6 September 1999
It gives me great pleasure today to release both the Annual Report of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration for the period April 1998 to March 1999 as well as the Department of Labour's first Annual Report on Industrial Action for the period January to December 1998. The release of the CCMA report coincides with its tabling in Parliament.
Two weeks ago a special NEDLAC Executive Council was held where all social partners recommitted themselves to making tripartism work. It is thus timeous for us to turn our attention now to another tripartite body, the CCMA.
In my statement today, I would like first to comment on the Industrial Action report and then move to comment on the achievements of the CCMA over the period as well as focus on the role and challenges of the CCMA in the current environment.
Department of Labour's report on Industrial Action in 1998
The release of our report on Industrial Action should be seen as part of the Department of Labour's commitment to monitor developments in the labour market and act on the basis of accurate information, as indicated in my Fifteen Point Programme of Action.
Previously the Department published only limited strike data in its annual report. These reports tended to under-report on the incidents and did not make important distinctions in the nature and extent of industrial action.
According to the Department's report, 3,8 million work days were lost during 1998. Our estimate of work days lost is higher than that predicted by the ILO/Swiss project and estimates by private sector consultants such as Andrew Levy and Associates.
We believe this is partly due to the fact that we are able to capture information more effectively since employers are obliged in terms of the LRA to report to the Department on strike action.
Our report, while confirming earlier reports on last year's strike action, also makes additional observations which labour relations practitioners and stakeholders need to note. For example, while the majority of strikes focused on wages, a significant pro portion were retrenchment related.
In future years we hope to continue to release this report simultaneously with the CCMA Annual Report so that meaningful comparisons between dispute resolution and strike trends can be made.
Achievements of the CCMA
The CCMA has made achievements on two fronts during the period covered by the Annual Report. On the first front, we have continued to witness an improvement in dispute resolution in South Africa.
Faced with a 35% increase in its caseload in this period, the CCMA was nevertheless still able to achieve a settlement rate of 71%. Furthermore, backlogs were minimal, despite the fact that there was not an increase in the staff complement.
Let us not underestimate this achievement and the impact this has had on the working lives of as many as 500 000 workers. But the CCMA has also made a broader contribution to the stabilisation of the labour market and the reduction of adverserialism.
The CCMA's contribution arises not just from the speedy settlement of disputes, but from its work in assisting the public sector to set up appropriate institutions, the training and accreditation of bargaining councils in respect of dispute resolution func tions and the work of the Essential Services Committee.
It is well known that last year saw an increase in strike action. The CCMA's Annual Report gives us the other side of the picture. Fifty eight percent of mutual interest disputes that could have resulted in strikes were settled through conciliation by the CCMA. The CCMA played a further role in resolving ten national and mostly protracted strikes over the period.
The Annual Report demonstrates the impact of the CCMA's work on the economy and the labour market. I call upon our social partners to value and nurture this organisation.
A turning point
I believe we are facing a turning point in our country's labour relations environment. The manner in which the social partners respond to both our present unemployment crisis and the legislative programme that the government has put in place can and will s hape the future of the labour market and indeed our economy as a whole.
Organised business and labour face a choice. We can respond to each other in an adversarial manner when we disagree or we can engage constructively and seek to achieve maximum consensus on critical issues.
We can focus our energies solely on retaining existing jobs and short-term job creation projects or we can direct our energies to the transformation of the economy so that it can provide jobs and incomes to all our people in the future.
Employers can seek to avoid complying with our laws and risk the penalties for non-compliance or they can seek to look at ways in which our laws can provide opportunities for improved productivity and efficiency.
Unions can refer disputes that can better be resolved internally to the CCMA and this could clog up the system. Or unions could improve their service to their members and give the CCMA the space to service unorganised workers and contribute to dispute prev ention.
We have all agreed as social partners on the need to reverse the conflictual labour relations environment of the past. We have agreed on the need for greater labour market stability as a prerequisite for sustained investment, economic growth and job creati on. The question is: have we achieved this? As I said earlier, strike levels increased last year and the indications are that this year's levels could be even higher.
It is correct that we fought for and won the right to strike, a right entrenched in the constitution. It is correct that workers' ability to withdraw their labour is a fundamental weapon of workers' power. But is it not a weapon that we use as a last resor t?
What has happened to the creative solutions with which unions and employers in different industries emerged through collective bargaining over the years and through which workers have improved their conditions? Or is the approach we adopt now to say, oh we ll, it's strike season again, as if it is a weather condition like a tornado about which we can do nothing?
While we are battling over how to divide up the cake, what are we doing to increase the size of the cake? Improving labour market stability is a necessary ingredient to increasing the size of the cake. These are key challenges we face.
I trust that the spirit that prevailed at the special NEDLAC Executive Council on 27 August will prevail, and that the choice that the social partners will take is that of engagement, strong social partnership and a commitment to tackle the difficult issue s that will enable us to increase the size of the cake.
This is no easy choice and the tendency when faced with difficult decisions may be to resort to the "comfort zones" of the familiar roles of the past. The strengthening of social partnership will also require supporting mechanisms and institutions. This is where the CCMA comes in. Earlier, I referred to the CCMA's two achievements: improved dispute resolution and its contribution to the transformation of the labour market.
I believe that the CCMA's challenge in the future is how to continue to enhance your dispute resolution function while extending and deepening your role in the transformation of the labour market. In this regard the CCMA has a particular contribution to ma ke in taking proactive steps to address adversarialism so that social partnership can triumph and we can get South Africa working.
What are some of the issues that the CCMA should seek to address?
The first challenge remains to operate a professional, accessible dispute resolution service to employers and employees. In the context of limited resources, the challenge facing the CCMA is to continue to provide a quality service through managing their r esources effectively and pursuing efficiency gains.
However, the CCMA is not required by the Act to perform all dispute resolution functions itself. The LRA makes provision for the accreditation of bargaining councils and private agencies.
I welcome the accreditation of 28 bargaining councils. There are however almost as many councils which still have to be registered. I would also like to see speedier progress in respect of the accreditation of private agencies.
Secondly, we have introduced a very extensive programme of legislative reform. Many employers and workers are grappling with understanding and applying these new laws which involve dramatic change in the workplace.
This is not surprising, since our laws do not just tamper with the problems but are aimed at achieving the fundamental transformation of the labour market to promote worker welfare and security, efficiency and productivity. The challenge is to enhance and deepen the understanding of our laws which will in turn lead to improved compliance and a consequential reduction in workplace conflict.
I believe that the CCMA's role in informing and educating workers and employers, especially smaller employers, about how to prevent and resolve disputes is a critical one and one which needs to be enhanced. The CCMA needs to encourage parties to take full advantage of our laws.
Related to this, the CCMA and the Labour Court, through its arbitrations and adjudications, can play a leadership and educative role as to how our new laws can best be applied. One should not underestimate the impact of a good judgement on the patterns of behaviour of parties.
Thirdly, collective bargaining, the preferred method of regulating the relationship between employers and workers the world over, remains weak and fragmented in South Africa.
The CCMA, together with social partners, should seek ways to strengthen collective bargaining so that it can make a contribution to sound labour relations and enhanced worker participation in enterprise or national economic decision making.
One such way is to help facilitate longer term agreements around key issues such as wages. Two- or three-year wage agreements such as have occurred in the metal and public sectors give space for parties to pursue other issues such as transformation and ind ustrial policy.
Fourthly, our Industrial Action Report refers to an increasing number of conflicts around retrenchments. In many instances these conflicts have arisen since the institutions provided for in the law are not fully utilised.
For example, there are very few workplace forums in existence and yet these are places where employees can raise issues of job security and restructuring and employers can raise issues of affordability long before these matters enter the formal bargaining arena.
Retrenchments for operational requirements are most likely to be avoided if workers have been involved in decisions about alternatives. This could not only help avoid job losses, but could also help bring down the temperature that frequently surrounds such situations.
I believe that the CCMA, together with the social partners, should with renewed urgency seek ways of promoting workers' participation in workplace decision making, including considering a campaign to promote workplace forums as institutions of co-operative labour relations in the workplace.
Fifthly, the CCMA - not the Minister of Labour - is the key vehicle that has been established to resolve strikes. I welcome the steps, set out in the Annual Report, that the CCMA intends to take to intervene more pro-actively both to prevent and resolve st rikes.
The LRA provides opportunities that have not been effectively utilised for parties to manage strikes better. These include the provisions on agency shop agreements, the Code of Good Practice on Picketing and the role of the Essential Services Committee.
For example, the LRA makes provision for the Essential Services Committee to ratify collective agreements that provide for the maintenance of minimum services during a strike. However, this Committee has ratified only two minimum service agreements.
Sixth, with the promulgation last year of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and this year of the Employment Equity Act, the CCMA's area of involvement extends beyond regulating collective bargaining.
The CCMA has a role to play in assisting employees who have been unfairly discriminated against as well as in the development of jurisprudence on difficult issues such as medical testing, psychological assessment and dealing with HIV/AIDS at the workplace.
Finally, in announcing my Fifteen Point Programme of Action for the next five year period, I have made it clear that we are not about to embark upon a major legislative reform programme when inadequate time has elapsed for the new laws and institutions to succeed.
However, we have indicated that we will pay greater attention to monitoring the impact of our labour laws so that we can detect, analyse and act upon problems as they arise.
In this respect, the CCMA has access to a wealth of information about the labour market. Not only the government but also all the social partners should be able to use this information to make more informed decisions about the problems in the labour market and appropriate solutions.
Conclusion
The CCMA has faced a number of internal management challenges. These are the same challenges that face most new and growing organisations as we complete our transition to democracy. I am satisfied that the CCMA leadership is dealing with its internal issue s with maturity and dedication.
I would like to reaffirm government's support for and commitment to the CCMA. I am confident that in the next period you will rise to the internal and external challenges that you face.
I would also like to personally congratulate and welcome the new Governing Body members, including the new chair Vincent Mtambo. The depth and diversity of experiences that you bring to the Governing Body can only contribute to the good governance of the C CMA.
Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate the Governing Body, management and staff of the CCMA for the selfless contributions they have made to make the CCMA what it is today.
I would like to extend a special word of praise to the Director of the CCMA, Thandi Orleyn, who has demonstrated enormous dedication, zeal and leadership since she took over at the helm of the organisation. With her crew behind her, I am confident that she will be able to steer the CCMA ship through the turbulent waters that lie ahead.