Issued by Department of Labour
22 August 2001
The Cabinet today approved amendments to the Labour Relations Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act for tabling in Parliament during this session.
Just over a year ago, I released a Labour Relations Amendment Bill and Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Bill for public comment and negotiations at NEDLAC. We received important public comments and have recently completed very constructive negotiations at NEDLAC.
The miracle that I promised did not become a mirage. Parliament will receive a set of amendment bills that have the substantial support of organised labour and business and include something for everyone. I said something for everyone and not everything for everyone because for any right conferred to any of the social partners there is a reciprocal obligation on another.
Some amendments in these bills will improve the protection of workers while others will assist to improve the efficiency of the labour market. Some amendments will make it easier for small business to comply with our laws while others will make it more difficult for unscrupulous players in the labour market to abuse vulnerable workers.
We have made amendments to:-
This is a significant set of amendments. I am confident that the amendments as a package are a signal to our supporters and detractors alike that we are responsive to the changing nature of the labour market and to the concerns and problems of all our stakeholders: organised labour and business, unorganised workers, investors, small employers and those whose possibilities of gaining employment could be limited by the operation of our laws.
If these amendments are approved by Parliament, organised labour will be able to elect whether they want to strike or contest the substantive fairness of a retrenchment through the Labour Court. Vulnerable workers will become less exposed to abusive contractual relations and have easier access to the CCMA.
Small businesses should see their interests taken into account by bargaining councils and will undoubtedly get a better deal at the CCMA. Investors will have a more certain climate in which to do business, especially in relation to the transfer of contracts of employment where they buy a business.
It is our view that these labour law amendments coupled together with other government initiatives including the New African Initiative; the roll out of our skills development strategy, the soon to be introduced Immigration Bill, the Integrated Rural Development Strategy; and the Urban Renewal Programme; all contribute to increasing the quantum of new investment in our country. This can only be good news for job creation and economic development.
The negotiation process with our social partners took over a year. There were moments of high tension and were many long nights. A lot of time and energy was also spent in obtaining appropriate mandates as each team of negotiators was determined to get nothing but the best for its constituency.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution that the Millennium Labour Council made in the process. A number of critical agreements which laid the basis for constructive negotiations in the NEDLAC process were reached by organised labour and business in this Council.
One of the hallmarks of a strong and dynamic democracy is vibrant social partnership between government, organised labour and business. We are fortunate to have such a strong tradition of this in South Africa.
Strong social partnership brings with it many advantages: labour laws that are agreed upon have high levels of credibility and legitimacy and are more likely to be implemented and enforced. This has been our experience to date.
But social partnership requires hard work, hard bargaining and at the end deal making. The harder one works, the harder one is likely to develop win-win solutions. I believe that this has been the case in respect of retrenchments and pay for work on Sunday.
Government had different proposals a year ago in respect of addressing these issues. Firstly, in respect of retrenchments our proposals sought to improve the operation of the consultation process and reinforce the original intention of the Act to encourage parties to find solutions to avoid or minimize retrenchment.
We were however persuaded in the negotiation process to consider a more significant revamping of the retrenchment procedures to include:-
This is a new route but I am of the view that these amendments would assist both employers and employees in managing retrenchments in a better way than up to now.
Secondly, in respect of Sundays it was clear during the negotiations that organised business and labour did not have a problem with the status quo except in respect of companies which employed less than 20 or 30 employees. As a result and bearing in mind other representations that was received from the public and church groups, Cabinet approved that the status quo rather remain.
While laws can follow traditions and practices, it is more difficult for law to lead the way. However, we believe that we can still address some of the problems we sought to address, for example in respect of workers in the tourism and services sector, through existing provisions that allow conditions to be varied.
WAY FORWARD
Cabinet approval of these Amendment Bills ends a further phase in the process that we embarked upon over 18 months ago to revise two of the central labour laws administered by the Department of Labour.
The next phase is the Parliamentary phase. It is my intention to expedite the tabling of the Bills in Parliament, after which the baton passes to the Labour Portfolio Committee. Public hearings will be scheduled by the Portfolio Committee and after consideration of the representations received; the Bills can be finalized by Parliament.
Those who would like to further comment on the proposed amendments will have the opportunity to do so during the public hearings to be arranged by the Labour Portfolio Committee at Parliament. It remains for me to thank all of those who made this possible for us to be where we are today - organised labour, organised business, Nedlac our legal drafters, my chief negotiators as well as ordinary South Africans for the role they played in this process.