Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Labour legislation was not to blame for the prolonged and often violent strikes hitting various industries across South Africa and opting for a “quick fix” or an “emotional” solution to the country’s bitter labour relations would not be sustainable, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant warned this week.
Speaking at a closed dialogue session at the 2014 Mining Legotla, in Midrand, the Minister stressed that the high levels of unemployment, poverty and inequality “feed into the troubles” that have emerged and transformation, not laws, was the answer.
“The lack of real transformation, socioeconomic equity, mutual respect and trust in the workplace … have contributed to the anger and frustration that we see in the current industrial relations dynamics,” she explained.
The strikes were more about the ever-increasing wage gap between management and workers and the “appalling” living conditions of workers, particularly in the mining industry.
Various institutions, as outlined by the Labour Relations Act (LRA), were able to assist in managing the inherent conflict in the employer–employee relationships, and Oliphant highlighted that the National Economic Development and Labour Council was the “appropriate” forum to grapple with the recent violent developments in industrial relations.
She said the proposed amendments to the LRA would further strengthen these institutions and empower the inspectorate.
“The primary aim of our labour market legislative framework, was to create an enabling environment and tools to address this harsh reality,” she noted.
However, the “mediocre” compliance with existing labour laws further contributed to the “militant stances” of workers dealing with collective bargaining processes.
“We need to be very careful about tinkering with the law when the law is not the culprit. How do we bring back the integrity of negotiations as prescribed in the LRA?”