Clothing union marches in Newcastle

In this post:

- Clothing Union march - Newcastle 26 August 2011

- SA will not change labour law- cabinet

- SA  government officials linked to clothing workers' missing money

Sactwu action in Newcastle

The South African clothing union, Sactwu has decided to "march" in Newcastle to highlight the exploitation of workers taking place there.

Newcastle has become the epicentre of not only the wage debate in the clothing sector but has become representative of South Africa’s entire labour deliberation.

In a show of support, the KZN branch of Cosatu “fully supports the March in Newcastle”, that takes place today, as “Newcastle is the seedbed of super exploitation of workers in the Clothing and Textile Industry.”

Cosatu’s statement continues:

COSATU in KZN has always maintained that no labour laws will ever function properly if nothing is done about those employers in Newcastle. To them nothing is of importance except super-exploitation and the advancement of maximum profit accumulation.

Clearly they are capable of defying any and every labour law under the pretence that there is labour surplus in abundance. They continue to undermine bargaining council decisions and settlements and subject workers to the worst of conditions. It is the same employers who broke the record by going on strike against government and the industry’s bargaining council. It is the same employers who locked in an employee who was highly pregnant and was forced to deliver at the workplace.

Clearly as long as there are employers like those in Newcastle the country will continue to lead the world in poverty, income inequalities and unemployment. As COSATU KZN, we will be represented by the Provincial Secretary, Zet Luzipo at the march and will be demanding full compliance with all decision of the bargaining council, an end to labour brokers and better Occupational Health and Safety.

Cabinet: No, Pravin, we won't relax SA's labour laws

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA Aug 25 2011 

Cabinet has moved to quash speculation that South Africa's rigid labour legislation might be eased in the interests of job creation following pronouncements on the matter from, among others, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel.

Briefing the media on Thursday following Cabinet's regular Wednesday fortnightly meeting, government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said Cabinet wanted to "place on record" that the labour department was the lead department on all labour matters.

As far as Cabinet was concerned, the only labour law amendments under consideration were those being processed by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant through the National Economic Development and Labour Council processes. "Cabinet reiterates that South Africa's labour laws are in compliance with the International Labour Organisation," Manyi said.

That's not what Gordhan said

On August 15, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan suggested South Africa might have to relax its labour laws in certain cases to grow jobs.

"We may have to change the way we see the labour dispensation in South Africa," he told an internal auditors' conference in Johannesburg.  For example, a balance needed to be found to retain the jobs of 10 000 people working at clothing factories in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, while still allowing them to earn a reasonable wage and keeping the factories open.

Factories in the area had threatened to close down and relocate to Lesotho or Botswana if they were forced to pay minimum wages. Gordhan said laws might also have to be relaxed to allow young people to enter the workplace and gain skills and experience at lower wages, but not at the expense of people who already had jobs. Unless such changes were made, "we will not be able to make the breakthrough we need to create jobs in South Africa".  However, this would be done in the awareness of the struggle against apartheid for human rights, decent work, and decent wages, he said.

Manuel's labour

Two days later, former finance minister and now Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel appeared to endorse Gordhan's suggestion that labour laws might need to be relaxed to create more jobs.  In the National Assembly, opposition leader Athol Trollip asked Manuel whether he agreed with Gordhan's "assertion that we would have to look at restrictive labour legislation if we are to create more jobs in the economy".

Manuel replied that he had studied the text of Gordhan's speech, and this was but one snippet. However, he then said: "I think what he said is a position that I would endorse wholeheartedly. We must let nothing stand in the way of job creation in this country."  During the global financial crises, the economy lost one million jobs, and according to Statistics SA, the official unemployment rate currently stands at 25.7%.

Job creation plans

The New Growth Path envisages the creation of five million jobs by 2020, but the country needs to sustain growth at 7% a year for some time to alleviate unemployment. Later on Thursday, the Democratic Alliance said Cabinet's refusal to reconsider the current labour dispensation to create more jobs was a blow to all unemployed South Africans.  "Labour market rigidity is a major driver of our country's jobs crisis," DA spokesperson Ian Ollis said.

Job-creating growth and redress required a government that unequivocally committed to a pro-growth and pro-jobs agenda. "Some in this government agree. But they are being held hostage by the ANC's alliance partners who have shown that they are not serious about tackling the unemployment crisis. "It is time government developed the political will to put the interests of millions of unemployed South Africans first," Ollis said.

'Right-wing attempts to weaken labour laws' However, Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said the federation would "fight right-wing attempts to weaken labour laws".

"While executives continue to laugh all the way to the bank, with massive remuneration packages, millions of workers continue to earn starvation wages, from which they are forced to support more family members due to high levels of unemployment, and have suffered massive casualisation, including through intensive usage of labour brokers as a clear strategy by companies to circumvent progressive labour laws. "We will never let them get away with making these laws even more 'flexible' to allow even higher levels of exploitation," he said. -- Sapa

Source: Mail & Guardian Online

Mystery govt officials figure in Pinnacle Point hearings 

GLYNNIS UNDERHILL

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Aug 26 2011

A government ambassador and a deputy minister may soon have to explain at high court liquidation hearings how they became involved in two struggling companies in which R360-million of clothing workers' pension money was mysteriously invested. The chances of recovering a substantial portion of the retirement money belonging to workers of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) now looks slim following the provisional liquidation of six subsidiaries of luxury property developers Pinnacle Point in the Western Cape High Court last week.

About R260-million of Sactwu pension fund money was sunk into Pinnacle, making thousands of pensioners unwitting majority shareholders in this listed company. It emerged at the liquidation hearings that Pinnacle Point was chaired by George Johannes, South Africa's ambassador to Switzerland, while two other unnamed senior government figures and ANC leaders -- described merely as "Mr X" and "Mr Y" -- were also recommended for appointment to its board in a failed attempt to save the company.

The outcome for pensioners is worrying, as the courts placed three of Pinnacle's luxury property developments - Lagos Keys in Nigeria and the Chestnut Hill and GR-Equity properties in South Africa -- in a business rescue plan last month. The business rescue practitioner, Michael Lane, declined this week to discuss how the provisional liquidation of six of Pinnacle property assets last week would affect the company. "I'm not going to be speaking to the press," he said.

The second company under scrutiny is the provisionally liquidated Canyon Springs Investments 12, in which the family of the deputy minister of economic development, Enoch Godongwana, has a 50% stake. About R100-million of the pension fund money was handed as an unsecured loan to Canyon Springs. It is expected that Godongwana will be called to court, in an urgent liquidation hearing, to explain how some of the retirement money was spent.

An attempt to hold the hearing last month was halted due to a lack of funds, but the Mail & Guardian has learned it is to be rescheduled. Renewed concern about the involvement of high-flying government officials in the risky investment of the pension money was heightened last week after the court applications by Investec, which claims it is owed R115-million by Pinnacle Point. Other creditors are also lining up to be paid by the company.

Among the papers submitted to court was a settlement offer made to Investec on behalf of Pinnacle Point in February, which indicated that recommendations had been made for the appointment to its board of two ANC leaders and senior members of the South African government, "Mr X" and "Mr Y". This caught the attention of the presiding judge, Nathan Erasmus, who asked who these people were. No one in the courtroom could provide an answer.

The settlement offer further indicated that the "government and the ruling party have taken an interest in ensuring that this company prospers". "Among the shareholders are thousands of pensioners, who would benefit immensely if the company is allowed an opportunity to survive: the opposite is true if the company does not survive," it said.  The company was "now well led" by its chairman, Johannes, and its newly appointed chief executive, Sibusiso Gamede.

At the time the settlement offer was submitted, Gamede was chief land claims commissioner and adviser to Minister of Land Affairs Gugile Nkwinti. Gamede said this week that all posts at Pinnacle Point had been suspended under the business rescue plan. Wilfred Tshuma, who was responsible for writing the settlement offer sent to Investec after he joined Trilinear Investment Managers as its chief executive, said the idea had been to sell the concept of a black-owned listed property company that could have been "spectacular".

"Pinnacle was its primary investment and I wrote that settlement offer to Investec," Tshuma said. "There had been some informal discussions, but Mr X and Mr Y had not been formally approached, which is why I was guarded about them in the proposal."  Johannes had been a wonderful chairman at Pinnacle, despite being based in Switzerland, said Tshuma. "He was not distant at all. He would hold meetings and teleconferences," he said. "He rubbed shoulders with all the right people and he was critical to playing a positive role in the company."

Investec group risk manager Cairan Whelan said none of the promises made by Pinnacle Point to settle its debt had materialised.  The fact that pension money had been used to buy up shares in Pinnacle Point presented another "minefield", he said.

Source: Mail & Guardian Online