STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF LABOUR MEMBATHISI MDLADLANA, AT THE PARLIAMENT MEDIA BRIEFING, 13 September 2000

It is with a sense of pride and satisfaction that I report of the tremendous strides which my department has made in the last six months in the following areas:-

1. LABOUR MARKET REVIEW
In his February 2000 State of the Nation Address the President announced, inter alia, the intention of government to introduce amendments to certain labour laws to address unintended consequences.

I am pleased to report that on 29th July, I released three draft Amendment Bills in respect of the Labour Relations Act, Basic Conditions of Employment Act and Insolvency Act ( although the later was sponsored by the Department of Justice.)

These Bills seek to improve the application of the above mentioned laws, enhance the sensitivity of our legal framework to the imperative to create jobs, address unintended consequences and align our laws with the ever changing economic circumstances.

Amendments have been made primarily in respect of the following four areas:-

* Collective bargaining and bargaining councils;
* Dispute resolution by the CCMA and the Labour Court ;
* Rights and responsibilities of employers and workers in the event of retrenchments, transfers of businesses and insolvency;
* Basic conditions of employment and contractual relationships.

Given the fact that labour market policy is always a contested terrain, the mixed reaction the proposed amendments attracted did not come as a surprise. As expected, certain commentators charged that the proposed amendments were "worker friendly" while other opinion makers suggested that they were "employer friendly". The truth of the matter is that these amendments seek to maintain the illusive balance between a labour market efficiency and decent labour standards.

I have already tabled the draft bills at Nedlac for deliberations, due to start as soon as our respective partners have obtained mandates from their respective constituencies.

We have also received a number of public comments which will no doubt contribute towards enriching these drafts.

2. LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME
During the six months under review, I tabled, at Nedlac the Unemployment Insurance Bill and the Unemployment Insurance Contribution Bill.

These Bills significantly revise the present Unemployment Insurance Act and provides a solid foundation for a sustainable package of insurance for employees in the event of unemployment, long term illness, maternity leave or adoption of a child.

The Unemployment Insurance Bill provides for:-

* the benefits that will be provided to employees and dependants of employees in specified instances;
* the establishment of an Unemployment Insurance Board
* improved functioning and controls over the Fund.

The Contributions Bill provides for the collection of contributions for the benefit of the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

The introduction of this Bill to parliament is one of a package of measures being put into place by the Unemployment Insurance Fund to ensure that all employers contribute, that only employees entitled to receive benefits actually receive them, improve the financial viability of the fund and cut down on fraud. In addition, the fund is revamping its information technology infrastructure including the setting up of a detailed contributor database. These Bills have been finalised at Nedlac and are ready to be fed into the Parliamentary process.

3. IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGISLATION
We are also beginning to realise the coming into effect of numerous provisions of the Skills Development Act and the receipt of the first plans in terms of the Employment Equity Act.

In respect of skills development, three regulations have been passed setting out the framework for employers to access the money collected from the skills levy, establishing the Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and providing for the registration of private employment agencies.

The institutions set up by the Act are up and running. The National Skills Authority, established in April 1999 has advised me on a number of regulations and is preparing a draft National Skills Development Strategy.

The SETAs were established on 20th March and interim funding was given to them to appoint staff and set up offices. 24 out of 25 SETAs have submitted their first sector skills plans by the deadline of 1 September. These plans spell out how training will occur and funds disbursed to ensure that the skill needs of the particular sector are addressed. In a focused way we are thus beginning to lay the basis to address the skills shortages in certain sectors which are hampering our economic growth.

From 1 April 2000, the South African Revenue Services (SARS) began to collect the Skills Levy. In April just R121 000 was collected but in May it had risen to R91 million and in June R104 million. The figures for July and August are not yet confirmed.

80% of the funds were transferred to the Sectoral Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in July for the first time. Disbursements to firms by SETAs will happen this month. Plans are underway to support learnerships, which replaced apprenticeships, on a large scale from April 2001.

The Department of Labour's provincial offices are disbursing the money, made up of 20% of the levy, which is allocated to the National Skills Fund. Allocations are targeted at social development such as public work programmes and micro-enterprise promotion.

In respect of the Employment Equity Act, regulations and a Code of Good Practice on the Preparation, Implementation and Monitoring of Employment Equity Plans were put out last year. These documents have greatly assisted employers and employees in preparing their plans and submitting reports to the Department of Labour.

June 1, 2000 was the deadline for all employers who employ over 150 employees to report to the Department of Labour. The Department is presently capturing and analysing the information received and on 2nd October, I will make the registry of all employers who reported, public and release an analysis of the results of all the reports.

A Code of Good Practice on Key Aspects of the Management of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace was released for public comment in May this year. Since it deals with the relationship between HIV/AIDS and most aspects of the employment relationship, we want to publish it in terms of the Labour Relations Act and Employment Equity Act and has thus been referred to Nedlac. Nedlac should finalise its deliberations shortly.

The Department continued to roll out the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. In this regard, minimum wages for several sectors and industries, including the civil engineering industry and the conditions for the security sector were published.

A sectoral determination for the clothing and knitting industries which operate in areas not covered by bargaining councils such as Dimbaza, Botshabelo and Newcastle has also been finalised.

The Department has done extensive work on the investigations into minimum wages and conditions for domestic workers and farm workers. Several hundreds of domestic workers and employers of domestic workers have been reached in 64 public hearings around the country. Research has also been conducted and 22 500 questionnaires were distributed for completion by domestic workers. 300 domestic workers also responded to a telephonic survey in Gauteng.

In respect of farm workers, meetings have been held in a number of towns in every province with employer and workers. Approximately 27 different employer organisations, 30 local co-operatives, 10 commodity constituencies such as horticulture and over 300 individual farmers have been given an opportunity to voice their concerns. Most of the trade unions active in the sector have been consulted and almost 500 workers have been reached in the meetings that were held. Almost 80 different written submission have been received both from organised business and labour as well as from interested parties such as NGOs and research organisations

A large scale research project is also underway looking at employment trends, profitability and poverty indicators as well as conditions of employment in this sector across the country. It is envisaged that the research report will be finalised in January 2001. This research will inform the ECC in its deliberations on the sectoral determination that is envisaged for the sector.

I believe that the time invested in these investigations is critical since it will ensure that we have a highly professional result which will assist in building credibility and legitimacy amongst those that will be required to implement the final outcome.

The flexibility of our labour market dispensation is evident in the way several sectors and industries apply and obtain variation with regards to aspects of the BCEA.

My Ministry has to date granted 169 variations in terms of Section 50 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. As required by law, all these applications were supported by employers and workers. Companies that were granted variations included the Chamber of Mines, Anglo Coal, Sasol Chemical Industries and Oceana Fishing Division. This dispensation enables the companies concerned to deal with their unique circumstances.

In terms of Schedule 1 of the BCEA, the Department of Labour is expected to do an investigation as to how the reduction of weekly working hours to a level of 40 hours per week may be achieved. The investigation is completed and will be released as soon. The investigation identifies a set of conditions and circumstances under which it is most feasible to introduce a 40-hour week. I hope that both employers and employees will carefully study and constructively debate the report when it is released.

The Department continues of oversee the implementation of the Job Summit Agreements. There is ongoing progress in respect of the allocation of funds and implementation of projects, programmes and agreements.

A detailed report on the progress made in the implementation of job summit agreements and projects will be publicly tabled in October on the second anniversary of the Job Summit. I am pleased to report however that in March this year, a mining industry sector summit was held. The success of the summit was reflected in the way social partners agreed on the promotion of small business in the mining sector, the agreements on the beneficiation as well as a rural development strategy. In August a similar successful summit of the clothing and textile sector was held where workers and employers agreed on strategies to export promotion and increasing value of South African made commodities. The outcome of both summits will contribute enormously towards facilitating job retention as well as the creation of sustainable jobs.

Finally, we have ratified the following ILO Conventions this year:

* Equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value (100);
* Minimum age of admission to employment (138);
* Prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour (182);
* Safety and health in mines (176).

4. INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AND TRANSFORMATION
At present several Government departments deal with occupational health and safety matters. This results in duplication and fragmentation of health and safety service delivery.

In order to provide the best possible protection for workers and ensure efficient utilisation of state resources, Cabinet decided that all occupational health and safety competencies should be integrated and consolidated. To this end a tripartite Steering Committee has been established to develop a national policy of occupational health and safety and to oversee the above mentioned integration process.

The Compensation Fund has developed two electronic systems to improve and expedite the processing and payment of compensation claims and improve the collection of revenue. The first system will improve the internal efficiency of the Fund while the second will enable employers and medical providers to report accidents and submit documentation electronically to the Compensation office.

5. CONCLUSION
I believe that the Department of Labour has made significant and exciting progress in the course of this first six months of the new Millennium. We are on track in our efforts to improve service delivery, implement our laws and align our laws with current labour market realities.


Issued by the Ministry of Labour, 13 September 2000