Dr Ivor Blumenthal writes : "MyShtetl should not just be a Jewish Affairs site. It should cover all issues which pertain to the future of South Africa and to Jews in South Africa. Many prominent Jews are involved in the economy of South Africa and the continent of Africa and hence the issue of recruitment, skilling and capacitation is critical to the survival of their businesses. Next year is an election year and a desperate governing alliance needs to grab every radical vestige if they are to retain their 60% majority in Parliament. The following article appearing in Business Day, pertains to the ANC launching their 2014 re-election campaign at the cost of jobs and business stability in the country. Read and weep for Africa." ANC makes U-turn on labour brokers, strike votes 06 Jun 2013 | Linda Ensor ANC MPs dig in their heels against amendments to SA’s labour law on strike ballots, picketing rules and labour brokers AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) MPs on Wednesday dug in their heels against amendments to South Africa’s labour law on strike ballots, picketing rules and labour brokers — despite the new rules having been accepted by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). The MPs appear to have fallen in with ANC ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu’s) opposition to parts of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill. Although no final vote has been taken, with an election next year and Cosatu’s unconditional support for the ruling party not entirely secured, the concessions could be seen as sweeteners for the federation’s continued support for the ANC. Having finalised the technical amendments and the simpler parts of the bill during months of deliberations, the committee finally moved on Wednesday to deal with the contentious issues. Though voting will take place only at the next meeting, on Tuesday, it was quite clear from the discussions which way this will go. The ANC’s apparent capitulation to labour’s demands fulfils a political agreement reached with Cosatu after the approval of the bill by the Cabinet, and after negotiations at Nedlac, whereby the party agreed that labour’s demands would be addressed in the parliamentary process. The Nedlac negotiations — which introduced a provision for strike ballots at the insistence of business — did not produce results satisfactory to labour, partly because brokers could operate for the first six months of an employment contract, before workers became permanent staff. On Wednesday, however, ANC MPs expressed themselves strongly against the practices of labour brokers, which they said contributed to the exploitation of workers. Their proposal that the duration of "temporary employment services" be limited to "zero months" would in effect mean a ban on labour broking. Committee chairman Elleck Nchabeleng confirmed the majority of ANC members on the committee favoured limiting the six-month period to "zero months". "We are concerned about the exploitation of workers," he said. After placing a worker in employment, the labour broker should have no further role and the worker should be paid at the same rate as permanent workers. News that Parliament’s labour committee was swinging strongly in favour of removing provisions for strike ballots and picketing rules, and effectively banning labour brokers, shocked labour expert Andrew Levy. "I don’t believe it. This is utterly beyond belief. What it means is that there has not been one single lesson learned from Marikana or from the high levels of unemployment," he said. "The government is prepared to sacrifice anything and everything for a handful of votes. I have never seen such a disastrous move in all my 40 years of being involved in labour relations." He warned the result would be widespread job losses as employers embarked on a shake-out of brokered labour. Strikes would be more frequent, longer and more violent because of the absence of rules. The move would also harm the currency and possibly lead to a downgrade of South Africa’s credit rating, Mr Levy said. Labour lawyer Johnny Goldberg said the suggestion that labour broking would be effectively banned provided strong grounds for a constitutional challenge by business on the basis that it would limit the freedom to engage in economic activity. Democratic Alliance labour spokesman Sej Motau said the ANC had launched "a charm offensive to reignite its relationship with Cosatu ahead of next year’s elections". "What is clear from the ANC members’ conduct today is that the ruling party is in full election mode, giving pre-campaign gifts on a silver platter to Cosatu at the expense of democracy and South Africa’s poor and unemployed." Cosatu has fiercely opposed the operations of labour brokers, which it wants banned. It is also against the reintroduction of strike ballots and picketing rules that aim to address violence and damage by limiting pickets to genuine employees. ANC MP Buti Manamela led the charge against strike ballots, saying they were not necessary. Once the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration gave permission for a strike, it was irrelevant whether a minority or majority embarked upon it. Others said employers used the requirement of a ballot to prevent strikes on "technical grounds". They said trade unions’ constitutions and their recognition agreements could provide for strike ballots and there was no need for the law to govern this. Introducing strike ballots would merely introduce another hurdle for strikes. But Mr Levy said the notion that a strike ballot was not necessary "flies utterly in the face of democracy".
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 07:01:30 +0000
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