# Regulatory Compliance Category > Labour Relations and Legislation Forum >  About time someone really shook up the LRA roost

## Dave A

So NUMSA is going on strike on Tuesday.
No surprise to anyone, I expect. I've been getting notices from suppliers for over a month now indicating a strike by NUMSA seemed likely, and I should plan for a disruption to supplies.

I didn't see this one coming though. Employers tell metalworkers to go home.

That should shake things up a bit!

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## IanF

Why not, the unions shouldn't be the only ones to be irresponsible. Will the non unionised workers put the unions under more pressure? 
The unintended consequences will be interesting to watch.

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## Justloadit

I think that the Unions have had a wake up call with this "LockOut". I also disagree with this collective bargaining. Small companies just have no say in what is negotiated, but have to accept the new terms. The Unions have been calling the shots for years, and have been in the pound seat while employers dug deeper and deeper into their pockets to maintain production. But there will come a time, when there is nothing left to give. We have reached that point. Business can not expand due to lack of available electricity, and currently can not be efficient in manufacture because of labour issue, and on top of that, cheap Chinese imports has place a tremendous pressure on local manufacturers, reducing the profit margins substantially.

It seems the Unions have already requested the permission to strike before the negotiations started. Indicating to me they had no intention of negotiating but going on strike immediately.

I see my business in a tight position, in which I am doing more of the work to maintain profitability by attempting to reduce costs, but this makes it a very long day for me, and is not sustainable, as at some point something will give in.

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## Dave A

I'm curious as to the thinking behind the move.

As a statement that enough is enough already, it's a pretty clear, well-timed notice (being right on the back of the 5 month platinum mining strike which has already shown government that big strikes have serious consequences). It's bound to attract high level attention right quick.

But I wonder if there is something more hoped for behind the move?

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## wynn

Mothballing your factory for thirty days at a time (like happens during annual year end shut down) must surely be cheaper than keeping everything ticking over on the offchance that the strike will be over soon, send non striking staff on holiday now because you are probably going to have to work through the usual shutdown period to catch up, that way you are not going to have to pay double (pay and leave pay) at the end of the year.

If the strike is called off in the middle of the month the 'Wekkas' will have to wait till the end of the month before the factory reopens.

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## Justloadit

This also takes the pressure off employers to negotiate quickly. There is ample time now to revue every request, and send it back with a counter offer.

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## Dave A

Strike with high stakes.

I'm inclined to agree. This (and probably the platinum mining strike) seems to be driven more by political agendas than wages.

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## Justloadit

Dave I agree, this is not about the value of wages, but flexing muscles in the political arena.

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## IanF

I was chatting to a guy at running yesterday who is a armature winder. The company he works for has closed for a month and he is on unpaid leave. 
The unions seem determined to drag us into the realm of "just another failed African country"
I remember visiting my mom in Malawi in the 90's and in all seriousness she said you can only have 2 of the 3 working.
This was phone, electricity and water. We are not far off from that.

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## Greig Whitton

> The unions seem determined to drag us into the realm of "just another failed African country"


I don't think that is what the unions want. But I think that they are willing to risk it to get what they want.

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## IanF

> I don't think that is what the unions want. But I think that they are willing to risk it to get what they want.


Now you have my interest what is the Union's endgame?

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## Greig Whitton

They're playing a game of political chicken with the ANC. The first one to blink loses the working class constituency. If neither of them blink, we all lose.

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## IanF

So now this political game causes mayhem and lousy service from utilities - and this won't lead to being just another failed African country?
This looks like one of the consequences.

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## Greig Whitton

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that widespread mayhem and failure is a definite possibility. But when you're playing poker and decide to go all in, you don't care how your chips feel about it.

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AndyD (07-Jul-14), Dave A (05-Jul-14)

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## Dave A

> Don't get me wrong, I fully agree that widespread mayhem and failure is a definite possibility. But when you're playing poker and decide to go all in, you don't care how your chips feel about it.


That might just be the comment of the week!

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## wynn

> you don't care how your chips feel about it.


When you say 'Chips' don't you really mean "Chops"?

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## Dave A

More fireworks well and truly on the way - this time relating to the extension of collective agreements to non-parties.

Metals sector faces further ructions.

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## Dave A

As NUMSA rejects the 10% offer from employers and accuses them of "reckless shenanigans and unreasonable demands", we have Statistician-General Pali Lohohla with this to say:




> Lehohla on Monday tabled figures highlighting the sluggish recovery of South Africa's mining and manufacturing sectors in the wake of the 2008/09 recession.
> 
> The figures were a repeat of those issued in Stats SA's last monthly release, tabled last week.
> 
> They highlight the impact strikes and industrial unrest have had on the country's mining and manufacturing sectors.
> 
> Among other things, they show that between June 2012 and March this year a total of 48 000 jobs were lost in the mining sector, a decrease of 9%.
> 
> Further between September 2006 and March this year, the number of employees in the manufacturing sector decreased by 14%, a total of 188 000 employees.
> ...


I do believe it is long overdue that we call a spade a spade.

There is something very wrong with our Labour Relations Act. It isn't working and it's causing ever increasing economic mayhem. And every day this problem isn't tackled, the hole we're digging for ourselves is going to be deeper and harder to get out of.

The time to act is NOW!

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## Dave A

Driving home this evening I heard a report that Mildred Olifant has now met the parties to try to settle the strike. The report mentioned that Mildred believes there needs to be new mechanisms put in place to prevent these damaging strikes.

That sounded like progress, so I went hunting for some online reports of the statement(s).

No luck unfortunately. But I did come across a report that dampens my hopes somewhat that government is finally waking up and seeing the problem for what it is. How the heck can we expect a sound solution when this is part of the paradigm:




> Oliphant said the government was intent on exploring the introduction of a minimum wage because salary disparities remained vast, despite the equal pay for equal work provision in the country's labour equity legislation.
> 
> She cited differences in pay for rock drillers in the mining sector, saying those in platinum, gold and coal mines were not earning equally well, despite essentially doing the same job.
> 
> "When you look at the way they work, all of them are doing the same job. The question will have to be: Why do you have people who are doing the same job not being paid equally?"
> from Government mulling minimum wage model on Moneyweb


Gee Mildred. Great question!
While you're about it, please find out why gold, platinum and coal don't get the same price per ounce on the open market?
You might also want to research where the money to pay wages in the private sector actually comes from.
Here's a clue - it isn't from taxes.

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