High court tells Cosatu not to threaten labour broker Transman

The threats against the branch were made during Cosatu's one-day strike last week, in protest against labour broking and e-tolling plans in Gauteng. Campaigning for the banning of labour brokers, Cosatu has accused these companies of abusing the workers they place, and branded the practice as modern-day slavery.

During the strike, Cosatu's Qwa Qwa branch sent Transman a fax in which it allegedly demanded that the company close its Qwa Qwa office for the day. The fax read: "Cosatu is opposed to the practice of labour brokering, which is another form of human trafficking that continues to condemn thousands of workers to insecure jobs, with poverty pay and with no benefits and no job security, and your business does not assist our people to get out of poverty, but rather sinks them into the highest level of poverty." The fax said further that Transman had until 5pm to send home its staff and close shop "otherwise the workers will never rest until you are out".

Transman's attorney Sean Sim said the company took legal action because staff did not feel safe. "Cosatu was given a chance to respond to correspondence we sent, but they did nothing. My client was concerned that its staff's safety could not be guaranteed and rightfully so," Sim said, adding that Transman had also lodged a defamation case against Cosatu. "We believe that unions calling labour brokers human traffickers and slave labourers amounts to defamation," he told Business Day.

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