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28/01/2026
Publication: CWAO and SWF
Author: Press Writer

Stop the Assault on Workers

Inside the Campaign to Scrap the Labour Law Amendment Bills

Why was the Campaign started?

In October 2024, NEDLAC announced that they were changing four labour laws – the Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), National Minimum Wage Act (NMW Act), and the Employment Equity Act (EEA) - and launching a new Code of Good Practice on Dismissal.

NEDLAC is a forum where representatives of government, business, labour and communities meet. It claimed that these representatives had agreed to change the labour laws.

However, the planned changes downgraded labour laws to make it easier for the bosses to fire workers. Capitalism (i.e., the so-called free market system) in South Africa has always relied on cheap Black labour since its inception. In post-apartheid South Africa, this remains the case and the new labour law changes were designed to make sure that never changes.

For this reason, the Campaign to Scrap the Labour Law Amendment Bills was formed in October 2024. More than 30 unions and social movements from across South Africa joined.

What did the Campaign do?

Members of the Campaign distributed hundreds of thousands of pamphlets. Radio and television broadcasts highlighted our opposition, and social media projected our struggle against the amendments. Workers also protested against the labour law changes outside NEDLAC, at public meetings and on May Day 2025.

The Campaign clarified its politics by positioning the struggle not only against government and capital, but also against sections of the trade union movement, particularly COSATU, that supported the labour law amendments. It adopts an explicitly anti-capitalist stance, rejecting neoliberalism, labour flexibility, and unprincipled alliances, while calling for principled working-class unity and opposing all forms of racism, sexism, and xenophobia.

The Campaign agreed to be based on collective and comradely engagement by all the member organisations who would be jointly responsible and accountable for campaigning. All member organisations made a commitment to building mass working-class organisations.

What did the Campaign discover?

  • We found out that millions of workers, especially in COSATU unions, did not even know about the planned changes to the labour laws. This is because COSATU has publicly joined hands with the government and capitalists and defended these assaults on workers’ rights.
  • That if the law changes go through, women and the youth will be thrown into a nightmare where they are exploited, harassed and oppressed like never before.
  • The precariat (workers like EPWPs, CHWs, those in insecure zero-hour jobs, and seasonal jobs) will be very badly affected.

Our demands: permanent jobs, guaranteed 40 hours pay per week, Basic Income Grant, for grassroots organisations to be able to represent workers at the CCMA, and redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor

Because women and youth in casual jobs and precarious workers would be the most affected, the Campaign decided to include a demand for permanent jobs, a guaranteed 40-hour week for zero-hour and seasonal workers and a monthly National Minimum Wage based on 40 hours a week (instead of an hourly minimum wage).

The Campaign decided to focus on demands of unemployed workers - permanent jobs and a Basic Income Grant. We also demanded a living UIF to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. The demands for a living wage and living UIF are directed at redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor; what we have in South Africa, is concentration of wealth in the hands of a minority on the one hand and concentration of poverty and misery for the majority.

The Campaign also demanded changes to the CCMA’s Rule 25, which says who can represent workers at the CCMA. We demanded that all organisations must be allowed to represent workers before the CCMA, provided they are mandated by workers and are doing so not for profit. This demand was part of the struggle for a new labour law framework - the existing LRA, for instance, is based on registered trade unions, and these unions do not represent the precariat, who don’t have representation in the CCMA as a result.

How did the Campaign engage with the government and NEDLAC?

  • The Campaign made a written submission on the new Code of Good Practice on Dismissal, challenging the attack on legal protections against unfair dismissals.
  • It also sent in a written submission on CCMA Rules review. We demanded changes to Rule 25, which says who can represent workers at the CCMA. We demanded that all organisations must be allowed to represent workers before the CCMA, provided they are mandated by workers and are doing so not for profit.
  • The Campaign sent in a written submission on the National Minimum Wage for 2026, demanding public hearings; a living wage of R12,000 per month; and for all employers to be forced to pay.
  • The Campaign protested on 16 October 2025 outside the Department of Employment and Labour and handed over a copy of the Campaign’s submission on the Minimum Wage.
  • The Campaign made a submission on the new NEDLAC Act calling for NEDLAC to be disbanded because the people who negotiate there don’t have a mandate from workers and they are not accountable to workers.

Where are we now?

  • Code of Good Practice on Dismissal - the labour minister promulgated this on 4 September 2025.
  • The latest changes to the labour laws have not yet been made public by the minister and so we are waiting to see if the minister took the Campaign’s comments into consideration.
  • The CCMA has not yet published the review/changes of its Rules.
  • The National Minimum Wage Commission which recommends what the national minimum wage should be every year recommended a tiny increase of inflation plus 1,5%. The Campaign says this is not enough.

Category: CAMPAIGN | SCRAP THE LABOUR AMENDMENT BILLS