Labour moves to secure PIC funds

The country’s main labour federations and trade unions have agreed on a number of measures to safeguard funds managed by the Public Investment Corporation.

The main labour federations and trade unions have agreed on a number of measures to safeguard funds managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

The resolutions, presented to Parliament on Tuesday, could be developed into a bill by the standing committee on finance before the end of 2017 after it received buy-in from all parties in the committee.

“Consideration should be given to engaging with National Treasury on the processing of the legislative amendments,” read the standing committee’s meeting resolutions.

These include the representation of trade unions of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) members on the PIC board.

Labour has been up in arms over the use of public sector workers’ pension funds for investment purposes by the largest fund manager in Africa following suggestions by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba that it could be used to bail out state-owned enterprises.

According to the list of resolutions seen by Business Day, the Public Investment Corporation Act of 2004 would have to be amended to ensure the inclusion of representatives of trade unions.

Cosatu parliamentary officer Matthew Parks said additional legislative reform was needed to ensure the GEPF funds could not be moved from the PIC.

The move was prompted by proposals made by the Federation of Unions of SA that the GEPF should move its investment portfolio to private fund managers.

Parks said the federations and unions, which included trade union Solidarity, rejected the move and wanted to ensure that even years down the line, that option was not viable for public servants.