COSATU INTENDS TO PROCEED WITH FURTHER PROTEST ACTION ON
PRIVATISATION
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, Cosatu, notified
Nedlac yesterday that it intends to proceed with further protest
action on the issue of privatisation.
The
notice states that each Cosatu region will undertake protest
action between 12h00 and 15h00 on one day between 7 and 9 November.
The Western Cape and Western Transvaal will protest on 7 November,
the Free State/Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Province
will protest on 8 November and the Wits, Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu
Natal regions will protest on 9 November.
The protest action will include marches, pickets and
demonstrations.
Employers should contact Cosatu's regional secretaries if they
are in any doubt about the action and which region they fall
into.
Cosatu
notified Nedlac on 2 October that protest action would take
place on 24 and 25 October for employees in the Manufacturing and
Service Sector; on 16 and 17 October in the Public Sector and
Parastatals and on 23 October in the mining construction and energy
sector. Cosatu was to notify Nedlac of the times and duration of
the protest action, but this information has not been received.
Background
Cosatu tabled a Section 77(1)(b) notice at Nedlac on 14 June. A
meeting of the Nedlac Standing Committee was held to consider the
notice on 29 June. Subsequent to this meeting, one bilateral
meeting was held between Government and Cosatu, subsequent to
Government's responding in writing to the issues raised in Cosatu's
notice. The standing committee met with the parties again on 2
August, after which it was agreed that there seemed to be no
possibility of Government accepting Cosatu's demand that Government
halt all privatisation initiatives pending the establishment of
policy and legislation to guide restructuring, as specified in
Cosatu's notice. The Standing Committee therefore agreed that the
matter could be deemed to have been considered in Nedlac, as per
the requirements of Section 77(1)(c) of the Labour Relations Act.
Cosatu tabled its "d" notice on 2 August, in which it gave dates in
August on which it would protest. It also said that after August
further action may take place and it would notify Nedlac
accordingly.
In the notice, Cosatu refers to the programme the state has
embarked upon to privatise state assets, enterprises, services and
undertakings. It also refers to the restructuring of state
enterprises, undertakings and services carried out by the state and
the state's opening up of industries or sectors in order to provide
for competition. The notice states that Cosatu is not opposed to
restructuring in itself, but it argues that the state's
restructuring process forms part and parcel of the broader
privatisation programme, which it opposes.
Cosatu's notice argues that the state's privatisation programme
detrimentally affects the socio-economic interests of the poor,
which includes workers and the working class in general. It
specifies a number of demands, including that government halt all
privatisation initiatives pending the establishment of a clear
policy and legislation to guide restructuring. The notice says that
the policy must be binding on all state-owned or controlled
entities, and must be negotiated by the parties to Nedlac, and
subsequently tabled as legislation. In the notice Cosatu says that
the protest would include marches, protest rallies, demonstrations
and an initial stayaway of two days
The notice was tabled in terms of Section 77 of the Labour
Relations Act, which allows registered trade unions or federations
of trade unions to undertake protest action to promote and protect
the social and economic interests of workers, if they follow
certain procedures. [Section 77 (1)(a)]. Before embarking on
protest action, the trade union concerned is required to serve
notice on Nedlac stating the reasons for the protest action and the
intended nature of the protest action. [Section 77(1)(b).] The Act
requires the Nedlac parties to meet with the trade union and the
parties at whom the notice is directed, to consider the issues
raised.[Section 77(1)(c)]. Should the issues remain unresolved
after thorough consideration, workers are entitled to participate
in protected protest action 14 days after serving a second notice
on Nedlac of their intention to proceed with the action. [Section
77(1)(d)].
Issued by Nedlac
23 October 2001
Contact Jennifer Wilson
482 2511
083 652 8524