What is the measure of success?
Following Monday’s protest action, Cosatu’s General-Secretary Solly Phetoe stated, “from all the nine provinces, we were successful, we have been receiving some reports. We think that our action was successful, even though not all workers came out, but we can say it was a successful action.”
However, the video footage and imagery of the protest action in the media, spoke volumes of the irrelevance of the action and of Cosatu itself – a handful of employees, clearly unsure as to exactly what or why they’re protesting, losing a day’s wages to, ironically, protest job losses and retrenchments, waving around posters about banning labour brokers, slave wages and gender-based violence in the workplace.
NEASA’s own survey among its members illustrates the dismal failure of this protest action:
- 93% of employers experienced no absenteeism among their employees, and no disruption to their productivity;
- 5% experienced less than 10% absenteeism and disruption to productivity; and
- only 2% experienced more than 10% absenteeism and disruption to productivity.
It might be time for Cosatu to realise their own insignificance. If they had the power to force Government’s hand, and the sense to fight for the change of the very legislation killing employers and business, they could have contributed greatly to the saving of the South African economy and the creation of the jobs they claim they so desperately seek for all of our citizens.