The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Northern Cape will march against labour broking on Thursday, in Kimberley.
The trade union made this announcement today, on the morning of the Department of Labour's (DOL) budget vote speech, in which minister Nelisiwe Oliphant is expected to address the amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which deals with labour broking.
Cosatu says the purpose of the march is to submit its memoranda to three different offices.
It will march to the regional office of the DOL, where it will hand over a memorandum with its demand for the banning of labour brokers.
“It is our considered view that labour brokers compromise the decent work agenda in that they recruit workers for a short period of time and pay them starvation wages. The regional manager of the Department of Labour is expected to accept the memorandum on behalf of the minister.”
Ban insistence
Draft amendments to the LRA, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Employment Equity Act, and a new piece of proposed legislation - the Public Employment Services Bill - had been published in the Government Gazette in December.
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 Democratic Alliance (DA) labour shadow minister Ian Ollis.
Cosatu says it “totally rejects” the statement by the DA earlier this year that the proposed amendments to labour legislation "would place literally millions of jobs in jeopardy, would in all likelihood be unconstitutional, would have serious de-stabilising effects in the labour market, and would result in significant other unintended consequences".
It says labour brokers provide cheap labour to their “client” companies, to relieve them of the responsibility of ensuring workers receive the wages and benefits to which they are entitled, and to save them from paying towards medical aids and pension funds.
The trade union says it is still not clear whether the repeal of Section 198 will in fact have the effect of banning labour brokers, but it will continue to insist that nothing less than a total ban will be acceptable.
The labour broking issue is currently at Nedlac, according to Ollis.
March on
Cosatu will also march to the Ministry of Transport on Thursday to deliver two memoranda to the MEC, as well as the provincial commissioner of the South African Police Services (SAPS).
“Our memorandum is in demand of the immediate and visible transformation of the SAPS in the province.”
Cosatu adds that it has seen a number of negative developments in the SAPS of the Northern Cape since the appointment of the current provincial commissioner by the National Commissioner.
“There have been a number of incidents of police brutality in Pixley Ka Seme, Siyanda and John Taolo Gaetsewe regions.
“We have also seen the random replacement of experienced and competent senior officers for no apparent reasons and the escalation of crime as a result thereof.”
The march's final destination is Sol Plaatjie municipality, where Cosatu says there are serious problems in the administration starting from incompetent managers to outsourcing and privatisation.
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