Issued by Department of Labour
29 NOVEMBER 1999
Master of ceremonies
Honourable Ministers
The managing director of South African Breweries
The general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers
The Executive Director of the National Productivity Institute
Ladies and gentlemen
The SAB and the Social Plan
Firstly, we are gathered here to celebrate the partnership between the SA Breweries and the Department of Labour to train our Employment Services Practitioners. To date 35 Department of Labour employment services practitioners from all provinces have been trained free of charge in the SA Breweries retrenchment counselling programme.
Some of these employment services practitioners received further training to train other employment services practitioners and human resources practitioners of companies affected by job losses. In this way the multiplier effect will come into operation and the Department will be even better equipped to deal with the retrenchments.
The employment services practitioners have already applied their newly acquired skills in three projects involving retrenchments - the NUM/Anglogold/Department of Labour project in Klerksdorp, Welkom and Carletonville; at the Eastern Transvaal Consolidated Division of Avgold and at the Mooi Tex company in Mooi River, Kwazulu/Natal. In the case of Avgold and Mooi Tex, the SA Breweries sent their trainers to the locality to retrain the employment services practitioners involved in retrenchment counselling.
In 1996, the SA Breweries Beer Division and the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) got together to discuss their mutual concerns about retrenchments and FAWU's particular concern about employee security. The result of this and other meetings, including one with the ILO in Switzerland, was Project Noah, an initiative to develop alternatives for employees whose jobs have been modified or who have been retrenched. It was decided to run Project Noah as an enterprise and to develop alternative forms of employment for SA Breweries employees facing retrenchment.
Retrenched SAB employees firstly receive intensive counselling on inter alia managing change, getting motivated, managing money matters, getting that job and further options in the labour market. In phase two, they receive skills training in setting up a small business as well as a "hard skill" such as bricklaying or basic electronics and in phase three, the retrenched employees are assisted to establish their own businesses.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the kind of innovation which the SA Breweries has shown with Project Noah is exactly what we need to address retrenchment and unemployment in South Africa. Project Noah has concentrated on the development of small, micro and medium size enterprises. Its business development initiatives include the establishment of:
The Social Plan
It took the social partners over two years of hard bargaining in NEDLAC to reach agreement on the precise nature of the mechanisms and programmes needed - now referred to as the Social Plan.
The Social Plan Agreement includes a strong recommendation to social partners to establish Future Forums to put in place "early warning systems" - where employers and unions can track problems and seek solutions that secure employment.
Allow me to quote what the Social Plan says about Future Forums:
"(4.1) A social plan approach is most effective when it arises from timeous analysis of problems in a particular sector or company, because this makes it possible to explore appropriate solutions and to implement these in a properly planned way.(4.2) If attempts at developing a social plan wait until a retrenchment proposal is tabled, then there are often serious time limitations on the process, and the options available are therefore far more limited.
(4.3) NEDLAC parties should therefore promote ongoing discussions between workers' representatives and employers about the future of their industries, and enterprises, and set up 'early warning systems' that can identify problems timeously.
(4.4) The establishment of future forums, whether separately or part of existing bargaining forums, is therefore proposed. These forums will involve employees and their representatives and management, to look ahead to problems, challenges and possible solutions."
These Future Forums may, in terms of the Social Plan, agree to approach the Social Plan Technical Support Facility (SPTSF) for technical assistance in the analysis of problems and solutions facing the particular sector or enterprise.
In a nutshell, the Social Plan can be implemented in three phases. The first phase is aimed at saving jobs, thus, the establishment of Future Forums. The second phase is aimed at managing retrenchments as humanely as possible. The second phase must be implemented only when retrenchments are inevitable. The third and the last phase is aimed at regenerating local economies where the retrenched workers reside.
It is clear that the main objective of the Social Plan is to deal with retrenchments even before they happen and when retrenchments are inevitable must be dealt with as humanely as possible. However, it is also important to regenerate the local economies of the retrenched workers in order to create new job opportunities.
The Social Plan Task Team proposed that support mechanisms be put into place for employers and unions in order to inform them about the services available within the framework of the Social Plan. Countrywide briefings will be held for employers and unions. A communication roll-out plan has been developed by my Department for this purpose. We have also compiled an Employer's Guide that includes guidelines on the various forms of assistance and services available and a checklist to be followed by the different parties. The Employer's Guide will be used to encourage best practice in dealing with retrenchments and to promote a code of good conduct on retrenchment among employers.
Effects of Retrenchments
Retrenchment is one of the most stressful life events that can happen to a person. Take away a person's work and you remove his or her reason for and means of existence.
As Kahlil Gibran puts it so eloquently in "The Prophet:"
"You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
And to step out of life's procession that marches in majesty and proud submission toward the infinite.When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music-
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent,
When all else sings together in unison?"
I believe that the prevention of job losses and, where this fails, assisting those who have suffered from retrenchment, is one of the noblest tasks one can do. I therefore consider the Social Plan as one of my Department's flagship programmes. Tonight, I also have great pleasure to announce the availability of products meant to ensure smooth implementation of the Social Plan. The products are the Social Plan Technical Support Facility, our information package for retrenchees and employers.
There are pamphlets that have been researched and compiled over a period of eighteen months by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE). The research focused on four economic sectors, that is, the mining, textile, finance and insurance industries.
The information collected formed the basis of the pamphlets we have produced and they will be distributed to all Job Advice Centres at the retrenching companies as well as through my Department's offices across the country.
Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all aware of the fact that unemployment and poverty is still rife amongst our people. South Africa has been propelled into the global economy. While this promises to have a positive impact on our economic growth in the long term, in the short term this is playing havoc with the job security of our people.
The economic and social phenomenon of globalisation has posed greater challenges for economic sectors and industries to respond in a more competitive manner. We live in the information age where new information technologies have become available. Finance capital can be found from other countries and innovative forms of work organisation have been developed. This results in higher specialisation in jobs and export products for special niche markets.
Increasingly jobs require workers who are highly skilled and able to adapt to rapid technological change. Job profiles are being restructured and new forms of work organisation are being introduced in order to compete internationally. Due to the lack of a proper skills development strategy and the poor education system of the apartheid past, workers' skills soon become obsolete and their skills profiles no longer fit the new job profiles. They therefore become redundant in their workplaces and are often then retrenched.
The transformation of our country to correct the rigid and backward policies of the past has lead to the restructuring of many organisations. However, there is an argument that it is new labour legislation that causes retrenchments and job losses and that there is therefore a need for greater labour market flexibility. This is indeed ironic, since the fact that companies have been able to retrench hundreds of thousands of workers over the past few years would rather point to the opposite. The fact that employers have and are still retrenching workers is a clear indication that our labour market is flexible. It is clear that if our labour market was inflexible it will be difficult for employers to retrench workers.
Retrenchments and the resultant unemployment is a struggle that we will have to fight jointly in South Africa as it has an impact on us all. It could cause serious socio-economic problems, but if all parties contribute and work together, it also has the potential to become a conciliatory force.
Tripartite and bilateral negotiations and collaboration have become the single most important principle of sound business management and decision-making. And, in the Social Plan, we have taken into consideration the opinions and needs of all involved. From the very beginning of the Social Plan, the collaboration and seriousness with which the social responsibility was taken, were clear.
I want to emphasise that employers must implement the Social Plan properly. It is noticeable that some employers have undertaken to do so. However, there are those who only think about consulting workers only when it is inevitable to retrench. Future Forums must be established now. Let us not wait until retrenchments seem to be the only option.
I also want to make use of this opportunity to call on employers and unions to make use of the Department of Labour's services available to retrenchees. I can attest to their value. In the game of retrenchment the retrenchee is the main loser. Let us work together for a brighter future for us all. At this point I would like to present to organised labour the information pack prepared for retrenchees in South Africa and to business, the Employers' Guide.
I thank you.