LABOUR NEGOTIATIONS
THETO MAHLAKOANA: Continuous engagement can avert strikes
The heartbreaking images of winding queues at taxi ranks bring home the importance of why alternatives should be explored more vigorously
Disruptive strikes in main industries could have been a thing of the past if recommendations made on the country’s wage format more than 10 years ago had been introduced to the labour market. However, because SA is a land of plenty of solutions and little action, thousands of commuters, mainly low-paid workers, have been stranded for more than a week by a transport strike, with a negative impact on productivity. The strike is expected to intensify following failed interventions by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant. The heartbreaking images of winding queues of men and women at taxi ranks bring home the importance of why alternatives should have been explored more vigorously by both employers and the unions staging the strike, to protect the economy and commuters. When security guards downed tools in 2006 and trashed city centres and ultimately turned on each other, resulting in the deaths of more than 50, the CCMA ...
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