The social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) are deadlocked on the issue of labour broking.
In light of this, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) this week issued a notice to inform the council of its intention to proceed with protest action on 7 March.
“Cosatu is now satisfied that the requirements of Section 77 of the Labour Relation Act have been met for protected socio-economic protest and that this action is necessary for the effective resolution of this matter.”
It has called on all workers to support the socio-economic protest action by engaging in various forms of protest from 29 February. These will involve work stoppages; rallies, marches, demonstrations, siyalalas at or near the offices or premises of businesses that are labour brokers or businesses that use labour brokers.
There will also be engagement with customers and other members of the public to inform them of the reasons for the protect action and to persuade them to support the action; calls for consumer boycotts of businesses that use labour brokers; calls for provident funds to withdraw funds invested in businesses that use labour brokers; and calls for solidarity campaigns that are aimed at media, shareholders, employees, suppliers and others associated with labour brokers.
On 7 March, there will be rallies, marches and demonstrations in all major towns and cities, as well as a national stay-away or socio-economic strike. This will take place during working hours.
Modern slavery
“Cosatu is adamant that labour brokers must be completely banned. They are nothing more than human traffickers, making huge profits by hiring out workers to their client companies as if we are no more than commodities like office furniture or stationery,” says the federation.
“Their workers are paid lower wages and fewer benefits, like medical aid and provident funds, and [have] no job security at all. They can be hired and fired at any time by a phone call from the client company to the labour broker. They can never plan their lives more than a week or two ahead. We demand a total ban of this modern form of slavery.”
During his State of the Nation address this month, president Jacob Zuma said: “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.”
Draft amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Employment Equity Act were published in the Government Gazette in December 2010. 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.
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