Cosatu gives notice to Nedlac of intention to proceed with strike on 7 March

Friday, 17 February 2012 07:55

Cosatu reports that it has given notice to Nedlac of its intention to proceed with a national strike on 7 March 2012 over its demands that labour brokers be banned and that Open Road Tolling (ORT), also known as e-tolling, should be completely abandoned. This will be preceded by demonstrations and other action from 29 February onwards. After the strike on 7 March, the federation will assess the programme of action and decide on the way forward.

• See report in The Star, print edition, page 5

• Read the two press statements issued by Cosatu here

TEXT OF COSATU MEDIA STATEMENT ON LABOUR BROKERS

15 FEBRUARY 2012

PATRICK CRAVEN, COSATU NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON 

Ban labour brokers:

Section 77 Notice of intention to proceed with protest action

COSATU, on 14 February 2012, issued a notice to Nedlac of intention to proceed with protect action on 7 March 2012, in terms of Section 77 (1) (d) of the Labour Relations Act 1995.

The Nedlac Section 77 Standing Committee has now confirmed that there is a deadlock between the social partners at Nedlac on the question of labour brokers.

COSATU is now satisfied that the requirements of Section 77 of the Labour Relation Act have been met for protected socio-economic protest and that this action is necessary for the effective resolution of this matter.

COSATU is therefore calling on all workers to support the socio-economic protest action by engaging in various forms of protest, which will involve:

-           Work stoppages

-           Rallies, marches, demonstrations pickets (including lunch-time pickets), placard demonstrations, siyalalas at or near the offices or premises of businesses that are labour brokers or businesses that use labour brokers from 29 February 2012.

-           Engagement with customers and other members of the public to inform them of the reasons for the protect action and to persuade them to support the action.

-           Calls for consumer boycotts of businesses that use labour brokers.

-           Calls for provident funds to withdraw funds invested in businesses that use labour brokers.

-           Calls for solidarity campaigns that are aimed at media, shareholders, employees, suppliers and others associated with labour brokers.

The protest actions that will involve time away from work are:

-           Rallies, marches, demonstrations pickets, placard demonstrations, etc in all major towns and cities on 7 March 2012.

-           A national stayaway or socio-economic strike on 7 March 2012.

The specific activities above will take place during working hours. The socio-economic strike will commence at 00h00 and end at 24h00 on 7 March 2012, except that shift workers will be away for the duration of one whole shift and it will be the shift that has the majority of hours on the day in question.

Following the socio-economic strike on 7 March 2012 the federation will assess the programme of action and decide on the way forward. It reserves the right to extend the programme of action. The federation action also reserves the right to amend the programme of action should this be necessary.

COSATU is adamant that Labour brokers must be completely banned!

They are nothing more than human traffickers, making huge profits by hiring out workers to their client companies as if we are no more than commodities like office furniture or stationery.

Their workers are paid lower wages and fewer benefits like medical aid and provident funds and no job security at all.

They can be hired and fired at any time by a phone call from the client company to the labour broker.

They can never plan their lives more than a week or two ahead.

We demand a total ban of this modern form of slavery!

TEXT OF COSATU MEDIA STATEMENT ON E-TOLLING

16 FEBRUARY 2012

PATRICK CRAVEN, COSATU NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON 

Section 77 Notice of intention to proceed with protest action against e-tolling

On 13 May 2011 COSATU submitted a notice under Section 77 of the labour Relations Act on Open Road Tolling (ORT) to Nedlac. Subsequently two plenary meetings to consider the notice were held, the first on 31 August 2011 and the second on 22 September 2011.

At the first meeting we tabled our demands, including the rescinding of the decision until the matter had been engaged at Nedlac, because it is a socio-economic issue. Government committed to go back and consult.

At the second meeting government indicated that, although it might have erred in not engaging Nedlac constituencies on the ORT, it acted within the Department of Transport policy framework adopted after consultation with all stakeholders, including labour.

Government further indicated that Sanral would suffer a “reputational risk” if government were to announce that it would look into alternative forms of funding. Other state-owned entities hat go out into the markets to borrow money would also suffer the same risk and their credit ratings would be affected.

Government indicated at the 2 September Section 77 Plenary meeting that the ORT will kick-start on 1 February 2012. COSATU notes that government has since postponed the implementation of the system indefinitely.

COSATU wants the system to be abandoned completely and is now of the view that the requirements of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act have been met for protected socio-economic protest and that this action is necessary for the effective resolution of this matter.

The forms of protest action, and action in contemplation and furtherance of the protest action will involve:

-           Work stoppages

-           Rallies, marches, demonstrations pickets (including lunch-time pickets), placard demonstrations, siyalalas at or near the offices of Sanral and the Department of Transport, both national and provincial, from 29 February 2012.

-           Engagement with motorists and other members of the public to inform them of the reasons for the protect action and to persuade them to support the action.

-           Calls to motorists not to b e-tags

The protest actions that will involve time away from work are:

-           Rallies, marches, demonstrations pickets, placard demonstrations and siyalalas at or near the offices of Sanral and the Department of Transport, both national and provincial.

-           A national stayaway or socio-economic strike on 7 March 2012.

The specific activities above will take place during working hours. The socio-economic strike will commence at 00h00 and end at 24h00 on 7 March 2012, except that shift workers will be away for the duration of one whole shift and it will be the shift that has the majority of hours on the day in question.

Following the socio-economic strike on 7 March 2012 the federation will assess the programme of action and decide on the way forward. It reserves the right to extend the programme of action. The federation action also reserves the right to amend the programme of action should this be necessary.

Tolling forces drivers to pay huge amounts of extra money just to travel on the province’s highways. Workers will face having to pay out thousands hundreds of extra rands every month just to travel to and from work. Consumers face massive price increases as a result of the extra cost of transporting goods to the shops being passed on to the shoppers.

We urge the cabinet to take note of the mass opposition to these tolls and instruct Sanral to abandon them for good. Meanwhile we continue to urge motorists not to register with Sanral or buy e-tags, and our members remain mobilised for a campaign of mass action if e-tolling is not scrapped. The federation calls upon government to prioritise the roll-out of efficient, reliable, affordable and safe public transport for all the people of South Africa.

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