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Numsa may challenge youth jobs support bill

6 Nov 2013

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is seeking legal opinion on challenging the Employment Tax Incentive Bill‚ which provides tax incentives for companies to employ young people seeking work experience.

Irvin Jim is adamant that government should not have skipped the Nedlac processes. Image: Numsa

Numsa and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) are vehemently opposed to the legislation.

With Cosatu racked by divisions and embroiled in a court battle over the suspension of general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi‚ it was unable to mount a successful campaign against the bill - as it did against an earlier incarnation‚ the youth wage subsidy.

The youth wage subsidy was stalled in National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) for three years after it was proposed and budgeted for by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in 2011.

The ANC took a hard-line on the Employment Tax Incentive Bill‚ ensuring that it was pushed through parliament even though Cosatu‚ Numsa and other affiliates had submitted their strident rejection of the bill during various parliamentary hearings.

Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said the union was now seeking a legal opinion on the state's failure to take the bill to Nedlac.

It is understood that the Treasury has also taken legal advice‚ and believes that as a money bill the measure did not have to pass through Nedlac.

"Numsa has taken a conscious decision that it would educate young people throughout the country about why they deserve better‚" said Jim. He was attending a Numsa research and policy institute colloquium in Benoni.

The bill provides financial support for those companies that create jobs for first-time workers aged between 19 and 29.

Minister in the Presidency and chairman of the National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel said the Employment Tax Incentive Bill‚ passed in Parliament last week had the support of the state and despite opposition‚ would be implemented in earnest from January.

In a presentation to the colloquium‚ Jim said the youth wage subsidy had to be abandoned and called instead for the expansion of further education and training colleges to so that they could accept about a million learners a year compared with the current level of 400‚000.

Source: I-Net Bridge

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