Johannesburg - Thousands of workers celebrated Workers Day on Friday as the spectre of a jobs bloodbath loomed large.
The current global economic slowdown is worsening a precarious employment situation exacerbated by increasing casualisation.
Twin challenges are threatening to expose the soft underbelly of organised labour in the country: the weakness of the workers' voice on the shop floor as well as increasing casualisation.
Sociology professor at the University of Johannesburg, Sakhela Buhlungu, argued that the unions' weaknesses at grassroots level added to the erosion of formal employment. "The fact that formal employment is being eroded and union federations are doing nothing is concerning," he said.
"Unions are strong at policy level but weak on the ground, where employers bypass labour legislation," he says.
He noted, however, that the country's labour legislation and the promise that it would be upheld by the new government was justification for the workers' celebrations.
Despite the challenges, union leaders insisted that workers celebrate the fact that the country's labour legislation had improved their conditions in the past 15 years.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said workers had to come together to celebrate the achievements of the past few years and thrash out ways to deal with the current crisis facing them.
Environment was not ideal for celebrations
"The overall working and living conditions of workers have improved in the past 15 years, but casualisation is the new threat that is increasing the gap between the poor and the rich," he said.
He conceded that the environment was not ideal for celebrations.
In the past few years many solid paying jobs have been turned into low-paid, insecure and temporary forms of employment through labour-brokerage or outsourcing. This has seen an increase in working hours and deterioration in conditions as big businesses try to maximise profits and stay competitive.
Workers employed by labour brokers also do not enjoy benefits like medical aid, pension funds and the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Research conducted last year by the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (Naledi) shows that casualisation was prevalent in the retail, construction and food manufacturing industries.
Naledi, Cosatu's research arm, also found that the public sector was guilty of the practice following pressure to privatise state-owned enterprises and reduce the level of employment and expenditure to cut the budget deficit.
"Re-regulation has not worked. We need to ban labour brokers," said Rudi Dicks, director of Naledi.
He said Cosatu would use its growing influence in the tripartite alliance to ensure labour brokers were banned.
In its manifesto, seen to favour poor people, the ANC made provision for the pursuit of decent work as a priority. "We want to see fundamental changes in economic policies," Dicks said.
Casualisation undermines labour laws
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) wants the government to regulate labour brokers and put in monitoring mechanisms to ensure they comply with the labour regulations.
"Casualisation is one way big business exploits and undermines labour legislation," said Fedusa general-secretary Denis George.
But as workers gathered throughout the country on Friday to reflect on the gains achieved, few were likely to find a cause for celebration beyond the day.
More companies are expected to cut jobs this year as they look to contain costs in the face of falling sales and difficult credit markets. Others are shelving expansion plans, with adverse outcomes for job creation.
According to Statistics SA, more than 50 000 jobs were lost between January and December last year.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has reported that more than 45 000 jobs have been lost in the motor industry and among engineering and auto components manufacturers.
So tough are the economic conditions that thousands of workers are taking voluntary retirement and working for shorter periods.
In an effort to save jobs, hundreds of Numsa members picketed outside the Reserve Bank on Wednesday to express their desire for a more aggressive rate cut to help yank the economy out of the potential recession. "It is very difficult and traumatic to operate in these conditions," Vavi said.
The Reserve Bank responded with a 100-basis-point decrease in interest rates on Thursday.
But Vavi said it was encouraging that government, labour and business had come together to thrash out ways of cushioning South Africans against the crisis.
Retrenchments mean a loss of revenue for unions which could adversely affect their ability to protect the rights of workers.
This points to a possible dwindling of workers' influence as the pool of unionised workers shrinks.
- City Press