The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Thursday hit out at the government over its alleged “persistent kowtowing to employers’ blackmail”.
Cosatu’s statement came a week after President Thabo Mbeki, in his State of the Nation address, mooted the relaxation of South Africa’s labour market to boost small business in the country.
Mbeki said the government’s proposed labour reforms would encourage the growth of small businesses and boost economic growth and job creation.
This, said Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi, was “fallaciously based on political and ideological grounds”.
“This persistent claim by some employers that South African laws are restrictive is not true,” said Vavi. “We entered into a bona fide negotiation with the employers. We spent time doing research. We even went to the International Labour Organisation to check if this allegation had any grounds.
“They [employers] came back humbled … by the reality that our labour laws are, in fact, too flexible. That is the reality.
“If you go into any street and take any casual labourer, who works sometimes beyond the limits set by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and faces extreme levels of exploitation, and tell him that labour laws in this country are too restrictive, he will not believe you.”
Vavi accused the government of failing to consult labour on its proposals. “There seems to be a tendency [by the government] to ignore the processes of Nedlac [the National Economic Development and Labour Council].
“This is a naked attempt to reverse huge gains workers made in the past years to transform the apartheid labour market,” he said.
Lionel October, the deputy director general responsible for the small business enterprises in the Department of Trade and Industry, said the matter would be discussed through Nedlac.