The cabinet is scheduled to give the green light this week to revised labour bills that have been discussed clause by clause at negotiating forum Nedlac for more than a year.
The government has appeared intent on retaining the controversial system of labour broking but providing for greater policing mechanisms over temporary employment.
On Friday, President Jacob Zuma told a New Age breakfast that Cosatu had been part and parcel of the plan to revise the labour broking system, implying that the labour federation was on board. He told the meeting broadcast on SABC that the ANC’s 2009 manifesto was jointly adopted and launched “by the alliance – the ANC, Cosatu and the SACP”.
Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said afterwards that the reference in the manifesto had been vague, speaking about abusive practice “and other forms” of atypical work.
“While it is true that it did not specially call for it (labour broking) to be banned… it left open how one should implement the policy,” he said.
The government looks set to retain labour broking: seen as a concession to business, but temporary employment services are likely to be strictly policed. This is seen as a concession to the labour movement.
Craven was adamant that Cosatu still wanted it entirely scrapped. He said if the cabinet gave the green light to the legislation this week, it would be “jumping the gun”. Craven said the Nedlac process, where the bills have been thrashed out by business, government and labour representatives, was not complete.
He confirmed that ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe would be part of a delegation to meet Cosatu on Monday, March 26, to thrash out differences over labour broking and e-tolling. Cosatu wants e-tolling in Gauteng scrapped.
Both the SACP and Cosatu have dubbed labour broking as “modern day slavery”. Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi dubbed e-tolling as a form of “economic apartheid”.
However, the government seems determined to push ahead with the labour bills, which include the new Employment Services Bill aimed at eradicating the practice of triangular employment where agencies or brokers act as the employer. Once it is approved, the legislation will be piloted through parliament by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant.
She recently told a Black Business Council meeting that “there are those who have been saying that our promise of amending labour legislation has taken forever. It has been a long process but we also need to take into account that negotiation is an art of patience.”
She said the private sector “remains an engine of growth and economic development”.
Kuben Naidoo, an official in the office of Planning Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel, said the National Development Plan supported a subsidy to encourage young people in employment.
The other labour bills seek to amend the Labour Relations Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Employment Equity Act. - Donwald Pressly