Unions chart a path to ensure South African actors enjoy protection of labour laws

The South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) recently held a conference with its sister union from the United States, the Screen Actors’ Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA); and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the National Union of Metal Workers to chart a path to ensure that South African actors and performers, like all other workers, can enjoy the full protection of our labour laws.

SAGA has been relentless in championing the rights of these vulnerable workers and shining an important spotlight on a sector whose dark side all too often goes unreported.

The film industry is a major source of domestic and international investment, something our economy struggling with 1% annual growth for the past decade plus desperately needs.

It’s a chance to showcase South Africa’s attractions to the world, from Table Mountain and Robben Island to the Cape vineyards and to Kruger Park in the north, and thus boost our tourism sector, another major source of revenue and jobs.

Our domestic film industry has been a boon for promoting local languages, sporting talents and young budding actors, many of whom have later gone on to conquer Hollywood.

Besides the jobs they bring for actors, they have helped nurture a local value chain with some of the world's most talented film crew.  Cape Town and Joburg have become favourite destinations to film commercials from countries as far away as Europe.

These jobs are welcome, more so with our 42.9% unemployment rate.

Whilst our actors and performers have become household names and are correctly celebrated for their talents, all too often we have seen their careers end in tragedy.

Shaleen Surtie-Richards passed away whilst battling to afford medical care despite being one of South Africa’s most celebrated actors.  Olivia Jackson, a renowned stunt woman, lost her arm whilst shooting a scene for a movie.  Odwa Sheni died in an accident whilst filming on set.

These are some of the painful tragedies actors have faced whilst working to entertain the nation and take care of their families.  

Other labour rights violations don’t capture the headlines.  Despite our progressive labour laws that took workers decades to achieve, we routinely see foreign film companies enter South Africa and force performers to sign contracts waiving their labour rights.  SAGA has had to intervene in cases of child labour exceeding Ministerial Sectoral Determinations.

During COVID-19, Cosatu working closely with the Department of Employment and Labour and the Unemployment Insurance Fund, ensured that over R65 billion was released to help 5.7 million workers take care of their families.  Actors fell through the cracks as they were not considered employees and through no fault of their own, don’t have fixed or long-term employers.  Yet they could not work due to the lockdown.

Jackson lost her arm, impacting on her ability to continue to earn an income, yet again she would not be covered by the Compensation Fund for Occupational Injuries and Diseases despite this being a clear case of workplace injury.

Sheni’s family similarly would have struggled to access relief from the Compensation Fund as a commercial shoot is a short-term gig.

The film industry has been content to ignore SAGA’s call for industry wide standards, including conditions of service and salaries, preferring to divide workers’ inherent strength in collective bargaining.  This has led to those actors willing to demand these employees’ labour rights, being silently blacklisted by the industry, condemning many to unemployment and absolute poverty.

Many of our labour laws were developed when a job was defined by a fixed employer with a Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm set up.  The nature of work is rapidly changing with thousands of workers now employed by e-platform companies from Uber to Mr. Delivery, as well as traditional atypical workers such as actors, performers, musicians, artists, sports players amongst many others.

Our labour laws have to evolve as the economy and the nature of work change.  

It is with these lived experiences of Surtie-Richards, Jackson, Sheni and so many others, that Cosatu engaged with the Department of Employment and Labour and Organised Business at Nedlac to ensure that our labour laws are overhauled to make sure these workers who have entertained generations, brought joy and entertainment to millions of homes, nurtured African languages and placed South Africa on the global map, can enjoy the same rights and protections as all other workers.

Whilst some armchair critics, ill-informed by outdated reports, have chosen to attack the proposed amendments to the labour laws under discussion at Nedlac, they have failed to notice the massive gains Cosatu has been able to secure for these workers with government led by the African National Congress.

These include recognising these performers as workers and their right to collective bargaining.  This will enable SAGA and similar unions to negotiate on behalf of their members and workers in these sectors.

It includes providing a minimum number of shifts for on-call workers to ensure that they can earn enough to take care of their families.

Further engagements are now beginning on extending cover from the UIF and the Compensation Fund to these workers.  

The law is a powerful tool to provide a minimum floor to protect the rights of workers and nudge employers to recognise that their most important assets are their employees, to respect and invest in them.  

But the law will only take you so far.  Workers’ other most powerful weapon is their ability to organise, to form unions and engage in collective action and bargaining.  This is why Cosatu is working closely with SAGA, to support its efforts to recruit actors and other workers in the film industry, to empower and capacitate their members, and put in place minimum standards for this critical growth sector.

We will continue engaging the Departments of Employment and Labour, Trade, Industry and Competition, and Sports, Arts and Culture to strengthen our collective efforts to ensure these workers’ hard-won labour rights are a lived reality.

Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi

*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL.

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