Trade Union Participation In South Africa Essay

1. Introduction
Trade Union participation in South Africa has evolved over the years. Trade Unions not only participate in political issues, but are now interested in economic policy decision-making, and have become very influential in that regard. The purpose of this essay is to analyze and to better understand the proposals of Trade Unions on the budget. Through this analysis, the essay attempts to answer the following questions (Ludwig, 2008):
a. What are the Trade Unions economic policy on economic growth and job creation?
b. What role have Trade Unions played towards creating a more inclusive nation economy-wise?
c. Are the proposals of the Unions in line with the NDP and the budget?
d. Lastly and most important are the alternatives gave

Unions have since had close relations with political parties such as the ANC and SACP (Armstrong and Steenkamp: 2008). South Africa has three main trade unions: COSATU, FEDUSA and NACTU, with COSATU being the one with the most affiliations . According to Parkin, Powell and Matthews (2008) trade unions are mainly formed to represent the interests of employees and have the following basic objectives across all countries:
• To improve the working conditions of employees,
• Increasing compensation, and
• Expanding job opportunities.
Trade Union involvement in the country has improved and expanded from politics to policy-making and governance decisions. It has evolved so much that Trade Unions now have their own proposed national budgets.
South Africa has come a long way since the apartheid era, and still has a long way to go before it can be fully developed with an inclusive economy. South Africa has undergone changes in important economic factors such as education and infrastructure in an attempt to improve the economy. Although the South African financial system is highly developed, the country still has a lot to do in order to achieve financial inclusion (World Bank, 2013).
3. The NDP
The program was implemented in 2013 with the following objectives (Theobald,

4. Trade Union Proposals
The trade unions have submitted proposals on several issues including youth wage subsidies, the national budget, tax incentives and they have also criticized the NDP.
4.1 COSATU
In 2001, COSATU in conjunction with other organizations formed a document named the People’s Budget which elucidates their plan to contribute to the growth of the country (People’s Budget, 2001). “The People’s Budget aims to define fiscal strategies that can alleviate poverty, support economic development and ensure greater equity” (People’s Budget, 2001). The People’s Budget proposed “increases in the budget to support:
i. an effective strategy to restructure the economy, co-ordinated with measures to improve the social wage; ii. expansion of the social wage in general, with the introduction of a Basic Income Grant, and establishment of National Health Insurance, and stronger measures to combat HIV/AIDS; iii. a coherent skills development strategy; and iv. better integration of infrastructure and housing development with the overall growth strategy” (People’s Budget,