Cosatu threatens strike to block youth jobs scheme
ASHOWDOWN is looming between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partner the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) over the government’s proposed youth jobs incentive, writes Linda Ensor.
The federation committed itself yesterday to doing everything in its power — including embarking on a general strike — to prevent the measure from being adopted.
But it appears that the government and the ANC are preparing to take a firm stand in defence of the plan.
Strike action will be the culmination of a three-year battle by the federation against all forms of subsidisation of one segment of the labour force, which it argues will result in the displacement of unsubsidised workers, will create a multi-tiered labour market and will increase the downward pressure on wages.
Cosatu has filibustered the Treasury’s initial proposal for a youth wage subsidy for three years.
It has given notice under section 77 of the Labour Relations Act that it will embark on a general strike to protest against the draft Employment Tax Incentive Bill and e-tolls if no resolution is reached within the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac). The section allows for protest action to promote or defend socioeconomic interests of workers.
The federation and its affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA, want the draft bill withdrawn in its entirety. But the ANC insists that the parliamentary process will proceed as planned.
CAPE TOWN — The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) vowed in Parliament yesterday to resist the passage and implementation of the Employment Tax Incentive Bill, which would provide for the much-anticipated youth wage subsidy.
The subsidy was first announced by President Jacob Zuma in his 2010 state of the nation address but its implementation was thwarted by Cosatu’s opposition.
In terms of the bill — released last month — a 50% subsidy would be provided for first-time workers between the ages of 19 and 29, earning between R2,000 and R6,000 a month. The subsidy would be deducted from a company’s total pay-as-you-earn contribution.
Cosatu told public hearings on the bill by Parliament’s standing committee on finance that it would make an “urgent political intervention” through the tripartite alliance to stop the bill from going ahead, highlighting tension between the federation and the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
But Cosatu has been considerably weakened by infighting and it is unclear whether it could successfully drive its campaign, which has been on hold for much of the year.
ANC MPs criticised Cosatu for opposing the draft bill, saying the ANC represented the poor and unemployed. ANC committee member Zukile Luyenge said he would find it difficult to justify the withdrawal of a measure meant to promote youth employment to the jobless members of his rural constituency in the Transkei.
He said he was “shocked” to hear Cosatu recommend that the government not do anything about unemployment and questioned whether it wanted ANC members to create a different trade union federation.
Committee chairman Thaba Mufamadi urged constituencies to engage on the proposal on the table and stressed that the engagements could not continue “forever”.
But Cosatu parliamentary officer Prakashnee Govender said the bill “will in practice translate into a fundamental attack on the security of employment of workers, decent work standards and collective bargaining rights”.
“It will also have minimal benefits for those workers at whom the subsidies are supposedly targeted.”
Ms Govender reiterated Cosatu’s belief that the incentive would result in the displacement of unsubsidised workers and a multitiered labour market in respect of wages, benefits and overall employment conditions. It would also increase the downward pressure on wages and collective bargaining as a whole and promote the exploitation of workers through atypical forms of labour such as temporary work, labour broking and subcontracting, she said.
Cosatu raised concerns about the process ahead of the preparation of the bill, noting that the National Economic Development and Labour Council had not had the opportunity to deliberate on it. All constituencies had not approved the incentive, as required by the Youth Employment Accord, and it was not discussed at the alliance’s economic summit.
National Union of Metalworkers of SA deputy president Andrew Chirwa said incentives were not the route to follow to create jobs but were just a way of giving employers more money and the opportunity to rip off the government. What was needed was industrialisation, localisation and investment in productive enterprises, he said.
Democratic Alliance (DA) finance spokesman Tim Harris said the party would stand against any opposition to the bill by Cosatu “from both inside and outside Parliament”. Last year, Cosatu and DA members clashed outside the federation’s headquarters when the party attempted to march to Cosatu House to hand over a memorandum on the implementation of the youth wage subsidy.