Andy Gray
In 1867 Karl Marx wrote that "Capital is dead labour, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks". Depending on which side of the great divide you find yourself – employee or employer – you might hold that, 131 years later, we have either pulled the teeth of the vampire or so relieved the worker of the obligation to produce surplus value as to render him useless to Capital. But what does that have to do with a professional association like SAAHIP? Professionals have consistently sought to distance themselves from the pressures of collective labour action - hence our application for recognition as "essential services". We cannot escape entirely though – at some time in the last year each and every SAAHIP member, in the private or public sectors, will have either heard of, been affected by or even directly dealt with the following range of daunting acronyms: LRA, BCEA, CCMA, Nedlac, EEA. The list grows with every year and the reach of the structures so creates leaves few untouched. As a professional body we have neither the expertise nor the financial means to employ the full-time services of labour lawyers or to play a direct role in centralised bargaining or even to assist individual members in labour disputes. It is not our core business, and to pretend otherwise would be a disservice to our members. We do have a strategic alliance with a public sector union, the Public Servants Association, which can provide that muscle. However, this should not be seen as a capitulation, but merely as recognition that in the current market a pharmacist might well need to harness the abilities of two different parties – a professional association to deal with professional matters, and a union to deal with labour issues. The costs are higher, but so are the stakes. Don’t be caught hopping on one leg when the vampires come out to feast!
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