On July 14, COSATU's office bearers convened a Special Executive Committee meeting following a barrage of retrenchment announcements by employers in several industries. The meeting agreed on a programme of action to halt job losses. This included:
The following is an edited version of the Special Executive Committee's statement issued shortly after the meeting.
The Special Executive Committee observed the present Jobs' Crisis in this way:
The current wave of job losses is a blood bath. As such, it can only be described as a massacre of workers and the working class by notoriously greedy employers bent on throwing more workers into the streets to Ace poverty.
This is an economic crisis comparable to none in the recent decades. The statistics that are being advertised pointing to the "recovery" of the economy are good news only to the bosses and not the workers who are being retrenched and for whom "growth" does not come their way in the form of jobs. Capital has declared war on workers and the working class. The retrenchments we are witnessing have been going on since the mid 1980s; meaning that there is something fundamentally wrong in our economy. In short, it is a structural problem of the economy. The intended remedy through the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy (Gear) has surely failed to cure this structural disease.
At its introduction, it was said that Gear would produce 300 000 jobs a year after three years. Instead, 180 000 jobs were lost last year with hundreds more on the line this year.
There is a need to rethink our economic "fundamentals". Our country needs to put in place an integrated strategy that will help us turn the tide against unemployment and the growing social inequalities.
We are witnessing capitalism's failure to address human needs. The current Globalisation based only on the maximisation of profits has worsened unemployment in most parts of the world - particularly third world countries. For these countries and their people, Globalisation has meant:
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Most industries have been experiencing high rates of job losses. Many COSATU unions have recently taken to the streets to protest this crisis |
The Presidential Job Summit agreed on a set of proposals that will help tackle the Jobs' Crisis. The Minister of Labour recently reported on progress made in the implementation of the Summit's agreements, including the government's pledge to make R1bn available for poverty alleviation.
We welcome such measures and call for speedy implementation.
However, the implementation of the Summit's agreements alone will not address the fundamental economic problem - the structural problem of our economy. Over 300 000 people join the labour market every year. The current job losses, which rocketed to 180 000 jobs last year alone mean that even at the best rate of job creation, the unemployment will not be defeated.
The discussions at the Alliance Secretariat are to be welcome. We hope that they will form a basis for a comprehensive strategy to deal with the crisis both now and in the future.
Immediate convening of the National Framework Agreement Six Per Side Committee (composed of three government ministers and three labour representatives) to meet to discuss measures to halt the unilateral restructuring of the state owned assets.
We reiterate our demand for the urgent review of the Insolvency Act. We are convinced that this Act only compounds the liquidation crisis many of the companies face in that workers are often left in the cold having lost lifetime savings.
We also reiterate our demand for the amendment of Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act to make dismissal for operational reasons (retrenchment) a mandatory negotiations issue instead of mere consultation.
We demand an end to unilateral restructuring by companies and call for disclosure of all relevant information that will help unions put concrete alternatives to retrenchments and company closures.