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BusinessLive reports that according to a government industrial action report, SA workers lost R266m in salaries in 2018 in support of their demands for better wages and improved working conditions.
The strike monitoring report for 2018 as compiled by the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) was released on Wednesday. The report for 2019 will apparently be released in March. The report indicates that the number of working days lost as a result of the 165 strikes recorded in 2018 was 1,158,945, representing an increase of 20.7% compared to the 960,489 working days lost from 132 strikes in 2017. The industries most affected were community [services], which lost 303,119 working days as a result of the 77 strikes in the sector; followed by the manufacturing sector, which had 23 strikes (227,040 working days lost); and the trade sector with 21 work stoppages (180,588 days lost). Transport sector employees were the biggest losers, parting ways with R131m in wages in 2018. The report indicated that from 2014 to 2018 the demand for better wages, bonuses and other compensation benefits, and grievances lodged against employers and unpleasant working conditions, were the main reasons workers took industrial action. Labour analyst Michael Bagraim said it was understandable why there were so many strikes in 2018, which he described as a “horrific year” for labour relations. “The economy was not growing and employers were not offering double-digit wage increases, which the unions were used to, so they went on strikes,” Bagraim pointed out. He noted that the damaging nature of the 2018 strikes to the economy forced the government to introduce changes in the labour legislation.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
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