Cool it, Trevor

PLANNING Minister Trevor Manuel got off to a bad start in his new job by laying into business and labour in an astonishing attack at last week's World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town.

Some might regard his attack on labour as a good thing, because it serves to distance the new government from its leftist allies. But when it comes to labour relations, subtlety, nuance and careful negotiation are the name of the game. All of those were sorely missing from Manuel's diatribe.

According to wire service reports, Manuel referred to Cosatu's threats to strike over the make-up of Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille's all-male Western Cape cabinet as well as other non-workplace issues.

"You can't every time you disagree with a political point... take the socio-economic strike because the instrument then is like a blunt axe. It can't cut down the tree and the instrument is abused," Manuel said.

In terms of the Labour Relations Act, organised labour has the right to strike over socio-economic - that is, non-workplace related - issues. Of course, Manuel is right that Cosatu would be crazy to strike over Zille's cabinet. But he misses a crucial point.

The fact is that Cosatu threatened to strike, but didn't take any of the necessary steps to put its words into action. When it comes to labour, there's a lot of noise and empty threats. Wise people ignore the noise, and wait for action before they respond.

Red rag to a bull

If Cosatu really was going to strike because of Zille's cabinet, Manuel would have been right to criticise the trade federation. But even then, care should have been taken not to use vicious language.

You don't want to wave a red rag in front of a bull; ideally, there should be criticism, but this should be delivered in a dignified way setting critics apart from their rabble-rousing opponents.

A case in point would be recent comments by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe about union opposition to Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni's monetary policy. Mantashe made it clear that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa's march on the Reserve Bank while the monetary policy committee was meeting was unhelpful. But he didn't use unnecessarily emotive language.

In an example of far too heated use of language, Manuel also reportedly accused business of being "cowards" who crumble too easily to labour. Unsurprisingly, this comment upset business and infuriated labour. The National Union of Mineworkers retorted that it reinforced "business arrogance" and was "an encouragement to continue to refuse to give workers proper wage increments and improve conditions of service".

It's difficult to imagine how Manuel expects business to cast off its cowardice to fight labour. In the past, we have seen some digging in of heels that led to protracted strikes during wage negotiating seasons (remember the security guards' strike in 2007?).

Easy does it

Eventually, it all comes down to negotiation which - I must emphasise - is something that has to be done subtly and sensitively. By calling business leaders cowards who cave in to labour, Manuel seems to be challenging them to have big, all-guns-blazing fights with labour. No one wins in that kind of situation.

Manuel isn't using the language of constructive engagement his new position requires of him. He is fostering an us-and-them relationship with the unions - a sure-fire way of not getting anything done.

He is also harming his relationship with business. Beeld reported that he attacked business vociferously for not participating in discussions over the elimination of poverty in SA. He accused business people of being quiet over important socio-economic issues which affect South Africans intensely.

The fact is that this isn't entirely true. SA's business community sponsored the "Dinokeng scenarios" - a scenario-planning exercise looking at different future paths for the SA economy. Of course, poverty and unemployment featured. The exercise was laced with some predictable "motherhood and apple pie" advice from the business community. But it wouldn't be fair to accuse business of not taking part in the debate.

Perhaps business can do more. But it's doubtful Manuel will get them to do more if he accuses them, publicly, of cowardice. Similarly, labour will need to be reined in from time to time. But creating an us-and-them climate of confrontation will get you nowhere.

- Fin24.com