DA to push for teaching to be declared an essential service

In light of a finding contained in a Tokiso review (see report), showing that the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) was responsible for 42% of all working days lost to strike action during the 2008/09 financial year, the DA will this week be submitting an application to the Essential Service Committee, asking that teaching be declared an essential service. 

South Africa has a choice: we can either have good teaching or we can have Sadtu, but we cannot have both. Over the years, Sadtu has single-mindedly pursued a selfish, small-minded agenda which has focused entirely on the personal interests of its most lazy and incompetent members, and not at all on the interests of the children whose futures depend on them.

As a result, Sadtu has, in the DA's opinion, been the single biggest contributor to South Africa's catastrophic matric results and our generally (with the exceptions being schools where Sadtu does not dominate) dismal standard of education. Through its vigorous efforts to build a culture of greediness and irresponsibility amongst its members, it has helped to destroy the culture of learning.

One mechanism to contain the damage that Sadtu does is to at least make it more difficult for its members to go on strike at the drop of a hat. To do this would require making teaching an essential service.

In terms of the Labour Relations Act, an essential service is defined as "a service which, if interrupted, would endanger on inconvenience the life or the health of people". It is incontestable that the interruption of schooling inconveniences the life of the children concerned. Just a day missed in following the curriculum puts children behind in their learning and risks their futures.

At the same time we recognize that the right to strike is an important democratic freedom, so we will be proposing to the committee that the right to strike be restored once a national matric pass rate of 80% has been achieved.

Good teachers, of which there are many in our country, can get us out of the mess that our education system is in. But SADTU can't.

Statement issued by James Lorimer, MP, Democratic Alliance deputy shadow minister of basic education, February 8 2010

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