The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is taking its campaign to have labour brokers banned to the African National Congress (ANC) elective conference in Mangaung next month, it said on Thursday.
The federation received overwhelming support from ANC delegates at the party’s policy conference in June for its opposition to the youth wage subsidy. It now hopes to ride that crest again, but this time to have labour brokers totally banned.
The ANC, since the labour minister tabled the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, has been adamant that labour brokers would be regulated, sidestepping calls for an outright ban of the practice.
The bill is before the portfolio committee on labour in Parliament, but it is unlikely to be attended to before the end of the year.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Thursday he was "absolutely incensed" that the key legislation, set to help workers across the country, was now delayed. "I am disappointed that we are running out of time at Nedlac (National Economic Development and Labour Council) and a key workers legislation now must wait until 2013."
Vavi’s comments come against the backdrop of workers in the mining and agriculture sectors across the country embarking on wildcat strikes. Their demands relate to pay increases and better working conditions.
The amendment bill’s provisions on labour brokering were "far better than the status quo" and Mr Vavi had hoped that the legislation would have been passed by now.
But it has been subjected to several delays in Parliament. It was submitted to Parliament in March this year, but the first version of the bill was published for public comment as far back as 2010, according to the Department of Labour’s website.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini said yesterday that at the last ANC elective conference in Polokwane the party resolved to prohibit bad labour practices. The Mangaung conference should take that resolution forward and call for an outright ban on labour brokering.
Mr Dlamini said Cosatu would be looking to President Jacob Zuma to take the resolution forward. "President Zuma is the president of the ANC and Cosatu has indeed supported that he continues into the second term.
"It’s safe and okay to get him to lead that responsibility."
Andrew Levy, head of labour relations consultancy Andrew Levy Employment, said he did not believe Cosatu would succeed in its push for a total ban on labour brokering. The government would be "sensitive" to further job cuts, given the precarious state of labour relations in SA. The eyes of the world were on the country and it had to tread carefully.
The Department of Labour’s chief director for collective bargaining, Thembinkosi Mkalipi, said the bill was before Parliament. The department shared the doubts that it would be finalised this year.
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