task team held several meetings to fi nd common ground, and an agreement was reached that each social partner holds unique views about the causes of violence in strike action; the rights relating

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A view from NEDLAC chambers

Nedlac’s Labour Market Chamber and the Employment Incentive Tax Act (EITA) By Jonas Mosia

T he reports in the media that Em ployment Incentive Tax serves labour brokers comes as no surprise to representatives of Labour at NEDLAC, because Cosatu has warned Government in advance – on several occasions - about the unin tended consequences of undertaking a policy measure which was not subjected to full stakeholder agreement and social partner participation. Labour still con tends that the enactment of the Employ ment Incentive Tax act (EITA) was not subjected to stakeholder participation therefore not duly a NEDLAC process. It was reported in the City Press on 27th July 2014, and the same report appeared on the South African Labour News (SALN) website on the 28th July 2014 that Labour Brokers absorb the Youth Incentives meant for Employers. There’s now little that can be done about that, it is water under bridge and the damage is done. The fact that labour in termediaries are fi rst bene fi ciaries of the scheme and AdCorp had already made R7 million from the scheme, boosting the group’s pro fi t by 14% is not Ad Corp’s fault, is bad policy design. If large providers of contract labour are absorb

ing the incentive, it does not only mean that lower cost of employment don’t fi nd their way to broker’s client fi rms, it means poor policy instrument progno sis on the part of policymakers. It was incorrect for those charged with con ceiving, formulating and implementing policy to cite low wages as an incentive to boost and create new employment. It indicates - even to the uninitiated - that entry level wage rates are already low by any measure of standard such that client fi rms don’t need any boosting to cover their wage bills. It also shows that with or without subsidy/incentive the demand for labour is unrelated to some perceived notions of worker productivity as stated in policy documents, or some expected wage rate by workers since workers in no way set their wage upon acceptance of a job. To this end, Cosatu had made it clear from the onset that wage subsidies cloaked under some dubious euphe mism of employment incentives will work to boost enterprises’ pro fi tability levels instead of stimulating employment growth and job creation. Whether it is the client fi rm or the labour broking in termediary bene fi t from the Employment

incentive scheme is now irrelevant, the point is the policy measure has missed, by a big margin, its objective and has used a faulty instrument in its operation. As Marcus Mosiah Garvey once said ‘A nation without a past history of its origin is like a tree without roots’ In cog nisance and observation of this saying, perhaps some history of processes be hind and leading up to the enactment of the employment incentive tax may shed some insights as to why Labour repre sentatives are not astounded an inch by the reports that labour brokers absorb the bene fi ts. Processes leading up to the Youth Wage Subsidy, Employment Incentive Tax and the Youth Employment Accord: 1.Youth Employment Policy Document 1.1 In 2011 the National State Depart ment, namely, the National Treasury published, for discussion, a policy document titled “Confronting Youth

Worker Issues

Unemployment in South Africa: Policy Options”. In the document proposed was a wage subsidy

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measure for fi rms that will hire fi rst time would be trainee-employees 1 . 2. Nedlac Process 2.1. The details of the proposed policy measure were unveiled to so cial partners at Nedlac and subject ed to rigorous discussions whereat the Cosatu led Labour constituent raised its objections to the afore mentioned measure. 2.2. Inter alia, the objections to the mea sure ranged from the observed in adequacies pertaining to its (policy) objectives, perceived faults in the policy instrument design i.e. the wage subsidy design itself to possi ble detrimental employment effects. 2.3. Our objections to the youth wage subsidy entailed the following; 2.3.1 The wage subsidy targets, as its main objective, employers of fi rst time trainee-workers instead of trainee-workers themselves and assumes that existing entry level wage rate of (sought by) all fi rst time trainee-workers’ cannot be justi fi ed by their assumed productivity po tential. COSATU and NACTU rejected this as sumption citing evidence to the con trary. The evidence ranged in depth and wide in scope drew insights from the imperatives of the domes tic economy as well as from inter national best practice on the appli cation of wage subsidies relative to employment voucher system. The other part of the labour constituent at Nedlac, namely, FEDUSA accept ed Government’s proposed policy measure without putting a fi ght. 2.3.2 The policy measure was to be in troduced for a maximum period of two years for each group of unem ployed youth that are eligible and qualify. Cosatu argued “ .... The two year period duration is likely to engender a ‘revolving door syndrome’ whereby em ployers will hire one group of youths on a twenty four month basis without mak ing commitment to employ them after

completion of training which is meant to help them to acquire workplace experi ence, and because employers would want to access and exploit the oppor tunity offered by a 24 month window pe riod of the subsidy they (employers) will then hire another group ” Therefore, “... after two years ...the effect on net em ployment will be at best naught at worst negative”. Cosatu further argued “ ....In the con text where Government’s monitoring, in spection and evaluation of implemented policy is unsatisfactory , the effect of a so designed policy measure is likely that employers will substitute older, or ganised and supposedly expensive workers for younger , less organised and non-unionised less expensive ones. This will amount to a negative substitution effect, displacement of workers, damp ening of unionisation and the creation of two tier labour market segmentation” . In addition to other arguments raised by labour on many occasions, the above cited three formed the basis of our ob jections and hence our rejection and opposition to the youth wage subsidy policy measure. 3. Alternative Process i.e. Cosatu/Na tional Treasury Bilateral Process 3.1 A COSATU/NATIONAL TREASURY bilateral process (to which the Eco nomic Development Department was extended an invitation) was convened to mend the differences and explore feasible alternatives - but no avail. Differences remain stark as one party rejects outright the proposals by the other. A way forward was to relegate the matter to the Nedlac’s task teams which teams should fi nd a common ground or explore available alternatives. 4. Nedlac’s Task Team Processes 4.1 As a matter of usual or standard practice the Nedlac task team pro cess commenced with 3 teams (i.e.

business, government labour) of 3 -a- side per team. Discussions ensued without agreement, teams were reduced to 1-a-side per team, still no agreement or consensus. By this time it was reported in the cor ridors of Nedlac that it is now the Economic Development Depart ment in charge of government af fairs regarding youth wage subsidy discussions. Subsequent to this new approach informal discussions were held between Cosatu/EDD whose outcomes were immaterial to the positions of Government and / or Labour. 5. The introduction of the Employ ment Incentive Tax 5.1. Nedlac’s social partners that were in volved in the process of discussions from the beginning learnt from the media or from other sources that the State, through the National Treasury Department, is going to release a bill on the subject of youth employment incentive tax. The bill was gazetted and published for public comments and submissions. Cosatu and its af fi liates made submissions to Parlia ment protesting the due process by passed by Government leading up to the publication of the bill, object ing to the contents of it and ques tioning the rationale underlying the objectives of the policy intervention. 5.2. At Nedlac, a Cosatu led opposition to the bill protested that due pro cess was overlooked, the concerns of social partners ignored and of course the Nedlac Protocols were disregarded leading up to the intro duction of the Employment Incen tive Tax. Nevertheless, the public comment processes on the bill pro ceeded and an Employment Incen tive Tax Act was passed. 6. The Youth Employment Accord 6.1 Meanwhile another process of signing accords was unfolding at the Ned lac level or at least was sanctioned by the constituencies’ principals.

Worker Issues