South Africa's constitution guarantees freedom of speech. That encompasses the right to remain silent. You don't have to talk. The constitution also gives the right to strike. Some workers seem to think striking is compulsory. It is not; you don't have to strike - it should be the last resort.
If we had full employment and a robust economy, the cards would be stacked in favour of the workers. Employers would have to meet all the demands of the unions. Our situation is not rosy and anything between twenty five per cent and forty percent of people are without work. But the unions see to it that the laws of supply and demand do not operate here. Although there is a super-abundance of labour, at least of the relatively lowly skilled variety, that seems to make no difference; demands at a laughably unrealistic level are made by the unions and threats of strikes accompany the demands.
Unions fulfil an important role in modern democracies. Of course in the totalitarian countries, especially the "Peoples' Democracies" or "Democratic Republics," unions are kept in their place, if they are permitted to operate at all. In our type of society, unions are essential to represent and promote workers' interests and after all, they are there for their members, not those who are not their members. Unions do not represent the unemployed.
What we have lost sight of is that society's interests are wider than the narrow wage and benefit issues that unions typically focus on. Surely the economic well-being of the whole country impinges on the interests of union members? If our economy falters, or if a whole industry or a major employer struggles, that affects workers. If an employer is destroyed, workers will join the ranks of the unemployed. Why do some of our unions not see this?
The ANC, the SACP and Cosatu have a governing tri-partite alliance. That seems not to make any difference to the unions. As part of government, one would expect them to pay some attention to the broader interests of the economy and particularly the health of the big employment drivers and the unemployed masses. But not a bit of it.
A selfish pursuit of better and better conditions for the employed, with demands for wage increases that never accompany productivity increases, is what they do. Striking workers in the motor manufacturing industry are doing our reputation as a reliable supplier of vehicles a good deal of damage. They demand double digit wage increases, far above inflation.
The mining industry is going through a ‘perfect storm' with a drop in mineral prices, hugely inflated costs, threatened mine closures because of falling profits and now with demands of wage increases of one hundred per cent. If these demands are not met, the workers will strike. Will the unions accept responsibility when they wreck the future of an industry that has contributed so much to the country and is capable of generating many jobs for decades to come? Dream on.
This union irresponsibility blights our economic prospects. Don't they realise what they are doing to us all?
Douglas Gibson is the former Chief Whip of the Opposition and ambassador to Thailand. He can be followed on Twitter: @dhmgibson.
This article first appeared in The Citizen.
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