Issued by: Gauteng Legislature - Office of the Secretary
The Speaker of the Gauteng Legislature, Mr Trevor Fowler, has pledged his support and solidarity with the anti-lockout action undertaken today by the labour movement, and described it as "a peaceful, valid and legitimate cause, aimed at advancing freedom and justice in our country".
"To the best of my knowledge, the lockout clause as it stands in its present form, or at least its moderated equivalent, are not enshrined in the constitutions of world democracies, whose models have been examined by our own constitutional drafters, for the purposes of illumination and caution. On the other hand, the right to strike, which millions of workers in our country are exercising today, is a guaranteed and fundamental human right which is accepted and endorsed in most democracies, except in authoritarian states.
The fear and concern which working people in South Africa have, and with which I identify, is that the lock-out clause would subvert the right to picket and bargain, and thus consign the freedoms of association and expression to the wilderness, an affliction which would affect not only the masses of organised labour, but in particular unorganised workers.
Business as an organised social entity already possesses enor- mous powers which are inherent in the right to 'hire and fire', as well as in its vast capital resources, and that the constitutional endorsement of this contested clause would fortify it unfairly against ordinary working people, and thus skew labour relations in South Africa disproportionately.
It is my considered view that this matter stands well above day to day party political differences, and must be seen primarily as a moral issue, which behoves, compels and qualifies the person of the Speaker to pledge his allegiance with the masses of organised and unorganised labour, without whose toiling exertion our economy would go to the rubble".
(signed) NTAI SELLO (MR) (SPEAKER'S PERSONAL ASSISTANT)
(issued by the Office of the Speaker, Gauteng Provincial Legislature)