06/05/2024
Publication: SWF
Author: SWF Press Writer
Don't expect justice from the CCMA.
Organise.
Fight for justice and an end to exploitation.
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.
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.
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:
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.