During his State of the Nation Address yesterday, president Jacob Zuma said the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) process on labour broking has now been completed.
“Government seeks to eliminate all forms of abusive practices inherent in labour broking, in order to strengthen the protection of vulnerable workers. We trust that common ground will be found this year on this matter.”
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) this week urged Zuma to recall the 2009 manifest commitment to “avoid exploitation of workers and ensure decent work for all workers, as well as to protect the employment relationship, introduce laws to regulate contract work, subcontracting and outsourcing, address the problem of labour broking and prohibit certain abusive practices”.
The federation announced its intention to take to the streets on 7 March to demand the banning of labour brokers. “These [are] human traffickers who hire out casual workers. These workers generally have no contracts, no fixed hours, and no employment benefits such as sick pay or maternity leave. It would be great news if we were to hear the president announce that labour broking is to be banned.”
Draft amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Employment Equity Act, and a new piece of proposed legislation - the Public Employment Services Bill - were published in the Government Gazette in December last year.
The amendments propose a repeal of section 198 of the LRA, which regulates labour brokers, effectively prohibiting labour broking and leading to job losses, according to the Democratic Alliance.
E-toll miss
The trade union also hoped to hear the president announce that government is going to completely scrap the controversial Gauteng e-tolling system. “We are utterly opposed to the commodification of more and more public services and believe that our roads are a public asset, not a commodity to create massive profits for private companies.”
Cosatu says the tolls will have a particularly devastating effect on workers, who have no alternative but to drive to work, because of the lack of a proper public transport system.
“They will lead to big price increases in the shops to cover the increased cost of transporting goods, and some companies may even be forced out of business and have to retrench workers, because of their increased transport costs.”
However, the president did not mention the system in his address.
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