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South Africa: Workers Feel Bargaining Pressure
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Amy Musgrave
Johannesburg
THE increase in atypical forms of work in the formal economy and the extensive growth of the informal economy mean that better collective-bargaining systems are needed, says a report released last week by labour think-tank Naledi.
The document on "bargaining for a living wage", which was produced for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), also calls on unions to start prioritising occupational health and safety, as well as HIV/AIDS in their collective bargaining.
The report says that the decline in bargaining councils and the reduction in unionised employees mean that the ability and strength of workers to bargain for a living wage has come under severe pressure.
"Rolling back these setbacks is a challenge that requires unions to mobilise more creatively and more actively, particularly where they have been spectacularly absent, such as among atypical workers," it says.
With the wage negotiation season approaching, the report suggests issues that unions should be considering.
Last month Cosatu's central executive committee came out in support of the proposals in the report, with the committee broadly agreeing that unions should not accept anything below double-digit percentage increases during this year's wage bargaining.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that wage- increase demands needed to take into account rising inequality between rich and poor. Cosatu's national office bearers would form a "living wage" committee to guide its affiliates.
The 42-page report acknowledges that only some unions, bargaining councils and companies have made progress in responding to HIV/AIDS .
However, it says that the lack of HIV/AIDS policies in some unions, and the absence of debates in a number of bargaining councils is symbolic of the lack of commitment in tackling the epidemic at the workplace.
"It is critical for unions to prioritise HIV/AIDS in their negotiations with employers ... Furthermore, there is a need to strengthen bargaining councils so that they do not only deal with issues of HIV/AIDS during bargaining rounds, but so that they can also monitor and enforce the implementation agreements relating to HIV/AIDS. This means that there is a need for a comprehensive approach within the bargaining councils to enforce compliance," says the report.
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It also warns that occupational health, safety and a good working environment must be included in collective bargaining negotiations seeing that the state's monitoring of occupational health and safety is "rather poor".
Just more than 1,4-million deaths as a result of work-related accidents were reported to the Compensation Fund between 2001 and last year.
"Occupational health, safety and a good working environment must be seen as collective bargaining issues and included in negotiations particularly in sectors such as mining, construction and chemical, which are prone to injuries. Furthermore, workers need to be united and empowered in order to reduce the incidence of risky and unhealthy working conditions," the report says.
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