‘Union leaders need to be responsible about strike action’ – BLSA CEO

Business Leaders South Africa CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso explains that the public sector strike that kicked off on Tuesday, 22 November 2022, will affect more than just the employer and its workers in these coming weeks.

The standoff, she said, really comes down to fiscal sustainability and that affects everyone.

While Mavuso is sympathetic to the strike, she has criticised unions for failing to come to the table to contribute to discussion when plans that would help ensure economic recovery were being brainstormed.

She said that their demands would be met with a lot more eagerness if they brought it to the fore with effective strategies to mitigate the impact on fiscal sustainability.  

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Unions should suggest mitigation for the impact of fiscal sustainability?

“When unions demand a 10% across-the-board increase as they have, in response to the 3% offer from government, what is the plan they have to mitigate the impact on fiscal sustainability? I would be quite open to a realistic and effective plan, one that, perhaps, promises improvements in public sector productivity to stimulate economic activity and ultimately improve tax collection.

“If such plans were put on the table as labour’s contribution to ensuring our economic recovery, then I would have much greater sympathy for the 10% demand. Yet I’ve not seen any such suggestions from labour,” she said.

Present scenarios on how risk can be reduced

Mavuso said that fiscal sustainability is a problem that many in the labour movement are conscious of but was not one they were fervently addressing.

“A collapse into the arms of our creditors would be catastrophic – a national debt default would inevitably mean extreme hardship for civil servants, with late or missed payments and mass redundancies.

“Yet when labour engages with government about the public sector wage bill, I never hear its ideas on how that scenario can be avoided or the risks reduced. What ideas is labour bringing to the table to improve the national fiscal outlook?” she asked.

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“I have written before about how labour is often missing in action when we engage with social counterparts to find ways to turn around our performance as a country. The Transnet strike was another recent example, with questionable legality and a clear intention to hold the country to ransom.

“It does not have to be like this – there are good examples from history, like Germany famous for its cooperation between social partners, where wage restraint has over periods played a critical role in its economic success,” she explained.

Statements of demand from union leaders can sometimes be ‘irresponsible’

Mavuso said that statements from union leaders in these strikes were sometimes bordering on ‘irresponsible’. She reminded them that the law was clear that the right to strike was not to be orchestrated at the expense of the lives of citizens.

“Union leaders should be absolutely clear that they intend to hold to the law if they want to be seen as constructive counterparts in the effort to restore our country’s growth track. 

“We will also suffer from the strike, so we all have an interest in it ensuring it has minimal impact. Business is clear that we cannot afford to set back the progress towards fiscal credibility we’ve managed to achieve.

“If unions want support for their cause, they must bring constructive proposals to the table and be absolutely clear that they will stay within the law during any industrial action. That is the minimum we should be able to expect from all South Africans who are committed to rebuilding our country,” she concluded.