The working class is confronted with attacks on its livelihood. Over 30 million workingclass people live in poverty, with 27% of working-class children malnourished. Unemployment has reached catastrophic levels, with 12,3 million people looking but unable to find work. 43.7 % of youth aged between 15 and 24 are not in employment, education and training (NEET). Working-class communities are ravaged by crime and gender-based violence. Working-class children learn in overcrowded, understaffed schools and cannot read for comprehension. 84% of working-class people rely on a neglected, underfunded and understaffed public healthcare system.
When the heroic struggles of the working class defeated Apartheid, dreams of a better life after centuries of oppression, poverty and humiliation seemed within reach. But that dream soon became a nightmare when the ANC-led government adopted GEAR in 1996 - inaugurating the South African version of Neoliberalism. Since then, the working class has been on the defensive and the capitalist class, aided and abetted by successive ANC-led governments, has been on the attack.
A coordinated attack: austerity and the erosion of the social wage
The attacks on the living conditions of the working class take multiple forms. These include but are not limited to, the underfunding of public services and the privatisation of state-owned entities that are supposed to power development. Consistent with neoliberal dogma, the ANC-led government has been fully committed to budget cuts in crucial areas such as health and education. These cuts have had devastating and worsening consequences on the quality of life of the working class. A recent example was the startling announcement from the Western Cape provincial government that it will effectively lay off 2400 teachers whose contracts are due to end on the 31st of December 2024. Other provinces have not been spared the wrath of National Treasury's budget cuts. The KZN Province has a budget shortfall of R4 billion and is on course to lay off 11,092 teachers. Gauteng province, Mpumalanga, the North West province, and the Northern Cape all face similar fates.
Public health care provision faces similar problems. Across the country, there is a shortage of healthcare professionals and personnel in public facilities. Vacant posts of health professionals are left unfilled, leaving the public health care system unable to adequately deliver quality healthcare to the overwhelming majority of the working class. For instance, the Free State alone has a 22.% vacancy rate for doctors, followed by Mpumalanga at 18.5% and Limpopo Province at 17.6%.
Workers as scapegoats for low economic growth
The mainstream commentators, including capitalist parties like the Democratic Alliance, clearly state that unions and the cost of labour are to blame for the economy's sluggish growth. Daily, we are told by the ideologues of the capitalist class that the profit-motive fuels valuable innovation and that the best way to organise society is through the free market. These free market fundamentalists argue that were it not for the inflexible and stringent labour laws, businesses would invest, jobs would be created, hunger and poverty would be banished, and the scene would be set for prosperity to reign.
For the DA and others, workers must be allowed to auction themselves to the lowest bidder to ensure their prosperity. They fault minimum wage laws and worker protections for rising unemployment. They claim that unions undermine employment by insisting workers receive a living wage, that is, a wage that is not enough for a worker to live on. Unfortunately, the lives of the black working class mean very little to these fundamentalists.
It is from this perspective that the proposed labour amendments must be understood. The aim is to disarm the bargaining power of labour, making it easy for employers to hire and fire workers at will. Put differently, the proposed labour amendments are not merely technical legal proposals for precision or efficiency. These laws reflect the brazen class warfare waged by the capitalist class and a government that does its bidding.
The proposed labour amendments The government and organised businesses have, through NEDLAC, put forward proposals to amend the labour laws. These proposals attempt to give effect to what has long been suggested to remedy the low-growth South African economy – that the South African labour regime needs to be reformed. The proposed amendments are not politically or ideologically neutral but serve the interests of the capitalist class. Below are some of the most vicious attacks on the hard-won gains of the working class
- No Need For A Formal Hearing ○ Presently, before a worker can be dismissed, he/she must be charged and called to a disciplinary hearing. With the proposed changes, employers are not obliged to convene a formal disciplinary hearing disciplinary hearing before disciplining or dismissing a worker. The employer can merely request the worker to provide written reasons as to why he/she should not be dismissed. If the worker does not provide written reasons, the worker can be dismissed without the employer convening a disciplinary hearing.
- No Rights For New And Young Workers In Relation To Dismissals ○ For the first six months of their employment, newly hired workers younger than 30 will not have the same protections as other workers against unfair dismissals, except when it is deemed an 'automatically unfair dismissal'. This means that the employers and government want the unrestricted right to dismiss newly employed workers without following due process1 during the first six months of employment. They want to hire and fire young workers at will.
- Unfair Labour Practices Are To Be Limited ○ If this proposed amendment becomes law, then workers and unions can no longer refer unfair labour practice disputes in relation to promotion, demotion, training of the employees and the provision of benefits to the CCMA. Also, if an employer refuses to reinstate a worker in accordance with any agreement, then workers can no longer refer an unfair labour practice dispute to the CCMA.
- Labour Brokers And Short-Term Contracts ○ The employers and Government are proposing to extend the period of labour brokering from three months to six months. In other words, employers want to extend the period beyond which labour broker workers are deemed permanent employees of the client from three months to six months. With the proposed changes to the LRA, employers also want to be able to employ an employee on a fixed-term contract or successive fixed-term contracts for longer than six (6) months of employment instead of three months.
- Attacks on the minimum wage ○ To reduce the cost of labour, employers want to amend the national minimum wage figure to include all benefits a worker receives. Currently, the minimum wage refers to a worker's hourly wage and does not include benefits and the cost of the employer's contribution to UIF and Provident Funds, for example. Now the employer wants to include these costs in the hourly wage mandated by law.
- Attacks on the right to strike ○ The capitalists want to stop the continuous use of Section 77 strikes, as is currently the case. Regarding Section 77 of the LRA, a union/ federation of unions can call a socio-economic protest strike. The certificate for such protest strikes lasts indefinitely. Now the employers and government want the certificate to lapse if it is not used within 12 months. The unions/ federations must then reapply again or submit a new application. This is another way in which working-class power is undermined by these amendments in the bosses' interest.
The labour law amendments are part of a broader, coordinated, and systematic attack on the working class, and we, as SAFTU, will organise in defence of our interests and the interests of the broader working class.