This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.In a thought-provoking opinion piece, investigative journalist Sipho Masondo writes that three decades into the democratic dispensation, unions still portray themselves and their members as victims of the "neoliberal capitalist system and establishment", but nothing could be further from the truth.
He says the time has come for unions to cut ties with the past and usher in a new era in which they deploy their staggering collective financial muscle, power, and influence to help deliver economic freedom for black people. Masondo notes: “Unions are not victims. They are monied organisations which wield an enormous amount of power and influence.” In total Sadtu, Nehawu, the PSA and Denosa – all public sector unions – have 885,000 members contributing collective membership fees totalling R81 million monthly. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) – the biggest union in the country – has membership reaching 338,000 and, according to a rough estimate, a staggering R30 million in monthly subscription fees. There are other unions with substantial members, which translate into significant subscription fees. Masondo says all these trade unions need is to stop continuously painting themselves as being at the mercy of employers. Most of these unions have subsidiary investment companies, but beyond bursaries, funeral cover and funding their members' workplace legal woes, little is known about how the unions' investment companies invest fees collected from members. According to Masondo, unions should use their funds to create black industrialists and buy stakes in the financial services sector. He says leaders of the labour movement need to shift their mindset from being organisations representing workers to becoming owners and shareholders of companies in their different sectors. “Instead of forever moaning ‘about the neoliberal system’ unions should seize the opportunity to contribute towards delivering economic freedom to black people in our lifetime.
- Read Sipho Masondo’s article in full at News24 (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page