Security+employers+dig+in+their+heels,+Irene+Louw,+City+Press

City Press, Johannesburg, 06/05/2006 21:24 - (SA)
=Security employers dig in their heels=


 * IRENE LOUW**

NEARLY two months into the violent private security strike, no solution is in sight after employers last week refused to return to the negotiating table to engage the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu).

Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said: "I hope now the South African public understands what made me describe their attitude as arrogant and intransigent. I also said that the employers seem not to care about how long the strike persists as long as their profits are not affected. It is the South African public and the economy that suffer from the effects of this protracted strike."

Employers said they will not be blackmailed into returning to the negotiating table with the "thoroughly discredited" union.

Satawu spokesperson Ronnie Mamba said: "We have noted with concern that each time there is a court ruling against them, the employers will reject it. What we did not anticipate was that they would extend the same attitude towards Mdladlana and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).

"We have also noted that they have consistently rejected rulings by black judges and accepted those made by white judges. Given their attitude, it makes us wonder if this is coincidental. We believe that members of our judiciary are competent, as are members of the executive of the country."

The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) also came out in support of the union saying it will organise solidarity action.

"It is clear that they are trying to break Satawu. Yet Satawu is by far the largest union in the industry with 35 000 members," said Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.

Fourteen unions representing 25 000 members signed an agreement with employers accepting an 8,3 percent wage increase as opposed to original 11 percent demand. The agreement was signed in the absence of the majority union.

"What I find strange is that these employers are rejecting the CCMA's offer to resolve the dispute. How then are they hoping to resolve the strike other than through mediation and arbitration?" asked Mdladlana.

He said the employers' decision to challenge the legality of the strike hardly addressed the dispute and its causes. "Even if they were to fire all strikers the dispute would remain.

"I once again call for sanity to prevail and for employers to swallow their pride and go back to negotiations," he said.

Employers also insist that Satawu be held responsible for the violence that characterised the strike. The SA Chamber of Business (Sacob) would not comment on the employers' decision but said it regretted the "prolongation of the strike by certain segments of the security industry and deplores the extent and nature of the violence that has accompanied the strike".

"It is hoped that the affected parties can find a suitable arbitrary mechanism that will resolve their differences in a manner that conforms to the requirements of the labour legislation. Sacob further believes that the Department of Labour should contribute towards resolving the differences in the interpretation of the negotiations that have taken place so far," Sacob said in a statement.

A meeting by the security sector unions last week to discuss the establishment of a bargaining council for the sector decided to solve the current impasse first.


 * From: http://www.news24.com/City_Press/Finance/0,,186-246_1928373,00.html**

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