COSATU PRESS STATEMENT MARKING THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE LRA

12 November 1998

Today (11.11.98) marks the second anniversary of the Labour Relations
Act.  Two years after its implementation COSATU remains convinced that
the LRA remains a legislative milestone in our new democracy.

For workers, the LRA represents a turning point in their working
lives.  From an environment of extreme exploitation and daily
humiliations under apartheid legislation, the LRA moved our country
into a situation where workers now have rights that protect their
dignity as stakeholders at the workplaces and in the economy.  Indeed
millions of workers have reason to continue to celebrate the passage
of this piece of legislation.

Unfortunately not everybody will celebrate the anniversary of the LRA.
 Those who yearn for the return of apartheid exploitation and
oppression in the workplace, continue to blame the LRA and other
transformative legislation for every little difficulty in the
post-apartheid transition.  These forces try to cover their
ideological and sometimes racist positions behind the false arguments
of labour market flexibility.  They have waged a relentless campaign
against any attempt to transform the labour market in South Africa.
They know that there has been a jobless growth since 1985.  The also
know that unemployment has always been high.  Yet they continue to
blame the new LRA and the new government for both of these factors.
No wonder workers interpret these protestations as reflective of a
view that suggest a preference of apartheid legislation over
transformative legislation.  They have even tried to blame the BCEA
and the Skills Act - which will only come into effect on 1 December
1998 and 1999 respectively.

These critics refuse to acknowledge that despite their negativism, the
LRA has proven to be a major advance in transforming the labour
market.  Any serious analyst will come to the conclusion that: · While
person days lost this year appear to be higher, the reality is that on
average, the number of person days lost has declined significantly
since the LRA came into effect particularly if one compares this to
the post 1994 period.  One of the main contributing factors to the
reduction of the strike actions as well as person days lost is the
rights that now workers enjoy but which they were previously forced to
take strike action to win. · Most wage negotiations are now settled
without resorting to strike action. · The CCMA increasing plays a
crucial role in settling wage disputes. · The success rate of the CCMA
in settling individual dismissal cases is particularly impressive. ·
The labour market has now become a lot more efficient, thanks to the
structures created in terms of the LRA. · The number of protracted
strikes has declined significantly.  This year's longest strike was
the motor industry strike, which lasted six weeks.  Under apartheid
legislation, strikes used to last for months  - many will remember the
1986 OK Bazaar strike which dragged on for more than 6 months as well
as the Railway and Post Office strikes.

At the very least we expect these anti-workers ideologues to
acknowledge these facts before they make their claims and
generalisations.

COSATU regrets that a few of the high-profile strikes were marred by
incidents of violence, including deaths in some cases.  We remain
unequivocal on this: We do not condone the use of violence in the
collective bargaining process.  We will continue to educate our
members on the importance of respecting a proper code of conduct
during strikes.  However, we also object to those who use these
isolated incidents to create an impression that all strikes are
accompanied by violence and the destruction of property.

COSATU maintains that the labour market is more than sufficiently
flexible.  Those demanding labour market flexibility or who demands
that the LRA be reviewed are confusing labour market flexibility with
the denial of worker rights or with the relegation of workers to
second class citizenship.  We will continue vigorously to resist any
attempts to review the LRA or undermine the gains we have made in
introducing equity in our labour markets.

Nowetu Mpati
COSATU Head of Communications

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