The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA) said on Wednesday it welcomes the finding by the Essential Services Committee (ESC) of the CCMA that the production, transportation and distribution of fuel should not be designated an essential service.

The finding was made after the ESC initiated an investigation into the issue. If the committee had declared this sector an essential service, it would mean that workers would not be able to exercise the right to strike. Numsa appeared before the committee and made submissions opposing the application on the basis that the right to strike is a fundamental right which is protected by the Constitution.

“Also, we were not convinced that the fuel sector met the criteria to be declared ‘essential’. The condition for a sector to be declared ‘essential’ is ‘a service the interruption of which endangers the life, personal safety or health of the whole or any part of the population,'” Numsa said in a statement.

The committee also received submissions from the SA Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) and the Fuel Retailers Association (FRA). These bodies argued that the sector should be declared essential. They claimed that a stoppage caused by a strike at any stage of the supply chain of the fuel process, would cause disruptions along the entire value chain, thus increasing the risk that there will be shortages of supply of fuel to essential services, such as police and emergency services.

The panel said it was not satisfied that a case is made for the designation as even in its evidence SAPIA conceded that a strike that lasted almost three weeks did not impact essential services as there were contingency plans put in place to ensure that essential services were not interrupted.

Numsa said strike action is an important element of collective bargaining and it is recognised as the primary mechanism through which workers exercise collective power. The ESC found that “there is no evidence to prove that the interruption of production, transportation and distribution of fuel would pose any immediate threat to life, safety and health of the population or part thereof”.

“There have been repeated attempts to water down the right to strike and we have consistently opposed all of them,” said Numsa. “The working class fought fierce battles against the apartheid system to secure the right to strike.”

SOURCE:

https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/south-africa/numsa-can-still-strike-following-finding-that-fuel-distribution-is-not-essential-service-20210414