Johannesburg - Cosatu has slammed remarks by the chairman of the ANC’s economic transformation committee which question implementing a national minimum wage.
The federation has now called on the ruling party to disown Enoch Godongwana’s comments made at a National Union of Mineworkers’ bargaining conference last week.
Godongwana, who was speaking on behalf of the ANC, told the indaba that the stance of unions on the minimum wage needed to be clarified because they were not speaking with one voice on the issue. He also warned that the wage could be disasterous for central bargaining.
The government expects to have a set of cast-iron agreements on the national minimum wage by July. While initially ministers and some senior party leaders were in disagreement about whether a national minimum wage would be implemented or if modalities would merely be researched to establish it was viable in South Africa, it was eventually agreed it would be followed through.
Cosatu believes that Gondongwana’s remarks counter this agreement.
It is also likely to worsen the already fractured relationship between labour, government and business.
The federation said on Tuesday it especially took issue because Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office had assigned Godongwana as its contact person for the minimum wage and labour relations’ talks taking place at the National Economic, Development and Labour Council.
“This is an important role which requires the utmost integrity, tact and sensitivity, in order to ensure trust and respect by all parties to these sensitive negotiations,” Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.
“Cosatu is therefore outraged by… interventions made by Enoch Godongwana, in a speech to the National Union of Mineworkers… which fatally undermine our confidence in him in this regard.”
Last week, Godongwana reportedly said: "In the manifesto of the African National Congress we made a commitment that we'll look at the modalities of the implementation of the minimum wage [but] when I talk to people... the voices are not even interested in attaining it. Do you know why?”
He said it was because those against the minimum wage knew the labour movement was not as coherent as it used to be. And unions did not care about creating new jobs, only defending existing workers.
“You as the labour movement, you are not as coherent as you are supposed to be on the minimum wage …The first question is whether we are talking about a universal or sectoral [minimum wage]. .. A related question: Is the minimum wage going to be a product of law, or is it going to be a product of collective bargaining?" he asked.
If it was by law, the collective bargaining process would be undermined, where the very existence of unions would be at stake, said Godongwana.
Craven said that Godongwana was fully aware of the answers to his questions. Also his claim that people who he had spoken to saying they “are not even interested in attaining it”, said more about who he was speaking to, than the issue at hand.
“He forgets that both the ANC and government have committed to introducing a (legislated) national minimum wage, as a key priority of this administration. The business people he is speaking to may not want it, but workers throughout the country have clearly expressed their views on this matter, not least in the Parliamentary hearings, which perhaps he needs to attend,” said Craven.
He said there needed to be no concerns on how a national minimum wage would affect collective bargaining. A national wage would set the wage floor and collective bargaining in the different sectors would set wages and working conditions above that floor.
“Therefore we have a critical question to pose to Cde Godongwana from our side: why are you campaigning against the introduction of a national minimum wage, and on whose behalf are you speaking?” asked Cosatu.
The federation has now called for the withdrawal of Godongwana from Ramaphosa’s office and replacing him with a “suitable person”’.
The deputy president’s office could not be reached for comment.
Labour Bureau