Programme Director
President of COSATU, Comrade Sidumo Dlamini
General Secretary of COSATU, Comrade Bheki Ntshalintshali
National Office Bearers of COSATU and its Affiliates
ILO Director, Dr Joni Musabayana
Chris Che Mathlako, SACP International Secretary and Politburo member
Professor Margaret Lee, Visiting Professor at the Institute for Global Dialogue at UNISA
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It's is indeed an honour and pleasure for me to address you on this occasion as we unpack the global developments and what all of this mean for the working class in general and organised labour in particular.
I am particularly pleased that the programme starts off by seeking to develop a common understanding of what the various global developments mean for organised labour. Finding convergence in how we define the meaning of decent work and job creation, to fight poverty and unemployment within the context of the African continent, is indeed an excellent starting point.
Bringing platforms such as BRICS into the equation, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the AU 2063 vision, are all key in crafting our interventions.
Drawing lessons from what is happening in Venezuela, Brazil, and Latin America and understanding what it means for working class solidarity, deserves special attention. Using such lessons to fashion the role of the African trade union movement in building working class solidarity and unity on the African continent will be extremely useful.
Chairperson; Judging from the topics on the programme, I have no doubt that this provides the much-needed platform for organised labour to grapple with the global challenges confronting all of us and what it means for the labour movement globally. We need to make it our business to understand the key drivers of the economic trouble we find ourselves in. This we must do by conducting scientific analysis beyond the confines of ideologies.
It is well and good to define capitalism and imperialism as being at the centre of the global troubles, but for purposes of developing interventions, we need to take our analysis beyond that. Uppermost in our minds should be what is to be done in practical terms.
Comrade Chairperson; Studies have shown that the current growth in some parts of the continent has been more about domestic demand while external demand has remained mostly subdued because of flagging export markets, notably in advanced countries.
The studies have also vindicated the theory that when workers and citizens enjoy decent work conditions with all its core elements, it drives demand for goods and services and that in turn, drives production and by extension, propels economic growth. You are therefore spot-on when you place decent work at the centre of this initiative.
Chairperson; It is fact and not fiction that African countries have made significant strides in all dimensions of human development, comparable with other regions of the world.
It is worth noting that Countries in East and West Africa have experienced faster rates of improvement in human development indicators related to education, health and income compared to Central, North and Southern Africa.
However, there have been notable improvements in some countries in the Southern Africa region, the highest being Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, whilst the leading countries in East Africa are Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
As we gather here, we need not limit our exposure to our own respective countries, but learn from the experiences of other countries within the African Continent. In my experience, our countries are quick to organise study tours abroad to gather lessons whilst leaving best practices right on their door steps. Some of our own best practices as a Continent ranks among the best in world by all standards, so why not leverage this advantage to influence and advance the global agenda on our own terms.
With institutions like ARLAC, at our disposal, this can become a reality and not rhetoric.
Comrades, Gender inequality remains a huge challenge in the region and the continent at large. On average, the level of female human development is 13% lower than that for males. Women in Africa face high levels of discrimination which have a direct impact on their socio-economic rights.
In planning our short, medium to long term interventions, we cannot escape some harsh realities. For instance, it is estimated that the current Africa’s population of 1 billion, will double by 2050.
The workforce is expected to increase by 910 million people between 2010 and 2050, of which 830 million will be in sub-Saharan Africa. The estimated numbers of youth joining labour markets in 2015 was about 19 million in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the next 15 years, the figures will be 370 million and 65 million respectively, or a yearly average of 24.6 million and 4.3 million new entrants into the labour market. Therefore creating more productive jobs becomes even more pressing.
I am raising these issues in order to illustrate the magnitude of the challenges we face as a continent and as individual countries. It would therefore be important to take these harsh realities into account when crafting the road map going forward and in defining the ILO agenda beyond the centenary.
Ladies and Gentlemen; Those who know better often say that in every crisis, there is an opportunity; the question is to what extent are we ready to seize the moment? I submit that the centrality of the leadership of the working class is key in making a meaningful contribution in this regard.
The preamble of the ILO Constitution is instructive where it states, and I quote “…universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice…the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labour, is an obstacle in the way of other nations which desire to improve the conditions in their own countries.” Close quote.
The ILO has since its inception, adopted Conventions, Declarations and recommendations that seek to give meaning to these ideals. Some of the key focus areas include, but not limited to;
- Regulation of the hours of work including the establishment of a maximum working day and week;
- Regulation of labour supply, prevention of unemployment and provision of an adequate living wage;
- Protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment;
- Protection of children, young persons and women;
- Provision for old age and injury, protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own;
- Recognition of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value;
- Recognition of the principle of freedom of association;
- Organisation of vocational and technical education, and other measures.
It follows therefore that effective and operational labour administration machinery is crucial for achieving social justice as espoused in the preamble of the ILO Constitution.
The question is to what extent have we ratified the core conventions and, what steps have we taken to translate them into instruments that bring about tangible difference to working people and by extension the broader society?
Chairperson; Ladies and Gentlemen; You will agree with me that adopting and ratifying ILO Conventions, defining our role in the promotion of Decent Work, Industrialisation and job creation in Africa, without the commensurate commitment to implement these, is meaningless.
You know as much as I do, that there are countries that have adopted and ratified every single ILO Convention, but have done very little or nothing to implement them. We must therefore be careful and guard against spending two days in an important session like this, emerge with good decisions which will never be implemented.
As leaders of the labour movement, you need to conduct a serious introspection of this question, examine what works and develop interventions to address weaknesses, particularly against the back-drop of declining trade unionisation in the global economy.
It would be ambitious if not difficult to make meaningful gains in the decent work and job creation agenda, if trade unionisation is on the decline. International solidarity will remain a pipe-dream if trade unions are on the back foot.
Trade unions by their very nature, work better if they have members en-masse. Maybe the starting point should be to discuss the question of how do we create conditions for workers to once again see value in joining trade unions.
How do we attract workers back into the unions and how do we forge unity among all trade union formations.
I call on you to provide leadership and that the outcomes of this school must reflect, in addition to the global challenges, the somewhat unique economic and social landscape of the African continent. The economic analysis in the continent provides a good reference point in order to ensure that our programmes are not in abstract but specific and current.
Comrade President; I hope you will agree with me that our modus operandi in developing country positions on matters of labour market policies is anchored on social dialogue.
It would therefore be impossible to articulate the South African government approach to the ILO and its future work beyond the centenary, without first testing our views with our social partners at Nedlac as our platform for social dialogue. So you will pardon me that I will be limited in unpacking your brief given the aforesaid constraints.
Notwithstanding this reality, I think it is safe to say that we have taken a view that, we need to first understand the extent to which our Labour Market landscape has changed, identify the key drivers - internal and external;
…Before we can even start to consider possible interventions. We also as a second step need to examine which of the interventions will require fundamental labour market policy shifts and which ones require minor fine-tuning. It can therefore be said that our approach is to ensure that whatever we do, does not deviate from our historical context and most importantly that it has to be evidence-based.
We cannot tinker with policies when the culprit is administrative. In other words change policies when the problem is our inability to implement?
Comrade President; Our track record in shaping the ILO agenda and content, speaks volumes and it has been improving year on year. The events of the recent past and the profound role that Africa played at the last ILO International Labour Conference left no doubt in many people’s minds that the African Continent had arrived.
The challenge for the African Continent is two-fold, keep the momentum and ramp-up the quality of our contributions if we want to shape the future shape of things in the ILO.
To avoid pre-empting and possibly influencing your thoughts on what should be the country’s approach to the ILO’s future work, I suggest that the input from this “congress of ideas” should form the building blocks towards formulating an approach that we can all call ours.
This meeting must therefore come up with ideas that will shape the future agenda and content of the ILO’s work beyond the centenary and the international discourse in general. This we can do by ensuring that, the African perspective is reflected in all major global agenda and discourse. To achieve this ambition we need high levels of visibility, quality participation and high levels of sophistication in our contributions.
Please note that the success of this gathering will be judged on the quality of its outcomes and not the volumes of reports that it will generate.
I wish you all the best in your deliberations and look forward to your leadership.
I thank you.
