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Country Study: South Africa (National Studies on Workers' Protection)

Literature › Works

Halton Cheadle; Marlea Clarke (2000). Country Study: South Africa (National Studies on Workers' Protection). International Labour Office, National Studies on Workers' Protection. International Labour Office.
Type report
Scope Post-1994 South African economy
Method mixed
Period studied 1980–2000
Regions South Africa, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal (Natal), Gauteng
Themes labour markets wages, transition post apartheid, inequality poverty unemployment, unions strikes, business and state, manufacturing industrial policy, macro fiscal finance debt
Citation key cheadle2000

Argument

The study argues that South African labour law is built on the common-law contract of employment, so employers can escape statutory protection by outsourcing, casualising and converting workers into 'independent contractors'. This rise in non-standard work follows from tariff liberalisation, high unemployment, weak enforcement and the Labour Relations Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act reforms of the 1990s. The authors place the origins of deregulation in the 1980s, when the late apartheid state responded to business pressure with liberalisation, exemptions and lax enforcement. They set this against the post-1994 'regulated flexibility' framework and the shift from the RDP to GEAR. The case is built from legal analysis, official labour-market statistics and sector case studies (transport, clothing, engineering, hospitality, retail, construction, small business).

Evidence and method

South African statutes and case law (Smit, SABC v McKenzie, Liberty Life v Niselow and others), the October Household Survey 1997, Department of Labour documents and inspector data, Andrew Levy surveys, bargaining council figures, and interviews (Nov 1999–Mar 2000) with unions (NUMSA, TGWU, SACTWU, FAWU), bargaining councils, COFESA, SAB, employment agencies and the Road Freight Association. It also draws on court records (NEHAWU v UCT, SACTWU v Stuttafords) and secondary research (Henwood, Kenny, Saul, Brassey).

Findings

  • The apartheid state turned to liberalisation and deregulation in the 1980s under business and crisis pressure. (p. 5)

    In response to increased pressure from business, and the growing economic and political crisis facing the country in the 1980s, the apartheid government began introducing policies of trade liberalisation, privatisation and de-regulation.

  • Deregulation worked through legislation, ministerial exemption and weaker enforcement. (p. 5)

    This thrust towards de-regulation took three forms: legislative change; administrative exemption; and a steady de-emphasis in the monitoring and enforcement of labour legislation.

  • The 1988 LRA amendments were a state attempt to curb the gains of African unions, later rolled back after protest. (p. 5)

    gains made by trade unions organising African workers through the use of this framework led to a set of amendments in 1988 which sought to curtail the rights of workers to use economic power and the courts to protect and advance worker interests.

  • Neglected labour inspectorates in the 1980s were inherited by the democratic government. (p. 6)

    The annual budgets did not give priority to these inspectorates and as a result, the new democratic government inherited dispirited and divided inspectorates with minimal impact.

  • Late-1990s unemployment was severe: the official rate was 22% and the expanded rate 37.4%, with 350 000 new work seekers a year. (p. 8)

    included in the unemployment rate, it increases to 5.2 million (37.4%). Jobs are being lost in every sector faster than they are being created, with the added pressure of 350 000 new work seekers entering the labour market every year.

  • GEAR moved policy away from the RDP's job-creation and anti-poverty goals toward liberalisation and fiscal restraint. (p. 8)

    moving from goals such as job creation, reduction in poverty and equitable economic growth to trade liberalisation, monetary targets and reduced social and capital expenditure.

  • Formal-sector job losses were large in the decade to 2000. (p. 8)

    Nearly one million jobs have been lost in formal sector, including both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, over the last decade.

  • The post-apartheid labour market remains racially, gender- and geographically skewed and segmented. (p. 9)

    Overall, unemployment remains very high and heavily skewed along racial, gender and geographic lines. Not surprisingly, the labour market inherited from the apartheid era remains segmented.

  • Tariff reductions under GATT have undermined manufacturing protection. (p. 4)

    Tariffs that once protected the domestic manufacturing industry have under GATT been drastically reduced.

  • The mining workforce contracted from 1987 while foreign contract labour grew. (p. 23)

    ON AVERAGE, THE MINING SECTOR HAS CONTRACTED 32% SINCE 1987 WHILE THE USE OF CONTRACT LABOUR (MAINLY FOREIGN, FROM LESOTHO AND MOZAMBIQUE) HAS INCREASED.

  • The 1988 LRA amendment spurred use of labour brokers to circumvent labour laws. (p. 44)

    AND, WITH AMENDMENT TO THE LABOUR RELATIONS ACT IN 1988, THE USE OF LABOUR BROKERS ROSE AS COMPANIES INCREASINGLY SAW THEM AS A WAY TO CIRCUMVENT WHAT WAS VIEWED AS MORE RESTRICTIVE LABOUR LAWS.