Address by His Excellency, President of the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma, at the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), 3rd National
Rea Molopyane
Address by His Excellency, President of the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma, at the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), 3rd National Congress
14 October 2011
The President of COSATU, comrade Sdumo Dlamini,
President, Vice-President and General Secretary of SATAWU,
Office bearers and officials of SATAWU,
Shop stewards and SATAWU members,
Comrades and friends,
Your conference comes at an important time in the history of collective bargaining in South Africa.
The South African economy is slowly emerging from the economic recession that affected us in 2009 and, now more than ever, we need to ensure that there is sustained growth, investment and job creation.
This could be achieved through partnership between Government, Labour and Business.
Putting our efforts together in the spirit of give and take, this will help us as a country to realise our objectives of job creation.
As you know, the exploitation of workers was a feature of working life in South Africa for decades.
Apartheid thrived on cheap labour and frowned upon workers’ rights.
Many workers’ struggles were fought and many became martyrs for the rights that are enjoyed by workers today.
Workers rights are universal rights; the United Nation itself had backed workers rights by incorporating several into two articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Among others, these read:
· everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment;
· everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work;
· everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection;
· everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Comrades,
As an ILO member state and signatory to the ILO conventions, our Government takes workers’ rights very seriously.
Our founding document as the ANC-led Government, the Freedom Charter, espoused fair labour practices and job security for every worker.
In fact the freedom that we enjoy today owes to the selfless contribution of the workers, particularly from the sectors where SATAWU draws membership.
For this reason, our alliance as the ANC with the workers is still as important as during the time of the struggle.
Together we should overcome differences and work collectively to continue to transform the economy of this country and to improve the conditions of the workers.
CONSTITUTION AND LABOUR RIGHTS
Our Constitution which is the supreme law of the land, has enshrined fair labour practice and collective bargaining as part of protecting workers rights.
The Labour Relations Act of 1995, Act 66 gives effect to the spirit of the Constitution by deliberating on these workers rights and their protection.
Through collective bargaining, workers have negotiated better wages, better conditions of employment and social security for their members.
Despite the protection from the Constitution, many workers are left in a highly vulnerable and precarious position.
Their well-being is at risk despite the fact that they are regular participants in the workforce.
Vulnerable workers are locked in a Catch 22 situation. They cannot earn enough to make a decent life.
They have limited access to training and education which would improve their chances of a good job, and many are excluded from basic social protections, such as retirement savings plans.
Our desire is to see collective bargaining taking place in every work place.
However, where it has remained weak or where there is no collective bargaining at all, the Government has published sectoral determinations which set minimum wages and conditions of employment for vulnerable workers to protect the workers.
Some of these sectoral determinations are in the Private Security Industry and Contract Cleaning Industry where SATAWU members are.
All these determinations and conditions must be realised and the government will continue to ensure significant improvement in these sectors, where employees are most vulnerable.
You have worked closely with the Department of Labour during investigations and in reviewing these sectors and your inputs are highly appreciated.
Comrades;
Although there are challenges, Government will continue to investigate the possibilities of establishing a bargaining council for the sector.
One area that this Government wants to strengthen is inspection and enforcement.
These are critical for good governance and regulation of the labour market.
Through the proposed amendments to labour legislation, the Government suggested a number of changes to strengthen the powers of the inspectorate of the Department of Labour.
We are considering new ways of dealing with non-compliance with provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and increasing penalties for non-compliance with both the BCEA and the Employment Equity Act.
The Labour Relations Act is also being amended to strengthen the enforcement of arbitration awards issued by the CCMA and Bargaining and Statutory Councils.
The Government is looking at improving the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits for workers. Some of the focus areas are:
- To increase the period of payment of UIF benefits to workers;
- To expand access to the illness benefit;
- To increase the minimum income replacement rate.
We hope that these changes will provide further support to those who become unemployed.
The other area that the Government is focusing on is strengthening workers rights in the area of decent work for all.
Decent work seeks to respond to the aspirations of people in their working lives.
Collective bargaining is also essential to the realisation of decent work.
It seeks to deal with employment and income security, security and rights at the workplace and improved social protection.
Decent work represents the convergence of four pillars into a coherent policy approach to manage economic growth and social development in a balanced way.
The four pillars of the ILO’s Decent Work agenda are:
· Strengthening fundamental principles and rights at work;
· Promotion of employment;
· Strengthening and broadening social protection;
· Strengthening tri-partism and social dialogue.
It is important to note that these objectives reflect major themes in the international development agenda.
These include; respect for human rights as part of human development, the need for people to benefit from economic growth, social inclusion and strengthening participatory democracy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
HIV and AIDS remains a challenge in the workplace. It is a workplace issue because it affects workers and their families.
Infected employees have the same rights and duties as other employees.
They cannot be treated differently by employers or by their co-workers.
They are entitled to the same opportunities and privileges accessible to other employees.
I must congratulate trade unions for engaging employers on workplace programmes that support prevention and non-discrimination against workers living with HIV/AIDS.
Compatriots,
I believe that workplace stability and labour peace can only be assured when there are effective channels of engagement between trade unions and employers.
Trade unions must be able to represent workers’ voice and interest in an orderly manner.
For us, orderly collective bargaining is critical to a sound labour relations environment.
Anything to the contrary undermines collective bargaining and genuine workers struggles and past victories.
When collective bargaining yields violent strikes, it works against the intention of legislation that advocates for orderly collective bargaining.
This then undermines workers’ genuine demands.
This kind of behaviour also deflects attention from genuine issues and further seeks to discredit the process of collective bargaining.
To deal with the many challenges that lie ahead will require us all to re-commit to constructive collective bargaining and social dialogue.
But let us also re-examine the way we engage and find a new social dialogue that can craft appropriate policy interventions and solutions to the challenges we face.
I Thank You.
Issued by:
Mamokgethi Reagoikanya Molopyane
SATAWU National Spokesperson
082 395 0907
Twitter: @Reagoikanya