A nationwide strike on Thursday could have cost the economy over R2-billion and defeated the aims of striking unions, business and economists said.
The strike would have had a negative impact on job creation and poverty alleviation, said chief operations officer at the Business Unity of South Africa (Busa), Vic van Vuuren.
These issues brought thousands of workers to the streets around the country for a one-day strike, organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Van Vuuren said the size of the stayaway should not be underestimated.
”There hasn’t been a national massive stay-away, but there have been large numbers in certain industries, in particular the mining industry,” he said.
Chamber of Mines spokesperson Elize Strydom said there had been as much as 100% absence at some mines.
Van Vuuren said: ”If one talks about that sector [mining], you are talking about over R1-billion lost to the country, including the workers and companies themselves. That is lost in production time, wages, revenue.”
He said nobody could win in this situation, as the strike was, inter alia, about the strength of the rand.
”Neither government nor business is in the position to suddenly influence this.”
Van Vuuren expressed Busa’s disappointment about strikes of this nature, which cost the economy large amounts of money.
In the retail sector, Woolworths had lost less than 1% in productivity.
Woolworths chief executive Simon Susman said it was supporting the local industry and helping to create a powerful economy for South Africa.
According to Van Vuuren, the strike would have a negative impact on job creation.
”Those who can’t afford the losses [financial] will have to lay off workers … Workers will lose money and that doesn’t make anything better in terms of poverty alleviation,” he said.
Economist Richard Downing said he could not see how the strike would alleviate poverty and unemployment.
Officially, South Africa had an unemployment rate of about 26%. The unofficial figure was closer to 42%.
”The only way to solve the problem is to have employable people. When the economy is progressing very fast you need training and education,” he said.
Woolworth’s Susman concurred: ”We firmly believe that the key to beating unemployment is growing successful, sustainable South African businesses, providing ongoing education and training and challenging local business to improve technology and productivity to compete with the best in the world”.
Downing added that the cost of labour should also be looked at, as South Africa could not compete with countries such as China, which were ”very productive in terms of labour”.
He said unions made constant wage claims that were above the inflation rate, making it difficult for businesses to keep up.
”If the cost per employee is too high, then less people will be employed.”
He estimated that about R1,7-billion had been lost on Thursday in the production of goods and services. He said this loss of capacity would lead to job losses.
Downing said government had tried to help these issues by implementing economic policies such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa.
Cosatu is calling on the government and employers to treat unemployment and poverty as a national emergency.
”We want to see far more of the country’s growing wealth being ploughed into job creation projects, training programmes and the provision of basic services,” the union federation said in a statement.
”We [are] demanding more protection for industries like clothing and textiles, which face obliteration in the face of unfair competition from China.” — Sapa