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The Vision for the Post-1994 Labour Market

The Vision for the Post-1994 Labour Market. HALTON CHEADLE CCMA 15 th ANNIVERSARY – THINK TANK 10 NOVEMBER 2011. PRESENTATION OUTLINE. The challenges at the time Policy and legislative responses Vision for the post-1994 labour market. CHALLENGES.

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The Vision for the Post-1994 Labour Market

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  1. The Vision for the Post-1994 Labour Market HALTON CHEADLE CCMA 15th ANNIVERSARY – THINK TANK 10 NOVEMBER 2011

  2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • The challenges at the time • Policy and legislative responses • Vision for the post-1994 labour market

  3. CHALLENGES • The new government faced a terrible legacy of extreme inequality and high unemployment • mass unemployment and poverty • discrimination and inequality • intense conflict at the workplace • low levels of productivity • shortage of managerial and technical skills required to drive an economy • Sluggish employment growth • economy increasingly open to international competition

  4. POLICY & LEGISLATIVE RESPONSES • Constitutional rights • RDP’s employment related objectives • Policies underlying the LRA • NEDLAC Act • Labour Market Commission (Presidential Commission to investigate labour market policy (Report in June 1996) • EEA, BCEA, SDA

  5. THE RDP’s VISION • Eradication of poverty through “more and better” jobs • Worker participation • The elimination of racial and gender-based discrimination in the labour market • Productivity enhancement • A stable macroeconomic environment

  6. LABOUR MARKET COMMISSION • Terms of reference • To develop labour market policies to meet the RDP • Voice regulation at all levels • Balance between labour market security and flexibility • National Productivity Accord • Productivity-enhancing work organisation • Institutionalised co-ordination

  7. THE EMERGENCE OF A POST-1994 VISION • “Regulated flexibility” • A growth path with job creation and strong economic development • Increased private sector investment to underpin employment growth including the IDC’s development finance and support measures for small, medium and micro-enterprises • Labour market policies co-ordinated with macroeconomic policies by means of a national Accord for Employment and Growth involving all of the social partners • Macroeconomic, industrial and trade policies that promote employment and do not focus only on driving down inflation

  8. THE POST-1994 VISION • Management of global competition - increasing efficiency in the utilisation of domestic resources, both labour and capital, as the basis for effective engagement in international markets • Reforms in the labour market to promote flexibility, where flexibility is understood as a multi-faceted concept that is not merely a euphemism for lower real wages or weak unions • Protection of individual rights and labour market security • The balance between flexibility and security achieved through the mechanism of voice regulation - bargained arrangements between strong, stable and well-informed employer and employee representatives

  9. THE POST-1994 VISION • Promotion of collective bargaining • Institutional framework • Nedlac • Sectoral bargaining through bargaining councils • Workplace forums

  10. THE POST-1994 VISION • Employment equity – affirmative action without quotas but the emphasis on the role of collective bargaining and participatory workplace structures in developing employment equity plans • Skills development with recognition of prior learning • Workplace-based training with transportable skills and qualifications

  11. THE VISION FOR NEDLAC • Policy-making at the highest level • Consensus based • Tripartism • A forum for negotiating legislation prior to normal legislative processes • Demarcation of sectors

  12. THE LRA’S VISION • Social justice and economic development • Freedom of association • Organisational rights to stabilise union organisation • Promotion of collective bargaining – both at workplace and sectoral level • Establishment and consolidation of bargaining councils • Framework agreements at sectoral level • Productivity bargaining at plant level • Less adversarialism and meaningful consultation at all levels

  13. THE LRA’S VISION • Speedy dispute resolution with the emphasis on meaningful consensus-seeking approaches • Recognition of the right to strike with relatively non-technical processes to follow • Interest arbitration of essential services disputes • Relative labour peace – no strikes over dismissals and thorough mediation before strike action • Codified, clear law on unfair dismissals with final and binding arbitration; limited grounds for review • Limited concept of the unfair labour practice • Simple workplace disciplinary processes

  14. QUESTIONS • Why have we not achieved more consensual, rather than less adversarial engagements? • Has NEDLAC succeeded as an effective tripartite institution? • Is collective bargaining playing a constructive economic role • Is there sufficient progress on productivity and skills development? • Is it too easy to strike? • Is it too easy to refer disputes?

  15. QUESTIONS • Why have unions not followed organisational and strategic approaches to changes in the labour market? • What is the scope for job creation agreements, perhaps with lower wages for new entrants? • What role can the CCMA play to achieve the original vision?

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