COSATU concerned over clauses in LRA Amendment Bill

The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted with grave concern that the Labour Relations Amendment Bill that was passed in the National Assembly on 20 August 2013 contains a subsection 69(12)(c), which gives excessive power of the Labour Court to suspend a protected strike or picket should there be a picketing dispute. 

Whereas the current version of the LRA permits only the interdicting of a specific unlawful action committed in the course of industrial action, as opposed to interdicting an entire strike or picket, this clause opens the way for undue suppression of the fundamental right to strike, which will in turn undermine other associated rights, including those related to collective bargaining.

Section 69(1) (a) of the current LRA provides that a trade union may authorise a picket by its members and supporters.

The reference to "supporters" allows for solidarity action by other workers as well as civil society organisations, and is an essential feature of legitimate protest action.

However, a new amendment to the LRA now seeks to delete the words "and supporters" thereby prohibiting solidarity action.

COSATU had been engaged in discussions with the Department of Labour and reached an agreement on amendments to the bill, including that there would be adeletion of all new clauses that undermine the rights to strike and picket under sections 64, 65, 67 and 69.

Most of these amendments which COSATU requested have been incorporated into the bill, but with the important exception of those mentioned above.

The federation still insists that these amendments to section 69 represent a fundamental attack on the rights to strike and engage in picket action and COSATU therefore calls for the bill to be amended when it is referred to the National Council of Provinces.

Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, August 22 2013

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