Workers+angry+about+wages+and+policy,+Terry+Bell,+BRep



=Workers are angry, not only about wages but policy=


 * Business Report, Johannesburg, July 29, 2005**


 * By Terry Bell**

Workers are angry. Not just about the huge and growing wage and welfare gap, but also about the policy framework that has allowed this situation to develop.

This is what lies behind what is probably the biggest strike wave for nearly a decade.

That it should happen now is hardly surprising since this is the time of year when unions and employers traditionally meet to negotiate wages and conditions.

The withholding of labour - the strike - is also the only weapon organised labour has in the struggle to improve those wages and conditions.

But the scale, in some cases the anger manifested, and the variety of enterprises facing worker sanctions make this strike wave particularly significant.

Strikes are ongoing or have been staged at companies as diverse as Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Eastern Cape, Highveld Steel in Witbank and X-Strata Chrome in Rustenburg, let alone the headline-grabbing stoppages at SAA, Pick 'n Pay and among the country's municipal workers.

Pay, profit sharing and the wage gap have been the primary focus, but there has also been a strong undercurrent of questioning and anger about the policy framework that has allowed the present situation to develop.

As Federation of Unions of SA general secretary Chez Milani puts it: "There is another wind of change blowing."

The direction of this new wind of change, its potential strength and duration are unclear.

But it is fuelled by an evident desire among many workers for a change in a system that has given rise to growing unemployment and poverty on the one hand, and the greater enrichment of a minority on the other. It is this that has provided the impetus for the Cosatu-promoted campaign against unemployment and poverty.

It is a campaign backed by all three federations affiliated to Nedlac, the negotiating chamber.

"This is a challenge for all of us; something has to be done," says National Council of Trade Unions general secretary Mahlomola Skhosana.

This putative national "united front" campaign, facilitated by Cosatu, is intended to bring in community, civic and religious organisations and other trade unions. It will be launched in Cape Town's city hall on August 22.

"Other regions will follow suit, the Western Cape has just got in first," says Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven.

The date itself seems significant: August 2005 will be the 22nd anniversary of the launch of the United Democratic Front (UDF), which played such a leading role in bringing down apartheid.

"I don't think we thought of it in that way, but I suppose it is a sort of UDF Mark 2," Craven admits.

The idea is to involve the broadest possible constituency to debate and put forward policies to deal with the crisis of unemployment and poverty. Milani says: "What we need are sound, concrete proposals that should aim not at halving unemployment by 2014, but eradicating it."

It also means coming up with policies that could perhaps reduce the massive rich-poor divide, which saw the UN Development Programme describe South Africa in 2003 as "in the ranks of the most uneven societies in the world". Since then, the situation has almost certainly worsened.

In fact, between 2003 and 2004, the average gap between the remuneration of executive directors and the wages of workers on the average minimum rate across all sectors increased from 111:1 to 150:1.

This may have something to do with greater disclosure of the real extent of executive remuneration, but does not detract from the fact that the gap is huge.

There are now more people unemployed than five years ago and the pay rises awarded to bosses have consistently outstripped those of workers. Last year executive directors, on average, received a 38 percent increase.

In the mining industry it would take the average miner on minimum wages 257 years to earn what the average mining company boss is paid in just 12 months.

Employees in the wholesale and retail sector point out that, on average, they have suffered wage cuts over the past five years, with rises still 10 percent below official inflation over that period.

But as Leon Grobler, the chief operations officer of the United Association of SA and one of the negotiators with SAA, puts it:

"There are many other issues such as casualisation; pay is only a symptom of an economic framework that has encouraged employers to act in a high-handed manner."

Whether UDF Mark 2 will provide remedies for this malaise remains to be seen. But August 22 may give some indication of which way, and how strongly, the new wind of change is blowing.


 * From: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=559&fArticleId=2644382