Mass action threat over pension law
SOUTH Africans should brace themselves for a wave of strikes over the newly signed Tax Laws Amendment Act, which include controversial reforms to retirement funds.
The industrial action will have adverse effects on the already ailing economy, but unions said they felt that the government had left it no choice.
The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) announced yesterday that it would approach the National Economic Development and Labour Council today to seek a Section 77 certificate, which would grant it permission to embark on a two-day strike in the future.
Meanwhile, labour feder- ation Cosatu is considering whether to hold its central executive committee meeting scheduled for next month sooner so that it can conclude its mass action plans.
Cosatu met with its alliance partner, the ruling ANC, on Monday to discuss the retirement reforms, which have enraged workers as they consider them an intrusion on their personal finances.
From March 1, provident fund members under the age of 55 whose retirement savings are more than R247 500 will be required to buy annuities using two-thirds of their total savings, with the power to withdraw only one-third.
Workers have slammed the law, saying it took away their choice to cash in all their savings upon retirement, something that many workers looked forward to their whole working lives. Cosatu said it would go ahead with preparations for mass action, despite the ANC’s understanding of their discontent.
“The ANC said they need to engage the Treasury and other government stakeholders on this matter and that they will come back to us before the State of the Nation Address and after the ANC lekgotla,” Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said.
“That’s where we are, but going forward, the position of the federation is that since the meeting of the ANC did not bring about any solid proposals that help in resolving this issue, nothing has changed.”
Numsa wanted President Jacob Zuma to repeal the law in the same manner he managed to remove Des van Rooyen as finance minister following public outrage.
“This is an attack on the workers’ basic rights, in particular on young workers, who will be most affected as they have their whole working life ahead of them, so all their savings will be affected,” said Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.
He added that by promulgating the laws, the government was reinstating the original apartheid pension system that Cosatu had fought hard to convert into provident funds.
It is reinstating old apartheid system – Jim
the laws of the country. Members of the public would also be called in to make submissions.
Motlanthe said they believed they would make a difference in changing the quality of life of the people.
“It is our hope and belief that this panel will not reinvent the wheel,” he said.
The work of the panel would have to have practical meaning in the lives of people, he said.
Judge Pillay said they would also be consulting the judiciary during the course of their work because judges and magistrates saw the impact of the laws daily.
She pointed out that the panel would create an opportunity for South Africans to voice their concerns before they went on public protests. –