HOW TRADE UNIONS CAN SHAPE THE FUTURE WORLD OF WORK

By Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza, President of POPCRU

Rapid social, environmental, and technological changes are quickly transforming businesses, with significant implications for labour markets. As trade unions, this means an important opportunity to play a revitalised role in society as partners in driving sustainable economic transformation and development.

Notably, automation continues to threaten workers in a variety of sectors, as PwC researchers estimate that as many as 30% of jobs could be impacted by 2030.

Likewise, growing awareness of important issues such as global warming has created new opportunities in sectors such as renewable energy. However, many of these benefits are accruing to overseas companies responsible for manufacturing the necessary parts and systems rather than to local businesses and workers.

Additionally, while the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality predated the pandemic, Covid-19 aggravated and accelerated these issues, sparking widespread job losses, business closures, and leaving many more workers in uncertain or precarious work situations. As a result, South Africa’s official unemployment rate has risen from 28.47% in 2019 to the 33.9% recorded in the second quarter of 2022, leaving more than one in every three people without work.

VITAL ECONOMIC PARTNERS

Against this background, the role of trade unions is more relevant than ever in protecting jobs and workers’ interests. Far from being adversaries of business, however, unions are also critical to supporting the common interests and objectives of both workers and employers.

Here are three ways in which trade unions are able to contribute positively to business growth, economic development and building the future world of work:

1. Creating high-trust, productive workplaces

First and foremost, trade unions act as the servants of their members, safeguarding and advocating for workers’ rights. However, they also serve as a vital mechanism for promoting productive dialogue between workers, and business managers and owners.

This offers employers the benefit of a single point of contact through which to discuss important organisational concerns rather than attempting to negotiate with employees on an individual basis. For employees, this creates an important platform for raising issues and addressing any problems before they escalate, while allowing workers to feel more personally involved in the organisation.

Together, this means that unions are able to foster mutually beneficial relationships between employers and employees, creating a high-trust, more productive working environment for all.

• Improving working environments

Trade unions have been essential to securing safer working conditions for employees, providing critical input into the improvement of health and safety regulations and helping to reduce the high number of work-related accidents.

However, there remains much more to be done. At the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union or POPCRU, this is currently a particular area of focus as police killings have reached unacceptably high levels, and prison overcrowding has continued to intensify, placing the safety of both correctional officers and inmates at risk.

As a result, POPCRU has called for a policing indaba to examine the factors behind police killings, as well as the building of more police stations and correction facilities, and more employment of police, correctional and traffic officers to perform the critical work of enforcing law and order.

By raising safety concerns and working with management to find productive solutions, trade unions serve as important allies in assisting organisations to allay workers’ fears, helping to attract more employees to their organisations while reducing the cost of accidents and absenteeism.

• Enhancing employee well-being

Finally, by serving the interests of workers, trade unions act to enhance employees’ well-being, satisfaction and productivity, while minimising the impact of stress-related ill health and staff turnover for employers.

This includes offering key services for members such as welfare benefits, legal assistance and even financial services. Additionally, unions provide and broker vital learning and training opportunities for members, assisting them to advance in their careers while offering organisations the benefit of higher-skilled employees.

So, as the country slowly recovers from the impacts of the pandemic and rises to new challenges and economic trends, trade unions, such as POPCRU, will be central to ensuring that South Africa is placed on a positive and sustainable economic trajectory that creates wealth for all its people.