COSATU clarification statement on the Labour Law Reforms negotiations at Nedlac

24 October 2024

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) notes our sister federation, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU)’s press conference about the current negotiations on amendments to the labour laws taking place at Nedlac.  COSATU shares SAFTU’s views on the need for Organised Labour to defend the hard won rights of workers and ensure that no one undermines, let alone rolls back the progressive labour laws put in place since 1994 by successive governments led by the African National Congress.

COSATU has avoided commenting in public on the engagements taking place at Nedlac as these are extremely sensitive matters for millions of workers and negotiations need to be allowed to take place in good faith and the temptation to play to the public gallery avoided.  The Nedlac Protocol, which is binding on government and social partners commits parties to avoid discussing matters being debated during negotiations in the public arena to help provide a conducive space for parties to find each other.

The Federation was deeply concerned by some of the initial proposed amendments to the labour laws tabled at Nedlac in 2022. As COSATU, we developed detailed proposals to submit to the task team – with our priority being to advance workers’ rights and strengthen areas of labour law.  We have spent countless hours engaging on each proposal to ensure that at the end of negotiations we can emerge with a package of amendments that will strengthen, not weaken workers’ rights and laws.  We appreciate that negotiations by their nature are messy, contain contradictions and by necessity involve compromises by all parties.

We are pleased that initial proposals that COSATU had been extremely unhappy with have been removed and largely resolved.  We welcome major progressive proposals that have been made to enhance workers’ rights, including atypical workers, protecting the value of the National Minimum Wage and improving provisions for workers during retrenchments amongst others.  Some areas still need to be resolved by parties, including further drafting.

The first phase of Nedlac engagements, to which all four labour federations have been invited to attend over the past two years, are due to conclude soon.  The draft Labour Relations and Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bills will then go to the State Law Advisor for certification and then to Cabinet for initial approval.  They will then be gazetted for public comment.  Government will then return to Nedlac to engage with social partners on issues flagged by public comments to see if further amendments are needed.  The Bills will then be tabled at Cabinet for final approval for tabling at Parliament.  Both Houses of Parliament will undertake their own processes of public hearings where all parties are invited to make submissions.

Engagements will commence in the beginning of 2025 on amendments to strengthen protections afforded to workers under the Unemployment Insurance, Compensation of Occupational Injuries and Diseases, and the Occupational Health and Safety Acts.

COSATU will continue to brief its affiliates, members and workers on progress made during the negotiations and in the drafting and processing of the legislation.  Workers can rest assured that COSATU will not allow any party, at any stage, to undermine or weaken workers’ hard-won gains and labour rights.  We will ensure that the amendments to the labour laws take workers’ struggles forward and not backwards.

Issued by Matthew Parks, Parliamentary Coordinator, COSATU, 24 October 2024