We have legislation that allows the Labour Ministry to see beyond the politics and the need to appease future ANC voters.
Unfortunately, the Labour Ministry doesn’t seem to take into account the needs of South Africa but rather the needs of the political bosses.
We know that Transnet and the unions have been meeting regularly at the Commission for Conciliation, Medication and Arbitration (CCMA). The strike has crippled South African ports.
We also know that some of the regular users of the ports have agreed to supplement their normal fees to pay for an extra increase.
It took a full week of destructive striking before the government promised to go back to the bargaining table. The port users tried, from their side, to push the government to offer a bit more for the port users to swallow some of the costs.
Although the strikes around the ports have been reasonably contained, with little violence, we are sitting on a ticking time bomb.
The parties have agreed on picketing rules and, to a large degree, have contained themselves within the rules. The minister of employment and labour is so weak-kneed that he called on others to join him in the discussions.
It took the unions to call on the president, with the ministers of finance and public enterprises, to intervene.
I once again call on the CCMA to use its extensive powers under Section 150 of the Labour Relations Act. Both the strikes are economically disastrous. They will destroy industries and can destroy the South African economy even more. Coupled with all our other problems that are mostly because of the government, the strikes might leave us in a position where there is no going back.
The past has shown that Minister Thulas Nxesi has always held back from using his powers because he doesn’t want to anger the union. Hopefully, there is someone in the government who is going to think about the country other than the voting fodder.
The CCMA director can appoint an advisory arbitration panel that can make an advisory award which is in the public interest.
The strikes will cause an acute national crisis, affecting normal social and economic functioning. These are the actual criteria in the legislation. The award made by the advisory arbitration panel will be binding on the parties if one or more of the trade unions and or employers organisations that are party to the dispute accept or are deemed to have accepted the award.
We can’t wait and we should not be subject again to the duplicitous behaviour of any minister.
* Michael Bagraim is a labour lawyer.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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