CALL FOR THE POSTPONEMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL JOB SUMMIT

19 June 1998

COSATU notes the articles covered in both the Business Day of today
and the Financial Mail of this today, concerning a call from big 
business to the Minister of Labour to indefinitely postpone the 
planned Presidential Job Summit. 

It is absurd that business even think of further delays to the
Presidential Job Summit when the carnage of job loses is continuing
unabated.  This confirms COSATU's assertion that the business
community is not interested in the transformation of our country in
the manner that will address apartheid.  It is disappointing to note
that the big business is bend on pursuing its ideological warfare no
matter what its consequences would be to the rampant job loses and
unemployment.

It is however not surprising that business is now calling for the Job
Summit to take place in the right "political climate" and not too
close to the elections.  The reasons why they link elections to the
Job Summit are very clear.  They know that no political party will win
elections if it buys into prescription of continued exploitation of
workers through the so-called inflexibility two tier labour market and
poverty wages.

They want elections to be fought and won through a different platform
appealing to the electorate and then pressure the democratically
elected government to abandon its mandate and adopt conservative neo
liberal formulae that will be in their interests. COSATU is going to
resist this agenda. 

Indeed job creation is an election issue.  Honest parties must go to
the electorate to say we support business proposals on job creation
and reject labour proposals, so that the society knows what are they
voting for.  

COSATU is calling on the ANC to reject this latest attempt by big
business to use its credibility in order to win its own agenda.

Workers, as the victims of retrenchment policies, are making an urgent
call to the government to announce a date for the President Job Summit
as soon as possible.  We call on the government to make its proposals
public so that stakeholders can begin to respond.

COSATU reiterates its call for the Presidential Job Summit to be
preceded by the ANC led Tripartite Alliance, so that it could agree on
an approach to job creation and job protection.

A COSATU Central Committee, which meets next week (22 -25 June 1998),
will develop a programme of action against the current job losses and
for creation of more jobs.


Issued by : COSATU Deputy Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi

Nowetu Mpati
COSATU Head of Communications

Tel:    + 27 + 11 + 339-4911
Fax:    + 27 + 11 + 339-2281
E-mail: nowetu@cosatu.org.za