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While business remains committed to an effective social dialogue about the new labour legislation, Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) is still gravely concerned about the economic and business implications of the amendments proposed in the new labour bills. The amendments proposed have a serious potential to aggravate rather than alleviate unemployment. As outlined in BUSA’s recent discussion documentation on a job-rich growth path for South Africa in 2025, the most important issue facing the South African economy today is improving conditions to make greater labour absorption possible.
BUSA had welcomed the fact that Cabinet originally endorsed the Regulatory Impact Assessment Study of the proposals, which has clearly outlined the risks of the draft legislation to business processes and employment. It is disappointing that these findings have been disregarded by the Department of Labour in all four bills and BUSA hopes this will be reconsidered.
Business has also been encouraged by recent official statements which assign a decisive role to the private sector in creating jobs. Our plea as business is therefore that South Africa should not allow bureaucratic limitations to hamper job creation and devising flexible responses to the unemployment challenge. BUSA looks forward to a robust engagement around the proposed legislation in Nedlac.