Decent Work or Indecent Jobs? – January/February 2011

The South African government and trade unions are at loggerheads over the issue of decent work and job creation.

The government has stated its intention to create 5 million jobs in the next ten years, which would form part of the New Growth Path programme. But there has not been any public discussion over what sort of jobs would be created.

Decent Work campaign

Cosatu has been campaigning for decent work, and the decent work campaign was adopted by the ANC at the 2007 Polokwane conference. The basic tenets of decent work include issues such as access to leave, hours of work, minimum wages, safety, non-discrimination and related topics. All of these should be in place in order for a workplace to fully comply with decent work standards.

However, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has said that the ANC aimed to “get people into work and once they were there, unions could use their bargaining power to secure a good deal.”

Echoing these sentiments, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant said that “we need to start with productive work. We need jobs and employment possibilities …”.

Cosatu has said that it notes with concern that in the past decade there had been an increase in atypical and non-standard forms of employment. These are typically areas where non-compliance with decent work standards could be found.

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