Cosatu wants law amended to make it ‘more difficult’ to retrench workers

In a move that could change how retrenchments are conducted, trade union federation Cosatu is demanding that legislation be changed to include negotiations, and third parties to facilitate the process, in an effort to combat the wide-scale job losses spawned by Covid-19.

The Cosatu central executive committee (CEC), the highest-decision making body between conferences, resolved during its two-day meeting this week that section 189 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA), which deals with retrenchments, be amended as it “remains in adequate” in its current form...