BusinessLive reports that as more economic activity resumes during lockdown level 1, employers are increasingly caught between navigating union demands for higher wages and resuscitating their businesses by clawing back losses incurred due to Covid-19.
The six-month lockdown has had a devastating effect on SA’s already weak economy which is forecast to contract 7% or more during 2020, leading to huge job losses. But this has not stopped unions from tabling demands for improved wages and declaring disputes and embarking on strikes when the parties have failed to find common ground. The SA Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union (Sactwu) has declared 18 disputes in six sectors, including textiles and clothing, affecting more than 74,000 workers. At the embattled Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), the United National Transport Union (Untu) declared a dispute after the parties could not reach an agreement on the proposed multi-term wage offer for employees of 5% for 2020, 5% for 2021, and 4.8% for 2022. Meantime, the government and organised labour have been on a collision course after the state reneged on implementing the last leg of the wage increase agreement it had signed with the unions three years ago. There are other wage disputes at ICT supplier Mustek and the SA Post Office. Labour consultant Tony Healy commented: “I think many trade unions are under the impression that it’s business as usual under level 1, which is clearly not the case.” Labour analyst Michael Bagraim remarked: “One would expect unions to understand that you can’t push for an increase now. They should be protecting jobs and not put them under risk by asking for an increase.” But, Sactwu’s Andre Kriel noted that “the biggest general problem that has led to these wage disputes is employer demands for downward variations in conditions of employment of our members”.
- Read the full original of the informative report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
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