GOOD speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
24 May 2022
Note: This is the speech to be delivered by GOOD Secretary-General and Member of Parliament, Brett Herron, during today’s Parliamentary Budget Vote on Employment and Labour.
The CCMA, warts and all, has played a fundamentally important role in the democratic era. It is a vehicle that has given practical expression to the rights of workers who, in the apartheid era, had no rights and simply had to do what they were told.
Its establishment signaled the end of hundreds of years of discriminatory labour practices built on baaskap, unfairness and injustice, in which workers were afforded no protection by the law.
Among the CCMA’s greatest strengths was its accessibility. People who felt hard done by at work could walk in and receive professional assistance and advice on lodging a claim against their employer.
It wasn’t perfect – little in the world is – but it was important because it brought some balance to skewed power relations in the workplace. It was a champion of the rights of the underdog, so to speak. HR support for the people.
That was before Covid and economic crunch times. What’s been happening over the past several years is, like post-offices, CCMA offices appear to have become an endangered species.
Now, instead of workers being able to walk in and receive assistance, most are expected to tackle the process online. Which assumes that the working class has access to computers, smartphones and overpriced data. Which we know many don’t. And implies a level of technical proficiency, which we know we don’t all have.
The impact of all this is a growing disconnect between the CCMA and the very people it was formed to protect.
People like Nomfundo Mateza, a domestic worker, whose recent attempt to fight her unfair dismissal at the CCMA in Cape Town was met with closed doors. Instead of receiving practical help, she was turned away and told she needs to fill in forms online. In English.
What sense does this make, in a country that does not boast the highest literacy rate in the world, to expect low-income earners to navigate complex legal and procedural terrain on their own and online?
The greatest beneficiaries of workers not having access to procedural assistance are exploitative employers. Once again, in our country, it’s a case of why bother about breaking the law if there’s little chance of getting caught?
If we keep defunding the foundations on which millions of South Africans depend to defend themselves economically, we perpetuate the cycle of poverty and deepen inequality.
We must reinvest in, reinvigorate and restore the CCMA, urgently. There are thousands of people out there, like Nomfundo, who depend on its protection.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za