Pragmatic trade union leadership exists: meet Solidarity’s Gideon Du Plessis

One of Karoo hamlet Prince Albert's finest, retired labour consultant Bokkie Botha, took a swing at me in the latest Financial Mail – criticising my column on SA's labour crisis as  "peddling a facile view". Perhaps he's right. But living at the sharp edge of business for a couple decades exposes one to realities and unintended consequences that elude high minded drafters of legislation. What I do know is that no amount of nice words will make a stupid conclusion right just because someone says it is. And the reality is SA's Labour Legislation prevents me and thousands of other employment creators from hiring anything like the number of people we could. Entrepreneurs are driven to build things, so prefer independence to the better paid, more comfortable ride within big business. But we're not that dumb to hire those we cannot fire. At least not after being stung the first couple times. We don't have HR Departments to outsource CCMA issues to. Similarly, we cannot afford to spend precious time wrestling with lofty academic conundrums that bear little resemblance to reality. Or indulge in that luxury of the comfortably employed, Analysis Paralysis. But Botha and his kind live in a different world. One where obvious solutions are too simplistic for their intricate theories. That's one of the reasons I love hearing from Solidarity's General Secretary Gideon du Plessis. He lives at the very sharp face of labour relations where he deals with practical realities all day. He also sees the machiavellian machinations of those seemingly too powerful to criticise. And exposes idealistic flaws and hypocrisy of legislators for what they are. Here's Du Plessis's latest contribution. Another must-read. – AH   

By Gideon du Plessis*

According to the tripartite alliance, aggressive transformation and radical economic changes are needed to address the challenges in triplicate posed by inequality, poverty and unemployment. In addition to the well-recognised barriers in the way of pursuing the noble goals of the alliance partners, there are unstated obstructions such as reverse racism, ethnicity and an obsolete ideology. These three unstated obstructions are not only destructive, but also underline the huge challenges facing the understanding and stabilising of labour relations in the country.

To exemplify reverse racism, Solidarity recently had to intervene to diffuse a volatile situation when a prominent Cosatu union and its members threatened to bring the Medupi project to a standstill due to allegations that Solidarity's full-time shop steward was receiving a higher remuneration than the other union's full-time representatives. The outcome of the investigation was that the total cost package of the aggrieved union's full-time shop stewards was R8 000 higher, and their perks were R17 000 more, than the remuneration received by Solidarity's shop steward. So, although the contrary was true, namely that Solidarity's official was R25 000 worse off, no apology was proffered and it was obvious that there was great disappointment that the allegation was false. These and many similar incidents regularly experienced by Solidarity members and shop stewards made ​​me realize how the past could still trigger distrust in the present day. The reality is that one incident would often expose the superficiality of relationships in the workplace.

Another sensitive phenomenon that had been managed in some way in the past but is currently too politically and culturally sensitive to bruit about is the occurrence of ethnic awareness.  Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe recently explained to Solidarity how, during his time as a miner, the mineworkers had been grouped together according to their ethnicity and how the abolition of this practice and the current tensions between migrant workers and the local mining community are fundamental to the current increase in violence. A very prominent mining employer has just recently revealed to Solidarity how big a challenge the friction between ethnic groups has become for them. This is also clearly evident from the dynamics and power play between the ethnic groups within Amcu's ranks at this particular workplace, since that union's members are divided into three distinct ethnic groups around the negotiating table. The dominance of one ethnic group over another with respect to leadership positions within the union, is an issue that is clearly visible from the outside, but never openly discussed. However, if not resolved, this phenomenon has the potential to revive renewed tensions, especially in the platinum belt.

The third entrenched challenge facing labour relations is the ideological foundations of a trade union. Solidarity is founded on the Christian Democratic trade union tradition and we support the economic model of the free market system despite its few flaws. Cosatu trade unions and other trade unions like Amcu support the socialist economic model and seek to promote it throughout. In terms of this last model, the employer is the exploiter of the workers and the symbol of inequality. The attack on the free market system is also based on an economic as well as a racial approach. This group is currently succeeding in their aim to reduce the compensation gap between unskilled and skilled workers and to support associated ill-contrived transformation programmes that discourage skilled workers and drive them out of the country. The entrenched nature of the socialist ideology within the tripartite alliance was felt when a prominent government leader recently lashed out at Solidarity's resistance to the proposed carbon tax that we felt would cause further harm to overtaxed employers. The government leader's argument was that the new form of taxation was essential to fund other social grants; an argument in direct opposition to Solidarity's viewpoint, since social grants create a dependent and unproductive society.

According to Solidarity, this reversed racism, ethnicity and obsolete ideology create an explosive labour relations climate resulting in a business environment that deters investors and diminishes the economic cake. A larger economic cake is essential in order to create more job opportunities, opportunities for promotion, better compensation for employees and to expand the middle-class. A larger economic cake would also imply an increase in tax revenue for the government that could be used to address deficiencies in service delivery and to fulfil election promises.

The solution to poverty, inequality and unemployment can only be found in pragmatic leadership of all parties concerned, who would set aside their entrenched differences and ideologies for a while in order to pursue the common goal of expanding the economic cake, thereby eventually obtaining more resources so that the 'disadvantaged' could benefit through skills upliftment. The alternative would be that everything would first deteriorate much further owing to increased union violence and rivalry, union membership diminishing further, increased retrenchments, decreased capital expansion programmes, more investors withdrawing, an increase in tender corruption and poor service delivery and products, companies and institutions being further downgraded and workers and voters ceasing to believe the false promises made by trade unions and political parties. Only then, after reality finally sets in, the slow turnaround could begin, as was the case in Cuba.

However, it is never too late for a timeous solution, because South Africa still has the winning recipe and our leaders just have to be willing to get to the stove to bake the larger cake, and then to set a good example by cleaning up after themselves.

* Gideon du Plessis is the General Secretary of the Solidarity Trade Union.