A union has accused ANC MPs of being bad bosses and says ‘baasskap’ is alive and well in Parliament
Barry Streek
The African National Congress has only about 100 staffers at Parliament, but is facing “a litany” of cases at the Labour Court and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
In the most recent case before the CCMA last Friday, a woman employee sought relief after she returned from maternity leave and found her salary and conditions of employment had been changed without consultation. The ANC failed to turn up to defend itself.
ANC MPs, who enthusiastically supported major changes to South Africa’s labour laws after 1994, are “untransformed employers”, says the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), which represents the party’s parliamentary staff.
The ANC, in a statement issued by the office of chief whip Tony Yengeni, admits that the relationship between it and the union and has become “severely strained”, but says this is largely due to “the undisciplined behaviour of the Nehawu’s shop steward in the National Assembly”.
However, the union’s regional secretary, Suraya Jawoodeen, says: “They can’t deal with basic industrial relations. As an employer in Parliament the ANC appears to be no different to other employers who have not transformed.”
Yengeni’s statement says it has always respected Nehawu’s rights as a trade union in Parliament and has been conducting a process of formally recognising the union.
“Like in any employment situation, there is a dynamic interaction between the ANC management and employees in Parliament,” Yengeni’s statement reads. “The ANC management has just completed a week-long workshop with staff in which an open and frank interactive discussion took place between management and staff about how to deal with challenges in the workplace.”
Jawoodeen, however, cites “a litany” of cases involving ANC employees that had gone to the CCMA and the Labour Court because they could not be resolved internally. In the past two CCMA cases, the ANC failed to turn up.
The union says two ANC employees had pay deducted from their salaries for allegedly taking leave without authorisation which the union disputes even though the Basic Conditions of Employment Act says deductions from an employee’s remuneration must follow fair procedure and the worker has to agree in writing to the deductions.
At last Friday’s hearing a certificate signed by Commissioner M Wanza records the “non-attendance of employer”. ANC staffers asked not to be named in the Mail & Guardian.
Nehawu says efforts to resolve the tensions with ANC management in Parliament have come to nothing. Last October the union’s provincial leadership met Yengeni to express its concern about the situation and he agreed to hold a meeting with the union but this has not yet happened.
One of the two Nehawu shop stewards at Parliament was this week involved in his fourth disciplinary hearing, which the union says no MP was prepared to chair. It also says the allegations against him are absurd.
However, the ANC says the shop steward “acts in a manner as if the norms which apply to staff generally does not apply to him. More than 95% of cases relating to staff indiscipline have centred on the individual in question. The shop steward in question did not even find it necessary to attend the week-long workshop in which staff and management interacted to address any relationship problems which may exist.
“The chief whip has conveyed to Nehawu some time ago that the unguided actions of one particular shop steward severely constrains the relationship between the ANC and Nehawu as allies in Parliament.
“The ANC has similarly informed the CCMA and the Labour Court about its concerns that all Nehawu referrals to the CCMA deal exclusively with the demands of this particular shop steward while the same shop steward refuses to honour the most basic procedures of consultation within the ANC management structure in Parliament.”
The ANC says it has a management structure in Parliament and believes it acts in a “firm though fair manner”.
Nehawu says, however, that “semi-deracialised baasskap is alive and well in the parliamentary ANC” and is characterised by “fear and management incompetence”, resulting in a breakdown in relations.
It accuses the ANC of trying to marginalise Nehawu and acting in contempt of labour laws and the institutions created by the government to regulate conflict in labour relations. It also quotes an ANC MP who chaired an internal disciplinary hearing.
He said: “For some reason the applicant [ANC operations manager Mzwai Hewu] has not taken the time to look inward, to see that even he and the ANC management needed to be wary of their conduct which will bring the ANC into disrepute.
“I find it surprising and distasteful that [Hewu] readily speaks of the ‘lawful instructions’ that he metes out to staff members. The accusation of this being authoritarian and high-handed may be a legitimate perception.
“The ANC is not a private company nor is it the army. Management principles that would apply to those, hierarchical and at times undemocratic, do not and should not apply to the ANC.
Nehawu says the ANC staff in Parliament is “highly demoralised”.