With labour seemingly sidelined in talks affecting the economy’s future, big business isn’t as hard done by as some believe. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Given how South Africa’s labour movement has sadly fragmented in the private sector over the past decade as the economy has struggled — with the mining sector shedded jobs en masse after the “troubles” in the platinum sector after the 2008 global recession — there’s always been this unnerving feeling that their strength would now only lie in the public sector.
Cosatu, the labour federation formed 38 years ago, is but a pale shadow of its former glorious self. When the Irvin Jim-led National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) was expelled from the federation in 2014, it was the end of its efficacy.
As far as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), well let’s say lots of its thunder was stolen by upstart unions such as Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, led by pastor Joseph Mathunjwa. It has never recovered much credibility from the platinum strikes that began in the run-up to the Marikana tragedy of 2012.
Without Numsa and a weak NUM, what’s left in the federation and a largely ignored alliance partner of the governing ANC is the public sector behemoth, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu). This week, they’ve shown their strength, affecting the most vulnerable of South Africans — with possibly the loss of four lives as a result of strikes at hospitals.
We are at a dangerous tipping point. Yes, you’ve read that before, but this square-off between unions and government is one that is about to expose capacity constraints of the state that have deadly consequences.
When the state reneged on its three-year wage agreement signed in 2018 with public sector employees just as President Cyril Ramaphosa settled into his “new dawn”, relations with Nehawu, the now most powerful Cosatu affiliate, turned negative. That deal struck with the disgraced and the still ANC national executive committee member Faith Muthambi, who was at the time minister of public service and administration, was always going to be a bad one. This is especially the case, as the treasury hadn’t sanctioned the deal.
Still a deal was struck. But the economic and fiscal conditions the country was in meant there was little to no room for the state to manoeuvre as we dealt with Covid pandemic.
With the state not meeting its side of the deal in the last round of negotiations, there was a high likelihood that this current round of talks would be much more difficult than in years past. With the ANC alliance in tatters, it will be even more difficult to find common ground.
Who will ultimately suffer should there not be a breakthrough in these talks is the most vulnerable in society reliant on state services — that’s everybody really.
Should the treasury stretch its budget to meet the rightful demands of public servants — who, like the rest of us, have faced inflationary pressures since the pandemic and a low growth economy — it too comes with its own consequences. Ratings agencies will bite, adding to the cost of just funding the bulky state apparatus — two new ministries were added this week. Add to that, there will be little money to deal with the issue of vacancies with the public sector — whether in policing, teaching, doctors and nursing.
We don’t have too many public servants — contrary to popular belief — but rather too many chiefs in the great many government departments we have.
Whenever I say this, I think of the entourages that follow every one of our ministers — or let me be fair, most. What are they there for? As most of the individuals in high-ranking positions in national, provincial and local government carry much sway in branch meetings in the governing ANC and some control the purse strings, I doubt there’ll be much of a jobs audit.
Without a jobs audit and a drive to professionalise the public service, the state will continue to face pressures from the public sector employees. Who can blame them? With a private sector that has little confidence in the country and not employing to levels that would begin to eat into our unemployment crisis, there isn’t exactly a welcoming world outside the safety net of public service.