As Cosatu in the Western Cape threatens strike action if the the electricity rate hikes introduced.
|||As Cosatu in the Western Cape threatens strike action if the electricity rate hikes introduced at the beginning of the month aren’t reversed, predictions are that strike season will hit hard this year, fuelled by the politics of the approaching 2014 elections.
Michael Bagraim, labour lawyer and chairman of the human capital committee for the Cape Chamber of Commerce, said that some industries – such as manufacturing, iron and steel, and building – were already close to deadlock in their wage negotiations, and that strikes were expected in the next two to three weeks.
Meanwhile, provincial Cosatu leader Tony Ehrenreich said electricity price hikes across the country were making living conditions unbearable for workers.
And if the increases were not reversed in Western Cape municipalities within two weeks, Cosatu would mobilise for a strike.
Consumer group Consumer Fair has also laid charges of fraud and corruption against several key city personnel over the increases, which it says are criminal.
However, the city responded last week that the group had misunderstood the new tariff structures, and questioned why they had not raised questions when the tariffs were initially tabled for public comment.
Last week, a mining strike at De Beers mines in Kimberly, the Free State and Musina were called off at the last minute after the company eventually agreed to a 9 percent wage hike.
Also last week, the Broadcast and Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union threatened a strike at the SABC after negotiations were cancelled, while the SA Municipal Workers Union organised a municipal worker strike for tomorrow in Polokwane.
Bus drivers in Joburg are also set to strike tomorrow.
Bagraim said there was a “heady mix of want, need and politics” in the Western Cape, where the situation was likely to get volatile.
“We’re on the verge of an election. In the 1980s, we saw these massive strikes where people were using the workplace as a legitimate way to raise their concerns about the politics of the time.
“But now we have the ballot box and other political avenues, so using the workplace like that is an illegitimate way of dealing with politics.” - Weekend Argus