CWAO IN THE NEWS

The CCMA is helping bosses exploit workers. Don’t expect justice from the CCMA. Organise. Fight for justice and an end to exploitation. Many workers depend on the CCMA for their rights
Workers go to the CCMA because they have been unfairly dismissed or retrenched. Some works go to the CCMA because they want to be made permanent by client companies that use labour brokers. Other workers go because they have been racially discriminated or demoted.

Many of these workers are among the most exploited, like farm workers, domestic workers, labour broker or contract workers. They are not unionised and depend on only the CCMA to defend their rights.

But the CCMA has for some time now become an extra weapon in the hands of the bosses.

1. Over 70% of the country’s workers are not allowed representation at CCMA hearings because they are not members of registered trade unions. Most of these are the most exploited workers.
2. The case managers are rude to workers.
3. The commissioners don’t assist workers during hearings despite having the power to do so. Instead, they sit there like judges.
4. Commissioners force workers to take settlement agreements that favour the bosses.
5. Commissioners, and even interpreters, put pressure on workers to withdraw their disputes.
6. The CCMA does not want to use its strong powers to make labour broker workers permanent and give them the same wages, hours and conditions as other permanents, for example. Instead, it wants workers to refer more disputes.

The CCMA procedures are supposed be simple, quick and cheap, with social justice one of its main aims. But the organisation has become very legalistic and is allowing the big law firms of the bosses to cause all kinds of delays with ridiculous legal arguments. One of our CCMA cases against Heineken took six years to win, and now the company is going to the Labour Court. This means a further delay of many years for workers.

Workers constantly share their experiences of corrupt commissioners who take kickbacks from employers or who offer to settle workers’ disputes for a ‘fee’.

The ANC government is making the situation even worse
In all these examples, it is the bosses that benefit from the actions of the CCMA. The anti-worker ANC government has made things even worse for workers. It has cut the budget of the CCMA by R600 million. One result is the CCMA is using more part-time commissioners. Many of these part-time commissioners run private law firms that represent bosses, so they have to favour employers in CCMA hearings and awards. Otherwise, they will not get private work from the bosses.

We are here to support workers against the anti-worker CCMA.

• Report rude case managers to us immediately. Make sure to get their names.
• Report rude and corrupt commissioners to us immediately.
• Don’t let the commissioner force you into a settlement agreement. Say you want to ask us for advice first.
• Don’t let the commissioner force you into withdrawing your dispute. Say to ask us for advice first.
• Ask our comrades to sit in your arbitration as observers if you are not sure about your rights. Observers have the right to be present during arbitrations.
• Let us hold these commissioners accountable.

We cannot leave the CCMA in the hands of the bosses
Too many workers depend on the CCMA for us to leave the organisation in the hands of the bosses. The struggle to transform the CCMA into an organisation that respects workers must begin now. The struggle to transform the CCMA into an organisation that is guided by social justice must begin now.

We demand:

1. An increase in the budget of the CCMA to meet its growing caseload.
2. The immediate appointment of more full-time commissioners.
3. A complete ban on part-time commissioners acting for employers during the period of transition towards the employment of more full-time commissioners.
4. The creation of a mechanism allowing workers and communities to report corrupt commissioners, anti-worker commissioners and hold to account disrespectful staff.
5. Scrapping Rule 25 and giving all workers the right to representation at the CCMA, regardless of whether they are members of registered trade unions or not.
6. A restructured DEL that includes an increased budget, increased inspectorate that can assume enforcement functions currently and inappropriately entrusted to the CCMA, dismissal of staff responsible for corruption in the UIF and Compensation Fund, and a weeding out of staff who are nothing more than outriders for employer interests, including directors and chief directors.

For more information phone Simunye Workers Forum on 082 812 1934.

The Simunye Workers Forum is a worker organisation made up of mainly labour broker and contract workers organising fighting for permanent jobs and equal treatment with permanents.

Category: CAMPAIGN | CCMA