Sunday Independent reports that Cosatu affiliate, the Chemical, Energy, Paper, Printing, Wood and Allied Workers’ Union (Ceppwawu), has rejected the essential services committee’s plan to declare the fuel industry an essential service, which would prevent employees from striking.
Ceppwawu has threatened to strike if the production, transport and distribution of fuel is declared an essential service.
“Ceppwawu rejects this outright and the union will organise all union members to mass pickets outside these hearings,” the union said this week.
The committee, which reports to the Department of Labour, announced it would hold hearings across the country next month as part of its investigation.
It told Independent Media the bid to declare the production, transport and distribution of fuel an essential service was a self-initiated investigation in terms of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
Ceppwawu said unions and their members were being undermined and knew that bosses not only inserted a balloting clause prior to a strike in amendments in the LRA, they now want to prevent workers from even going on strike.
“The union objects and rejects the intention to declare the petroleum industry an essential service, and as we speak, we are mobilising our members and shop stewards on the ground to prepare for a mother of all battles,” Ceppwawu said.
According to the union, fellow Cosatu affiliate, the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, also faced the same attempt by the government to declare education an essential service and defeated the moves.
Independent Media reported last year that the committee was investigating whether the services “rendered by educators and support staff in basic education including early childhood development” were essential.
Ceppwawu is now planning to mobilise through Cosatu and its affiliates to join it in this fight against the committee’s plans.
“These bosses are not satisfied with exploiting our members at workplaces, now they want our members not to go on legal strikes, by preventing the workers through declaring the petroleum industry an essential service.
“They keep coming for more, like a vampire. We shall meet these bosses in the streets,” warned Ceppwawu.
The committee has also launched a probe into the possibility of altering its September 1997 declaration of correctional services and services required for the functioning of courts an essential service.
The investigation will consider the Constitutional Court decision in 2011 which endorsed the concept of the restrictive interpretation of essential services.
“The net effect of the judgment is that committee designations need to be specific on the services that are essential.
“In line with the above judgment and the committee’s continuous improvement, the committee relooks some of its old designations with a view to narrowly apply them,” the committee said.
The committee said after the investigations have taken place a panel would make a determination into the matter and the process usually took about a month after the conclusion of the investigation.
The original of the above report by Loyiso Sidimba appeared on page 9 of Sunday Independent of 11 August 2019
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