VZCZCXRO7960
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHJO #0474/01 3281612
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241612Z NOV 06
FM AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5475
INFO RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2157

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JOHANNESBURG 000474 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON SF
SUBJECT: SOUTH AFRICA: TRADE UNION VIEWS ON BLACK ECONOMIC 
EMPOWERMENT 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000474  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
----------- 
 
¶1.  Major trade union federations in South Africa actively 
support the goals of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), but have 
specific criticisms relating to its implementation.  The 
Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) argues that BEE 
is insufficiently broad-based and fails to emphasize job 
creation and assistance to communities.  COSATU specifically 
criticizes the focus on assisting black entrepreneurs rather 
than the working class, though it also has misgivings about 
employee stock option or profit sharing plans that include 
enterprise workers among BEE beneficiaries.  The Federation of 
Trade Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) similarly supports the 
goals of BEE but its General Secretary noted the complexity of 
restructuring the economic base while maintaining productivity. 
FEDUSA, which claims to be closer to President Mbeki than 
COSATU, also noted the urgent need for access to finance for 
disadvantaged small businesses and entrepreneurs, as well as a 
need to ease regulations for business start-ups.   End Summary. 
 
COSATU argues for Broader-based BEE 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2.   In a meeting in late October, COSATU spokesman Patrick 
Craven emphasized that the trade union federation fully 
supported the goals of black economic empowerment but that the 
implementation was lacking.  Craven also noted COSATU's 
heartburn about the issue of trade union pension and investment 
companies, employee stock option or profit sharing plans. 
While COSATU did not oppose such arrangements, Craven argued 
that the fiduciary responsibilities of the administrators, who 
were bound to seek profits, could conflict with the trade union 
principles of promoting worker interests and social justice. 
COSATU had publicly opposed a union pension investment in a 
casino, which might be justifiable in terms of its profits, but 
did not accord with trade union opposition to gambling. 
Nevertheless, COSATU did not oppose employee share ownership 
plans, and was actively promoting training of trade union 
pension fund representatives on fiduciary responsibilities. 
 
¶3.  COSATU's Secretariat Report of September 2006 outlines the 
history of trade union involvement, through NEDLAC (the National 
Economic Development and Labor Advisory Council), in drafting 
Codes of Good Practice that would define the scorecard received 
by an enterprise under BEE.  The report also notes that 
stakeholders in a sector, explicitly including labor, may agree 
on a sector charter that can diverge from the scorecard under 
the Codes of Good Practice. 
 
The Secretariat Report references COSATU's arguments that : 
 
a) the BEE process fails to emphasize job creation, especially 
through support for local procurement and strong ties to sector 
strategies; 
 
b) equity ownership requirements should emphasize collective 
ownership, i.e. through community trusts, pension funds or 
worker holding.   COSATU had pushed for such definitions in 
NEDLAC but notes that it is currently unclear if company stock 
ownership through an employee pension plan would meet equity 
requirements; 
 
c) skills development and employment equity targets emphasize 
managers and professionals rather than lower-level workers. 
COSATU notes that the original acts of Parliament were intended 
to ensure of advancement of lower-level workers; and. 
 
d) more emphasis should be given to services and products that 
empower the poor and their communities.  Such sectoral 
re-weighting would be particularly beneficial in the financial 
and health sectors. 
 
¶4.  COSATU's official secretariat statement also noted the 
extent to which "class differentiation" among the black 
population impacted on the BBBEE debate.  Black entrepreneurs 
fought to maximize the returns to share owners at the expense of 
company actions that would benefit workers and the poor.  In its 
policy resolutions adopted at its 8 th /2005 Congress, COSATU 
also noted that the tendency within BEE was to emphasize racial 
representation in ownership, promoting black elite enterprises, 
at the expense of broadening ownership and focusing on 
inequalities in terms of race.  This underemphasized gender and 
class-based inequalities. 
 
COSATU Affiliate Unions' Positions More Radical than Federation 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.   Both the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa 
(NUMSA) and the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union 
(SACTWU) have argued that the current narrow interpretation of 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000474  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
BEE fails to include skills development, employment equity, 
broad-based ownership, employment creation and support for 
co-ops as key elements in effective empowerment.  The two unions 
also called for payment of a living wage, comprehensive trade 
union rights, and advanced health and safety practices as part 
of BEE.  Both also noted that the BEE must not be centered on 
the "enrichment of a few" but serve to redistribute wealth among 
all disadvantaged communities and reduce racial, class and 
gender inequalities. 
 
¶6.  The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union 
(NEHAWU) meanwhile has stated that BEE is not consistent with 
the Freedom Charter, which called for the transfer of ownership 
to the people as a whole, "not to some Blacks."   NEHAWU has 
called for nationalization or re-nationalization of key 
industries, including petro-chemical producer SASOL, and of 
highly concentrated industries such as banking and mining rather 
than allowing the "exploitation of the worker in order to secure 
maximum profits." 
 
FEDUSA wants more finance, less regulation 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶7.  The Federation of Unions of South Africa is the 
second-largest union federation in South Africa after COSATU, 
and most of its affiliates have a predominantly white or colored 
membership.  General Secretary Dennis George noted that BEE 
issues were very difficult, though FEDUSA fully supported its 
aims.  George, who served on the tourism board, said that 
establishing black-owned businesses in the tourism sector was 
hampered by lack of land reform, lack of access to finance and 
over-regulation by government.   He noted that it sometimes took 
two years to get financing arranged, but that government 
inspectors showed up a day after a small entrepreneur opened a 
bed and breakfast.  George also said that FEDUSA generally had a 
better relationship with President Mbeki than COSATU, and that 
FEDUSA was often more supportive of the government's policy. 
 
Comment: 
------------ 
 
¶8.   COSATU's stance on BEE reflects its duality in seeking to 
represent both the interests of its trade union membership and 
its self-appointed political role in speaking for the poor and 
unemployed.    Assistance to entrepreneurs and small business is 
more likely to fuel job creation than BEE restructuring but 
start-up firms generally have minimal union membership - and 
thus are of little bread-and-butter benefit to COSATU.   Many of 
COSATU affiliates' criticisms of BEE are also being addressed, 
especially as regards skills development, although the training 
offered by many of the Sector Education and Training Authorities 
(SETAs) remain uneven.   COSATU's interest in reducing the 
importance of equity transfers in a BEE scorecard parallels the 
interests of U.S. and other multinationals who seek to comply 
with BEE standards but prefer not to give up equity in their 
South African subsidiaries.   End Comment. 
COFFMAN##