Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) affiliates protested against labour brokering on Wednesday and threatened strikes if the practice was not ended.
”We hope to intensify the action depending on the outcome of the public hearings,” said National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
”We cannot overrule the possibility of a complete shutdown of the economy if our demands for the end of labour brokering are not attended to.”
Seshoka said that about 1 500 of NUM’s 3 500 branches had participated in the protests.
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim attended a lunch-time picket of workers in Wadeville near Johannesburg.
He said that Numsa had held pickets in most provinces and about 700 people joined the Wadeville protest.
”I’m extremely happy for obvious reasons,” said Jim.
However, not all unions were as active in the day’s picketing.
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) spokesperson Nomusa Cembi said that to her knowledge only its members in the Western Cape participated in lunch-time pickets.
Sadtu’s leadership did not attempt to organise from the national level. ”It was just up the people in the provinces,” she said.
Despite the lack of turnout, Cembi said Sadtu supported Cosatu’s position on labour brokers.
”Because we are an affiliate of Cosatu, we do sympathise even if we are not directly affected,” she said.
For Jim, though, the turnout by Numsa workers had been stirring.
”What is inspiring is how ordinary workers are responding … because they have realised they will be back into slavery,” he said.
Unions have described the practice of labour brokering as ”human trafficking” and ”slavery”.
”Their practices are the absolute opposite of decent work,” said Cosatu in a statement.
Cosatu had called for a day of picketing as part of a global worker protest organised by the International Trade Union Confederation.
”Here in South Africa the focus will be on labour brokering, which Cosatu has vowed to see outlawed,” read the statement.
The trade union federation accused labour brokers of undermining unions by making workers transferable and difficult to organise. It said employers frequently looked to labour brokers to providing scab labour to break strikes.
”Labour broker are also basically anti-trade union,” Cosatu said.
The Gauteng Alliance — consisting of the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party, Cosatu and the South African National Civic Organisation — spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli joined in the condemnation of labour brokers.
”As the alliance, we would like to express our utter contempt in the manner the labour brokers have undermined workers rights and the labour legislation in the country,” said Ntuli.
”To better regulate [labour brokering] would not work because of incapacity of labour department to monitor irregularities and non-compliance,” he said. — Sapa