Hon Chairperson, Minister of Labour, officials from the Department of Labour and entities, last week on 1 May ... [Inaudible.] We need to send labour inspectors to look at the systems here!
Last week, on 1 May, South Africa joined the international community in celebrating a day dating back to the 1800s when workers scored a major victory for themselves. This later led to a resolution by the Federation of Organised Trades and Labour Unions in the United States of America and Canada that eight hours should constitute a legal day's labour as of 1 May 1886.
Last week the international community celebrated Workers' Day in difficult economic times. The period from 2008 to 2012 has been an extremely tough five years for citizens around the world, but especially for workers. The past five years have not only impacted on economic performance, but also seen a dramatic erosion of workers' livelihoods, working conditions, and health and safety, as companies have struggled to survive due to a deteriorating world economy.
This was further confirmed by the Director-General of the International Labour Organisation, Juan Somavia, in his 1 May 2012 statement. He said, "So, this is no ordinary May 1st." He argued that, and I quote:
The current growth model considers work as a production cost that must be as low as possible in order to raise competitiveness and profits. Workers are seen as being consumers of all sorts of loans rather than as having a legitimate share through wages in the wealth they contribute to create.
So, whilst business has a legitimate reason to worry about profits and competitiveness, some have found this a loophole to sneak in the long reactionary debate of deregulating the labour market to undermine past negotiated gains of workers and business. As a point of first attack, a number of developed countries have introduced various policies to relax employment regulations and weaken market institutions.
According to the recently published ILO World of Work Report 2012, these steps have been taken with the hope that financial markets will react positively, thereby boosting confidence, growth and job creation. Unfortunately, these expectations have not been met.
It is quite clear now that less protection does not mean higher employment, especially for a country whose history was solely lived to achieve social and economic inequalities. With this being the case, our campaign for decent work for all will not cease until all workers from all walks of life have a fair chance to earn a decent wage, work in safe environments, join trade unions and have reasonable social security coverage. We have to ensure that the drive towards increased economic growth is at no point above human development and social justice. Rather we must consistently ensure a balance - there should be economic growth strategies that also promote social justice. These are fundamental human rights that we should not easily give up hoping for quick gains.
The laws of the labour market are not as clear and straightforward as the laws of gravity. Answers to unemployment and inequalities do not always lie in reducing wages; deregulating labour markets; lowering taxes; liberalising trade and financial markets; privatising public services; and increasing competition.
Countries that have achieved the best labour market and macroeconomic results have been those that have opted for a coherent approach that reinforces labour market institutions and social protection, with a view to enhancing overall employment security.
In order to protect these gains, we need strong institutions that are well resourced to deliver on their mandate. Moreover, we need decisive and clear policies to push the agenda of a developmental state. In this regard, the Portfolio Committee on Labour supports means to mobilise financial and human resources in order to enhance the performance of the Department of Labour and its entities. Hon Chairperson, without sufficient resources to support these institutions, the labour market will be in a state of paralysis. We have come too far to give up now.
The ANC's 2009 Election Manifesto states that in order to address the triple challenges of increasing inequalities, unemployment and poverty, we shall focus on large-scale decent work opportunities. In order to contribute to achieving this vision, Parliament not only performs oversight, but also provides a platform for the public and all stakeholders to discuss and exchange ideas on critical national issues. From these, we receive a lot of recommendations and views, which we later use when interacting with government.
Since our last Budget Vote debate in 2011, the committee has had meetings with various role players, including the trade unions, civil society, government and business, in order to address numerous challenges that face our country. For example, the committee interacted with various stakeholders regard to the Convention concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which was a follow-up to the International Labour Organisation Convention on Domestic Workers.
Key elements of the convention require governments to provide domestic workers with labour protection equivalent to that of other workers, including working hours, minimum wage coverage, overtime compensation, daily and weekly rest periods, social security, and maternity protection. The new standards also oblige governments to protect domestic workers from violence and abuse, and to ensure effective monitoring and enforcement.
The committee has scheduled a meeting for next week to follow this up with the department and to discuss the progress that has been made towards ratifying the Domestic Workers Convention 189. If the convention is ratified, it will substantially improve work standards and protection for domestic workers.
However, our victory will not come from a ratification, but from our own ability to monitor and enforce compliance with this convention. Our efforts will continue to focus on ensuring a fully capacitated Inspectorate and Enforcement Services Business Unit. Even though a substantial amount has been transferred to this programme, there are still glaring challenges, such as a lack of adequate resources to conduct full inspections, and restrictive legislation in regard to imposing ample fines on those that contravene regulations.
The Portfolio Committee on Labour supports the R389,3 million allocation to this programme for the current financial year. We hope that this allocation will go a long way towards turning around the inspectorate service by providing adequate resources and suitable training.
In our continued efforts towards "decent work", the committee embarked on agricultural sector oversight towards the end of January this year. Our findings confirmed what we already knew about the sector, but they also revealed a lot about the sector that has not been spoken about much.
The committee's approach was based on the context within which this sector operates and on understanding the challenges imposed on it by factors such as climate change and global competitiveness. It was also informed by the knowledge that the sector employs a total of 630 000 people and has the potential to create a lot more jobs in the future. More importantly, as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said during her Budget Vote speech last week, and I quote:
Our objective to create jobs in agriculture is paramount in this country.
In order to do that, we need to put our heads together to resolve the challenges, without compromising either farmers or farm workers.
Mostly, the committee got insight into the working conditions of inspectors and the challenges that they are constantly faced with when visiting farms. For us it was quite thrilling to witness the efforts made by some farmers to comply with legislation. In some instances farmers had gone beyond the minimum standards, as legislated. However, there were also starkly abusive practices, so glaring that we could not help but be reminded of the old apartheid era. Hon Chairperson, it cannot be just that we continue celebrating Workers' Day when these workers continue to live under such horrendous conditions.
Perhaps we should not forget that it was in the context of the statutory exploitation of workers by their employers that in 1955 our people declared in unison in the Freedom Charter that, and I quote:
All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers; The state shall recognise the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits; Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work; There shall be a forty-hour working week... paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers, and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers ...
Hon Chairperson, we remain committed to ensuring that all workers are entitled to a living wage in this country. The ANC supports this Budget Vote. Thank you! [Applause.]