COSATU unhappy about CCMA budget cut

Congress of the South African Trade Union (Cosatu) in the Western Cape says it is unhappy with the decision to slash the CCMA's budget.

The trade union says it condemns the national treasury decision to cut the budget of the CCMA with R600 million over the next three years. T

COSATU labelled it as a vicious attack on the working class and the poorest of the poor. It wants President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene.

“We call on the President of this Country to step in and show Leadership. What we have seen is an increase of the caseload of the CCMA, with fewer Commissioners.  We were also informed that Part Time Commissioners services has been temporary suspended and that no cases were scheduled for December 2020,” said Malvern De Bruyn, COSATU Western Cape Secretary-General.

ARCHIVE: COSATU's Malvern De Bruyn at Bush Radio

“The CCMA has a massive backlog and with this draconian budget cuts the CCMA will not be able to cope in dealing with all the cases. Workers will suffer because of this onslaught by Treasury. We are faced with a crisis in terms of Covid-19 pandemic and almost 2 million workers have lost their jobs because of the economic downturn. Where will those workers go to seek relieve if they are unfairly dismissed. Trade Unions will have a battle to apply for facilitation because of the backlog.”

“We are calling on President Ramaphosa to urgently intervene by directing Treasury to review their current decision, because the R600 million budget cut has a massive impact on the CCMA and its capacity to help workers, more so when there is an increasing demand upon its services as millions of workers has lost their jobs and wages,” added De Bruyn.

COSATU wants the South African Human Rights Commission to probe this matter.

“Cosatu will be monitoring this situation very closely and will also engage and consult the Alliance Partners, Civil Society, Religious Fraternity and the public at large to discuss possible action against Treasury to force them to reverse their decision. We once again call on the Human Rights Commission to investigate this matter, because we are of the view that the rights of the working class and the poorest of the have been infringed.”

 

Done By: Mitchum George