Company Announcement - The Bargaining Council for the Civil Engineering Industry has announced that the Dispute Resolution Centre Collective Agreement has been extended to non-parties by the Minister. The extension of the agreement came into effect on June 15, 2015. Pending its application for accreditation by the CCMA, BCCEI is directing all non-party disputes to Tokiso Dispute Settlement, a CCMA accredited agency. Tokiso Dispute Settlement, established in 2001, is a private and independent dispute resolution body.

Merle Denson, senior case management officer BCCEI, says that this extension will allow non-parties the same advantages as those companies that are party to the bargaining council. “An important differentiator that BCCEI brings is access to a panel of skilled professional commissioners with industry specific experience. The Tokiso commissioners are CCMA accredited, have an in-depth understanding of the civil engineering sector and will hear cases under industry specific standards and guidelines,” she says. A further benefit to all is that there will be no distinction between the venues where the cases will be heard. All cases will be referred to BCCEI’s head office in Bedfordview, where the majority of cases in the greater PWV area will be heard. Tokiso will also use this venue for hearing the non-party disputes to ensure a seamless service offering to the industry. The new Johannesburg premises include custom-built hearing rooms with state of the art equipment for recording of all arbitrations, and Denson says that copies of these recordings will be available to parties   at a nominal cost.

For cases in other regions, a skilled CCMA accredited commissioner will be appointed to facilitate the process within that specific region. The BCCEI is determined to facilitate ease of access to information and all the LRA statutory forms and the council’s rules will be available on its website for access by all when referring a dispute. Denson says that all outcomes and awards will be screened to ensure quality but in a manner that ensures that the discretion of the commissioner is not interfered with. , It is important to understand that all arbitration awards will be final and binding.

In the case of specific large long term multi-disciplinary projects where site agreements are applied and where party and non-party disputes arise (including disputes within the scope of BCCEI), these will be   heard on site. Denson says that this legally compliant process will result in significant time and cost savings for all parties.

Another significant and time saving benefit is that, at a minimal cost, employers can now refer an inquiry by arbitrator to the BCCEI. This means that the employer can bring a final and binding arbitration to the disciplinary hearing stage streamlining all the steps of the dispute resolution process into one. This offers time savings with associated cost savings and gives certainty to both parties in a far shorter period of time. A significant advantage is that the hearing can be heard at the employer’s premises, at a date and time chosen by the parties and the commissioner can also be chosen by party consent making the outcome that much more credible. This process, which results in a binding arbitration award, is recognised in the Labour Relations Act.