Program Director; Honourable Nghondzweni
Speaker of the Provincial Legislature; Honourable Shongwe
Deputy Speaker of the Legislature; Honourable Dube
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Leadership of all spheres of our Government
Leaders of our Social Partners here present
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning, Goeie more, Thobela, Molweni, Dimatsheroni, Lotjhani, Sanibonani,
In 1911 Pixley ka Isaka Seme once said, and I quote, "Forget all the past differences among Africans and unite in one national organisation." This of course led to the formation of the ANC as we know it today a year later in 1912.
It was on 8 January 1912, where John Langalibalele Dube, a Church Minister and School Headmaster; Pixley ka Isaka Seme a Lawyer; Solomon T Plaaitjie, a Court Translator, Author and Newspaper editor; were elected Leaders of what has become the Oldest Liberation movement in Africa, the ANC as we know it today. Josiah Gumede, a teacher, businessman and journalist was one of the keynote speakers at the Inauguration Congress.
The operative word in all what our fore-bearers advocated was Unity. I want argue therefore that without unity, the freedoms we enjoy today would not have been possible, likewise, advancing the gains of our democracy would be more difficult without the ingredient of unity being the catalyst.
The word people is mentioned 28 times in the original Freedom Charter which gives the Charter the people’s centred character and the importance of what a can be achieved based on Unity.
It is therefore instructive Honourable Speaker and fellow South Africans that the Freedom Charter has to this day, remained the cornerstone of the ruling Party’s policies and it is, in all accounts, the foundation of the South African Constitution. There are many instances where the Freedom Charter is captured almost word for word in many sections of our Labour Laws. It is also true that our labour laws are an expression of the Congress of the people’s declaration that ‘There shall be Work and Security’.
The ANC strategy and tactics document that was adopted by the Morogoro Conference in Tanzania on 25 April - 1 May 1969, asked a critical question relating to our theme this morning, and that is “Is there a special role for the working class in our national struggle?” The answer to the question went something like this and I quote,
”It is historically understandable that the exploited working class constitutes a distinct and reinforcing layer of our liberation, and Socialism does not stand in conflict with the national interest. Its militancy and political consciousness as a revolutionary class will play no small part in our victory and in the construction of a real people's South Africa”. Close quote.
Well, if it is true that the ability of the working class to make the necessary impact is dependent on the high levels of organisation and unity among the working class formations, then the Unity of workers as an important component of the broader working class is an absolute pre-requisite for the attainment of our National Democratic Revolution objectives.
If the unity of our revolutionary Alliance remains a pre-condition for the success of the National Democratic Revolution, then this imposes a duty to all of us to preserve the unity of the workers and to do everything we can to strengthen it.
Programme Director; Turning to the theme of this Workers Parliament and that is; Consolidating the gains of the working class…, Let me lift a passage from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) which said, and I quote; “No political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of our people remain in poverty, without land, without tangible prospects for a better life. Attacking poverty and deprivation must therefore be the first priority of a democratic government.”
I submit that our Labour Laws are a true reflection of the aspirations of our people as defined in the Freedom Charter of 1955 and many subsequent Declarations of our movement. The recent amendments to our labour laws confirm that indeed, we understand what consolidating the revolutionary gains of the working class means. It is for that reason that those who are against progress and who seek to reinstate the status quo as existed before 1994 have used every trick in the book to attack our Labour Laws and the recent amendments.
They had become used to cheap labour and repression of workers as the modicum of capital accumulation. Now that the new labour law dispensation seeks to abolish all forms of exploitation of workers, the labour laws are therefore accused of being rigid and anti-economic development. Making sure that workers are protected from exploitation can never be anti-economic development, but pro-progress.
We are the disciplined cadres of our revolutionary alliance and therefore we will not be swayed from our resolve to protect workers in general and vulnerable workers in particular using the legislative instruments at our disposal. Our labour laws are sound and often referred to as among the best in the world for both employers and workers alike. The checks and balances that are found in our labour laws are top notch on all accounts.
The affirmation that our labour market dispensation is premised on focusing on the promotion of minimum conditions to restore workers dignity as a people is correct. It is also correct that the minimum conditions that we promote, give particular attention to issues of discrimination, equality, equity and vulnerability in the work place.
Honourable Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen; As we celebrate the 21st Anniversary of Democracy in this country, it is almost impossible to ignore the contribution that the new labour market dispensation has made in terms of transforming the workplace. I am also very pleased that working with our social partners, Business, Labour and Community Constituency who have, together with us, co-created the architecture of our labour regulatory framework, translates the principle of The People Shall Govern beyond the inherent limits of classical democracies.
The Deputy President-led process of investigating the Modalities of introducing a national minimum wage and the state of the labour relations environment, including protracted strikes and strikes related violence, are being dealt with at the highest leadership level possible. Whilst the ANC has set itself five years to finalise this task, work is already gaining momentum.
Honourable Speaker, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am advised that it was the first time in the history of the Labour Relations in South Africa that four Labour Amendment Bills were signed into law in less than three months in succession. Some commentators even suggested that there was no international precedent of such an achievement. Today, we are proud to have in our statute book, revised and progressive Labour Relations Act; Basic Conditions of Employment Act, The Employment Equity Act and the Public Employment Services Act.
Why these amendments and how they advance the National Democratic Revolution?
Whilst South Africa has made huge strides in transforming South Africa into a better place for all who live in it, transforming the workplace is the assignment that is still far from finish. It is ludicrous that some voices are already calling for sunset clauses on the Employment Equity when in actual fact there is no sign that the sun has even risen in some sectors. Let me ask these pertinent questions which were at the center of why the recent amendment were necessary.
- Is it correct that a worker can be a casual for the rest of his or her working life?
- Why should a worker be a temporary worker forever when the job that he/she does is permanent?
- Why should a worker just because he/she is employed by a labour broker not be able to take his/her case to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA)?
- Why should there be differences in pay and conditions of work between and among employees performing the same or substantially the same work, or work of equal value?
- Why should a worker-seeker be charged a fee in order to be placed by temporary employment services Agency?
I submit that in the main, the recent labour law amendments were driven, largely by the 2009 ruling party’s Manifesto, and by giving careful consideration to these questions. So it was the exercise of consolidating the gains, tooling and retooling the labour market institutions so that they can do their work better.
I urge you to make time to familiarise yourselves with the revamped laws so that you can see for yourselves how they contribute towards our National Democratic Revolution.
Now that we have put forward our reasons why making the recent amendments was necessary, let me now, very briefly point out what these amendments mean for the labour market in south Africa.
- First and foremost these Amendments bring clarity to areas of the labour law that were ambiguous.
- They align our laws with the case law and address gaps that are identified by various Courts of the land from time to time.
- They bring about alignment with our international obligations as a country,
- They prohibit all abusive practices that are inherent in various forms of employment such as labour broking, and
- They address certain aspects of the sectoral determinations in order to ensure that they remain meaningful to workers in the sectors concerned.
I am particularly pleased also that at the very least, most of what became the final products, was the outcome of negotiations by social partners in Nedlac, the input from the general public with few areas where absolute consensus could not be found and the rigor of the Economic Impact Assessment Test.
Honourable Speaker, I can say without fear of contradiction, that these laws were a co-creation by all our social partners, hence it will be correct for all of us to stand up and defend these laws when they are being attacked in the public domain, Workers in particular. This is your victory, and there is no reason why you are not celebrating.
Honourable Speaker, I am advised however, that there are some employers who have dismissed workers in order to side-step the new amended laws. Others are contemplating approaching the Courts of the land seeking to water down the transformational character of the revamped labour laws. You will know that this has been the case for many years that some employers respond by dismissing workers every time when new labour law amendments that favour vulnerable workers are put into place. Same thing happened in 1996 when the new LRA became law and it also happened in 1998 when the BCEA became law.
Let me however warn those employers who are engaging in this practice, that there is a provision in the new law that is designed to prevent this practice if it is proven that they are doing so purely to side-step their legal obligations. As for those who are seeking Court intervention with malicious intents, we will be keeping a close eye on you.
Our Inspectorate and Enforcement must rise to the occasion and be vigilant in their work. The CCMA must also keep an eye on these developments.
Programme Director; Collective bargaining has in the recent past, occupied the centre stage in the public discourse concerning many issues regarding the recent developments in the industrial relations world of work in particular.
I have seen many analogies of the recent developments citing many things as the root-causes. Some are blaming government for being on the side of the workers; others are accusing labour laws of being too rigid, whilst others are pointing to social and economic deficit and the slow pace of transforming the workplace, as the main reasons for the challenges in our industrial relations.
Collective bargaining is an important pillar of our labour relations dispensation, and it remains one of the most important instruments to manage the inherent conflict in the industrial relations. It is also my firm belief that, collective bargaining is capable of addressing the challenge of unemployment, inequality and poverty in our society.
I have observed with a great deal of concern however, that the collective bargaining agenda is now almost exclusively about wages. Whilst wages are an important element of addressing the triple challenges, it is by no means the only element.
I have not seen or heard much about issues that are broader societal in nature such as, training and retraining of workers and their families, better social benefits, as being part of the collective bargaining agenda these days. The leadership of our trade unions must address this undesirable trend.
My other concerns relate to the data that I have gleaned recently, which shows that the union density in the private sector has been on a decline lately.
It is said that the Union density in the recent years has declined from 36% in 1997 to about 24% in 2013. This means some 76% of workers are unorganised; the emergence of many new rival unions which are often set up by union officials who once were leaders of the same union they seek to destabilise, is problematic. Unions are focusing on the 24% of workers that are already organised and paying little or no attention to the 76% pool of the unorganised which often leads to tensions between and among the unions; The Unions are quick to call workers out on strikes even in cases where a strike has no real potential of producing different or better results.
Strikes tend to be protracted yet workers are often no better off than they would have been if the strike was somewhat shorter. There is a painful disconnect between a long strike and the value of the final settlement. Why go out on strike for several weeks or months, if the final settlement is a mere half a percent?
When I was a shop steward I was told that a strike that lasts for more than five days is lost, but today you even hear union leaders bragging about how long they were able to sustain a strike with zero recognition of the post-traumatic stress that often visit members after the strike.
It does not seem like the cost and benefit analysis informs the union leadership when deciding to call workers out on strike and at which point does a strike needs to be called off.
It looks like strikes are no longer considered as the last resort after everything else has failed, but why is that? Well others are saying strikes have become a fashion statement and are often used as something to prove a point among rival unions, rather than a tool to get what workers want. I am of the view that once the strike begins to severely hurt the very workers that it seeks to help, that should be the time when the leadership needs to re-think.
The new phenomenon of workers engaging the employer directly without the involvement of their trade union is also very worrying. This is a matter that requires urgent attention from the leadership otherwise it could become the recipe for anarchy.
I am raising these issues Honourable Speaker, as a wake-up call for all of us and the urgent need to go back to basics.
Consolidating the gains of the working class is not helped by these developments and at best these will be a recipe that will compromise and roll-back all what has been achieved. Once again I argue that the consolidation of our revolutionary gains dependents entirely on the unity of the working class. If the working class is in disarray, we will lose the contestation of ideas resulting in the erosion of our gains.
There are limits to what government can do. For example in most cases government can only create an enabling environment for unions to operate and advance the course. Government cannot organise workers into unions, cannot negotiate on behalf of the workers and cannot provide legal representation for workers. These remain the primary reasons for union’s existence. If unions continue to become weak, this carries a real risk of collapsing our labour market institutional arrangements.
Like Pixley ka Isaka Seme way back in 1911, we should para-phrase his call for unity and say, forget all the past differences among the trade unions and unite workers. Trade union leaders must be very worried about the fact that out 15.1 million people who had jobs in 2014, an average of 4.6 million of these were dependent on the Ministerial Determinations as they had no trade union to represent them. Whilst I fully understand that sectors that are covered by Sectoral determinations are often the most difficult to organise, at least 20 years into democracy should have given enough time for unions to craft strategies to organise these workers.
So there is a potential 4.6 million-strong union in the sectors that are covered by Sectoral determinations. Let’s go out there and organise Comrades. We must leverage the space created by our labour laws to maximise trade union density in all sectors of our economy. The 76% unorganised workers in the economy remains a challenge that could diminish mass based trade unions and dismantle all what has been achieved.
This democracy has worked for the working class of this country. Our labour law dispensation is an envy of many countries around the world. The right to organise and organisational rights that accrue as a result thereof, are among the best that trade unionists can ever want.
The Department of Labour needs you in its efforts to ensure optimum compliance with our labour laws. Let’s make it our business to go out there and organise the unorganised and stop cannibalising and recycling the 24 % that is already organised, leaving 76% that must be organised.
Let’s unite workers instead of the fragmentation that we see happening, there is no reason there should be 23 registered Labour Federations, 179 registered trade unions yet only about 18% of workers are covered in collective bargaining of one sort or the other.
Recently an employer organisation challenged the extension of a collective agreement to non-parties and succeeded. It was very strange that during the court case not a single protest march was mounted by the trade union movement to defend centralised bargaining.
To conclude Honourable Speaker, I am truly grateful to the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature for continuing the tradition of interacting with the Labour movement through the Workers Parliament. It provides a platform where we can share in the successes and equally share in what we see as challenges. Let’s go out there and organise workers into strong unions.
If I sounded too harsh, I can because I am your mother and I owe most of what I know today, to the labour movement.
Let me leave you with a quote from our former President the late Nelson Mandela, who once wrote to Adelaide Tambo back in 1977, about the importance of planning and the execution thereof. It went something like this; and I quote, “Significant progress is always possible if we, ourselves, plan every detail and allow intervention of fate only on our own terms. Preparing a master plan and applying it are two different things.” Close quote.
I therefore urge you like the message from Mandela to Tambo, to draft the challenge to organise workers into your Master Plans, every detail of it and allow intervention of fate in your own terms.
Together let’s move South Africa Forward by consolidating the gains of the working class. We are guided by the Freedom Charter of 1955 and the ANC Elections Manifestos in everything that we do.
I thank you.
