By Mafika Siphiwe Mgcina
The ongoing stand-off between the labour movement and government must be resolved as a matter of urgency.
This is critical because as a country, we are at the precipice due to our economic situation which is in a bad state.
The economy has shed more than 2.2 million workers in the second quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Stats SA labour force survey, data shows that 640 000 of the 2.2 million job losses were in the informal sector with a further 311 000 in the domestic work sector.
This is catastrophic for a country like South Africa, with an unemployment rate of 42%. Our economy has not grown for more than a decade and the labour strike yesterday will compound the situation further as we try to reboot the economy from the effects of the pandemic.
The issue of government reneging on the three-year agreement with public sector unions should have been handled differently. Government has an obligation to honour the agreement.
Failure to do that will send the wrong signal to other bargaining councils of different sectors of the economy.
The labour relations allows for the exemption in an event the company can’t afford to pay the wages as agreed at the bargaining councils.
However, there must be compelling reasons why you can’t pay, including financial disclosures confirming the dire situation of that particular company.
Therefore, the government should also have compelling reasons for why it can’t pay the public sector workers while billions of rand are being squandered by the government departments, municipalities and state-owned entities.
Therefore, I still contend that government under the auspices of the Public Service Sector Co-ordinating Bargaining Council and the labour unions should have found an amicable way of resolving the impasse rather than a tit for tat approach which has now resulted in yesterday’s massive stayaway from work.
The country can’t afford labour unrest with such a pedestrian economy. We need to find a unique way that includes all social partners to negotiate in good faith at Nedlac to manage all the tensions now and beyond.
I, therefore, call on government and labour to go back to the negotiating table and resolve the matter of the wage agreement. The stakes are too high to contemplate. We need to save our economy.
Mgcina is the ANC Regional Task Team Co-ordinator In Sedibeng. He writes in his personal capacity.
The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of Independent Media.