The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the Western Cape is disturbed and highly disappointed by Treasury’s decision to cut the budget of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration(CCMA) by R300 million over the next 3 years. Treasury reduced the budget in 2021 by R600 million for the period 2021 – 2024. That unilateral decision is a vicious attack on the working class and the poorest of the poor. What we have witnessed is an increase in the caseload of the CCMA, with fewer Commissioners. The Federation has also been informed that the services of part time Commissioners and Senior Commissioners have been drastically decreased and some have been temporarily suspended.

The CCMA has a massive backlog and with these draconian budget cuts, it will not be able to cope in dealing with all the cases. The working class is already suffering, and this ill-conceived reduction in the budget will exacerbate the challenge. COSATU views this as an onslaught against the workers. We therefore call on President Ramaphosa to urgently intervene by directing Treasury to review its current decision, because the R300 million budget cut has a massive impact on the CCMA and its capacity to assist workers, more so when there is an increasing demand upon its services as millions of workers have lost their jobs and wages.

COSATU will be monitoring this situation very closely and will also engage and consult the Alliance Partners, civil society, the religious fraternity and the public at large to discuss possible action against Treasury to force them to reverse their decision. We once again reiterate our call to the Human Rights Commission to investigate this matter, as we are of the view that the rights of the working class and the poorest have been infringed.