The African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners have agreed on the definition of decent work, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday.
“The ANC assured us that there is no ambiguity,” Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini told delegates attending a Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) congress in Durban. “The ANC said it has not changed,” he said.
Cosatu recently voiced concern when it was reported that ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe had said demanding that new jobs should be decent was “putting the cart before the horse”.
Dlamini said the ANC had clarified its position on the issue of decent jobs during the meeting of the political council of the alliance, held at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Monday.
“The meeting helped to clear up the issue of decent work, because we have been getting diluted messages,” said Dlamini.
Comprehensive response
He said Cosatu was worried that Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant had said there was no need to put emphasis on decent jobs.
“We were shocked when we learnt that she said that there is no need to worry about decent jobs, as long we give people jobs,” said Dlamini.
Cosatu would not accept being blackmailed into accepting that there should be the creation of any jobs first, and when people had these jobs then they could start fighting to achieve decent jobs, he said.
“As we speak here today [Tuesday], Cosatu has prepared a comprehensive response to the labour law amendments that are intended to impact on labour brokers,” he said.
Cosatu would table the proposal when it met with the minister of labour next week.
Dlamini said Cosatu’s approach would not apply to only the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill, Employment Equity Amendment Bill and the Employment Services Bill.
“It will go further and consider other areas of labour legislation that need to be changed,” he said. — Sapa