Programme Director

Minister of Employment and Labour

All Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MECs present today

Workers and Comrades

All protocol observed

As COSATU we wish to extend our appreciation for this invitation to deliver our message of support to this conference that seeks to engage and address key issues of occupational health and safety of workers, which is one of our priority areas as a federation.

We note that the purpose of this Conference is to discuss the importance of the Labour Inspectors’ role on inspections with the aim of protecting vulnerable workers in different sectors of the South African Labour Market.

We wish to reiterate what we said in the previous conference hosted by this very same department last year. The inspectorate plays a crucial role in the enforcement of workplace health and safety standards and the protection of workers. It must be independent, capacitated and fearless in performing its duties. The inspectorate must recognise the critical role played in health and safety by workplace health and safety representatives and registered trade unions and must involve them actively in their workplace inspections, investigations and accident inquiries.

We want to raise our concern that the department is not doing enough to address the issue of occupational health and safety through inspections. I think we can all agree that the department is not fully capacitated to conduct inspections, it simply does not have enough capacity, hence employers are getting away with a lot. As we gather here, can the department tell us how many inspections it has conducted in the fishery and agricultural sector which employs the most vulnerable of workers? We are all aware of the recent incident in the fishery sector in Cape Town where a fishing boat sunk, and 11 workers are now declared dead because they were never found, and their remains are still at the bottom of the ocean as we sit here. These workers died on duty, and we have not heard this department say anything about that incident. We have reason to believe that there might have been negligence on the side of the employer, however, with the lack of inspections in these vulnerable sectors, workers lives continue to be at risk, in the name of profits. We find it very difficult comrades to talk about social justice when the arrogance of the employer is telling us that it is too expensive to retrieve bodies of workers who died on duty.

How many inspections has this department conducted in the farm areas? Also, where we find vulnerable workers, whose rights to health and safety are not even recognised by the employer. Workers are suffering in the farms, and we want to see this department engaging on a robust inspection drive in the farms and fine farm owners who are contravening the law.

Every day we see news making headlines regarding workers who were either injured or have died on duty, some of these issues are brought to light simply because they get covered by the media. How many workers are dying on duty and it’s not covered by the media? How do we talk social justice after the George building collapse? Why were inspections not done at that site to ensure that the employer is complying to required standards? Inspections could have prevented the number of lives lost, now a lot of families have been left destitute after loosing breadwinners. We cannot talk about social justice if the families of those workers have not received compensation for the loss of lives of their loved ones.

Inspection reports are public documents and should be made available to the public, but this is not the case. It is even difficult for us as a Federation to obtain such reports even if we write to the department. Why is it so difficult to get those reports? Why are they not easily accessible on the website of the department? How do we as a Federation know how many inspections are being conducted and the fines imposed if this department even struggles to send such reports. The inspectorate must speed up accident investigations and inquiries and finalise their reports without delay. There are many outstanding accident reports years after workers have been injured or died and we are saying this cannot continue comrades.

We do, however, note that the department has been embarking on some inspections that are exposing employers who are not complying with regulations. We have recently seen inspections in the hospitality sectors that has exposed employers who do not even adhere to payment of minimum wage. Some of them are even employing undocumented foreign nationals inorder to exploit them. As a Federation we are calling for more unannounced inspections in different sectors and employers who are not complying with regulations must be exposed and fined accordingly. Our most vulnerable workers in the food and beverage industries, clothing and textiles, domestic workers and farmworkers continue to be exploited by greedy employers, and it seems the end is not near as we continue to receive different complaints daily.

Employers continue to gamble with the lives of workers all in the name of greed and profits. Exploitation of vulnerable workers is one area that requires special and urgent intervention. Do we actually know how many of these vulnerable workers are being paid the minimum wage as required by the law? If not, what measures has the department put in place to rectify this. Are Inspectors imposing the necessary penalties to employers who do not comply with the law? It can no longer be business as usual as long as farmworkers and domestic workers are not paid what is due to them according to the law. It can no longer be business as usual for as long as farmworkers and domestic workers are abused and exploited behind high walls of their employers. Inspectors, through partnerships with organised labour should continue to ensure that the necessary knowledge is communicated to workers regarding their rights so that they are able to report exploitation and non-compliance by their employers.

We must also use this opportunity to voice out our displeasure regarding the amendment of the OHS Bill. It is very disturbing that the OHS Amendment Bill was processed by the social partners at NEDLAC in 2016 with the expectation that the Bill would be tabled and passed by Parliament that year. Seven years later, the Amendment Bill has still not been tabled in Parliament. The unexplained delay by the Department of Employment & Labour in processing the Bill has been reckless and has compromised the rights of workers and South Africa’s international obligations. How do we talk social justice when it takes more than seven years to finalise amendments to just one Bill? Cosatu is of the strong view that the Bill must be referred to Parliament as soon as possible this year.

We call upon the department to partner with us as the Federation of workers. We want to be part and parcel of these inspections, and we have been blowing the whistle on some employers who are not complying; however, the department takes forever to respond to such tips. We want to call upon the Minister and Deputy Minister to ensure that the department employs adequate inspectors to ensure that inspections are conducted across all sectors of our economy. As COSATU we remain committed to coming onboard and working with the department because to us, one life of a worker lost, is one too many.

Having mentioned some of the issues above, we wish you well in hosting this conference and hope that you engage on some of these issues and come up with strong proposals that will address the crisis of non-compliance that we are facing as a country. If this department is serious about social justice, you need to intensify inspections, especially in sectors that employ vulnerable workers. Remember comrades that we have one purpose in mind, and that is to protect the rights of workers, especially those who are most vulnerable.