Trade unions like to claim that they act on behalf of the poor but they are often as narrowly self-interested as any other organisation.

In education, improvement is hindered by the resistance of the SA Democratic Teachers Union to holding teachers to account so that they do what they are paid for.

SADTU don't want inspectors visiting schools, and they don't want teachers to be tested to see if they are competent.

Nor do they seem to care if schooling is disrupted by teacher strikes or protests.

A school principal told me that when he complained about children losing out because of this a SADTU official said "in every war there are casualties".

Another wildly irresponsible union is the Food and Allied Workers Union, as evidenced by its strike at soft drinks company Amalgamated Beverage Industries (ABI).

ABI is part of SABMiller and is one of the best wage-payers in the country. They offer a minimum wage of  R7 235 a month and goodies like a cellphone allowance, Christmas voucher and an education grant.

Their proposed overall increase of 8.3% is much higher than current 5.8% inflation.

In the teeth of our recession, where about a million people lost their jobs in the past year, FAWU is demanding a 9.5% increase and a moratorium on labour brokers.

This is surely what is meant by a "labour aristocracy" and reminds me of the destructive period in British unionism illustrated by the phrase "I'm all right Jack".

If FAWU got what they demand, the extra costs would be passed on to consumers and ABI would probably mechanise as much as possible to cut down on expensive labour.

A further outrage is that many SADTU teachers make sure that their own children attend the former Model C schools in the suburbs. Meanwhile, the children they teach so badly are unlikely to ever get a job even if they do pass their matric exam.

They will join the millions of unemployed who are desperate for any job in which they can earn any money at all.

The minimum wages and rigid labour laws championed by unions like FAWU are no help to them as they kill off exactly the types of jobs that employers would otherwise offer them.

Without a decent education, on-the-job training is critical, so even lousy-paying work is valuable as the first step on the ladder towards a better job.

We need to recognize that we have two economies, one in which unions get a good deal from big companies like ABI, and another economy where small businesses cannot afford the expense and risk of hiring unskilled workers.

President Jacob Zuma knows this, as he said in an interview in February 2008 that sophisticated regulations "count out the poorest of the poor and they remain there."

He backed down then after a wail of protest from COSATU, but he is President now and needs to act in the broader interest.

Small businesses should be exempt from job-crushing laws and regulations, and get tax breaks as well.

This is genuinely pro-poor as opposed to the campaign for "decent jobs" and banning of labour brokers.

Unions should stick to the legitimate interests of their members and not ruin the lives of others by rash actions and policies.

Jack Bloom is a Democratic Alliance MPL in Gauteng. This article first appeared in The Citizen.

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