Employment & Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi
Photo by: Creamer Media
Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi will meet with organised labour representatives and employers in Vryburg in North West on Thursday to engage on ways to transform the labour market.
"Minister Nxesi will be embarking on a drive to propel employers, organised labour and the private sector, on possible collaborations as he seeks to fight the high unemployment rate facing the country currently.
"As part of the women’s month, the minister will also have a session on issues affecting women in the workplace with a special focus on women abuse," his office said.
Nxesi, on Tuesday, during an inspection blitz in Brits highlighted that women were the most exploited in the workplace.
"The majority of the exploited, even in farms, in factories, in many companies, is women. I think it is relevant that we also raise this issue of the exploited being women, some are thrown to the fields with their kids on their backs, horrible things are happening to women workers and that is not decent for them. Some do not even qualify or are not given any maternity leave, after giving birth, after three days you are back at work weak as you are," he said.
He also called on labour and employers to work together to bring stability in the workplace, adding that trade unions were not the enemies of the employers.
"The employers must not see unions as enemies. They must see them as partners in order to maintain industrial peace. Industrial peace and order is very key to productivity because if you have all sort of things and a lot of instability at the workplace, productivity suffers and economic growth suffers."
In his budget vote speech Nxesi highlighted that the renaming and reconfiguration of the department would focus on the transformation of the labour market, employment and conditions of employment.