Cosatu keeps labour broker ban in sights

Johannesburg - The banning of labour brokers was Cosatu's most immediate target in order to create decent jobs, president Sidumo Dlamini said on Wednesday.

Negotiations with the government and employers regarding the labour law amendments were ongoing, he told a youth job summit in Midrand.

"Our most immediate target... is to ensure that we develop labour legislation that can effectively ban labour brokers because we believe that labour brokers cannot coexist with the country's overarching objective to create decent jobs."

The federation has sought a dispensation with legislation that would help narrow the "apartheid wage gap".

Banning labour brokers was one way to achieve this, Dlamini said in a speech prepared for delivery at the summit.

Interest rate cut

The government should cut interest rates and bring back capital controls, trade union National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said at the summit.

"This will go a long way to creating employment and jobs in the country as people with money will invest in productive sectors of the economy," said secretary general Irvin Jim.

Jim said the government should devalue the rand, describing it as the "overvalued currency".

"In addition, government should put a tax on short-term capital inflow."

Jim said the macroeconomic policies put in place after 1994 did not work.

"Government cannot continue with macroeconomic frameworks that are not working. It is time for government to be bold and intervene.

"Gear (growth, employment and redistribution) did not work," he said.

He said the macroeconomic policies after 1994 had laid the basis for accelerated deindustrialisation and job losses.

"We have done nothing significant since 1994 through our macroeconomic policies to dismantle the dominance of the mineral energy complex in our economy and society."

He said the Gear strategy framework led to massive job losses across various sector of the economy as the labour market became a target.

"Companies restructured their operations (and) outsourced what were defined as non-core functions. Permanent jobs and worker benefits and conditions were presented as a threat to the future of industries."

The summit was convened to look at what could be done to improve South Africa's economy following the economic recession and decisive measures government could take to improve the manufacturing sector.