Labour Wrap: No strike is illegal

Cape Town - It has taken a group of soapie actors to highlight the plight of casual and contract workers, something the trade union movement has been complaining about for years, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. 

But he notes that most of the media have wrongly referred to the 16 actors in Generations as having gone on an illegal strike.

Bell points out that no strike is illegal; that the right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution and is upheld by the conventions of the International Labour Organisation. However, he says it is unsurprising that the issue of contract and casual work is a major topic of conversation this week, and not only because of the row over Generations or even the fact that sex work and how to deal with it is again on the agenda.

It is because new amendments to the labour laws came into effect on Sunday that do close several loopholes in the existing laws. And the debate does raise the question of why any form of labour can be excluded from the protection of the labour laws. This is because the Constitution states: “Everyone has the right to fair labour practice."

However, Bell feels that the new amendments are also likely to be criticised as favouring employees over employers. But he argues that this is not the case; that the scales are still weighed against workers.