Nedlac: a clarion call to action by the leaders of government, business, labour and civil society

THE National Labour and Economic Development Council (Nedlac) held its annual summit on Friday under the call of advancing solidarity, equality and sustainability in the economy and labour market.

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This is a clarion call to action by the leaders of government, business, labour and civil society. Whilst we will naturally have different interests, mandates and objectives; there are core issues that we can and must agree on, which if we fail to resolve, will threaten the very fabric and stability of society.

Given our history of three hundred and fifty years of colonial and apartheid rule that has left lasting scars of inequality and dispassion, we must be a society that values the principles of providing solidarity to those in need.

To be nation capable of growth and development, we must collectively work to eradicate the still prevalent divides of inequality all too often determined by the colour of one’s skin.

In a global era of climate change where our ability to grow food or where we have seen communities washed away by floods, we must act to ensure that our economy is repurposed along a path of sustainability and in a manner that takes workers and communities with and does not abandon them on the alter of free market fundamentalism.

Ill-informed armchair critics lament that Nedlac is a place where policies go to die. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

It is at Nedlac where government, business and labour where able to craft our progressive labour laws that are today respected across the world, ensuring workers the right to form trade unions and to collective bargaining, to paid maternity leave and the right to work in a safe environment amongst many other hard won gains that have seen the working conditions and lives of millions of workers improve since the dark days of apartheid and have nurtured labour market stability key to economic growth.