BL Premium reports that in a far-reaching move that has caught organised labour on the back foot, a government agency has declared the production and distribution of a wide array of pharmaceutical products to be an essential service and prohibited workers in the sector from going on strike.

The essential services committee, a statutory body established in terms of the Labour Relations Act, launched an investigation into the pharmaceutical sector in 2021. In a decision handed down on 14 April, it ruled that the manufacturing, supply and distribution of vaccines, biologicals, anaesthetics, HIV medication, immunosuppressants, Covid-19-related products, antibiotics and chronic medication should be designated an essential service. The committee said it received submissions from several pharmaceutical industry players and others, but got no response to its request for input from organised labour. Two unions representing workers in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, namely Giwusa and Ceppwawu, expressed shock at the committee’s finding, and said they were considering a challenge to the decision. Labour federation Cosatu also expressed unhappiness with the decision, saying it was concerned about the growing number of employers seeking to have their workforce categorised as providing essential services. “We think it is often a shortcut by employers who don’t want to resolve workplace grievances in a collective bargaining forum and want to tie workers hands behinds their backs,” said Cosatu parliamentary spokesperson Matthew Parks.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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