Labour constituency speech by Sam Shilowa, Cosatu General Secretary

Comrade deputy President, delegates, distinguished guests, comrades and friends.

Early last year, the Nedlac parties gathered in this venue to launch Nedlac. Welaunched Nedlac to help rebuild the economy and society through a consensus forged amongvarious stakeholders.

But we said, and I quote:

"The road to that consensus will, no doubt, be stormy and rocky. You cannot bringtogether Jabu Xulu, earning R200 per week, after working for 15 years, with a family offive to feed, and John Smith, the chief executive officer of a major conglomerate, earningR20 000 per week, and expect that it will be a calm and easy process. But bring themtogether we must. The alternative is for the new democracy to flounder on the rocks ofcontinual strife and conflict over all matters of production and distribution. But if Jabucomes to Nedlac, prepared to work on economic growth, he expects John to come to Nedlac towork on the redistribution of wealth."

We committed ourselves as far as is possible to work through this institution toachieve certain goals. These goals were enunciated by the various parties. We did notnecessarily agree with one another, but remained hopeful that, given political will by theleadership, the membership and the public, we would succeed to reach significant agreementon many fronts.

As we meet here today, we need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of ourperformance, set ourselves new priorities, and spell out the process for the year ahead.

Let me deal with the strengths of Nedlac's first year.

First, a number of significant agreements were reached. These include the LabourRelations Act, legislation dealing with health and safety in the mines, and therecommendation for our country to ratify five ILO conventions. In addition, negotiationsare continuing on a range of matters such as the inclusion of a social clause in tradeagreements, the social plan, and employment conditions.

Second, we have widened the national debate and consensus-seeking process on a range ofnew policy areas, such as fiscal and monetary policy, and crucial developmental issues,such as housing, education, health care and rural development.

Third, the Nedlac process has impacted significantly on the national Budget. Apotentially difficult area relating to the taxation of the incomes derived from retirementfunds was resolved through negotiation. We are pleased that the Vat rate was not increaseddespite mutterings from some quarters.

Let me deal with the weaknesses.

One weakness has been the failure by the parties in Nedlac to put adequate resourcesinto the process. Participation by parties has consequently not been consistent. We shouldall undertake to rectify this. May I note a concern too: it is important that while theleadership of constituencies need to play an important role in the forging of agreement,it should not be at the expense of undermining our respective negotiators.

A second and potentially more important weakness has been the attack on the Nedlacprocess and goals which has been launched from outside the institution. The SAFoundation's "Growth for All" document immediately comes to mind. Its call forthe weakening of one of the constituencies in Nedlac has placed this body under strain.Their call for a return to apartheid on the shopfloor has angered our members. Theirattempt to let the poor pay for their privileges has raised doubts about the value ofseeking to reach consensus.

Yet, despite these, we do not wish to walk away from the process of seeking to reachagreement on the challenges facing our country. We do not intend to abandon the Nedlacprocess.

Chairperson, Nedlac provides major stakeholders with a forum to achieve our respectivegoals as well as to jointly determine frameworks and priorities to promote the nationalinterest. It is an attempt to create participatory democracy on social and economicmatters. It is a test of society's commitment to emulate the socalled "politicalmiracle" on the economic front. It should deliver jobs, housing, water, electricity,sanitation, telecommunication, alleviate poverty, improve income distribution, enhanceproductivity, expand the economy, etc.

As Cosatu president John Gomomo said last year, Nedlac does not signify an end toconflict. You cannot wipe out years of oppression and exploitation by creating a forum. Aslong as Jabu Xulu's earnings remain so low after 15 years of service, and John Smith'sincome is so high, the struggle for better wages will continue; for as long as CynthiaGumede stays in a shack, with no water, electricity, sanitation, etc., her struggle forthese basic necessities must be reflected in Nedlac.

We need to answer the cry of the rural women for jobs and rural development; theyouth's cry for education and employment needs to be satisfied. Indeed, the quest forsocial equity is more evident than ever before in our country and we dare not fall.

What are the strategic goals for the year? These are outlined in our document"Social Equity and Job Creation". There are six specific goals we set ourselves:

• One, job creation through areas such as public works and mass housing programmes, job sharing, training the workforce, increasing productivity, and land distribution.
• Two, redistributive fiscal policies through measures like social spending and tax policies.
• Three, breaking the concentration of economic power and promoting small and medium- sized enterprises.
• Four, improved worker rights: dealing with collective bargaining, strong union rights, investing in training the workforce, ending the apartheid wage gap, and disclosure of information.
• Five, industrial democracy, through a range of shopfloor and board mechanisms.
• Six, promoting economic development and worker rights internationally.

Chairperson, all of these should be achieved. We also pledge our support to the goalsof the development community. Chairperson, we want to each agreement with the businesscommunity. Such agreement can be of tremendous benefit to our society. Permit me, however,to reflect an increasing concern: when we evaluate the SA Foundation document, we see noprospect of reaching agreement on a programme which undermines the fundamental values of afair society. On the other hand, when we listen to some of the policy pronouncements madeby Nafcoc, I have the feeling that, should we lock our negotiators together in a room, wecan reach substantial agreement on many issues fairly quickly.

We call on organised business to put forward a programme consistent with the ethos andvalues of the reconstruction and development programme.

We offer a preparedness then to negotiate in good faith.

To make this work will require maturity. It requires leadership. Above all, it requiresa change in attitude and in some instances it will need sacrifices by all. Some will makemore sacrifices than others, depending on the issues. Wealthy South Africans will need toaccept the need for real and significant sacrifices. We cannot ask the poor to bear themain burden of financing reconstruction.

What do we see as the process ahead? I suggest that the best way for parties to makeprogress - and agreement on economic and social policy we must seek, with determination -is to pursue the following:

• Define a series of strategic areas for reaching agreement.
• Set ourselves deadlines to develop conceptual agreement, and to spell out the detail of the policy.
• Reprioritise the work of the chambers to be in line with the strategic goals.
• Manage the Nedlac process tightly, to ensure we are able to reach our goals.
• Build the capacity of the constituencies to participate in a range of important, but sometimes complex, negotiations.
• Communicate the work and progress of Nedlac more effectively to the leadership, the constituencies, and the public at large through the media.

We are committed to ensure that our members remain on board. We hope the same willhappen for the other Nedlac parties. We call on business to become as patriotic on theeconomic front as they are on the sports field. Whatever their problems with us and/orgovernment, talk of disinvestment must come to an end. Let's all be patriots for the goodcause: growth, equity and participation.