The proposals, unveiled by Labor Minister Membathisi Mdladlana of the African National Congress on July 26, have angered many workers. If written into law, they would mark a sharp departure from the trend of the past six years. In 1994, following years of mass struggle, the country's first nonracial, democratic elections were held and apartheid rule was ended. Since then, many of the demands of the superexploited working class for basic protections on the job have been incorporated into law.

The government's proposals include the following:

• An end to premium pay for Sunday work.
• Increasing the amount of overtime employers can schedule to 15 hours a week, from a 45-hour base workweek. Currently overtime is capped at 10 hours a week.
• Giving the labor minister power to approve variances from the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which sets rules for overall conditions of work.
• Establishing a six-month probation period for new workers and easing the bosses' ability to fire them.

Mdladlana said the proposals "will send a clear signal to local and foreign investors that we are seeking to create a labor market that is efficient and that is stable."

COSATU, the largest trade union federation in South Africa, said in a statement presented to a press conference by its secretary-general, Zwelinzima Vavi, that the package "represents an attack on the gains that organized labor has made in the past five years. We shall not take this lying down; the government, if it takes forward these amendments, must realize that they will set us on a real collision course."

Many of the proposed amendments "completely upset the delicate balance achieved through years of negotiations, and threaten to seriously destabilize the degree of labor stability which has been achieved by the new dispensation," COSATU said in its statement.  
 
'Attack on hard-won rights'
"The worst proposals, particularly on retrenchments [layoffs], downward variation [variances from the law], Sunday work, bargaining councils, and probation, represent the most serious attack on hard-won workers rights and gains since the 1988 attempt of [then-president] P.W. Botha's regime to roll back workers' rights," COSATU said.

"COSATU has been upbeat about gains workers have made since 1994 following the transformation of the labor market, and mobilized workers for the ANC 1999 elections victory partly on this achievement," said Vavi.

"Today we don't know what to think. There appears to be an obsession with what the mythical 'investor' is supposed to think about our labor market, and a blocking out of the realities facing millions of vulnerable workers, still oppressed by the apartheid legacy."

Spokespeople for the employer class welcomed the proposals, but said they did not go far enough in establishing "flexibility."  
 
Bosses call for more powers
Business Day, published in Johannesburg, said in a July 31 editorial that "Mdladlana's reforms are by no means perfect in such areas as working hours and retrenchment, dispute and collective bargaining procedures. But the package is a reasonable attempt to balance the competing imperatives of job creation, attracting investment and maintaining stability on the shop floor. One stark shortcoming is the failure to address the high overtime pay rate mandated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act." The overtime rate is now time-and-a-half.

The proposals will be discussed in forums with representatives from the labor movement, employers, and government prior to being forwarded to Parliament. COSATU leaders said they hoped to roll back the proposals in negotiations and would reserve a decision on mass action pending the outcome of these discussions.