Cosatu rejected with contempt the DA’s intended private member’s bill that would force unions to take practical steps to prevent strike-related violence, it said yesterday.
The labour federation said it had consistently opposed violence, intimidation and damage to property during strikes and demonstrations, which were offences under existing laws and therefore required no new law to deal with them.
“The DA is, however, opportunistically using violence to bring in a law which, contrary to what they say, would fundamentally destroy workers’ constitutionally guaranteed right to engage in strikes and lawful protest action,” Cosatu said.
The strike in the metals and engineering industry has been marred by such acts.
Last Thursday, two days after the strike began, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA labelled as spurious accusations by employers that its striking members were involved in violence.
“Since the commencement of the strike, our members have exercised high levels of discipline and maturity in line with the union’s disciplinary code of conduct. Its strike committee is satisfied with the overall discipline and performance of our striking members. No evidence has been provided to us to show that our members have acted outside the ambit of the law or the picketing rules.”
However, the next day, 26 people were arrested in Gauteng for intimidation, public violence and malicious damage to property as police monitored the strike.
Cosatu was reacting to an announcement by Ian Ollis, the DA spokesman on labour, who said he would, at the soonest opportunity, submit a private members’ bill that would seek to prevent strike-related violence before it occurred.
Its provisions are similar to those of the previous private member’s bill he submitted in the last Parliament; the only one to be approved and referred to the labour portfolio committee by the now disbanded committee for private members’ bills.
The bill was considered and debated by the labour portfolio committee and the Department of Labour announced that amendments similar to Ollis’s would be made to the Labour Relations Act.
After opposition by Cosatu, the ANC instructed the department to drop its amendments.
The committee for private members’ bills was disbanded when IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini challenged its constitutionality first unsuccessfully at the Western Cape High Court, then successfully at the Constitutional Court (Concourt) in October 2012.
Ambrosini sought to submit a private member’s bill to amend the National Credit Act but the Speaker said he should seek the permission of the committee for private members’ bills.
The Concourt held that the rules that provide for the permission requirement were inconsistent with the constitution and therefore invalid.
Since the committee was disbanded, private members’ bills have to go to the relevant portfolio committee.
Ollis said he was reviving his bill following the arrest of 26 Numsa members this past weekend due to acts of intimidation, public violence and malicious damage to property in Gauteng.
He said the Constitutional Court had found in a case involving the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union that unions might be held responsible for damages when strikes result in violence, vandalism and looting. This was after a march in Cape Town that resulted in damage to vehicles and businesses.
Ollis said his bill would require unions to comply with a list of practical measures aimed at limiting or preventing violence before it occurred.
These included education of workers regarding violence and the law before these workers went out on strike, and requiring unions to provide marshals for crowd control purposes and to prevent criminals infiltrating union ranks.
Cosatu said it and its affiliates had always done everything possible to ensure activities were peaceful, lawful and orderly.
“We have taken action against any members proved to be guilty of such offences. We already provide marshals to help with crowd control and we already educate workers about the law.”