Business Day
*'Broker' strike is more of a political show of strength * *Carol Paton, Business Day, Johannesburg, 6 March 2012 *ANY trade unionist knows that sometimes it is good to have a strike. Strikes unite and mobilise workers, they build the union and send a message about the power of worker unity to the rest of society and they keep the organisation vibrant and alive.
This is largely the case with tomorrow's Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) strike against labour brokers.
The government has made firm proposals to amend the law on labour brokers and these have been under discussion in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) since last May. The government's proposal --- which has not yet been officially made public --- more than meets Cosatu halfway in its bid to have labour brokers banned. It does what the African National Congress (ANC) promised in its 2009 election manifesto: "I ntroduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and out sourcing, address the problem of labour broking and prohibit certain abusive practices."
Yet Cosatu has embarked on a huge and emotive mobilisation.The strike is also about Cosatu's bid to put a stop to the e-tolling system that is to begin on Gauteng's freeways on April 30. The fact that the toll fees have been cut in half by the government's R5,8bn allocation in the budget to the South African National Roads Agency and that public transport has been exempted has done little to pacify Cosatu. Its opposition to tolling is in principle: it believes roads should be built using money from the fiscus and be public assets that are free to use.
But even though opposition to the e-tolling is ideologically consistent with Cosatu's anti privatisation outlook, it is not an issue over which workers could easily have been persuaded to take to the streets.
Labour brokers, on the other hand, are something workers really care about. And it is this issue that is expected to draw thousands out of work in marches in every province. The tone of mobilisation is highly emotive: labour brokers are "bloodsuckers" whose activities amount to "slavery" and who treat workers as "sacks of potatoes".
In preparing for the strike, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says the details of the government's proposal on labour brokers have been carefully explained to shop steward councils. Perhaps that is true in some instances, but at the shop steward council in Cape Town two weeks ago, the message was not as sophisticated.
The chairman of the Cape Town region, Dan Melapi, told shop stewards that Cosatu "had been tricked" in the election. "Just look at the ANC manifesto: it says labour brokers will be banned," he said. Cosatu national treasurer Freda Oosthuysen was just as vague: "On the issue of labour brokers, there is no compromise. It doesn't matter how they put it but there is going to be a march on March 7 and we are going to organise and mobilise. We are going to shut down SA."
Populist messages such as these have been made possible by the government's failure to communicate its proposal on how to deal with labour brokers. Finalised without agreement in Nedlac a month ago, it will amend the Labour Relations Act to:
* Make it illegal for anyone to be employed in a position by a labour broker for more than six months. After six months, labour-broker employees will automatically be deemed permanent employees of the client they are servicing, with the full range of organisational rights and benefits kicking in; and * Enforce equal pay for equal work.Since many labour brokers undercut the wages of permanent employees, this provision will in effect remove much of the incentive for employers to use brokers. Workers placed by brokers will become more expensive once broking fees a re included, leaving saving on "the hassle factor" as the only incentive to continue using them.
With these two provisions in place, it is hard to argue that "abusive practices", which have unfairly kept thousands of workers as "casuals" for the same companies, doing the same jobs for years on end, will not have been eradicated. But Cosatu says the activities of brokers should be limited to matching employers and employees. The labour broker's responsibility for the worker must end at the door of the workplace, it says.
Organised business has opposed the equal pay for equal work provision, which will raise labour costs for employers who have relied on broking to lower labour costs at the bottom end of the skills scale. Putting business under pressure is another reason Cosatu's leadership advances for the general strike.
It is an argument that has some validity. Although the amendment bill has been drafted and submitted to L abour Minister Mildred Oliphant, there is still a way to go before it becomes law. From there, it goes to the Cabinet and, if approved, enters the parliamentary process, which will include public hearings and lobbying.
Cosatu has already started lobbying for changes. Last week, it held what it described as "a very fruitful meeting" with Oliphant, raising the possibility that she may yet change the bill before it is submitted to the Cabinet. No one knows better than Cosatu that Oliphant is easy to put under pressure; she is often "badly briefed", which is a euphemism for being in possession of completely the wrong information.
While Cosatu will argue that tomorrow's strike is part of the lobbying process, it is unlikely that, with the letter and spirit of the ANC manifesto met by the draft already on the table, anything further will be won. (It is worth noting that Cosatu was a participant in drawing up the ANC 2009 manifesto, including the clause on labour brokers.)
So the most compelling rationale for the strikes lies not so much in winning the labour-broker battle any more than it has already been won, but in a mobilisation of workers under the Cosatu banner. There are many reasons, some honourable and some expedient, Cosatu would want to do so now.
Mobilising workers on an issue that is not a wage struggle is part of Cosatu's aim of galvanising a more active civil society. It has always pursued broader political and social objectives. Right now, Cosatu's leaders would like to see workers far more actively involved in social campaigns.
In particular, shop stewards and union members are being encouraged to become activists in dysfunctional schools through school governing bodies, which can have a significant effect on teachers' and principals' performance. Workers are also called on to hold the public servants they encounter accountable to provide good service and reject corruption.
Vavi rightly believes that if Cosatu members can be actively drawn into doing this, SA would be a better place.
This year is also a big year for the union federation, with its congress coming up in September. It is important for the federation's leadership to project itself and for the federation to express its power. A successful conference depends on a well-motivated and fired-up membership.
There is also the ANC's national conference in December, in which Cosatu members are enormously significant in choosing the party's new leadership.
There is no doubt that, in 2009 --- having called on its members to swell the ranks --- Cosatu members played a significant role in electing Jacob Zuma as ANC president.
Cosatu's policy is that in order to influence the ANC, its members must "swell the ranks", becoming ANC branch members and leaders, ultimately putting them in a position to choose a worker-friendly ANC leadership.
So, most of all, rather than bringing about a real shift in what the government has already promised on labour brokers, tomorrow's strike will give meaning to Cosatu's brand of political unionism, extend its influence and demonstrate its ability to pull large numbers of people on to the streets.
* Paton is writer at large. ** *From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=166650* ** ** ** -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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