Pretoria - The fight against labour brokers and the quest for transformation of the economy will continue in 2011, the trade union federation Cosatu said on Tuesday.
"Cosatu is ready to mobilize all genuine workers' organisations and the poor in defense of the decent work agenda, which cannot live side by side with labour broking," it said in its end of year message.
The congress also welcomed the publication of Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant's draft amendments to the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Draft Bill, Employment Equity Amendment Draft Bill, Employment Services draft bill and the Labour Relations Amendment Draft Bill. Comments for the amendments will close by 17 February 2011.
"We welcome the publication of these amendments. We are studying all of them to satisfy ourselves that they deliver only one outcome, doing away with the third man in the relationship that should exist between a worker and the employer."
On the country's new growth plan announced by Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel last month, Cosatu said it was still studying the plan, which seeks to create five million jobs in the next 10 years in strategic areas of the economy, including the green economy, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and tourism industries.
"We shall be finalising our response in a specially convened Central Executive Committee on 10 January 2011," it said.
Cosatu conceded that since the advent of democracy, South Africa has achieved a lot.
"We want the economy transformed and demand a real economic Codesa that will produce a deal capable of putting our economy in a completely new pedestal, which will aggressively address South Africa's trio of most stubborn challenges [namely] unemployment, poverty and inequality," said Cosatu.
