Manuel's remarks 'offensive'

Johannesburg - Cosatu and the SA Communist Party on Monday strongly criticised Trevor Manuel, head of the National Planning Commission, for suggesting that trade unions were exacerbating the global economic crisis by going on strike.

"Contrary to Manuel's insinuation, Cosatu has not recently called any strikes under Section 77," said Patrick Craven, spokesperson for the Congress of SA Trade Unions.

He said a small number of strikes that had taken place recently had been called by affiliated unions over very specific, legitimate grievances over pay and working conditions, unrelated to the global economic crisis.

"While Cosatu supported these justifiable strikes, the federation's priority is always to seek to resolve disputes without strikes, and indeed the vast majority are settled through negotiation."

Manuel accused trade unions of abusing their right to call socio-economic strikes under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum last week, Manuel said business leaders were cowards for not standing up to unions.

Craven said Section 77 was a mechanism for resolving disputes over socio-economic issues, such as electricity tariff increases or opposition to privatisation, through a process of negotiations at Nedlac.

"It involves a long procedure to ensure that the matter is fully considered and to try to reach agreement through consensus. Only after a failure to agree has been formally registered by Nedlac, can the unions embark on lawful protest action."

The SA Communist Party said: "Manuel has forgotten that we are no longer under the rule of the 1996 Class Project which he so diligently served as finance minister. The working class has suffered immensely from the neo-liberal policies he pursued under the previous regime."

Spokesperson Malesela Maleka said the SACP found his remarks "deeply offensive, insensitive and against government's commitment to the creation of decent work as the core pillar of economic policy.

"For Minister Manuel and others to try and use the post-Polokwane alliance relations to try and silence working class organisation and mobilisation is not acceptable," he said.

He said the working class was not for sale at the whims of capitalist sentiments to try and please imperialism and would stand its ground. Maleka said the SACP hoped the ANC leadership would ask Manuel to clarify his comments and to apologise to the majority of the people whom he had offended.

- Sapa