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A TWO-year battle, complete with ministerial interference, to keep a Cosatu affiliate from being placed under judicial administration should soon finally come to an end, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap.
And he maintains that in this week of the State of the Nation address the labour movement should think as much about the state of the unions and union capture as they do about the nation and state capture.
Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the next few weeks, Bell says that the Chemical, Energy, Pulp Paper and Wood Union (Ceppwawu) will be put under curatorship and its assets protected on behalf of the union’s members. This is the culmination of more than six years of controversy surrounding the union and in particular its general secretary, Simon Mofokeng. This case, says Bell, provides a worrying insight into the state of the unions and the dangers of capture.
Ceppwawu is apparently in debt and has not, since 2010, filed properly audited financial and membership records as required by law. However, the union also has an investment company that holds assets estimated at anything between R3.65bn and R6bn. But these assets, which belong to the union’s members, do not apparently feature on any union books.
Until January 2015 the registrar of labour relations, Johan Crouse, had only one course open to him when unions consistently defaulted: deregistration. But this would not only have caused, in the Ceppwawu case, problems for the union members, it would also, as one official noted, “have left the cheque book in the hands of some individuals”.
But a 2015 amendment to the Labour Relations Act changed this: the registrar was allowed to apply to the labour court to have a defaulting union placed under administration. Crouse applied - and was instructed by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant to withdraw the application.
When he did not, he was removed, his deputy was put in his place and the application was withdrawn. Crouse and his union, PSA, took the matter to court - and won. The minister appealed - and on January 26, lost again.
Crouse, who is due to retire in October, is now back as registrar and Bell understands that the administration application is again under way.
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