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BusinessLive reports that trade union federation Cosatu has submitted a formal response to the National Treasury’s economic reform paper, saying that it will increase conflict in the labour market and should be submitted to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) for discussion, urgently.
Cosatu also indicated that it disagreed strongly with a number of the policy recommendations, such as exemption for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the national minimum wage and the privatisation of Eskom power stations. A policy intervention that relied on “starvation wages” of workers would not result in economic growth and job creation, it said. The deadline for comments on the paper was 15 September, which was met by Cosatu, some government departments and some business organisations. The ANC, which still intends to comment, began a process of discussion this week. Cosatu said it was particularly aggrieved by the lack of process followed by finance minister Tito Mboweni in releasing the paper and his failure to take into consideration the processes at Nedlac, which resulted in the job summit agreement last year. Cosatu also criticised the Treasury paper for its limited focus on micro-economic reforms when there was a need for macro-economic policy changes that could ignite growth.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton at BusinessLive
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